Cindy Sheehan arrested

Great! Not the arena that she needs to express herself. This is a time to reflect and move forward regardless of party line. I hope she gets life in prison and no parole!

Perhaps the Quick 2000 protective hoods could be employed to shield the Capitol audience from the evil anti-war T-shirts... one step closer to Fascism my friends..............

O So well for the freedom of speech.Imagine,one women getting under the skin of the president.

I support Cindy Sheehan's right to protest and say what she wants. However, she is not outside the law. According to the AP, she wore a T-shirt with an anti-war slogan and covered it up until she took her seat. Police told her such displays were not allowed but she did not listen.

Sheehan's behavior is not unexpected. It was inappropriate of Woolsey to bring her to the speech and reflects badly on Woolsey.

I also think more members of the news media should have reported that Sheehan met with Hugo Chavez.

Wouldn't you have thought that her host would have thought ahead to advise her of any dress codes, so as not to embarrass themselves for their choice of guests?

But, even then, shouldn't the amendment guaranteeing the right to free speech have protected Ms Sheehan? After all, it does not sound like her shirt was obscene. And, the Capitol Building is a public place, not a private club. Plus, I assume that the shirt did not directly threaten any one highly ranking individual by name or title.

Oh, I forgot...Mr. Bush and his cronies categorize everything as obscene or wrong that is contrary to their beliefs or opinions. And the Bill of Rights are simply recommendations open to extreme interpretation and are no longer the rule of the land as I was taught throughout my education.

It's a wonder the Democrats didn"t wear some type of protest T-Shirts, thats all they can do. Cliff

As usual, the media (and poster Eides Gottfried)has short memories. During Bill Clinton's 1999 SOTU address, a teacher from PA named David Delp was removed from the Senate gallery for wearing a t-shirt that said "Clinton doesn't inhale, he sucks". Naturally, this incident wasn't written up by any Tribune reporter. And no leftist blogger complained that this removal violated "free speech".

Mixed feelings on this. I'm also kind of troubled that Ms. Sheehan's been meeting with Hugo Chavez, which seems to be a bit beyond simple pacific protest. I fully support her right, let's be clear, to protest when she feels she ought to, but meeting with foreign heads of state???

I agree that arresting her was a bit beyond what was necessary in a democratic state. Now, if my hypothesis is correct and the only thing that's differing us from a Nazi dictatorship is a matter of a few words and the few remaining freedoms that our government HASN'T taken away from us yet, her arrest makes perfect sense.

Oh. And, B.M.?? Life in prison with no parole? For wearing a T-shirt you didn't like? Excuse us? So I could then sentence you to death because I think you're a jerk?? Please! Get a brain.

Unmentioned in the above posting is the fact that a lady wearing a PRO-Bush t-shirt, Beverly Young, was also ejected from the Senate gallery last night, under the rules that have governed the senate gallery for years. Is the reporter unaware of this arrest, or are arrests only "news" if they involve left-wingers?

Sheehan had no business being there in the first place. Yes, she has freedom of speech and she has a right to protest her government. But she does not have the right to make a political statement from the audience during the President's state of the union address. There were protestors outside the House chambers last night. Why couldn't she just confine her protest to the designated area?

Apparently, she says she's kicking around the idea of a run against Dianne Feinstein in the next U.S. Senate race. Can't wait to hear her qualifications for that post.

Weeping Wilhelmina (aka Cindy Sheehan) is coming within a whisper of wearing out her welcome within the U.S. borders. Forced tears and repetitious anti-American haranguing can become tiresome to even her most devoted allies. So now the lady has taken her show on the road again, and the object of her affection is Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, an icon of freedom and liberty and best friend of Fidel Castro.

Jeff asks, "Why couldn't she just confine her protest to the designated area?" What amendment is the "designated area" clause in? According to the copy of the First Amendment I have, there's the right to assembly and the right to free speech. I didn't read the part that says that only applies to "designated areas." If Bush had his way, the "designated area" would be in eastern Wyoming. The whole point of a protest is to actually get the message to elected officials.

Dienne, during a state of the union message no attendees in the gallery are allowed to display personal political messages no matter what they are. Someone wearing a pro-Bush t-shirt was also escorted out of the gallery. This is a courtesy offered to the sitting president, be it republican or democrat. The same courtesy has been afforded to presidents giving SOTU addresses since reconstruction, to preserve the decorum of the event.

Protests are allowed outside the House and really anywhere that they don't infringe on the decorum of the address.

I understand the purpose of a protest, but any single person's right to protest does not extend to purposely creating a spectacle at a nationally televised event like a state of the union message. That's why they print the rules for such events on the tickets.

Bruce, your comments regarding the anti-Clinton shirt not being any different is very much incorrect.

That t-shirt that you refer to is very much obscene in nature...referring to sexually related acts. Secondly, it names someone specific and is intentually insulting. Ms Sheehan's shirt was meant to be factual in nature and not an opinion or insult, nor did it refer to a specific individual by either name or title. Therefore, there is a big difference between the nature of the two shirts.

Jeff,

Well, no, not quite. Read the Trib article today: "Rules dealing mainly with what people can bring and telling them to refrain from reading, writing, smoking, eating, drinking, applauding or taking photographs are outlined on the back of gallery passes given to tourists every day.

However, State of the Union guests don't receive any guidelines, according to Deputy House Sergeant at Arms Kerri Hanley." In fact, both women who were ejected received apologies because there are no laws on which to base such a decision. And I don't exactly think that either woman was "creating a spectacle." As for Sheehan, she'd been wearing the shirt all day, and the invitation to the SotU came rather late. She had a jacket on over the shirt, and the moment she unzipped the jacket, she was yanked out and handcuffed before the president had even arrived. A bit of an overreaction, don't you think? She could have simply been told to keep her jacket zipped or to remove the shirt, or even simply asked to leave. But that's what happens policy is dictated by fear.

I stand corrected, apparently the capital police are dropping all charges against Sheehan and have apologized to her and Beverly Young. That's strange considering the same thing happened to the guy who wore the "Clinton Doesn't Inhale, He Just Sucks" shirt to the 1999 SOTU. I guess they've changed the rules since then.