Isn’t it nice when our government takes the side of criminals?
The head of the National Park Service defended his decision to let Occupy protesters camp out in a park in the middle of Washington, D.C., though he said Tuesday the group will be given one last warning before being evicted….The is a ban on camping in the park, but Jarvis suggested there is a gray area between constitutionally protected protests and illegal camping….Occupy protesters have been camping out since October at the historic McPherson Square Park. Police have responded to the site for several violations — including to a report that a toddler had been abandoned there. Neighbors have complained that the campers, who have taken the NPS to court to remain at the site, are attracting vermin and stealing from them…After the hearing, Jarvis clarified that enforcing the camping ban would not lead to a full-scale eviction of the encampment. Protesters, he said, are permitted to exercise their First Amendment rights in McPherson Square 24 hours a day.
Now I want to focus on this quote:
Citizens of a free country should not have to ask permission to occupy spaces, he said, adding that free speech must be protected not just for Occupiers, but for all citizens.
Compare and contrast with this:
The National Park Service said Thursday that it has approved the permit for the Aug. 28 Glenn Beck/Sarah Palin rally at the Lincoln Memorial.
Park Service spokesman Bill Line said the permit indicates that organizers expect 300,000 people to attend. Line said it is a “fixed rally” without a march. The rally will go from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
I’m having a hard time reading this as anything but selective enforcement of the law. Either permits are required for demonstrations or they’re not, and certainly should be for demonstrations that make exceptions of otherwise illegal activities, in this case camping.
Now in the above article it mentions Al Sharpton seeking a permit for a counter-protest, so it may not be 100% partisan, but certainly I suspect the forceful nature of the protest, and the very real threat of a violent riots when the law is enforced has EVERYTHING to do with this behavior.
Well, considering that Ken Salazar is in Charge of the Interior Dept, which the Park Service is a Branch, and we KNOW what kind of Havoc he’s wrecked, I think it’s Totally Political. But this ties in with the Upper Post, so I’ll shift up there.
The only nice thing about Salazar is that when he got appointed he stopped being my senator…
Beck’s group was required to post a bond against possible damages, too. The Occupods? Nope.
Beck’s rally caused no damage and the bond was refunded 100%. The Occupods? Their damage to both DC parks is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and still rising, but no effort is being made to collect from them or even mitigate the harm that they’re causing.