Lest we forget... NOT the first time someone was arrested for a t-shirt

[CornField]

nbc5.com - March 2, 2003 - An eighth grader was suspended from Chicago suburb junior high school for wearing a homemade T-shirt with a picture of two towers, an airplane and a man wearing traditional Arab headdress. The t-shirt was made following an excess of bullying. The boy was of Lebanese descent.
http://www.nbc5.com/news/2013791/detail.html

cnn.com - March 4, 2003 - Attorney Stephen Downs was arrested at a shopping mall, in the food court, for refusing to remove a peace t-shirt he had just purchased from a vendor inside the mall. The shirt stated, "Give Peace A Chance."
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Northeast/03/04/iraq.usa.shirt.reut/

kentucky.com/AP - July 20, 2004 - Nicole and Jeff Rank, both of Corpus Christie, Texas, were issued a formal apology by the Charleston City Council following their arrest for wearing anti-Bush T-shirts to the president's July 4 rally at the West Virginia Capitol. (Nicole lost her government job as a result of the incident.)
http://www.kentucky.com/mld/heraldleader/news/9195274.htm

sfgate.com - Sept. 16, 2004 - Sue Niederer of Hopewell, N.J. was escorted by police from a campaign stop by Laura Bush and subsequently arrested for wearing a t-shirt with the words "President Bush You Killed My Son." She was drug out by police as supporters shouted "Four More Years!" to drown out her questions as to why her son had died.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/09/16/politics1409EDT0616.DTL

Oregonlive.com - Oct. 16, 2004 - Three women were ejected from a Bush Rally for wearing t-shirts which stated "Protect Our Civil Liberties"
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1097928233288440.xml

horseandhound.co.uk - Sept. 22, 2005 - Charlotte Denis, 20, a gamekeeper from Gloucestershire, was arrested for wearing her “Bollocks to Blair” T-shirt at the Midlands Game Fair.
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/competitionnews/392/68779.html

Oh, and yard signs too...

waff.com/AP - March 19, 2004 - Phillip Dean of Skyline was arrested in August 2003 for yard signs criticizing the judge in a custody battle. One sign read, "Our Court System Is A Joke" others were critical of the specific judge.
http://www.waff.com/Global/story.asp?S=1723757

Don't forget bumper stickers...

thejacksonchannel.com/AP - Jan. 25, 2005 - Shasta Bates, 26, was threatened with arrest by a Denver police sergeant for displaying a bumper sticker derogatory of Bush. She was told by the sergeant that her sticker was illegal because it was profane. (Although there was no city ordinance against profane bumper stickers.)
http://www.thejacksonchannel.com/news/4128372/detail.html


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Well, you get the idea. The point is: this isn't an isolated incident and it is about damn time that we (as in 'we the people') draw a line in the sand. If we are to remain a free nation, we can no longer allow the government to trample on our freedom of speech.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. I'm gonna make a tee shirt

showing the Constitution, with the words Preserve Protect Defend and DARE the SS to arrest me.

[samdogmom]

2. Look at the dates on all of these incidents. All after * became pResident

Is it really our "freedom" you're protecting Dubya? Who could possibly hate us for this kind of freedom?

[Pacifist Patriot]

3. Look at the dates. All after the 2003 SOTU and beginning the

month the US invaded Iraq.

[helderheid]

7. WOW. Time to draw the line.

[CornField]

9. To clarify -- these are just the ones I had mentioned in my blog

There are probably more... unfortunately, I bet there are thousands more such stories out there, especially from the 2004 campaign. These were the stories I had at my fingertips, not a definitive list.

[Pacifist Patriot]

10. I knew it wasn't a definitive list. But I'd be willing to bet they are

a lot easier to find beginning in 2003.

[Mythsaje]

4. Maybe we should make one up

that says "Arrest me because I disagree."

[Ksec]

5. Heil Hitler !

[ComerPerro]

6. "T-Shirt". The "T" stands for "treason"

[Pacifist Patriot]

8. I want to start marketing PC-Shirts...

P stands for Patriot
I'm a Patriot Who Loves the U.S.C.
C stands for Constitution

[cantstandbush]

11. Do we need much more proof of what kind of nation we live in? n/t

[zbdent]

12. Even earlier - not a T-shirt, but more insidious

Remember the guy who joked in a bar about a

B U R N I N G B U S H ???