Kent, Ohio- The city moved Thursday to dismiss its criminal case against a resident who posted an "Impeach Bush" sign in a public garden, but it was only a momentary retreat.
City Law Director James Silver said he intends to file a littering charge against Kevin Egler, which is a more serious offense and carries a fine of up to $500 - five times that of the $100 fine Egler could have received under the original charge of advertising in a public place.
These people, however, proved you really can fight "city hall" (or the Bush gestapo at least), depending on how you look at it:
Last year, I wrote on HuffingtonPost about a young Texas couple who had been arrested for wearing anti-Bush T-shirts at a Fourth of July event in Charleston, West Virginia, where the President was scheduled to give a speech.
Jeff and Nicole Rank, of Corpus Christi, Texas had stood quietly in the crowd, wearing hand-drawn T-Shirts with Bush's name on the front and the international "No" symbol. They didn't yell, they didn't cause a fuss. Yet they were forcibly removed from the event by a phalanx of law enforcement officials at the behest of Bush operatives.
It was another egregious example of how little the Bush White House genuinely respects freedom of speech.
Can't spoil a Bush photo op, can we? Nonetheless, the Ranks' wrongful arrest made national news, and the ACLU decided to handle the couple's case against the U.S. government for a violation of their civil rights.
Well, justice prevailed (sort of) on Thursday, when the government settled the lawsuit for $80,000.
Gives me the warm fuzzies for one of my favorite T-shirts, which got me tossed one time from a Newt Gingrich/Dick Cheney whistlestop:
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