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CARROLL: Privileged protesters

By Vincent Carroll, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published July 31, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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James Madison

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USA Today regally accused Denver the other day of treating would-be protesters at the Democratic National Convention "like a bunch of pests."

Never mind that the city will be turning a dozen parks over to an array of protests for nearly a week or that it will close lanes of Colfax and Speer - major thoroughfares in a city that still depends, after all, on commerce - every day for several hours so they can function as the "designated parade route" for marching protesters.

Never mind, for that matter, that Denver has set aside a large area about 700 feet from the Pepsi Center for demonstrators, who can use bullhorns or a city-provided loudspeaker to drive their points home.

Ignore, finally, the fact that the Democratic National Convention Committee will reportedly display protest literature on a table in reach of delegates in one of those baffling gestures that is considered high- minded and "inclusive" by some.

No, none of these things matters to critics. City leaders need a "remedial course in American values," USA Today harrumphs, while demonstrators outside a federal courthouse this week dramatized their anticipated plight at the upcoming convention by sealing their mouths with duct tape.

Oh, what a hellish time to be a dissident! As if George W. Bush's assaults on civil liberties weren't enough, now it's Mayor John Hickenlooper's turn to don the jackboots. Can mass roundups, deportations and the resurrection of A. Mitchell Palmer be far behind?

Inside the aforementioned courthouse, U.S. District Judge Marcia Krieger is contemplating questions that defy confident answers, such as: Is there a constitutional right to stand closer than 700 feet to delegates at a political convention when chanting antiwar slogans? And if there is, as plaintiffs in a lawsuit contend, what shorter distance would pass muster?

Would 400 feet have satisfied James Madison, or would the father of the First Amendment have insisted that protesters be allowed to tug on delegates' sleeves and bellow in their ears as they stride toward the convention's inner sanctum?

With Madison unlikely to sound off on the matter, we'll have to accept Krieger's upcoming call. If she rules against the city, however, let's just hope she bothers to explain why multiple park permits, parade routes, open street corners and loudspeakers fail to satisfy the First Amendment guarantee of free speech - especially in a media-saturated age during a media-drenched event attended by delegates who will no doubt see videos of the protests and read about them even if they never witness one in person.

Those balky professors

"In working toward sustainability, campus planners said at a conference in Montreal, they face obstacles like outdated notions about what wastes energy and professors' desire to hang onto their large offices."

- The Chronicle of Higher Education

Ah, those balky professors and their antiquated notions regarding comfort! Don't they realize that a principled intellectual can be perfectly content in, say, a 4-by-5-foot monk-like cell? Even if it has to be shared with a couple of graduate assistants? Even when the winter thermostat is set by central decree at 55 degrees?

Few institutions in America are more vocal about their commitment to green values than higher education. How disappointing, then, to learn that some professors cling to a vestige of a bygone era of cheap energy and climate complacency. If they expect the rest of us to refashion our lifestyles to please the sustainability nannies, surely they should be leading by example.

Vincent Carroll is editor of the editorial pages. Reach him at carrollv@RockyMountainNews.com.

Comments

  • July 31, 2008

    5:51 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Mike846 writes:

    Vince, come on! You mean you actually expect the Elites to practice what they preach? If you look at most university "diversity" codes, they foster anything BUT diversity. They outlaw any speech or behavior that doesn't suit the liberal activist Orwellian view of political correctness. And now you expect them to actually DO something that might cause them physical discomfort for the sake of one of their pet causes? I'm shocked, shocked I tell you, to hear that its another case of "do as I say, not as I do." After all, like the pigs in Animal Farm, they have all that THINKING and PLANNING to do. Right on with the column. Mike

  • July 31, 2008

    7:14 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Gonzopozo writes:

    Vince - "Some (Canadian?) professors"? How many would that be? It matters if we are to consider your point(s) valid.

    Mike - "They outlaw speech and behavior" Really? Like with laws? I worked on a college campus for 30 years and never heard of any laws being passed. Free thought is actually allowed.

    Conclusions reached via faulty paths are meaningless.

  • July 31, 2008

    7:38 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    HoosierGuy writes:

    Apparently Gonzopozo never disagreed with his sociology prof on the validity of the gay life style. Perhaps there are no codified laws, but the consequences of not participating in the group think atmosphere of university education are real & hazardous to one's gpa.

  • July 31, 2008

    8:03 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    VVVV writes:

    Not all professors believe the hoax of global warming. And believe it or not, despite the propaganda you regularly hear, not all signed a document saying as such.

    I'm wondering why the protestors aren't suing the news agencies for not covering their stories. After all, if there aren't limits in a parking lot, there shouldn't be limits in the media either. Everyone should demand their 15 minutes of fame and let some judge declare it so. That way everyone would turn off the endless crazy ranting by lunatics on the news and finally put a bullet in its gasping head.

  • July 31, 2008

    8:41 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    ghoax writes:

    gang up and shout, man causing global warming is a big fat lie, the dems use it, lie about everything they can to achieve the communist utopia they have fantasies about. The liberal dems have always been against freedom, against individual responsibility, against opportunity, against you and I, and are the number 1 threat to our great nation. Compare the effects of whatever civil liberties you claim Bush has stolen to the theft of your livelyhood, your opportunities, your freedoms, your property rights, your right to raise your children that the might marry and have a family of their own with a mom and a dad, your ability to keep your hard earned money, your belief that human needs outweigh that of the fruitfly, your ability to protect your innocent child from anyone using the restroom with them because they think they are the opposite sex, your ability to say what you want , your right to own weapons. You don't get the truth from the dems, you get lies, half truths, and propaganda. The claims that oil isn't using the 68 million acres they've leased to explore is just one of a long list of hogwash that the dems put forth as self evident truths. The same crowd that won't allow a vote on increasing our supply, that wants you to believe it won't make a difference. I'm sorry but, the dems are nothing short of criminals who've been given a license to steal your rights, your money and to force their mother nature worship upon you and I. I've just had it with these losers, the best thing they could do for our country is to step down.

  • July 31, 2008

    9:20 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    temurlan writes:

    There is a Republican flag? Wouldn't that be the stars and stripes?

  • July 31, 2008

    10:52 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    DenverDan writes:

    The Republican flag has a dollar sign, and is red.

  • July 31, 2008

    12:35 p.m.

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    jay writes:

    lots of right wing tinfoil conspiracy theories here, but i don't see anything of substance at all.

  • July 31, 2008

    3:31 p.m.

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    DenverDan writes:

    Gene

    The sad thing for you is behind all your comments stands McCain and Jr. That must s@ck.

  • July 31, 2008

    5:59 p.m.

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    WestminsterJ writes:

    Gene- yeah, *that'll* show em.

  • August 1, 2008

    3:10 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    mytwosense writes:

    repubs have their own flag? good, maybe they'll secede one of these days.

  • August 3, 2008

    10:45 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Castle writes:

    Vincent Carroll writes: " "USA Today regally accused Denver the other day of treating would-be protesters at the Democratic National Convention "like a bunch of pests." "

    Well they probably will be pests, if not out right criminals. Aren't you happy that it's Denver's turn in the barrel?