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07.03 Notice for Extension of Unemployment Insurance Benefits
07.02 A Cost-Saving Way to Travel: Rent a House
Ref. : Letters to the editor
06.30 An Open Letter to Barack Obama
07.17 Corporate Media Blackouts Continue as Iran War Looms and Impeachment Moves Ahead
07.17 The Pentagon and the Hunt for Black Gold
07.16 Washington Post's McCain-Friendly Poll
07.15 You Can’t Tell a Magazine by Its Cover Or A Candidate by His Rhetoric
07.09 The Forgotten: Somalia's American-Made Road to Perdition
07.03 Press distorts Clark’s comments
06.30 Iran-Contra's 'Lost Chapter'
06.27 Robert McChesney's The Political Economy of Media (Part II)
06.25 Robert McChesney's The Political Economy of Media (Part I)
06.20 Remembering Russert
07.18 Making Americans Unsafe
07.18 I Was a Victim of the Government’s Absurd and Over-Hyped War on Terror
07.15 Thinking About Safety
07.15 The High Cost of Bush's Iraq Gambit
07.11 McCain's Nomination - A Possible September Surprise?
07.07 Is Barack Obama Patriotic? Is Any Politician?
07.07 Obama's FISA Statement is a Mess (Just like his Stand on Faith-based Programs)
07.07 Campaign Notes: Of Flip-Flops and Fly-Bys
07.07 Supreme Court, Inc.: Supremely Pro-Business
07.03 The Real Meaning of the Fourth of July
07.03 Three Amigos: Bush, McCain, Obama Draw a Blood-Red Line on Iran
07.02 Rep. Ron Paul Assails Congress's "Virtual Iran War Resolution
07.02 How Ignorant Are We?
06.28 Primary Season Over, Barack Channels Hillary
06.27 Senate Overwhelmingly Approves Bill to Fund Iraq War Until Mid-2009
06.27 Defending the President as Tyrant
06.25 Critical Malfunction: Misreading Gore Vidal
06.23 Campaign Finance Reform Has Failed
06.23 Thinking About Flip-Flops
06.23 Heat Waves: Burning Off the Fog of the FISA Fiasco
06.23 Alarm over 'Unfair' Campaign Money
06.23 The Supreme Court, Habeas, John Yoo and Murdoch's Wall Street Journal
06.20 Keeping America Safe from Child "Terrorists"
06.20 SuperCorridor Defeat? Don't Bet On It
07.19 'Justifying' Torture: Two Big Lies
07.18 Torture As Official US Policy
07.16 Bush Asserts Exec Privilege; Blocks DOJ From Releasing CIA Leak Documents
07.16 Impeachment Hearings: A Win is a Win
07.15 Torture for the Torturers
07.14 Imperial Wizards: The Nangarhar Massacre and U.S. Plans for Central Asia
07.12 Kucinich Pushes on Impeachment
07.11 Disorderly Conduct: Subverting the Bipartisan Paradigm on Iraq
07.10 Mukasey: Bush's New 'Mr. Cover-up'
07.09 Legitimizing Permanent Occupation of Iraq
07.08 Buchanan, MacDonogh, Pilger Books Explode Illusion Of American Exceptionalism
07.07 Bush-Cheney Crony Got Iraq Oil Deal
07.07 Keeping Count (When Ours Goes Down, Theirs Goes Up)
07.02 Iraq Oil Deals Fulfill Cheney's Goals
07.02 Bush's 'Wonderland' Logic
06.30 Operation Horse's Head: U.S. Raid Sends Message on Iraq "Agreement"
06.30 Invisible Hand: Washington Role in Iraq Oil Deal Revealed
06.27 It Was Oil, All Along
06.27 Big Dog, Little Tail: The American Elite Resolves on War With Iran
06.26 A Totally Lawless Regime
06.23 Top Dems Hand Bush Key Victories
06.23 Democrats Legalize Bush's Crimes
06.20 Torturegate: Truth, But No Consequences
06.20 Bomb Iran? What's to Stop Us?
07.11 Running on Empty
07.10 A Work Force Betrayed
07.08 Paul Krugman and Blindness About the War and the Economy
07.07 Thinking About Turnarounds
06.30 Thinking about Dependence
06.26 Health-Care Crisis Endangers Economy
07.17 Renunciation and Escalation: Conflicting Tides in the Terror War
07.16 Maliki's 'Timetable' Shakes Iraq Debate
07.16 Drought and Israeli Policy Threaten West Bank Water Security
07.14 Enabling Tyranny—Brigitte Bardot And Other Victims
07.14 Duce Bags: Italy Leads Fascist Revanche in Western Democracies
COMMENTARY:
Has This Country Gone Completely Insane?
"Huh?," I asked intelligently, not quite sure what he was talking about.
"Well, I'm not protesting, I'm having a cup of coffee," I returned, thinking that logic would convince Adkins to go back to his earlier duties of guarding against serious terrorists.
Flipping his badge open, he said, "No, not with that shirt. You're protesting and you have to go."
Beginning to get his drift, I said firmly, "Not before I finish my coffee."
He insisted that I leave, but still not quite believing my ears, I tried one more approach to reason. "Hey, listen. I'm a veteran. This is a V.A. facility. I'm sitting here not talking to anybody, having a cup of coffee. I'm not protesting and you can't kick me out."
"You'll either go or we'll arrest you," Adkins threatened.
"Well, you'll just have to arrest me," I said, wondering what strange land I was now living in.
You know the rest. Handcuffed, led away to the facility's security office past people with surprised looks on their faces, read my rights, searched, and written up.
The officer who did the formalities, Eric Ousley, was professional in his duties. When I asked him if he was a vet, it turned out he had been a hospital corpsman in the Navy. We exchanged a couple sea stories. He uncuffed me early. And he allowed as to how he would only charge me with disorderly conduct, letting me go on charges of criminal trespass and weapons possession--a pocket knife--which he said would have to be destroyed (something I rather doubt since it was a nifty Swiss Army knife with not only a bottle opener, but a tweezers and a toothpick).
After informing me I could either pay the $275 fine on the citation or appear in court, Ousley escorted me off the premises, warning me if I returned with "that shirt" on, I'd be arrested and booked into jail.
I'm sure I could go back to officers Adkins' and Ousleys' fiefdom with a shirt that said, "Nuke all the hajis," or "Show us your tits," or any number of truly obscene things and no one would care. Just so it's not "that shirt" again.
The author was at the Jesse Brown V.A. Medical Center because he was participating in the Voices for Creative Nonviolence's 30-day, 320-mile "Walk for Justice," from Springfield to North Chicago, Illinois, to reclaim funding for the common good and away from war.
Republication or redistribution of Baltimore Chronicle content is expressly prohibited without their prior written consent.
This story was published on July 3, 2006.
