That's one way to put it

Everyone has the right to protest, at least here in America they do. We kind of pride ourselves on that whole freedom of speech deal. As we should. There are many countries that don't extend that right to their citizens. Voicing dissent can be met with severe punishment, even more harsh than the criticisms The Dixie Chicks received after lead singer Natalie Maines made her ill-timed statement about President Bush. But I digress... Over at the PrawfsBlawg, Mr. Paul Horwitz had the following to say after reading this piece at The Times...

I found today’s New York Times story about the thousands of protestors who made their way to the streets of the nation’s capital to protest big government compelling and a veritable profile in courage. As they made their way “by bus [on federally funded highways, carried in buses whose safety, licensing, and non-discrimination policies follow federal mandates], car [mostly those of the post-Pinto, NHTSA-approved, non-exploding variety], and airplane [under FAA supervision]” to the streets (road maintenance and sewer service permitting) of the District of Columbia (see, e.g., U.S. Const., Art. I, s.8, cl. 17), these valiant souls faced fire (happily, less of a worry, given the existence of . . . fire departments), famine (especially in those parts of America’s heartland, seedbed of independence, where the seeds come courtesy of federal agricultural subsidies), flood (OK – maybe we haven’t done a perfect job here, although, if I recall correctly, we’ve at least done a heckuva job), and foes (kept at bay, it is true, by a substantial police presence, in possible combination with a large number of concealed weapons) to deliver one powerful, sincere, totally consistent and coherent message: Get the government off our backs!