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A federal judge said Friday that the U.S. Armys military academy at West Point can refuse to let outsiders on campus for an anti-war demonstration during Vice President Cheneys commencement speech.</p>
<p>The Democratic Alliance of Orange County and several individuals had asked District Judge Charles Brieant to intervene after the military schools garrison commander turned down their request for a 1,000-person permit for next Saturday morning....
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<p>And I'll bet all the protesters will say that they support the troops. </p>
<p>Thank you, Judge Brieant.</p>
<p>Since the anti-war types have decided that the military cannot recruit on their precious academic campi (yes, even the publicly-funded ones), then it seems only fair to tell them to FOAD in turn.</p>
<p>Also, this is a military installation, not an open public park. The right of civilians to run their mouths off for the express purpose of agitating ends at the main gate. The base commander has the final say, and miltary bases are not the place for political protests of ANY stripe, regardless.</p>
<p>The unmitigated gall of these people never ceases to amaze me. Hopefully, the Class of 2007 will now be able to graduate in peace and with the decorum that four years of hard effort and commitment so richly deserve.</p>
<p>If there were protestors at my graduation i'd be $%#&ing ****ed. I bet if that did happen thered probably be an incident</p>
<p>I wonder if the ACLU will pick up on this...</p>
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Anti-war activists said they would appeal a federal judges ruling that West Point can refuse to let outsiders on campus to demonstrate against the war in Iraq during Vice President Cheneys commencement speech.</p>
<p>The fact that we oppose the war does not make us a security risk, said Michael Sussman, a leader of the Democratic Alliance of Orange County. He said he expected arguments to be heard in the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan on Wednesday or Thursday....
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<p>All Public Universities have active ROTC, including the most prominent ones, Zaphod. Univ. of Virginia, Univ. if Michigan, UC-Berkeley, UCLA and UNC-Chapel Hill Included.<br>
Only some Ivy League Universities have banned it, including the President's Alma Mater and other schools of the Wealthy Conservative Elite. Try to think about the factuality of what you say, Zahpod.</p>
<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reserve_Officer_Training_Corps#Notable_Army_ROTC_graduates%5B/url%5D">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reserve_Officer_Training_Corps#Notable_Army_ROTC_graduates</a>
In recent years, concerted efforts are being made at some Ivy League universities that have previously banned ROTC, including Harvard and Columbia, to return ROTC to campus.[3] In the 21st century, the debate often focuses around the Congressional don't ask, don't tell law, signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1993, which forbids homosexuals serving in the United States military from disclosing their sexual orientation at the risk of expulsion. Some schools believe this legal mandate would require them to waive or amend their non-discrimination policies. The Supreme Court ruled in March 2006 that they are entitled to hold this opinion, but at the expense of federal funding (see Solomon Amendment).</p>
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<p>While I also think that this planned demonstration/protest is completely misguided and wrong, I also believe that it IS possible to be against the war in Iraq AND support the troops as well.</p>
<p>Let them protest---OUTSIDE the gates. I wouldn't want anyone protesting anything anywhere near me or my son or daughter on the day they are celebrating graduating from West Point---they haven't earned that particular honor..</p>
<p>Really the people graduating have fought tooth and nail to be where they are at and people want to go and ruin their excitment and joy?? How inconsiderate... As far as I know everyone in the Military is a volunteer correct... So why protest..</p>
<p>I am against the war, very much for our soldiers, and agree that West Point - or any of our service academies for that matter - is not the place for political demonstrations of any kind. Keep them outside in the civilian world where they belong.</p>
<p>I'm against abortions but support the doctors that perform them.</p>
<p>Yeah... right.</p>
<p>/sarcasm</p>
<p>Rationalwar, Zaphod said they can't recruit on campus, he didn't say they were not allowed... try actually reading the posts?</p>
<p>“I'm against abortions but support the doctors that perform them.”</p>
<p>A doctor performing or not performing abortions can, if they choose, make their decision independently and exclusive of others. A soldier following orders to deploy has neither say nor choice in the matter. Your statement, therefore, has no relevance to the issue.</p>
<p>But let me see if I can shed some light on these phenomena for you TacticalNuke since you are having trouble with the concept. Now, keep in mind that while things can be explained to you they can’t be understood for you, and so there are no guarantees here. Sound bites and talking points are convenient ways to avoid the need to think with your own brain, but for the rest of the population that actually does use their brain to think those same talking points are highly unsatisfactory.</p>
<p>Well, here we go; I promise to try to keep it simple.</p>
<p>Let's hypothesize for a moment that there is an emperor, and that this emperor thinks he has clothes but indeed he has none. Now this emperor feels strongly that someone in this far away country has stolen these invisible clothes. The intelligence is anything but unambiguous on the matter but he won’t be swayed. He sends his Army into this country to find those clothes, but of course since his clothes never existed there are none to be found. In the meantime the citizens of this country have taken it upon themselves to renew internal religious conflicts and tribal disagreements that have raged for centuries.</p>
<p>Now pay attention here Tac: In the emperors country there are citizens who love their soldiers, admire them, and are even fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters to these very soldiers. Furthermore these citizens think the emperor sending those troops overseas on a foolish mission didn’t add up before he send them, and it still doesn’t add up now. They think their brave and precious soldiers are being wasted in an unwise conflict and want them home. They don’t want any more of their children to be killed or injured looking for invisible clothes or as arbitrators of a foreign civil war.</p>
<p>The bottom line is that all wars aren’t always supportable no matter what Rush or Bill O’ says; believe it or not there are "bad" wars. But the troops can always be supported. And sometimes, and especially in the case of a "bad" war, supporting those troops means bringing them home. And sometimes endangering the troops in places and conflicts where they don’t belong - ie. in a "bad" war, is not supporting them, but is instead disrespectful of their value and service.</p>
<p>So Tac, try not to trivialize something as important as the lives of American soldiers with a foolish sound bite or talking point. Thankfully fewer and fewer people are buying the rhetoric. The real issues are both deep and controversial and there are valid points to be made on both sides of the argument.</p>
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<p>Great post. :D</p>
<p>Dyenior, either way he is WRONG. The only universities that have that ban are the Ivy League's of the conservative elite.</p>
<p>"...of the conservative elite"??? I fail to see the connection. ROTC was banned by some of the Ivy Leagues during the Vietnam era where college campuses were anything but conservative.</p>
<p>I never thought of the Ivy Leagues as conservative at all. Does it just not make sense for liberals to be anything but poor and oppressed?</p>
<p>The abortion doctor analogy seems just fine to me. I don't understand how a soldier would be any less liable now that we don't have a draft.</p>
<p>"The abortion doctor analogy seems just fine to me. I don't understand how a soldier would be any less liable now that we don't have a draft."</p>
<p>The analogy equated abortions with the war and doctors with soldiers. Care to connect the dots for us and explain how it all makes sense?</p>