New Quaker Notebook

Criticizing Cheney to His Face Is Assault?
The Progressive
October 4, 2006

Steve Howards says he used to fantasize about what he'd say to President Bush or Vice President Cheney if he ever got the chance.

That opportunity arrived on June 16, the same day he says he read about US fatalities in Iraq reaching 2,500.

Howards says he was taking two of his kids to their Suzuki piano camp in Beaver Creek, Colorado. They were walking across the outdoor public mall area when all of a sudden he saw Cheney there.

"I didn't even know he was in town," Howards says. "He was walking through the area shaking hands. Initially, I walked past him. Then I said to myself, 'I can't in good conscience let this opportunity pass by.' So I approached him, I got about two feet away, and I said in a very calm tone of voice, 'Your policies in Iraq are reprehensible.' And then I walked away."

Howards says he knew the Administration has a "history of making problems" for people who protest its policies, so he wanted to leave off at that.

But the Secret Service did not take kindly to his comment. "About ten minutes later, I came back through the mall with my eight-year-old son in tow," Howards recalls, "and this Secret Service man came out of the shadows, and his exact words were, 'Did you assault the Vice President?'"

Here's how Howards says he responded: "No, but I did tell Mr. Cheney the way I felt about the war in Iraq, and if Mr. Cheney wants to be shielded from public criticism, he should avoid public places. If exercising my constitutional rights to free speech is against the law, then you should arrest me."

Which is just what the agent, Virgil D. "Gus" Reichle Jr, proceeded to do.

"He grabbed me and cuffed my hands behind my back in the presence of my eight-year-old son and told me I was being charged with assault of the Vice President," Howards recalls.

He says he told the agent, "I can't abandon my eight-year-old son in a public mall."

According to Howards, Reichle responded: "We'll call Social Services." Before that could happen, however, "my son ran away and found my wife," who was nearby, Howards says.

"First of all, I was scared," Howard recalls. "They wouldn't tell my wife where they were taking me. Second of all, I was incredulous this could be happening in the United States of America. This is what I read about happening in Tiananmen Square. They hauled me away to Eagle County jail and kept me with my hands cuffed behind my back for three hours."

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Good men in the mirror

Admittedly, I'm now more wary of my government than I am of a terrorist attack. At the same time, I'm also receiving many emails urging me to vote Democratic in the upcoming races, although these messages seem to carry more a sense of urgency than careful judgment, more tactic than reflection.¹

I understand this. Our do-nothing Congress is becoming a legislative center for do-nothing-good. The rush to close this session of the 109th Congress, in order that representatives can go to their home districts to campaign, has left us with legislation that transfers more congressional powers to the president, permits more torture and abuse, and allows the government to condemn prisoners without due process. Habeas corpus is gone, people can be detained indefinitely, and both secret and coerced evidence can be used in trials of detainees held in military prisons. For an even bigger chill, consider that President Bush can now choose to name any US citizen an "enemy combatant" for having "purposefully and materially supported" hostilities against the nation. That sounds like sedition to me, but I would suggest paying cash for that Cat Stevens album. In addition, the Military Commissions Act of 2006 gives special, retroactive immunity to US officials for violations of the War Crimes Act.² The House passed its version of the Electronic Surveillance Modernization Act, effectively broadening government powers to conduct domestic surveillance.³ And add to this HR 2679, also called the "Public Expression of Religion Act," which the House passed on Tuesday. In court cases involving the First Amendment's establishment clause, this bill would make it harder to sue for violations of church-state separation by preventing reimbursements for legal expenses incurred by plaintiffs who successfully assert establishment-clause violations.⁴

1. See, for example, this news article and this report. I myself would prefer voting reform that would prevent us from being locked into the usual narrow Republican/Democratic party choices, but I appreciate the urgency for finding new strategies in the face of the ugly consequences of keeping the status quo. To appreciate my perspective better, just look at the voting record of this "bipartisan" Congress: the Friends Committee on National Legislation has a good summary of the vote on the Military Commissions Act of 2006, and other bills.
2. See the Senate version and the House version of the Military Commissions Act of 2006.
3. Read the House bill HR 5825.
4. "House passes measure to chill establishment-clause lawsuits," Associated Baptist Press, September 26, 2006. Read the text of HR 2679 as a PDF file.

The Farmington Heresy

The original statement of the Farmington Prophecy was introduced with this declaration:

In the town of Farmington, Maine, a new state of affairs will soon exist which the world has never seen before. This change will occur on 6/6/06.

In the town of Farmington, Maine, a new state of affairs will soon exist which the world has never seen before. This change will occur within the next few years.

So apparently the error wasn't in the material statement of this future state of affairs, but only when it will happen.²

Thus the heresy continues. I pray that we do not also see issuing from this a planned community, religious tracts handed out at people's doorsteps, "shaking" dances, calls for celibacy, Nike sneakers, and grape-flavored Kool-Aid.

1. See this list-serve post in which the false prophet says that the only mistake in the prophecy was the date. She says it will happen "soon." Africans have an interesting saying. When asked when something will occur (as in the urgent delivery of something, for example) they respond: "Any time from now."

Related Tags: Farmington prophecy, Kuenning, Maine, Quaker

When Vice Presidents Attack

Good men in the mirror

The Farmington Heresy