Band silenced for criticizing Bush (a blast from the past)

You know BushAmerica's suppression of dissent was out of control when we're still mixing stories from 2006 in with new offerings. If you think things are bad now, it's actually an improvement from a couple years ago.

The Tower City Center mall in Cleveland played host to a music festival a couple years back. One of the bands that played was Mifun, an Afrobeat group. The band members began performing in anti-Bush t-shirts. The shirts showed the Decider with a line (presumably like the universal symbol for a no-no) over the mass of flesh that is often referred to as Bush's face.

During a song called "Supercrush", which is about Bush's evil economic policies, managers of Tower City Center cut the microphones. Though the mic was cut, the band was able to tell the audience what happened. The crowed booed the facility's management in response.

Who runs Tower City Center? It's run by the U.S. Postal Service, an agency that answers directly to the government. Thus the facility is public. So, contrary to what a Nazi might think, the band had a right to free speech inside the mall. End of story.

Then again, Bush is the same international terrorist whose hired thugs violently suppressed dissent at the Devou Park rally in 2000, so I've amassed almost a whole hard drive of articles about incidents like this.

(Source: AP 4/29/06)