To participate the Pentagon-sponsored "Freedom" Walk you have to register, undergo a background check, and march inside a chain-link fence lined by hundreds of armed police. If you don't have your freedom credentials, you will be arrested. Welcome to our post 9-11 "freedom." It gets much worse...read on.
Think I'm making this up? Read on...
[Crossposted at AmericaSedition]
On Sunday, America will see our post 9-11 "freedom" on display at the Pentagon-sponsored "Freedom Walk":
Washington Post
Organizers of the Pentagon's 9/11 memorial Freedom Walk on Sunday are taking extraordinary measures to control participation in the march and concert, with the route fenced off and lined with police and the event closed to anyone who does not register online by 4:30 p.m. today.
The march, sponsored by the Department of Defense, will wend its way from the Pentagon to the Mall along a route that has not been specified but will be lined with four-foot-high snow fencing to keep it closed and "sterile," said Allison Barber, deputy assistant secretary of defense.
The U.S. Park Police will have its entire Washington force of several hundred on duty and along the route, on foot, horseback and motorcycles and monitoring from above by helicopter. Officers are prepared to arrest anyone who joins the march or concert without a credential and refuses to leave, said Park Police Chief Dwight E. Pettiford. [. . .]
Pettiford said officers would patrol to keep interlopers out because the Pentagon restricted the event in its permit application. "That is what their permit called for, so we have those fences to keep the public out."
Once the National Park Service approves the permit, it is normal for police to do what they can to adhere to the organizers' requests. "It's a permitted event. That means [organizers] are allowed to say who is in and who's out," said Sgt. Scott Fear, a Park Police spokesman. He declined to say how many officers were in the Park Police, which had a Washington detail of about 400 two years ago.
What's unusual for an event on the Mall is the combination of fences, required preregistration and the threat of arrest.
Park Police officials said security and safety were concerns, especially because Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld will participate in some of the day's events. They said they have approved a permit for a small group of protesters that plans to stand along Independence Avenue. [. . .]
One restricted group will be the media, whose members will not be allowed to walk along the march route. Reporters and cameras are restricted to three enclosed areas along the route but are not permitted to walk alongside participants walking from the Pentagon, across the Memorial Bridge to the Mall. [. . .]
Opponents of the Freedom Walk took issue with the way the Pentagon is staging the event. When the walk first was publicized, participants were required to submit their names, ages, e-mail addresses and home addresses. After some groups accused the Pentagon of using the registration as a recruiting tool for the military, the requirements were changed.
I suggest that everyone should recieve the following flyers:
TO THE PUBLIC:
"To celebrate freedom you must first get a permit to participate. But be quick about it, because freedom has a 4 PM deadline and you wouldn't want freedom to pass you by. Make sure to come prepared to give all of your personal information when you register; the government will have to run a background check. This will ensure your safety and the safety of others as your particpate in freedom. When you have been determined to be eligible for freedom, you will be issued some freedom credentials; make sure you bring these important documents with you on the designated freedom day or you will be arrested by the police.
There will be zero tolerance for marching without your papers. While marching, make sure to stay within the "sterile" area lined by the chain-link fence and hundreds of armed police officers. Take comfort that these law-enforcement individuals, the barricades, and surveillance helicopters are there to "keep the public out" of the freedom march. Since this is the Lord's day, please remember to thank the Intelligent Designer for making us free and for giving us such worthy leaders. For those who wish to be free of making up their own prayers, suggested prayer flyers are available at the steps of the Pentagon. See you Sunday!"