a matter of degrees

There's a pic of James McMurtry's axe from the Friday night show in Reno.

These seeds were planted last week after hearing some of this, and a little of that, during my routine little life. What exactly is a demonstration or protest? Really. Before anyone gets too riled up, let me clarify that I think Cindy Sheehan has lost the plot. I don't know if she ever had it, but that's another story. I'm going to lump her, in this instance, with the Senator's wife that also chose to wear a t-shirt to the State of the Union speech last week. Apparently there's a law that forbids protest/demonstration on Capitol grounds. Apparently the Capitol Police have no idea what the law actually entails. Granting them the benefit of the doubt for now, does a t-shirt signify a demonstration? A protest? Neither women wore shirts with profanity or egregious examples of libel. (Bad taste in semi-formal attire is only a Joan Rivers law.) Both were asked to cover up the t-shirts (Sheehan's asking when the war would end and the Senator's best gal's supporting the troops), both declined. Both were escorted from the upper gallery prior to the speech. We're not talking unfurled banners, disruptive behavior, yelling, screaming, or rotten tomato-tossing. I'll ask this; what if I had an anti-war organization that sported little purple ribbons? What about the swank lapel flags worn by everyone in D.C.? Are those protests one way or the other? What if I don't clap at the appropriate 'applause' sign during the President's speech? Is that a demonstration? A protest? The hackneyed decision to make either woman leave is a VERY sad commentary on the way we see our country. Don't even think about the 'what if they went bonkers during the speech' argument...our country wasn't settled on the presumption of something happening. Seems a matter of degrees.

Marlon Brando to Kevin Bacon...go.

Marlon Brando to Robert Duvall in The Godfather; Robert Duvall to Nicole Kidman in Days of Thunder; Nicole Kidman to Val Kilmer in Batman Forever; Val Kilmer to Tim Robbins in Topgun; Tim Robbins to Kevin Bacon in Mystic River. Voila! Six degrees of Kevin Bacon.

....matters of degree.

T