The judge refused to grant them a permit because they waited until the last minute. It has nothing to do with trampling on the bill of rights and everything to do with slackers who show up to protest something because they want to feel hip. If they were so interested in politics, they should have run for office themselves. This was about procrastination. Maybe they will learn from their lesson and get an earlier move on things, next time. I know Kerry's loyal brainwashed fools want to shift this around to seem like one party is trampling on our rights, but where were they when the democrats trampled over the same right to peaceable assembly in Boston last month? they were nowhere. In fact, the "Free Speech Zone" in Boston resembled a palestinian refugee camp. At least the protestors in NYC get to March down the Avenue. They got more than they should. The Central Park Protest would have ruined my ability to enjoy a place that I love, and if the out-of-towner democrats who would be ruining said lawn had any class, they would have helped the NYC democrats run a better campaign back in 2001 and we would not have Bloomberg as the mayor. Incidentally, Bloomberg has serious issues with Bush over Federal Aid, and he did not want to encroach on the hard-working citizens of the big apple by tightening security unreasonably. He fought the white house in this issue and won. Bloomberg usually sucks, but regarding the convention, he has acted with integrity. His primary duty is to take care of New Yorkers interests first (including protecting their beloved park from overburden), the welcome visitors second, and then the rights of a few terrorist sympathizers and democrats last. Sounds like a good mayor to me. Remember the concept of constituents? Those are the people to look out for. In America, Majority rules, but minorities have rights. They can march in NYC, just not in the park. They are lucky they arent dealing with the democrats, who would simply cage them in like animals.

adamist wrote:
] New York's Central Park has long been the logical place for
] mass gatherings, with its sprawling Great Lawn and, well,
] central location. In 1991, singer Paul Simon drew 750,000
] there. In 1995, Pope John Paul II celebrated a mass that drew
] more than 130,000. And in 1997, country singer Garth Brooks
] played to a crowd of 250,000.
]
] But political assemblies on the eve of the Republican National
] Convention appear to be taboo. This week, city officials
] persuaded a federal judge to keep the park off limits Saturday
] to a protest rally by 75,000 people jointly sponsored by an
] Arab-American coalition and an anti-war group.
]
] In a nationwide poll conducted earlier this year for the
] Freedom Forum's First Amendment Center and American Journalism
] Review, only 10% of respondents could name the right of
] assembly and free association as one of those guaranteed by
] the First Amendment.
]
] After the oppression of British colonial rule, those were
] among the rights the Revolution was fought for. They're still
] worth defending. Protecting municipal grass is a thin excuse
] for mowing down those rights.

RE: Yahoo! News - New York tramples Bill of Rights to protect 'grass'?