Dumbass Grandstanding Protester Gets More Than He Bargained For

And here's another from the anti-Bush Cabal idiot slushpile:
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Maine Activist Cited for Bin Laden Stunt
15 Nov 06

A Portland, Maine Democratic activist who was arrested after he was spotted on a highway overpass dressed as Osama bin Laden on Halloween faces additional charges for the stunt. Tom Connolly was charged Wednesday with terrorizing and reckless conduct, in addition to the original charge of criminal threatening, prosecutor Stephanie Anderson said. All three charges are misdemeanors.

Terrorizing? Reckless conduct? Yeah, those probably are valid, given that he was doing all of this on a highway overpass. But criminal threatening? How is it that he conveyed a criminal threat? Once again, the outraged and intolerant general public misplaces its anger. We have yet to find, fix, and/or kill UBL (who's been dead, blown to dust in Tora Bora back in October of 2001, by the way), so we'll lash out at any possible vestige of him, be it UBL toilet paper, shooting targets, or a petty local self-aggrandizing politician wannabe who doesn't think through his actions and their likely and possible consequences.

"Halloween or not, in this day and age you do not get to dress as an international terrorist and wave what appears to be an AK-47 at rush hour traffic," Anderson said.

What is someone did that in a group, where the others were dressed as flappers, King Kong, Elvis, Steven Hawking, maybe even Fred Sanford? Would that have brought all of the charges? Or is it that he was alone? Again, it's about "this day and age," which means that, just like the Japanese got the drop on us in '41 and we as a collective national entity distrusted and despised them, every single one of them for years afterwards, now it's hatred of the UBLs, and those that think and act like him. Yeah, he's a bad, bad guy, and I'd stick him with a knife myself if given the chance, but at the same time, how is that UBL appears on a Maine traffic overpass on Halloween night? Doesn't anyone have any common sense? Doesn't anyone have a sense of humor?

Police responded to calls from motorists on Interstate 295 about a man on an overpass wearing a white robe and carrying a fake assault rifle. The costume included a rubber mask, plastic dynamite and grenades, in addition to the toy assault rifle. Before he was arrested, Connolly walked toward officers as plastic grenades tumbled onto the ground, an officer said.

Did the motorists say he was carrying a fake assault rifle? Seems to be a bit of a giveaway, then. I'll bet the rest of costume was some really cheapo gunk, too, just like the overpriced plastic crap you get at Party Depot, the kind of stuff where it makes you itch, and smells funny, and the colors run on your skin. And folks thought he was a terrorist? Did the police buy into his terrorism ruse?

That being said, what kind of idiot would just walk toward a police office with any kind of semblance of a weapon of any kind? That's just suicidal, dude.

Anderson said Connolly created an "incredibly dangerous" situation for motorists, for police--and for himself. "He's lucky he didn't get shot," she said.

Yup, couldn't agree more. But also, the police can't even begin to look like they're soft on terrorism, soft on international threats, soft on Homeland Security, so anything that even looks like the Big Al-Qaida has to be confronted in a direct, manly and defiant way, and then dealt with ridiculously harshly, even if it's clear it's a dumbass pseudo-political attention hound looking for another picture in the local paper.

Connolly's lawyer, Daniel Knight, said Wednesday there was no mistaking Connolly for a terrorist on Halloween. "His protest involved a plastic squirt gun that was not used in any menacing manner whatsoever while Tom was in a costume on Halloween," Knight said.

Furthermore, he said, Connolly was holding a sign with a political statement about the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, or TABOR, which was defeated by voters Nov. 7. Police said at least one person who saw a sign held by Connolly thought it said "Taliban."

Yeah, both the words have a "t," "a," and "b" in them, but that's where it ends. Read the sign people. Using this logic, motorists could blame the highway department for not taking them to the airport when they mistakenly followed a sign for "Acropolis Restaurant." Somehow Connolly is to blame for holding up a non-threatening sign that had nothing to do with criminal threatening or terroristic activities? He's to blame for impersonating a terrorist because he was protesting--peacefully albeit stupidly--the US tax system?

Connolly, 49, a defense lawyer, made headlines when he divulged President Bush's drunken-driving arrest days before the 2000 election. During the Democratic Convention, Connolly passed out "W is for Wiener" buttons. He also has been known to don a George W. Bush mask and dance for passing motorists.

Interesting, why hasn't he been arrested and charged for these stunts? The only difference was the costume.

Anderson, a Republican, said Connolly probably would have been charged even if he was wearing a George Washington costume instead of an Osama bin Laden costume. The problem, she said, was that the gun looked real and that he pointed it at people.

Yeah, right. I guarantee that if he were weariing anything but a UBL/terrorist outfit, he would've been written off as another Halloween idiot. This is about destroying the effigy after all, even if it's not just clothes stuffed with rags and is a real person.

Each charge carries a maximum penalty of 364 days in jail, but a lengthy jail term was unlikely, Anderson said. A trial was scheduled for Dec. 19.

Big lecture from the judge on the proper forms and venues of dissent and protest, with a fine imposed to cover the police and emergency response costs. Maybe probation. And the idiot will get more public attention than he ever thought he would.