Sometimes silk purses can come from cows' ears

As I expect you know, Georgie gate-crashed the celebration of Martin Luther King's birthday at the King Center in Atlanta. That is, he wasn't invited; the White House press mavens pretty much just called the Center and said "he's coming, be ready." What happened was, I can only hope, a sign of things to come.

Atlanta, Georgia (CNN, January 15) - About 400 protesters lined the street across from the King Center in Atlanta as President Bush laid a wreath at the tomb of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to commemorate the 75th birthday of slain civil rights leader Thursday.

Carrying signs and chanting to rhythms pounded from conga drums, members of the crowd resisted efforts by police to move them to a designated protest area about 150 yards from the reflecting pool in front of the simple white marble crypt. ...

Shortly before Bush's arrival, a line of city buses parked in front of the center, preventing Bush and the protesters from seeing each other, although the demonstrators' jeers and slogans were not muted.

Flaming good for them!

Now, I suspect that the reason these demonstrators didn't get more of a hassle was because the White House crew that arranged this sleazy photo-op thought it would look really bad to arrest them. But wouldn't it be wonderful if the next time the police and/or Secret Service try to move a group of demonstrators out of sight out of mind, they just refused en masse?

Frankly, one of the reasons they get away with this "free speech zone" business is that we accede to it. The sooner we stop asking officialdom not to take away our rights and start telling officialdom they will not take away our rights, the better off we'll be.

Footnote: This from a speech at a church before the gravesite photo-op:

"Many of the problems that are facing our society are problems of the heart. Addiction is the problem of the heart," Bush said in indicating why he believes government alone cannot solve some social problems.

Right. Addiction is not a public health issue, our only president informs us, it's a "heart" problem. And the way to fight it, he says, is to believe.

No offense or anything, but isn't that what we did for Tinkerbell?

Update January 18: I stand corrected: Apparently belief alone isn't enough. According to Salon, in his speech at Union Bethel A.M.E Church, Bush actually said

"[p]roblems that face our society are oftentimes problems that, you know, require something greater than just a government program or a government counselor to solve," he said. "Intractable problems, problems that seem impossible to solve, can be solved. There is the miracle of salvation that is real, that is tangible, that is available for all to see."

I'm confused now. If the answer to addiction and other seemingly intractable problems is "the miracle of salvation," what is all the money for?