Stop the ACLU Blogburst - Rainbow Family! - July 8, 2008

Originally posted at Stop the ACLU

NY Times:

The American Civil Liberties Union said on Saturday that it would investigate the actions of federal officers who had arrested five members of the Rainbow Family in western Wyoming during the group’s annual gathering.

The federal Forest Service said a mob of about 400 members of the Rainbow Family, a group of hippie types and eccentrics who hold a weeklong national gathering on public land each year, threw rocks and sticks at Forest Service officers who tried to arrest a member of the group. The agency would not give a reason for the original arrest.

They were probably running around in public naked, chaining themselves to trees, having orgies, and partaking in illegal drugs. One thing they probably were not doing was taking baths. There are so many possibilities I wouldn’t know where to start.
William Teach goes off on this one:

Now they want to get involved. When it was three students at Duke University, members of the lacrosse team, being uncredibly accused of rape, sexual crimes, and kidnapping, the ACLU was nowhere to be found.

When it was found that the police lineups used to identify the supposed perpetrators, the ACLU was nowhere to be found.
When it was found that Durham DA Mike Nifong refused to speak with not only the accused, but had not even spoken with the accuser, the ACLU was nowhere to be found.

When Nifong was all but convicting the players, calling them horrible names, the ACLU was nowhere to be found.

When the entire case was falling apart at the seams, due to massive problems with Nifong’s evidence, the accusers Sybil like stories, tainted DNA runs, and a whole host of other issues, the ACLU was nowhere to be found.

When a case screams for protection from unconstitutional abuses, when people were literally asking for people and groups, including the Governor, the NC Attorney General, and, the ACLU, to get involved, the ACLU was nowhere to be found.

But, when a few hippies are arrested for unknown reasons - and, really, what business is that of the ACLU? - and others go ballistic - what happened to peace, love, and understanding? - the ACLU is there.

Most likely, with a group of freaks like this, there were already ACLU lawyers in attendance.
Here’s more…they got violent!

The Forest Service’s Incident Command Team in Rock Springs issued a press release Friday morning, saying officers were patrolling the main meadow of the gathering Thursday evening when they contacted a man who fled and was later caught. Another Rainbow was detained for physically interfering.

Officers began to leave the area with the subjects and were circled by Rainbow participants, according to the news release from Rita Vollmer of the Incident Command Team.

Ten officers were escorting the detained subjects when about 400 Rainbows surrounded the squad, and more officers were requested, according to the news release.

“The mob began to advance, throwing sticks and rocks at the officers. Crowd control tactics were used to keep moving through the group of Rainbows,” the news release said.

Other law enforcement agencies were called to the scene, the news release said.
Officers made five arrests; one officer suffered minor injuries and was cleared by a local hospital; and a government vehicle sustained damage, the news release said.

“This lawless behavior is unacceptable and we will not tolerate it,” said John Twiss, Forest Service director of law enforcement. “The safety of our employees, public and Rainbow participants is our number one priority, and we will continue to protect everyone on the national forest.”

Hippies throwing rocks? I thought they believed in peace!

Jammie Wearing Fool nails it on these weirdos: