troll,

The inauguration was tacky. Look at who they inaugurated. (Just couldn't resist - sorry Kendall

You seem to be arguing that "being afraid of trouble" is a justification. Its also prior restraint. On that basis (and given the statistics) the police need to arrest 18 - 23 yo urban males before the go into a night club because they "might get drunk". Or stop 17 year olds from driving because they have a higher probability of causing an accident or....ad infinitum.

So there "might" be trouble. There might not. The assumption that the suspicion is sufficient grounds to act to limit assembly and speech and so on is one of the major problems. If you don't want the rhetoric and protests, don't become a public figure.

The apologists for this type of behavior (on the part of the police/officials ) need to remember lessons of history. What they can do to people who don't like GWB today, they can do to _________________________(fill in the blank) tomorrow. We either stop this kind of thing when it doesn't seem like a big deal, when the rationale seems so ...rational, or it grows. The bar gets raised another notch.

And people wonder why respect and trust for the government continues to decline.

Regards John

PS: Yes. I'm still reading. BTW your "Learn to Read with Phonics for Dummies - The Movie" is on the way. Hope it helps.