Celebrate Democracy--by Shutting the Hell Up

For Bush's second inauguration--and first election--pomp and circumstance will be superceded by guns and ammo:

...organizers worried that security would be so intense and access so difficult that their groups' messages would be muffled.

The Bush administration, [Jim] McDonald said, "is using national security as a pretext to stifle dissent and to marginalize dissenters."

"They're not dissuading Osama bin Laden," he added. "They're dissuading protesters from coming out by creating a climate of fear."

Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat and the District of Columbia's delegate to Congress, is working closely with the agencies planning the inauguration and said she was satisfied that security would be strong enough to discourage a terrorist attack. "And terrorists know it," Ms. Norton said. "Besides, they like the element of surprise."

She said she worried more about the permanent changes on Capitol Hill and elsewhere, giving the city a militaristic feel that is amplified by the expanded presence of security personnel at important events like an inauguration.

"People with guns are on rooftops right now," Ms. Norton said. "Surveillance cameras are everywhere. You have to do everything you can, and I am willing to abide a lot of extra security for the inauguration. But I just don't think President Bush wants the city to look more like a military show than a celebration.

The good news is that I think we DO have permission to genuflect, avert our eyes from the dauphin's visage, and grovel in his presence. But don't quote me on that.