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In a transparently mercantile bid to keep protesters from disrupting the Republican National Convention later this month, the Bloomberg administration will offer "peaceful political activists" discounts at select hotels, museums, stores and restaurants around town during convention week, which begins Aug. 29.

Law-abiding protesters will be given buttons that bear a fetching rendition of the Statue of Liberty holding a sign that reads, "peaceful political activists." Protesters can present the buttons at places like the Whitney Museum, the Museum of Sex, the Pokémon Center store and such restaurants as Miss Mamie's Spoonbread Too and Applebee's to save some cash during their stay.

If only the Romanovs had thought of this.

"It's no fun to protest on an empty stomach," Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said yesterday, when he announced the program at NYC & Company, the city's tourism office, which will distribute the buttons to all comers to its Midtown office.

Protesters can also get the buttons from groups that have a legal permit to rally. But Mr. Bloomberg conceded yesterday that not everyone who wore a button would be strictly vetted for his or her peacefulness. "Unfortunately, we can't stop an anarchist from getting a button," he said, though he doubted any of them would want to wear one.

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Posted by Phanto (Member # 5897) on :
 
ILSHIH!
 

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Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
 
Museum of Sex
Pokemon Center

Wow, they are covering a wide fan base.

-Trevor
 

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Posted by Mabus (Member # 6320) on :
 
Sounds clever. Let's hope it works...the Republicans for the sake of a quiet convention, the Democrats because riots and angry protests will make them look bad.
 

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Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :
 
It's a good thing no such protester would be so fiendishly clever as to remove their button before they wanted to do some non-peaceful protesting!

Hobbes

[ August 19, 2004, 09:34 PM: Message edited by: Hobbes ]
 

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Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
 
I wonder what makes them think a protester wouldn't take advantage of the deals, then proceed to go nuts while wearing their Pokemon merchandise proudly.

-Trevor
 

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Posted by Eduardo_Sauron (Member # 5827) on :
 
Paraphrasing Telperion (in other thread): Wacky.
 

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Posted by sndrake (Member # 4941) on :
 
One thing that really bugs me about the article is that the city - and the Times is cooperating - is attempting to conflate "lawful" with "peaceful." Note that many civil rights demonstrations of the 1960s, were unlawful, but peaceful.

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With the convention a week and a half away, there are already some who may not qualify for the discounts. Yesterday, four members of Code Pink, a women's protest group, were arrested for trying to dangle a 40-foot-long banner from their ninth-floor window at the Sheraton Hotel across from Mr. Bloomberg's news conference, the police said.

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Museum of Sex
Pokemon Center

Wow, they are covering a wide fan base.

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The Times article did make a point of distancing the "anarchists" from the "Democrats". That's probably a result of the Times's ever-present liberal bias, but it was still interesting.

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