Intro: "A handful of dancers got cuffed on Saturday for doing what they say the Founding Fathers would have wanted them to do - expressive dancing in National Parks. A court recently ruled that expressive dancing was in a category with picketing, speech making, and marching - a banned activity at national memorials."

Dancers are arrrested for doing expressive dancing at the Jefferson Memorial, 05/28/11. (photo: MSNBC)

Park Police Slam Dancers at Jefferson Memorial

By NBC Washington/RT America

29 May 11

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jUU3yCy3uI

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NBC Washington reports:

handful of dancers got cuffed on Saturday for doing what they say the Founding Fathers would have wanted them to do - expressive dancing in National Parks.

A court recently ruled that expressive dancing was in a category with picketing, speechmaking, and marching - a banned activity at national memorials.

A small group came out on Saturday to protest the ruling, by dancing together inside the rotunda of the Jefferson Memorial.

But after a few minutes, their moves got busted by Park Police.

Five were arrested, while listening to earphones and moving rythymically in the shadow of Thomas Jefferson.

"The founders understood that the only thing that was going to make the American experiment succeed was the people standing up for these rights," Jared Denman, a demonstrator, told NBC Washington.

The memorial was shut down while demonstrators got arrested.

Some visiting from out of town were less than impressed with the protesters' interprative moves. "I think its ridiculous," said Edward Kelly of Richmond. "We just traveled up the steps and we've been waiting for 15 minutes."

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+2 # LessSaid 2011-11-28 11:05

Report Suggests DSK Conspiracy at Sofitel Hotel: If so, they only used his weakness against him and he played into his emenies. Anyway you look at, he shouldn't been the Chief of IMF or the president of anything. Not that peope who are in these current positions around the world should be there either.

+33 # punk 2011-11-28 12:32

i just dont see DSK's personal shortcomings as the real issue here. regardless of his fitness to fill the position as head of the IMF, the implied dirty politics is far more damning. saying "they ONLY used his weakness" means that inducing someone to do something stupid in order to throw a national election is fine or, at worst, a minor problem. do you want an elected government or a president who uses dirty tricks to win instead of campaigning on the issues?? if so, i hope there are not many people who agree with you. we all know that politics are corrupt. are we supposed to shrug our shoulders and say 'that's life'? 'let the sneakiest win.' his personal weaknesses, however much you may abhor them, are nothing compared to giving a pass to corrupt gov. the gov is in your hands, unless u choose to look the other way whenever they do something underhanded and not in the national interest. and then u have lost any control entirely. say good-bye to democracy. elect the mafia.

-4 # LessSaid 2011-11-28 13:12

Quoting punk:

i just dont see DSK's personal shortcomings as the real issue here. regardless of his fitness to fill the position as head of the IMF, the implied dirty politics is far more damning. saying "they ONLY used his weakness" means that inducing someone to do something stupid in order to throw a national election is fine or, at worst, a minor problem. do you want an elected government or a president who uses dirty tricks to win instead of campaigning on the issues?? if so, i hope there are not many people who agree with you. we all know that politics are corrupt. are we supposed to shrug our shoulders and say 'that's life'? 'let the sneakiest win.' his personal weaknesses, however much you may abhor them, are nothing compared to giving a pass to corrupt gov. the gov is in your hands, unless u choose to look the other way whenever they do something underhanded and not in the national interest. and then u have lost any control entirely. say good-bye to democracy. elect the mafia.

It's not like he wasn't using the power of his position to take advantage of the poor around the would. You can be naive all you want, but that bartard had to go. Because of his money and power, it took the powerful and their money to take him down. I hope they keep on doing it to each. I assume you don't think what we have elected is the MAFIA.

+25 # John Gill 2011-11-28 13:35

Punk, I agree wholeheartedly, and this brings to mind another issue. If we are uncomfortable with the filthy plots and counter-plots suggested by this situation, how must we feel about the "terrorists" encouraged to build fake bombs by confidential informants? I am not saying that these people would never engage in terrorist actions on their own if not seduced into fake actions by DHS agents, but clearly these entrapments are not really solutions to the problem of potential home grown terrorism so much as they are political pageantry, enacted to create the facade of security here at home, and boost the reputation of whichever administration is in power when these events are orchestrated. I'm afraid that the business of politics, like that of commercial advertising, has always been about illusion, has always been dirty, from the moneyed elites like DSK, to the young man languishing in a military prison for allegedly exposing "secrets" to the public at large.

+7 # X Dane 2011-11-28 20:42

LessSaid, DSK is obviously a rather unsavory guy. But it seems to me that you lack some information.... . The successor to DSK is an extremely competent WOMAN.

Christine Lagarde, is highly educated and has held VERY BIG positions both in France and also here in America. She was head of a big US corporation a short time ago. She was called back to France to become Finance minister.

I have seen her both on Charlie Rose's program and also on Fareed Zakaria's several times. She is one very smart likable lady, and of course extremely intelligent. Before too long she may be President of France.

This confirms my feeling that we should have more cabable women in these high positions. There would be far less stupid scandals like the DSK, for women who are in high position don't behave in the way men in similar positions do.

These men feel entitled to go after any woman just because they are powerful.
The list of them is too long to write here. But we all know an awful lot of them.
So send in the women.
of

+1 # Gurka 2011-12-01 04:53

You are so right, # X Dane, when you say: "These men feel entitled to go after any woman just because they are powerful.
The list of them is too long to write here. But we all know an awful lot of them. So send in the women."

The powerful women seem to be immune to an illness that has afflicted so many men: The Alpha Male Syndrome". It is not just like those men feel entitled to go after any woman, they cannot abstain from it. Testosterone takes over the brain. That's why I call it a disease.

-14 # cypress72 2011-11-28 11:53

Moral of the story, if the world knows you're a scumbag , it's only a matter of time before something like this happens, especially if you're in the dirty world of politics. I always thought that he was set up, but he deserved it.

+32 # pbbrodie 2011-11-28 13:01

No one deserves to be set up for something they did not do.

+24 # punk 2011-11-28 13:04

ok, you've addressed one side of the problem-DSK's sexual philandering. now how abt tackling a bigger problem-gov corruption and dirty tricks to win a national election, instead of focusing on political issues that face the nation. which do u think is the more serious problem? i think your priorities are out of whack. u have solved the LITTLE problem of what to do with a philanderer but have totally ignored the BIG issue of underhanded politics in which the goal is to win elections by taking advantage of a person's private life and using it to entrap a weak person.

+31 # Mouna 2011-11-28 12:07

This astounding article makes visible the possibility of political"hanky panky"on the part of Sarkozy's political cronies. What a movie plot! If it was a plot to remove DSK from the possibility of becoming president of France, It furthers the likelihood that this kind of amoral power is destined to destroy any semblance of honesty in the "power towers."

"ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY"

+31 # Doubter 2011-11-28 12:23

I have no admiration whatsoever for politicians but reading this article confirms my original impression that this smells of "setup" to high heaven.

+9 # John Gill 2011-11-28 12:51

So if his 7 minute encounter with the maid was part of a conspiracy, then the whole thing sounds like something out of an Emmanuel film, and anyone with a brain when meeting a maid offering him fellatio as he exits the shower would ask himself, "why?" would at the very least, hesitate, knowing that entering into such a situation might lead to questions, blackmail, etc., that would embarrass him and the people who support him politically. At the very least, the man is a pig and a fool, and not worthy to hold any position of power. On the other hand, there is plenty of recent historical evidence to suggest that far too many politicians spend way too much time thinking with their johnsons instead of their brains. Perhaps the only answer is to require that only eunuchs be allowed to run for high office?

+1 # X Dane 2011-11-28 21:29

No, John Gill,.... How disgusting that you can only think of eunuchs!!!! for the high positions. That is so chauvenistic, when a number of very bright women ARE PROVING that in so many cases the best man for the job........IS A WONAN

It is a WOMAN, who may very well save Europe from total financial disaster... Angela Merkel.
And our own secretary of state, Hillary is certainly doing a fine job...as well as any man. Madeline Albright was extremely cabable when she was sec. of state. Not to mention a number of smart female governors.
Chritiane Amanpour is only one of a long list of bright courageous, intelligent reporters.

So can the talk of eunuchs, Call in the women. Boy it is obvious I am the only woman commeting on this article.

+2 # John Gill 2011-11-28 22:40

xdane...jokin.. ..makin a funneh..as far as I know, eunuchs didnt work out all that well in imperial china, rome, or the ottoman empire...now I'll have a rabid eunuch chewin me out..anyways... jus kiddin...really ..also eatin and my "jee" key is broken and I don't want to paste one in rite now. P.S. I am with you on the wimmins...excep t for hilarity...snip ers indeed.

0 # X Dane 2011-11-29 01:13

OK John ya got me, I am still laughing. How do we call off the eunuchs??
You obviously have done some readen, for you are right, some of them eunuch were conniving little,some not so little schnooks....Tha t was funny.

You know John I pertnear called you a male chauvenist pig, in my "righteous"ange r. But I thought better of it and contained myself.ha,ha.

0 # Gurka 2011-12-01 12:40

No, you are not the only woman commenting here, X Dane. I am another. Cheers from Scandinavia!

+12 # jcadams 2011-11-28 14:17

The professionalism of Mr. Epstein's reporting and the detail in his investigation convinces me that there was, in fact, a conspiracy against DSK. Probably by Team Sarkosy. The connections between French intelligence and its former employees who had joined the Accor Group's management ranks would support the likely probability of a very deliberate set up. Given the warning that DSK had received in the 24 hours prior to this incident he should've been more on his guard. But the real moral of the story here, however, is for the people in the U.S. to now be more concerned with the obvious connection between the various American intelligence agencies --- or their ex-employees now working for private firms --- and political operatives. Or on retainer to large banks and private corporations. As Americans we have much more to fear about the illegal activities of our current and former intelligence operatives than did Mr. Strauss-Kahn. The new age of the political, intelligence industry and corporate information collection nexus is upon us. President Eisenhower may not have seen this last twist coming!

0 # Activista 2011-11-28 19:34

+3 # LessSaid 2011-11-28 14:25

'Dominique Strauss-Kahn conspiracy theory denied by New York Sofitel

The New York hotel where the Dominique Strauss-Kahn was accused of trying to rape a chambermaid on Sunday issued a point-by-point denial of claims that the former French presidential favourite was set up as part of a grand conspiracy to discredit him. '
----------------------------------------

Well, maybe we have more than one conspiracy going on here. The conspiracy to try an repair this pig dirty little legacy. Trying to prove there was a conspiracy to discredit DSK is going to be harder than trying to prove the rape case against him.

0 # Activista 2011-11-28 14:38

+1 # Magars 2011-11-28 17:52

We are living in the society where "FABRICATIONS" are the way to do business in economical intelligence and in intelligence in general. A person can live a normal life and suddenly it could take an abrupted turn,because is convenient for somebody's benefits or to create a distraction or...who knows why. That's right like in the movies,why not, movies are the artistic representation of our reality.

+1 # jwb110 2011-11-28 19:35

The old opiate of the people is the new opiate of the people plus the electronic age. That is what is being used to obscure the issues that are the most pressing in the world. DSK would have won and election in France. The rest is fiction, a smattering of fact and the need for global fascism to do anything to prevail.
I always thought that DSK was kind of an egomaniac. That said, he lives in a world of egomaniacs and his brand of egomania would stem the tide of Sarkozy ideologies. The world is not black and white. To believe it is is naive and makes every persons life a potential political football.

+3 # Rosa 2011-11-28 20:59

That's a lot of work for such a worthless article. Seriously: the author did great research, but his sympathy for "DSK" is all too apparent. Note to journalists: refer to your subjects by their proper names, e.g., Mr. Strauss-Kahn, rather than their nicknames; referring to them by their homespun nicknames reveals an unprofessional affinity with them. But that's expressed in many other ways, such as accepting poor "DSK"s assertions on various points, and not being able to understand why Ms. Diallo could have given statements, while under great duress, that were sometimes contradictory. Under much less pressure, we could all make such mistakes, either consciously or unconsciously. The article reveals an inability on the part of many liberals (as well as everyone else) to understand key features of the experience of most women in the world. And really, after the graphic description that Epstein provides about semen & saliva and Strauss-Kahn's admission that there was "sexual contact," how can any sensible person who knows anything about power relations give "DSK" the benefit of the doubt?! At the very least, he took advantage of his position and of the vulnerability of Ms. Diallo. The NYRB is great, but this article is rubbish. You shouldn't have wasted so much time with your defense of poor "DSK," Mr. Epstein.

+1 # X Dane 2011-11-29 02:04

Rosa, let me hurry to say that Kahn is a jerk, obviously a grade A philanderer.

The "Inconsistensie s" in MS Diallo's testimony were many more than the couple of very minor ones mentioned here. She had lied about a lot of things. Great sums of money in her bank account, and a lot of lies, that made it hard for the police to believe her. (I followed it)

Something else is a little difficult to understand. MS Diallo is a tall woman, 5' 10 and strongly built, Kahn is a small man and he was naked. I would think she would be able to, either escape or fight him off,
I do not think, as some do, that a woman "asked for it" I am just puzzled for the reasons I just mentioned.

0 # Activista 2011-11-29 21:25

+1 # oldleftie 2011-11-29 14:20

You're all missing the real point: DSK's political career is ended because it was revealed that he had lunch at McCormick & Schmick's restaurant. No French voter is going to vote for a candidate who is *that* gauche

+1 # Michael_K 2011-11-29 20:55

Such a load of bollocks!
DSK was always a rutting porker!
Besides, even les socialistes would have
had a most difficult campaign explaining why they would allow a pig dedicated to destroying social safety nets all over the planet as IMF policy to represent them. And if it had been a plot I can assure you the French are smart enough to have waited until he was the annointed candidate before springing a trap knowing full well the fat old satyr would provide ample opportunities

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