From IMDb.com:

Sheen Faces Firing Over War Stance

Hollywood star Martin Sheen is facing getting fired from his role as President Jed Bartlett in TV hit The West Wing - because of his outspoken views on war. The Apocalypse Now actor has been the most vocal of a growing number of celebrity names strongly opposed to conflict with Iraq. He has addressed rallies and spearheaded last week's "virtual match" in Washington DC, where legislators were bombarded with a million emails, telephone calls and faxes from protesters. But Sheen's strong political views are causing problems for West Wing bosses at NBC, who fear they face a boycott from advertisers. The actor claims NBC executives have told him his high profile could damage the show and called on him to explain his views. Meanwhile, Sheen and other stars among the anti-war lobby are also facing a public backlash because of their controversial standpoint.

It seems to me that if the cause for this war were just, there'd be no reason to fear anti-war protesters - be they celebrities, people wearing t-shirts in the mall or anyone else. The only reason to silence dissent is if you're afraid the dissenters will make more sense than you do and convince others to oppose your plans.

Right now, NBC needs to get the message that more people will quit watching their shows (not just "The West Wing", but others as well) if they do fire Martin Sheen (or anyone else) for their views, that will quit watching the show if they don't.

Interstingly, former Senator Fred Thompson, currently playing District Attorney Arthur Branch on NBC's "Law & Order", hasn't received the same kind of flack for appearing in a pro-war commercial that Martin Sheen has for his anti-war stance. I've found no reports that there are any threats to Thompson's job or any "discomfort" being expressed by NBC officials.

This is another situation to watch closely - particularly if they NBC continues to act to silence anti-war celebrities and not pro-war ones.

I'm an American.  I'm not sure I'm always comfortable admitting that these days, but it's a simple fact.  I was born in America and have lived here my entire life.  In fact, I've only ever been to one other country, and that was to spend a bit of time in Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.  A very nice place, I might add.

I've not always been happy with what my government has done, but it's never gone beyond a philosophical difference of opinions before, or just a basic sense of concern - but with a feeling of certainty that things would be set aright.

The first time I recall having any comprehension of the world of politics was during Watergate.  I was maybe 8 or 9 at the time, and I knew my parents were upset about what was happening, but I didn't really understand it very well.  My Dad tried to explain it to me in ways an 8 or 9 year old could grasp, and I think that he tried, as best he could, to avoid painting me a picture that would turn me against the government in general. 

During the Ford and Carter years, I was enamoured with the Presidency.  I remember going downtown one time when President Ford was in town and the thrill of seeing his limo go by.  I sent a letter to him telling him how much I liked him - in that inimitable "little girl" way - and got a very nice booklet on the White House in return.  In Junior High, I even went to Washington DC on a field trip with one of my school classes.  We got to see the Capitol, the White House, several of the monuments.  At that point I wanted to be able to be the President one day.

Somehow, though, during the Reagan-Bush years, I fell out of love with the government.  I don't know what it was that did it - though Iran-Contra, Abscam, and the first Gulf War didn't help any. I started to question what the government was doing, and why, and didn't really like the answers I was coming up with.  Of course, the Clinton administration just turned me into a cynic.  Between his own actions and the actions of those trying to bring him down, I got to a point where I could no longer believe that politicians even knew what it meant to try and serve the public as opposed to their own interests.  I started speaking out a lot more about what I believe in, and trying to educate myself on various issues (though I could still use more of that in a lot of areas - it's an ongoing process).

This administration, though, has taken things to a whole new level.  The California energy crisis. Enron. Trying to keep everything secret. "Faith-Based Charities". Lies. All of that before 9/11 - it was irritating and infuriating, but it was something that could be lived with and could be changed once this administration was voted out of office (Bush's re-election is not something I can really allow myself to contemplate, even as I do whatever I can to try and help prevent it).

And then the attacks came. And in the time since then, this country has become a place I barely even recognize any more. USA PATRIOT Act, the looming shadow of Patriot II.  TIPS. TIA. Increased scanning at the airport - using our credit histories and bank records to see if we're safe to fly.  People who protest the government's policies being visited by the FBI.  "You're either with us or against us." Insinuations that those who disagree with the administration are borderline traitors.  People being held without charges, unable to speak to their lawyers, indefinately. Refusing to allow the courts to have jurisdiction over certain cases.  Claiming Congress has no right to see who is helping shape our energy policy - and then threatening the budget of the office that tried to force the issue in the courts. Filing amicus briefs to encourage judges to deny a parade permit for anti-war protesters. Increased surveillance of citizens. On and on and on.

And the fear.  They want us to be afraid all the time.  They know that they can't win us over with logic, so they try to scare us into submission.  Yellow. Orange. Yellow. Orange. Oops - sorry - bad intel! Be on the lookout for these scary looking men.  Heh - uh, sorry folks, just a false alarm.  They're going to attack us with scuba divers! They're going to attack apartments! They're going to attack banks!  Don't go to the shopping mall - they might get you there!  By the way - if you don't continue living your life exactly like you always have, you've let them win.  Of course, we're going to have to make a lot of changes in how our country is run to keep you all safe - even if making some of those changes really just ends up giving them what they want.

It's Osama!  He's the devil incarnate and we're going to bring him in dead or alive.  No, wait!  It's Saddam! Yeah, that's who we need to get!  See, he's got these planes.... oh, he doesn't? Ok, well, we've got this report that says he's only six months from having nuclear weapons.  Um, wait, he was six months away in 1998. Or was it 1991?  It doesn't matter, see, he's close!  We have to go get him now!! (North Korea?  Nah, nothing to see there, move along!) The British gave us this fantastic report on just how bad he is -- what do you mean they didn't write it?  Plagiarism? Well.  Hmmm. Ok, look, he's got weapons.  See, he's destroying them, just like we asked him to!  That proves he has more, and that we have to go get him!!  (Osama?  Yeah, I think he's still around, why do you ask?).   Yes, we have to get Saddam.  Its the only way to keep us safe from terrorists.  Now, going after Saddam may make some people mad, so he may become more likely to launch terror attacks against us (and so might others who think what we're doing is wrong), but even though we'll be more vulnerable, we'll be safer.  Just be sure to get your duct tape!

And every day, there's more.  There's the shame of watching our President act like the schoolyard bully as he tries to coerce other nations into joining us in this insane quest for war.  They owe us, you know, and if that doesn't work we can always try bribes.  Spying on UN officials?  Sure, why not.  We can use that information to try and get them to join us.  It doesn't matter how low we stoop in trying to get other countries to go along with us - since the ends apparently justify the means in this case.

And so I've now come to a point where all the twisting and spinning, lying and hiding, fear tactics, bullying, and everything else, are starting to wear me down.  Not in terms of my opposition to what the current administration is doing - that never waivers.  But in other ways.  I've been clinically depressed for as long as I can remember, and have to take medication to keep it under control.  But lately, that doesn't seem to be working so well, and I can't remember the last time I felt as emotionally ragged as I have these last few months.  Tears come far to easy these days, as does rage. I'm getting headaches regularly, and haven't been able to sleep decently in weeks. And I can't find anything in my life to account for it except everything that's been going on around me. 

Being homebound, and cut off from so much of the world, I sometimes think that what happens outside my doors probably shouldn't affect me much - but it does.  This isn't a cozy, safe cave for me to hibernate in and let the world pass me by.  I just never imagined, though, that there'd be a day when what my government is doing would actually make me ill - and somehow, I don't think this is one of those things that two aspirin and a call in the morning will fix.

This one just floors me. 

STEPHEN DOWNS AND his son, Roger Downs, each had a pro-peace shirt made Monday night.  One shirt simply said "Let Inspections Work" on one side and "No War With Iraq" on the other.  The other shirt said "Give Peace A Chance" on the front and "Peace On Earth" on the back.  The men paid about $23 for each of the shirts and then wore them in the mall.
    
"We were just shopping. We were wearing these T-shirts. We weren't handing out leaflets, we weren't saying anything," Roger Downs recalled.
    
They may not have been saying anything, but they were creating enough of a disturbance to one employee, who called security.
    
Security asked Downs and his son to remove their shirts. Roger Downs complied, but when Stephen Downs wouldn't, he was told to leave the mall.  When he refused, he was arrested. 
    
[...] New York Civil Liberties Union President Stephen Gottlieb says he can't believe the peaceful T-shirts could lead to Downs' arrest. 
    
[...] Guilderland police say they arrested Downs because he refused to leave private property. That, they say, is trespassing.
    
Representatives for Crossgates did not return calls for comment Tuesday.
    
Signs posted at entrances to the mall say that "wearing of apparel... likely to provoke disturbances... is prohibited" at the mall.

"Likely to provoke disturbances".  When you get right down to it, that's pretty vague, really.  What criteria are used to determine how "likely to provoke disturbances" any given shirt (or other article of clothing) is? Obviously, no actual disturbance has to occur for something to be considered out of bounds.  I know when I was still able to go to malls, I saw some pretty outlandish and offensive things on shirts that no one seemed to think needed to be removed or were "likely to provoke disturbances". 

It can be argued that once they asked the guy to leave, he should have - but what I find most disturbing about this incident is that the security guard felt that an anti-war t-shirt was provocative enough to tell the guy to take it off or leave in the first place.  I'd love to have someone go to that mall and keep track of what other kinds of shirts are seen there that aren't considered too provocative.

What's really sad, though, is that the main reason for considering a shirt "likely to provoke disturbances" would be if you're afraid that someone will see the shirt and have a significant reaction to it.  The guy who wants to promote peace is being shushed to prevent a guy who wants a war from acting out when confronted with a message contradictory to his own desires. It's not the guy in the peace shirt whose the threat here, it's the one who wants war and thinks he needs to verbally (or otherwise) assault those who disagree.  The message the whole incident sends, however,  is that those who want peace should just be quiet.