Let's see, speech is only free if Veep ain't around

This is a story that sould have been frontpage news when the incident occured, but it doesn't come to light until the lawsuits are filed.

A Denver-area man filed a lawsuit today against a member of the Secret Service for causing him to be arrested after he approached Vice President Dick Cheney in Beaver Creek this summer and criticized him for his policies concerning Iraq.

Attorney David Lane said that on June 16, Steve Howards was walking his 7-year-old son to a piano practice, when he saw Cheney surrounded by a group of people in an outdoor mall area, shaking hands and posing for pictures with several people.

According to the lawsuit filed at U.S. District Court in Denver, Howards and his son walked to about two-to-three feet from where Cheney was standing, and said to the vice president, "I think your policies in Iraq are reprehensible," or words to that effect, then walked on.

Ten minutes later, according to Howards' lawsuit, he and his son were walking back through the same area, when they were approached by Secret Service agent Virgil D. "Gus" Reichle Jr., who asked Howards if he had "assaulted" the vice president. Howards denied doing so, but was nonetheless placed in handcuffs and taken to the Eagle County Jail.
Charlie Brennan, Rocky Mountain News

Needless to say the bogus charges brought by agent Reichle Jr. were dropped. But the real lesson of this story, if there is one, is that Vice President Cheney's shell-pink ears are so sensitive, to even mild criticism, that upon hearing any disparaging remarks he begins bleeding from the eardrums.