Scott Hunter, chief of the State Capitol Police, inexplicable banned flagpoles and signs on poles for the April 15 Tax Day Tea Party here in Raleigh. I say inexplicably because there had been no indication from the hundreds of events and the millions of people involved at these rallies that violence was even a possibility (unless some state employee union folks showed up, of course).
After cooler heads prevailed (maybe encouraged by some very pointed phone calls from his higher-ups) the ban was rescinded. Now we learn what we knew all along, that there was no cause for alarm, anyway.
On Monday, the Christian Science Monitor bucked its mainstream peers by reporting something truthful about the TEA party movement: police officials have begun to relax security requirements at conservative rallies because of the remarkable absence of violence.
Yes, you read that right: despite nonstop media warnings about hateful protests, violence from TEA party attendants is so nonexistent that police feel safe allowing them to bring large items and sometimes even guns.
The Christian Science Monitor cited the Raleigh exception for poles as evidence of bias in favor of the peaceful Tea Party protesters as opposed to traditionally violent anti-war protesters.
