You kind of wonder how civics teachers are handling the teaching of our nation's vaunted "freedom of expression" when stuff like this keeps happening:
Poor Linda Ronstadt: The singer was escorted out of the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas by security guards after a concert -- before an audience of almost 5,000 -- in which she dedicated a song, "Desperado," to Michael Moore, calling the filmmaker "someone who cares about this country deeply and is trying to help." Ronstadt, who has been told she is no longer welcome on Aladdin property, was not even allowed to return to her room to get her things, which were instead gathered and brought to her after she was led away. "Our first and only priority is the enjoyment of our customers," Aladdin President Bill Timmins said. "I made the decision to ask Miss Ronstadt to leave the hotel. A situation like that can easily turn ugly and I didn't want anything more to come out of it. There were a lot of angry people there after she started talking." (Las Vegas Sun via Drudge)- From Salon's "The Fix" of July 20, 2004.
Yes, yes, yes, this is not the government per se doing the suppression of free speech, but this still qualifies as oppression of varied viewpoints, even if it is corporate hacks doing so. Bastards.
Obviously performers will have to add riders to their contracts that they can't get tossed out the door for expressing their opinion, right next to the stuff about imported beer and removing the brown M&Ms.
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