T-shirt Flap

President Bush has a real problem with T-shirts.

Now I spoze we all have little quirks, phobias and idiosyncrasies. President Bush's is T-shirts. He seems to believe that wearing T-shirts breaks some unwritten law and is punishable by arrest.

We all know, by now, of Cindy Sheehan's arrest, don't we? She was wearing a T-shirt that Bush's Bullies objected to.

Then, there was that fella, a year or two ago, who wanted to hear the President speak at a rally. This fellow said nary a word, yet was led away in handcuffs and arrested. His crime? He was wearing a T-shirt.

Yep. Bush has a real problem with T-shirts.

His bloody teeth may have chomped one too many though, when they bit into Beverly Young's collarless cotton at the Capitol building the night of his State of the Union address.

Beverly's husband is C.W. Bill Young, Florida's Republican congressman.

Unlike Sheehan, an ordinary citizen like you and me, C.W. Bill Young has a position of notability. He's a congressman. A Republican. And Young took his wife's case straight to the house floor.

The offending T-shirt juddered, flapped and went into convulsions as Rep. Bill Young beat the air with its cotton fibers.

Did he give an impassioned speech? Heck, Young vibrated with anger, raged with fury and gave 'em hell. Even upbraided Karl Rove, the president's deputy chief of staff.

It was interesting to note that Sheehan's arrest did not make banner headlines on the N.Y. Times' web site. If you wanted the story, you had to find the Associated Press' site, then dig around for the facts. But then, Sheehan is an ordinary citizen like you and me.

Young's ruckus made the N.Y. Times' front page.

It is also interesting to note, the content of one of Young's statements: when it happened to Sheehan, it didn't upset me; when it happened to me, I was furious.

Yep. That's just what I've been saying all along, folks.

Today, it's Sheehan's T-shirts; tomorrow, it will be the Levi's you and I wear.

Those unwritten laws will get you every time.
T-shirt Flap © 2006 Chaeli Lee Sullivan