Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion

This is one of those man-bites-dog stories. We all know about the shoes thrown at George Bush, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, and yesterday at the Israeli Ambassador to Sweden.

In Ithaca, NY, the prevailing power structure is represented by Socialist Mayor Carol Peterson. Last year Peterson pushed through a "community of sanctuary" resolution providing protection for military protesters against the Iraq war, but not protesters in favor of the war.

Now, a pro-military protester has thrown his shoes at Peterson, in protest of the community of sanctuary resolution. As reported in the Ithaca Journal:

A protester dressed in his 1950s-era military uniform threw his shoes at Mayor Carolyn Peterson and brought Common Council's Wednesday night meeting to an almost hour-long standstill, insisting that he wanted to be arrested in protest over the Council's position [on the community of sanctuary resolution]...."

The protester then demanded his shoes back, to which Peterson responded "You're not getting your shoes back." The protester refused to leave until he got his shoes back, and at one point "pulled another shoe from his bag and waved it at Council members, asking 'Who wants another one?'"

Before you cheer too loudly, keep in mind this is Ithaca. The pro-military protester apparently himself is a former member of the Weather Underground who claims to have planted a bomb at a court house and participated in the Attica prison uprising.

So you have a former Weather Underground member who now is pro-military, throwing shoes at the anti-military Socialist Mayor, in a protest that would fall under the "community of sanctuary" protection if the protester still was a member of the Weather Underground and protesting against the Iraq war. Only in Ithaca.