The dangerous, seditious bridge-player

Cripes. Here's the summary. After her team won a bridge tournament in China, a player held up a crude sign (a menu, actually) upon which she indicated that she didn't vote for Bush. Not "America sucks ass." Not "Bush is Hitler." Just "We did not vote for Bush."

Now the U.S. bridge organization wants to punish the hell out of her entire team for "sedition" and "treason." Here's the punishment:

It calls for a one-year suspension from federation events, including the World Bridge Olympiad next year in Beijing; a one-year probation after that suspension; 200 hours of community service “that furthers the interests of organized bridge”; and an apology drafted by the federation’s lawyer.

It would also require them to write a statement telling “who broached the idea of displaying the sign, when the idea was adopted, etc.”

Two questions:

What, pray tell, is community service that "furthers the interest of organized bridge"? Going to a high school and teaching the kids who couldn't make the cut for the bowling and golf teams how to play it?

And, had she held up a sign that said "God bless George W. Bush," would the league be acting in a similar fashion?
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“While I believe in the right to free speech, to me that doesn’t give anyone the right to criticize one’s leader at a foreign venue in a totally nonpolitical event,”

I love this. So he believes in free speech except for when he decides to censor it.

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All that code.

See, she should have done it in code. She could have gotten her partner to say "five no trump," to which she could have responded "six clubs." See, "five no trump" is a way to ask how many kings that your partner has, and "six clubs" means zero. See? No kings = He ain't MY president. Problem solved.

Eh, I need some gin.

Y'know...Bridge was created by the Nazis.

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Dubya's more of a Go Fish person, or so I hear.

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I bet she likes to listen to the Dixie Sluts, too!