And the cop was right. It was an old law, passed in 1892, that made kite flying illegal in a Washington that had electric trolley cars and their overhead power lines all over the place.

According to the law, the U.S. Park Police officer had the right to arrest Boyd. But was it the right thing to do?

That arrest of that 18-year-old college kid in 1969 set off a maelstrom. There were more kite-ins and more arrests, and congressional hearings soon followed.

The Washington Post covered it. A young Carl Bernstein wrote about the antiquated law. The Smithsonian Kite Festival had to be moved to Maryland because it was clear that the government had been colluding for years on that very popular criminal act.

Meanwhile, the country was at war, and folks wondered why everyone was wasting time on kites.

Sound familiar?

Last weekend, five protesters were arrested at the Jefferson Memorial for silently dancing.

That particular activity is basically against the law, thanks to a court decision on memorial dancing handed down this year. It was in response to a lawsuit filed by a woman arrested in 2008 for dancing quietly just before midnight in the chamber of the Jefferson Memorial.