On August 1st in the year 2000, 420 activists were arrested by Philadelphia police for protesting George W. Bush's nomination at the Republican Naional Convention. The City of Philadelphia had taken out a $4,000,000 insurance policy that covered both damages to property and and costs accrued through false arrest. The police targeted certain activists but were also instructed to arrest people at random, knowing that the insurance company would pay any damages incurred by their unlawful activity.

More than three years later all of the cases had been settled. More than 90% were laughed out of court and the insurance company had to pay up. But three people still faced serious charges: "The Timoney Three" had been accused of knocking former police commisioner John Timoney off of his bicycle during a rally near Rittenhouse Square. The defendents had been called to Philadelphia to attend their trials several times but the commisioner had failed to show up. Their legal fees were piling up while a potantial sentence of decades in prison loomed over their heads.

Puppet Uprising decided to chip in by organizing a benefit for the Timoney Three featuring Vermont's Bread & Puppet Theater. Bread & Puppet is cited as the grandaddy of protest puppetry in North America and several of their members were either arrested or narrowly evaded arrest during the 2000 RNC. The benefit was originally scheduled for January, but a blizzard forced us to postpone until October. The Rotunda was packed, we raised some cash, and the Timoney Three's charges were inevitably dismissed fue to faulty testimony of Timoney and his pals.