| 
|
Page: Profile: Wren's Nest News Local
| Total Views: 4,942,815
|
Article: 13711
[Civil]
Date Posted:
8/12/2005
11:08:37 am EDT
Wvox Stats
Views: 12,447
RSS: 18,694
Comments: 24
|
City’s Site For Vanity Car Plates Draws Flak (1GOD Okay, PAGAN 'Offensive')
Author: Mary Vorsino Source: Honolulu Star-Bulletin (HI)
Title: CITY’S SITE FOR VANITY CAR PLATES DRAWS FLAK
  The city's [Honolulu] online vanity license plate application violates the separation of church and state by calling words like "PAGAN" and "HELL" offensive while allowing "1GOD" and "HEAVEN," says a civil rights activist.
"If you allow 'heaven' you have to allow 'hell,'" said Michael Golojuch Jr., who wants the city to change the application's filter, which determines the words not allowed on vanity license plates. "The law needs to be applied equally and fairly across the board."
Golojuch said he tried the Web site earlier this month and found that several Christian words were approved, but at least five terms relating to paganism, Satanism and atheism were not.
He has filed a complaint with the city.
| Options: [Read Full Story] [Comments Locked]
[Email to a Friend]
|
|
Community Thoughts: There are 24 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| Maine Does It Right | Aug 14th. at 12:13:18 am EDT
|
Aaryn Snowbird (Sanford, Maine) - Email Me
In Maine, the website tells you merely if a plate is available. There's no filter in place to check for content, as you can't register your car online. You have to go to the DMV to get vanity plates anyway, and there they determine what is allowable and what is not.
On a related note, when I first got a car, I tried for "SNIPER". Mind you, this was '99, before the Beltway [man with a gun] and the WTC tragedy. It's a hobby of mine, and my nickname. I was rejected.
Later that same day, I saw a car parked in a driveway 2 miles from my house. The license plate? "3KILLRZ". A little too subjective, methinks.
|
| Checked Out Washington State | Aug 13th. at 2:29:55 pm EDT
|
Rose (Poulsbo, Washington) - Email Me
Ok, I read the article, and all the comments, and decided to go along with others and check out my state.
Wicca- offensive
Wiccan- ok and available
NoGod- offensive
GodBad- ok and available
Godsux- ok and available
Satan- ok and available
Witch- offensive
Wytch- ok and available
Blesedb- ok and available
BlssedB- ok and available
It's weird.
|
| UK Variety | Aug 13th. at 1:54:43 pm EDT
|
Amy Foxe (Hull, England) - Email Me
Here in the UK DVLA license plates generally only have two regulated formats [three letters] [three numbers] [one letter] or more recently [two letters] [three numbers] [three letters]. This has required a more imaginative approach to word creation utilising numbers as letters ... way before the cellphone text message revolution. For example PH 03 NIX, B 3 SOM, and P 4 GAN (available!!!) .
And it's not just license plates like A1 that demand an unfeasibly high auction resale value. W 1 CCA (now unavailable and circulating in East Yorkshire) has been seen with a price tag of $50K.
Like the US the UK also used to have restrictions on combinations of characters deemed offensive although in these more liberal times I note that some male somewhere does now own PEN 15, going someway to prove I think the old adage about automobile size and the size of other things.
Just in case you're wondering about the geek factor involved, it's not just the boys who get to play with their registrations either, for I too own a private license plate, and being a bargain hunter as well as a speculator I obtained it for a few hundred bucks.
So if you ever see W 1 CCE overtake you on a UK highway, you will know it's a wise woman behind the wheel ;-)
|
| Just A Note... | Aug 13th. at 11:21:08 am EDT
|
Carnelin (Iota, Louisiana) - Email Me
I tried Pagan at my state's, Louisiana, DMV website and it IS available. :) Grab it Up!
Harvestmoon
|
| A Few More.... | Aug 12th. at 11:05:43 pm EDT
|
Faolan Iolachtir (Statesboro, Oregon) - Email Me
For those of you keeping score at home, here are some I tried: DRUID is taken, as is WITCHY. Just to expand the test criteria a bit, I tried BITEME and SMEGMA. Both were found offensive. Not much of a surprise there. But here's the really fun part for the fun-loving Democrats in paradise: W SUX and W LIED are both non-offensive and available. Grab 'em while you can.
|
| Re: City’s Site For Vanity Car Plates | Aug 12th. at 6:42:55 pm EDT
|
Mr. Karel Sebek (Kalamazoo, Michigan) - Email Me
ROTFL! A little first amendment confusion in Paradise, methinks. Assuming, that is, if any denied and annoyed legal motorist decides to take up a new hobby and drop a fifty-cent piece in a pay phone and call in the ACLU.
A gentle suggestion to the City and the State: Don't go here, get rid of them. Vanity plates are definitely fun, but may end up costing the government a lot more money in rightful free speech lawsuits than is made by allowing them.
|
| Nevada Is A Little Different.... | Aug 12th. at 5:43:08 pm EDT
|
Desert WolfStar (Las Vegas, Nevada) - Email Me
Well, after reading this, went to Nevada's DMV website, and did a lookup. PAGAN was not allowed, but, my new tag, IMPAGAN was okay....but the Nevada rules were that the tags could not put down or place another religion, race, nationality over another.....
|
| Stickers Mean So Much More. | Aug 12th. at 5:15:46 pm EDT
|
bigcat (peoria, Illinois) - Email Me
That's why I like bumper stickers. They're so much more delightfully controversial. Guaranteed to spark road rage in the most mild mannered Xtian fundie.
|
| Hmmm | Aug 12th. at 4:43:07 pm EDT
|
Frater VP (Albuquerque, New Mexico) - Email Me
while things like "pagan" may be offensive if you enter "wicca" it shows up as taken so i entered "wicca1" and its free and not considered offensive
|
| Free Speech | Aug 12th. at 2:05:26 pm EDT
|
Erihu (Sunset Beach, North Carolina) - Email Me
Yes, I see this one as a free speech issue, unlike the article up in VT where anything religious wasn't allowed. And I agree that the filter was thought out before hand. This is why I buy bumper stickers :)
I also would like someone to explain to me where in the Constitution does it give us the right to not be offended. Did I miss that part?
|
| Offensive? | Aug 12th. at 2:01:36 pm EDT
|
Rev. Fugue (Twin Cities & Western WI, Minnesota) - Email Me
I tried a few and, while Pagan is deemed offensive, 1Pagan and Pagan1 are not (Pagan1 is reserved already, as is Witch, 1Witch and Witch1) . Oh, and GODSUX is also not offensive and is available.
|
| Lucky Me | Aug 12th. at 1:34:23 pm EDT
|
Witch of the Woods (Salem, Wisconsin) - Email Me
I guess I lucked out here in WI...they didn't even ask twice when I got MOTEITB!! I guess if it's covert enough they don't bother.
|
| Harm To Minors | Aug 12th. at 1:07:12 pm EDT
|
Terry (Irvington, Virginia) - Email Me
Why would NYC use a filter designed for license plate legal standards? Cities don't administer motor vehicle law. Does this mean that NYC adopted the same censorware and bigotry standards Honolulu is using, perhaps to harm minors in libraries or schools? (I define harm to minors to include shielding them from life realities in ways that indoctrinate or impose bigotry, while being unrealistic about basic life issues.) If so, what kind of basis is that for public, adult speech, since it appears these locales are selling license plates as a public speech zone, rather than treating them as government hosted speech as Vermont does?
The ignored element of this action is that if you favor Calvinist views on sexuality denial, you violate the law. Free and open expression of and about sexuality is rightfully entitled to equal protections of law, even if that leads to many bible thumpers, and some nonreligious indoctrinated into similar forms of institutionalized bigotry, having to explain the fraud and abuse of life reality denial they promote to kids who realize many adults are irresponsible jerks about such issues.
I suppose they also ban license plates including "420", since that supports political and religious rights to hemp for all of recreational, spiritual, and medicinal uses? How about "666", since the bible thumpers might object? Of course they'd allow "777" though.
What about taxi cabs and phone numbers? I recall two cities in one state, where a cab company tried for easy to remember phone numbers. One was 777-7777, and the other 666-6666. Would this government agency ban a series of license plates for cabs, based on such phone numbers, because of biases of certain members of one religion over numbers? It's amazing they haven't legislated that the entire North American Numbering Plan (NANP) used by telcos isn't required to adhere to religious delusions and dogma.
I bet they don't have "tree", "oak", "3", and "9" in their filters yet. Better not let them know enough about Druidry to stick those in the "evil satanic" list.
Government officials, whether politicians, executives, bureaucrats, cops, or judges and court officers, deserve jail time and serious fines when they engage in such conduct that is maliciously intended to violate civil rights, regardless of real or perceived notions of catering to public perceptions of alleged "offensiveness". How much more offensive could they get, than using the gunpoint enforced force of government to deprive people of civil rights?
|
Disclaimer: The Witches' Voice inc does not verify the accuracy of the details stated in this listing, nor do we vouch for the value of the goods or services presented here... As with all contacts and financial dealings in cyberspace, we encourage you to use caution and wisdom in your dealings with strangers.
Political Statements: Any and all personal political opinions expressed in the public listing sections (including, but not restricted to, personals, events, groups, shops, Wren's Nest, etc.) are solely those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinion of The Witches' Voice, Inc. TWV is a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization.
|
State/Country flags created by 3dflags.com and are used with permission
Web Site Content (including: text - graphics - html - look & feel)
Copyright 1997-2009 The Witches' Voice Inc. All rights reserved
Note: Authors & Artists retain the copyright for their work(s) on this website.
Unauthorized reproduction without prior permission is a violation of copyright laws.
Website structure, evolution and php coding by Fritz Jung on a Macintosh G5.
Any and all personal political opinions expressed in the public listing sections (including, but not restricted to, personals, events, groups, shops, Wren’s Nest, etc.) are solely those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinion of The Witches’ Voice, Inc. TWV is a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational organization.
Sponsorship: Visit the Witches' Voice Sponsor Page for info on how you
can help support this Community Resource. Donations ARE Tax Deductible.
The Witches' Voice carries a 501(c)(3) certificate and a Federal Tax ID.
Mail Us: The Witches' Voice Inc., P.O. Box 341018, Tampa, Florida 33694-1018 U.S.A.
| |
