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Page: Profile: Wren's Nest News Local
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Article: 16134
[Civil]
Date Posted:
8/31/2006
9:24:18 am EDT
Wvox Stats
Views: 7,622
RSS: 27,855
Comments: 28
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Court Sides With Student In Bush T-Shirt Flap
Author: AP Source: CBS 13 News
Title: COURT SIDES WITH STUDENT IN BUSH T-SHIRT FLAP
Vermont schoolboy was within his rights to wear a T-shirt depicting George W. Bush as a chicken and accusing him of being a former alcohol and cocaine abuser, an appeals court ruled.
Zachary Guiles' school violated the First Amendment when it ordered him to cover parts of the shirt, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said Wednesday.
Guiles was a 13-year-old seventh-grader at Williamstown Middle High School in Williamstown, Vt., in May 2004 when he wore the shirt, which he had bought at an anti-war rally, to classes once a week for two months. Complaints from a fellow student and her mother who had different political views caused school officials to take a closer look.
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Community Thoughts: There are 28 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| Neglect To Add This Relevent Quote. | Sep 1st. at 7:28:19 pm EDT
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J & V Enterprises (Sweetwater, Tennessee) - Email Me
To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.
-Theodore Roosevelt (1918)
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| We Must Not Confuse Dissent With Disloyalty. | Sep 1st. at 7:12:45 pm EDT
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J & V Enterprises (Sweetwater, Tennessee) - Email Me
When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it.
-Edward R. Murrow
Patriotism ... is a superstition artificially created and maintained through a network of lies and falsehoods; a superstition that robs man of his self-respect and dignity, and increases his arrogance and conceit.
-Emma Goldman
The wearing of a t-shirt that is not obscene is protected political speech. The very lifeblood of the Constitution and our freedom is dissent. The ardent supporters of this administration have proven again with this incident that they will take any action to stifle dissent. I all calls are subject to random monitoring without warrant, it may well stifle the opportunities for some to express dissent in communication. There are others, like myself, who could not give a whit if their conversations are monitored or not, they will still express their dissent. Regardless of my personal attitude about the momentary dead signal on my phone followed by a click before I can begin my conversation, this is something that should not be happening without a warrent. If a warrent is obtained simply on the basis that the parties on the line may express attitudes of dissent, then we have not learned the lessons of Viet Nam yet, and I strongly suspect that this is the case.
Actively dissenting is also one of the highest forms of respect of the offices of the US government. When the holder of that office has gone astray from supporting freedom above security and denied the rule of law, then dissent is the appropriate first avenue for the patriot.
Bright Blessings,
Jason
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| Respect? What Respect? | Sep 1st. at 5:36:08 pm EDT
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bigcat (peoria, Illinois) - Email Me
I have every respect for the office of the President of the United States. Just as I have for Congress and the Courts- and the Military. After all, like a great many here, I am an American and proud to say so.
That doesn't mean however, that I must respect the men or women who take up the mantle of public office if he or she isn't deserving of it. And I haven't seen Bush- and much of Congress deserving of much these days except well earned ridicule for the policies he has put us through- including the quagmire in Iraq. It was on his machinations and the false premise of WMDs that we found ourselves in a neverending situation that is rapidly escalating into a civil war. The war in Afghanistan was to be our business- not Iraq. The solidarity we had after 9/11 was lost when we found ourselves becoming the invaders. And that's not the only thing. His domestic policy has been a joke. The mishandling of the Katrina disaster and his constant pandering to the radical religionists with patented nonissues is becoming something of a nasty redundancy. In fact, "Monicagate" is becoming a longed for memory. That President was caught playing around with only one girl. This guy isn't content until he has screwed up the country!
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| I Can Understand... | Sep 1st. at 3:20:34 am EDT
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Hellas32 (Dacula, Georgia) - Email Me
I can understand the mother's dismay at the t-shirt. I mean, can you imagine, provoking thought and discussion in the classroom? How are suppose to indoctrinate these kids to beat up gays, laugh in the face of the overwhelming evidence for evolution, and continually parrot Rush Dimbulb with little miscriants like this running around. Doesn't the poor Resident in Chief have enough to worry about without having to deal with a buch of free thinkers. (end sarcasm)
I was in the military. I also served in combat. I had friends that did not return home. I can say that I agree with this young man's t-shirt, and I am thankful that he has the courage to stand up and be counted. Those are rights I helped to defend, and I am happy to see people using them. Weather I agree with him or not is inconcequential.
In this day and age of the constant erosion of our rights by this administration, it is so important that we not be cowed by fear. The only enemy of tryanny is rightious liberty. Good on the Appeals Court and good on this young man for being a real patriot.
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| What's In The Dress Code? | Aug 31st. at 6:37:09 pm EDT
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bigcat (peoria, Illinois) - Email Me
I'd love to get one with Bush proclaiming, "The Constitution is just a goddamed piece of paper!"
I wonder what kind of a flap that might cause.
If others can wear T- Shirts bearing slogans and rhetoric and pictures- he should not be singled out for wearing a garment that criticizes a politician.
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| Why's He Wearing A Tee-shirt Anyway? | Aug 31st. at 5:36:34 pm EDT
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Deni (Danville, Kentucky) - Email Me - Web
When I was in middle and high school there was a dress code rule that no tee-shirts with pictures or words could be worn at all. It's not that they were scared that kids were going to wear tee-shirts that depicted violence, racism, or anti-religious messages... no, nothing of that sort. Tee-shirts with pictures and words were just considered sloppy and not appropriate dress for school. When I was 13 I thought it was awful, but now that I'm 33 I see the point.
If the school made this kid change his shirt because of what it said, all the while letting other kids wear tee-shirts with words and pictures, then yes they did violate his free speech rites. But if there was a dress code rule forbidding all tee-shirts with words and pictures, based on the fact that they are not nice clothes for a school environment, then the school would have won this case.
I wouldn't have let my kid wear that shirt to school. Sloppy tee-shirts are just not appropriate for the educational environment. But it wouldn't be because of what it said on the front. (Something I actually quite agree with!)
Peace and Love,
Deni :)
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| NICE | Aug 31st. at 3:36:38 pm EDT
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Prophet (Lowell, Massachusetts) - Email Me
I went out and got one!
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| Hate Speech | Aug 31st. at 1:35:13 pm EDT
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Ahr-Ohn (Bridgeport, Connecticut) - Email Me
"The pictures are an important part of the political message Guiles wished to convey, accentuating the anti-drug (and anti-Bush) message," the appeals court wrote. "By covering them defendants diluted Guiles's message, blunting its force and impact."
If such a T-Shirt is offensive to another, when does it cease to be Incitement to Riot?
We may either denigrate Duke Ellington, on the basis of Race, or we may not so denigrate the President.
Not that I particularly like that son of a B.
Arawn
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| I'm A Long Way... | Aug 31st. at 1:32:05 pm EDT
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Ixacacau (Moore, Oklahoma) - Email Me
from being a High School student (I'm 46) and this kid's moxie makes me proud.
I wear a WPE (Worst Presiedent Ever) T all over the place.
I remember when I was in HS and I'm glad the court decided that the Bill of Rights gives people under 18 a voice, too.
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| I've Been Considering | Aug 31st. at 1:00:23 pm EDT
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Ananta Androscoggin (Greene, Maine) - Email Me
having a T-shirt made with a picture of Dub-yuh's face stating:
"Unacquainted with Reality
Since He Got That Free Pass
Out of Kindergarten."
... but then I procrastinate ...
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| Different Areas. | Aug 31st. at 12:28:32 pm EDT
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Amtehuti (Queens, Florida) - Email Me
Political messages are definetly different from religious messages. This t-shirt was a political message. If a kid came in with a shirt saying how evil Hilary Clinton or John Edwards are, they should be able to wear it! But a religious message like "homosexuality is wrong - here's my Bible that says so" is just another ballpark.
I'm glad for this ruling AS LONG AS the rights of conservative kids to wear political clothing is protected, as well. If conservative kids can't do that, then no one should be allowed to wear political messages (yeah, let's see how long THAT lasts...)
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| Small Favors | Aug 31st. at 11:25:38 am EDT
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Mysteries Child (Garfield, Arkansas) - Email Me
Every once in a while, something comes out of our courts that pleases me. It doesn't happen often, but this appears to be such a case.
While I'm dubious about allowing *any* images of alcohol and drugs in schools, the shirt in question did not promote or glorify the substances. As such, I'd be inclined to let it go.
I'm also dubious about using President Bush's collegiate behavior to make a case, formal or informal, against his fitness to lead the country. He's certainly not the only person who drank excessively or abused recreational substances in his teens, twenties, or for that matter thirties. If he were a liberal president, the criticism would be on the other foot, and liberals would resent the daylights out of it (as when Republicans attempted to crucify Clinton for smoking marijuana in college) .
On one hand, what goes around comes around. On the other hand, two wrongs do not make a right. Which-ever cliche you prefer, fair's fair.
Besides, there's so much that's gone on during his administration for which he honestly deserves to be crucified that it seems not only petty and frivolous, but downright wasteful, to spend time and effort tearing him down for something so far in the past.
One thing I'm not dubious about, however, is this: It seems to me that the other student and her family made an issue out of this in the first place primarily because they were offended and alienated by seeing someone display views that did not coincide with their own. They tried, in essence, to force the young man to agree or shut up.
No matter what color your campaign t-shirt happens to be, THAT'S WRONG.
I'm glad to see the First Amendment live to fight another day.
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