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| Court OKs Wearing Anti-Bush Shirt at School |
| 2006-08-31 |
| A U.S. student who sued school officials after he was made to censor his T-shirt that labeled President Bush "Chicken-Hawk-In-Chief" and a former alcohol and cocaine abuser won an appeal Wednesday to wear the T-shirt to school. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Zachery Guiles, who through his parents claimed his free speech rights had been violated when school officials made him put duct tape over parts of his T-shirt that showed a Bush image surrounded by cocaine, a razor blade, a straw and a martini. Guiles, who as a seventh grader in 2004 wore the T-shirt to Williamstown Middle High School in Vermont once a week for two months after purchasing it at an anti-war rally, appealed the case after a lower court ruled in favor of the school. The school argued the images were offensive because they undermined the school's anti-drug message. The T-shirt read "George W. Bush" and "Chicken-Hawk-In-Chief" with a picture of the president's face wearing a helmet superimposed on the body of a chicken. The back of the T-shirt showed lines of cocaine, a martini glass and smaller print that accused Bush of being a "Crook," "Cocaine Addict," AWOL," "Draft Dodger" and "Lying Drunk Driver." The appeals court said while the T-shirt "uses harsh rhetoric and imagery to express disagreement with the president's policies and to impugn his character," the images depicted "are not plainly offensive as a matter of law." "We conclude that defendants' censorship of the images on Guiles's T-shirt violated his free speech rights," the ruling said, noting the T-shirt was censored after only one parent with opposing political views complained. "Guiles's T-shirt did not cause any disruption or confrontation in the school," the ruling said. Lawyers involved in the case and the school were not immediately available for comment. The court agreed with the lower court that ruled Guiles' suspension from school should be expunged from his record. In my day, we'd have just taken him behind the school and beat the snot out of him. Problem solved. |
| Posted by:mcsegeek1 |
| #6 ...or be Governor of Vermont. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2006-08-31 16:58 |
| #5 Who cares. Some moronic teen ager getting his 15 minutes. He'll prolly end up working the rest of his life at a blockbuster video or some "vintage" record store (if he's lucky). |
| Posted by: Broadhead6 2006-08-31 16:57 |
| #4 Tim Guiles said he is not surprised that his son is at the center of a First Amendment firestorm. “I’ve been involved as an environmental activist for years, and I’ve brought Zach to anti-nuclear protests,” Guiles said. “He has grown up with activism around him … It’s really a natural progression to find this cropping up in his life.” Oh, look! Pop's an old hippie! There's a shocker... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2006-08-31 16:38 |
| #3 "Guiles's T-shirt did not cause any disruption or confrontation in the school," The disruption would have been Guiles' if his classmates didn't get a correction from the administration. On the weekend, someplace around town. Some other 'youth' might express himself in a far lesser constrained manner. By having the administration take the figurative fall, it is likely young Guiles avoided having to take a real one. Just the natural behavior pattern of adolescent males sorting out group identity and positioning. Since the court doesn’t grasp the sense of ‘provoking words’, can we expect the same consideration of gays, women, and ethnic groups when such T-shirts are aimed their way? Of course not. It’s hate speech. It’s not hate speech when its focused at Republicans. |
| Posted by: Phelet Cravith4271 2006-08-31 16:31 |
| #2 Time to clean house. This caustic debris attitude, allowing this kid to wear this shirt in a school, while considered freedom of speech which is corroding our society as a whole, then compare this to the cartoons that have been censored because they make Mohammed look bad. Come on people, you can't have it both ways. Even if some of the accusations are true, people make mistakes, why do people keep trying to drag our leaders through the mud. I'm certainly not happy with alot of what Bush did in the past, but we need to support our country and come together to make it strong. These filth undermine what we're about as americans. These so called parents influencing their kids in this direction only promotes ill will and destruction of our integrity and strength as a nation. We need to focus on our strengths, not keep the mistakes of the past dragging us down. I hope we're listening to the conversations of these parents. I wouldn't be surprised if they have ties to some groups that fully support terrorist cells. Here I go again getting paranoid. hmmm, maybe I'll change my name from Jan to paranoid |
| Posted by: Jan 2006-08-31 16:16 |
| #1 At the end of the day Bush is still in office and while this kids records are cleared, he is still a druggie moonbat with no future. But then that will be bush's fault too. He has a future in being the moonbat son mother cindy never had. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2006-08-31 14:09 |