Fla. Officer Indicted for Bush Threat >>>What's Freedom of speech??

Originally posted by Kidfinger

Originally posted by Indy
Bush should be charged with numerous counts of theft... for stealing oxygen :-)

AMEN!

Its not like that peanut brain of his uses up much of it :p

Originally posted by RANT
This punishment has nothing to do with "his loyalty oath to God" (which is a load of crap anyway). Are you saying the criminal charges are BECAUSE of his employment?

Actually, I was making a point in light of everyone defending the right of free speech etc, that there was in this case a different set of standards invloved (and the oath is not a loyalty oath to god ???). Perhaps a reread of some pertinent parts of the oath is in order.

and observe and abide by all orders and regulations prescribed by them for the government and administration of said Patrol;

I don't think their regulations allow for presidential death threats, nor would he have had a choice if assigned to a particular detail to refuse to do his duty. In addition, coming from someone who could have been armed and assigned when the President was in town, his words do need to be taken very seriously.

I will abstain from all offensive personality or conduct unbecoming a police officer; I will perform my duties fearlessly, impartially and with all due courtesy, and I will well and faithfully perform the duties of a Florida Highway Patrol Officer on which I am now about to enter.

(I cut out the God part so you don't get distracted by the offending nature of the word.)

Abstaining from certain behaviors, performing duties impartially.....

My posts were merely making the point that the issues are not as simple as some bimbo on a street corner doing the same thing. A person sworn to serve and protect simply cannot behave this way. I'm not saying he belongs in jail - the laws will decide that, and this guy should know what they are. So in this case, half of the outrage for what is happening to this individual is not applicable.

I hate Bush and that guy's suspension was completely justified. His comments were completely unprofessional for an officer of the law.

Originally posted by Indy
I hate Bush and that guy's suspension was completely justified. His comments were completely unprofessional for an officer of the law.

Well then Bush should be suspended, 'cause he's made some completely unprofessional comments as well as completely lied to the entire country, not to mention murdering people on this planet.

IMO this guy is just ranting like EVERYONE else I know that hates Bush. Should they put all the Bush haters in jail? Thats prolley like 150 billion people.

It is a violation of Federal Law to threaten a sitting President. The scenario of a "stranger" inferring that he would shoot the President is sufficient for law enforcement intervention. Ed Grothus, an acquaintance of mine, had a full FBI/USSS shakedown for sending a can of green beans to the White House (the label said they were �Nuclear Green Beans�, Ed is a former LANL employee).

As to the chorus of �Free Speech� and �First Amendment Rights�, these tenets do not extend to criminal acts, slander, libel, or treason. The tried and true �You can�t yell FIRE, in a crowded theater� applies here. If you want to voice your desire to contribute to the untimely demise of the President (or anyone else for that matter) it would probably be best done in private, alone or with your conspirators.

USSS Document on Assassination Threats.

I wonder if he feels the same way about the people he is susposed to serve and protect???

I wouldn't feel safe with him.

Obviously, that is not a comment for a police officer to make, unless he thought the person he was making the comment to was supposed to be someone who knew him well enough to know that it was only a bad taste comment.

What this means is that the police officer made two mistakes:
1. he said someone should kill the president
2. he said it to someone who did not saw that as just a comment

Living in the USA starts to look like living in Portugal in the 60s, when we had to think before we say something, because maybe someone who did not liked us could start thinking we where against the regime.

You can hate him all you want. You just don't have a right to threaten to kill him. You DO however have a right to remove him from office and your chance is coming in about 2 months or so. And if your right to remove members of government by vote gets infringed upon by the government then you have the constitutional right to assemble a militia and take your rights back by force. These are constitutional guarantees. But to threaten to kill the president when you have no exercised your constitutional rights to remove him by vote is foolish.