Sign wordplay nets protester citation - (more freedoms on the way out)

[goddess40]

http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/wdhlocal/307951865844447.shtml
snip
By Jessica Bock
Wausau Daily Herald
[e-mail]

A Mosinee man who frequently protests near the Marathon County courthouse against U.S. policy in Iraq has been cited for violating the city's ordinance against obscene language.
The man, 41-year-old Mike Wallschlaeger, was on the south side of the Marathon County courthouse on Friday afternoon with a sign that said, "This war is Bushit." The sign was visible to drivers headed north on Sixth Street.
snip

I wrote to the journalist to straighten out all the errors in her story. I don't think they were really her fault, other then she should have called Mike to verify before she finished the story. The officer was very young and he thought my mother was Mike's son - I think he was a little surprised when she walked over to where they were standing and he got a look at her. We're so bundled up because it's cold so I can't blame him for not knowing but I guess he learned a lesson about assuming facts.


I just wanted to straighten out a few things about the Bushit sign incident.
1 There was one complaint, and it was an older man that said the sign upset his grand-daughter. There was no one in the car with him so I don’t know how it upset his grand-daughter. He had stopped to complain to Mike and Wayne before I got there, but there was not enough time for him to take his grand-daughter home and come back in the short time Mike and Wayne were there before my mother and I arrived. Both Mike and Wayne said they saw no one in his car with him.

2 The sign has been in use every Friday for at about two years; there was a partial picture of it the Herald on July 31, 2004.

3 Mike said that it wasn’t a real word; nothing was said about it not being in the dictionary.

4 In March of 2003 when they threatened to give Mike a ticket for disorderly conduct they were blowing smoke, one officer told Mike that he would not protect him in the future if he continued to display a flag upside down. The Chief of police set that officer straight – the officer was not to let his personal beliefs not interfere with his job duties. I was there and there was no way that a DC charge would have been upheld against Mike as he was passive, he didn’t even defend himself when Mr. Krasowski was kicking him.

5 I haven’t talked to Mike yet but the “test the boundaries” quote doesn’t sound like him.

6 If the paper can print it without repercussions then it can’t be too obscene of a word.

We have been protesting since the Bush administration started lying during the run up to the invasion. We will be there until the conclusion of this illegal, immoral war on Iraq ends.

edit: I knew after the coranation that 'they' would become bolder but I thought it wouldn't happen until after bush was reinstalled on his throne.

[earthside]

1. A sign of our times.

This is yet another story that is a sign of our times. Fascism in Bush's America isn't going to look like it did in Nazi Germany. It is going to come by intimidation through use of otherwise benign laws, by peer pressure, by non-government persecution.

But, indeed, this incident demonstrates just how far down the road of fascism this nation has already gone.

I'm headlining this story now on my web site: Earthside.com

[goddess40]

2. Thanks for posting this article

Thanks for posting the article on your website. I expect that this Citation will not hold up in court.

[MnFats]

3. notice that the source of the 'testing the boundaries' quote...

....'according to the police report.'


as a 25-year journo, i can tell you that what is said to a police officer and what winds up in the officer's report is often vastly different.

at least she attributed it to that source. careful readers will apply a grain of salt.


i have a soft spot in my heart for that newspaper as i worked there eons ago....

[AlbizuX]

4. next time...so he really has something to complain about...

hold a sign that says, "Phuck you, you crying, Depends-wearing bastard".

Then he'll definitely know you were talking about him...

Joke aside, now we can't use fictious, made up words like Bushit, because old men got a problem with that?

[goddess40]

5. Just talked to Mike

The ACLU is interested in this case, it's pretty much a slam dunk as far as the obscenity charge goes. The real problem is the continual hassle the cops and the public like to give us. The love it or leave it shit they like to yell at us. I didn't see them heading to the boarders when they were hating Clinton. (Give me a president that screws around on his wife over a president the screws over the world any day!!!)


Edit: by the way I saw a bumpersticker today on a truck that read: Jesus loves you / everyone else thinks your an asshole. That guy's gonna get some major jail time!