Girl Questioned About Anti-Bush Website

A 14 year-old girl is questioned by federal agents over an anti-Bush myspace website. The site apparently had a picture of a knife stabbing Bush's hand.

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I can appreciate the fact that the website seems threatening, but it's over the top to have Secret Service agents pull her out of class. If they knew where she was, then they knew she was 14 and thus very immature.

I'm glad that this 14-year old terrorist is being kept away from me though. Also glad to know that my tax dollars are helping SS agents yell at teenagers. "Darn Kids".

Related News Links:
www.startribune.com

Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
California Teen Visited by the Secret Service

[edit on 14-10-2006 by Astygia]

[edit on 14-10-2006 by Astygia]

[edit on 14-10-2006 by Astygia]

Actually, I see this as a good thing. Our government system is structured so that it is possible to peacefully remove officials, if necessary. Having a website ignorantly spouting hatred (in this case, an act that is illegal...and if it should be illegal is a different discussion) is not a constructive means of correcting any perceived issues. Hopefully this event will teach a large number of immature children the risks of ignorantly spouting the hatred of their peers and their elders, without researching the topic. (Because, if she had, she would have know the legal implications of her actions!) Think of it being along the lines of firefighters coming to the school to teach fire safety.

So...score one for ignorance denied!

I overwhemlingly agree with saturnine_sweet.
it is insane that Astygia thinks it is okay to have a hate site about anybody.
if it was your daughter's hand being poked on her website you'd have a fit. but because it is the president, you have no fit. although your hate for him may just be justified(we will find out in our lifetimes i suppose), it is incorrect to disregard the fact that she went overboard. the Secret Service was used because that was the necessary outfit to handle the situation. saying as you speak, i guess kids can kill as well and get aways with it. with that way the world(especially America) you cannot trust anyone as she could have very well been associated with and anti USA government movement quite possibly because her parents are. many more Americans(white and black) are being found to have ties with anti-USA beliefs on a rather frequent basis. who is to say they did not detain her to find out who she knows in order to make a legit arrest?

our government may be above the law it rains down on us, but they are not above threats. if she is smart, she should have known that.

and i am rather sure she was released the same day, so set all the tax dollar BS aside when you have no idea how the economy really works. if you did, you'd realize we workers are the only ones who ever think money is money. money is actually a facade to keep us at a "must work at my work place to get things from another workers work place."

What's a 14 year old girl doing on MySpace anyway?

I would agree this is probably not the best use of tax dollars. It should have been something MySpace handled... simply removing her profile and banning her with notification of reason. Alas, examples have to be made, so might as well make them while they're young.

Is nice to know that in our country we are at the mercy of the government when we post pictures of hatred against political figures and officials.

We can not approach our elected officals either to tell them how disastified we are with their job as long as they are not Cheney or Bush if you can get that close to them.

I guess this will tell our children from early age that they have not freedom of speech as long as is not geared against the regime in power.

Now the indoctrination of our youth is in full gear and our tax payer money are working to make the populations and the mases to be afraid very afraid . . .

This is not the American I grew up, thirty years ago when I was a teen, we had freedom of speech back then.

[edit on 14-10-2006 by marg6043]

marge, i respect your opinions and like many of your posts but i must ask...

but since when does freedom of speech protect threats made against anyone?

if you posted a website saying i should be injured or that you personally wanted to hurt me, is that still free speech or is that a threat?

where is that line exactly?

Im glad that the girl is smart enough at 14 years old to not like bush.

Come on, isn't this a bit over reaching? Sure making making threats is bad and wrong, and it should be looked into. However, at what level does comman sense kick in? Where does some person point out that she is - you know - a school kid, and like all school kids prone to hyperbably and childish antics. This could have been resolved quietly and without news with a quick visit from the local PD, show her folks the site, explain the potential charges and leave it at that. That is, if it was ment to be quiet.

What if...

What if, this is ment more as a subliminal type of message. If you speak out against the government, if you think ill of the government, regardless on anything else(If a kid can be dealt with that over the top what will they do to me?) you will be dealt with to the fullest extent of the law, which would now be a one way trip to the U.S.S.A patriot gulags?

Me too

Okay, common sense please... I mean look the girl was'nt smart enough to put a hate page to "private"? If the secret service or who else knew this girl was 14, what she looked like, and her background... This could of been settled somewhat queiter? Maybe go see the parents instead of terrorizing students and such and disturbing class? Shoot... It might as well be a way of Bush's organization saying "HEY LOOK WERE DOING SOMETHING"

And 2 those who are saying that it's a good example set, say what?

Thats ridiculous, all i got from the whole story is that the feds keep track of myspace, and on a side note, myspace is just.....

Actually even if she put her page to private, I am sure the CIA, SS, would have been able to tap into it.

To me this just goes to show how much the government is watching myspace. In case you have noticed there are A LOT of CT'er's on myspace.com! I mean there are A LOT!

I will agree with this poster.

It is one thing to be investigated for what you say, it is entirely another to be investigated for threatening pictures or remarks.

The girl showd violence, whether it be her opinion or not it is clearly stated you cannot threaten the President, there are NO exceptions.

Had the girl been inteligent enough to give an educated essay on why the President is wrong, that would be wrong to be investigated, but since she was ignorant and stooped to low levels that a child would and the investigation was warrented. Also note investigations like this go on everyday, the politics behind simply liked the story behind it, ignorant Americans would surly dive into this story to bash the political right. Surly you did not do that, original poster, believe the article because it fit an agenda? The act would be ilegal who ever was in office, it is not something America is becoming, it is something America is, because it is a very old law.

Right.. the NSA, CIA, FBI... they have the man power to sit in dark rooms 24/7 to look at snot nosed ignorant school girls web sites. The government deserves less then half the credit you give them, they cannot do something like that.

What most likely DID happen was someone reported her because of the violence, or because they support Bush. SS is the only branch that investigates threats against the president.

but im bi-polar. Its disrespectful to abuse freedom of speech - hell we choped of a premiers head to ensure that over here. BUT in this day and age some things need to be investigated. Reading between the lines the response was too heavy handed and to a reader on the other side of the pond dissproportionate - i would wish that the agents had a bit nore as we say in the UK "nounce" to know who they were dealing with. That said most forces involved in ops like this are a bit short in one capacity or other when it comes to "tread softly and carry a big stick" - a motto i believe is enshrined on certain USS warships. My sympathy for the kid. The more they do this the more people will cry fowl and that saddens me.

Talking schoolkids, this reminds me of a joke on the Internet some years ago. Some of you might know it, but I'll take the risk of questioning and possibly detainment by posting it again - because it's about GWB.

George Bush visits a school class, somewhere in the midwest I quess, and to test their awareness, he asks them: "What is disaster?"
Hands go up, George points one: "You!"
"Disaster is if my best friend plays on the street and is run over by a car"
"No, not quite", Georgy answers, "it would be an accident, not a disaster"
He points another hand: "You!"
"If the schoolbus runs off the bridge and all the kids drown in the river, it would be a disaster"
"Hmm, quite good, it would be a great loss, but not a disaster"
He tries one more time: "You!"
"A disaster would be if Airforce One carrying the President and First Lady was shot down by a missile"
"Excactly, very good, clever boy", George approves, "and now, can you tell me why it would be a disaster?"
The boy answers: "Well, it wouldn't be an accident and it certainly wouldn't be any great loss".

Period. How long would you think it takes for SS to find me?
Don't know if I can post from the secret detention camps in Moldovia, Afghanistan or wherever they'll take me.

Where does the line between a joke and a threat go? I don't think this girl was threatning, but merely joking.

Beware of paranoia!

They could of dealt with it in a more of a discreet manor. They obviously alreadly knew where she was they could of just had the local PD talk to her parents they didn't have to send in the SS to interrogate her.

A stabbed hand? That's nothing.

What is the symbolism of that? I think a knife in the chest would have been more in order- Not that i would want our president stabbed.

No way. We need him for protection against all evil.

Don't worry Dg we are going to demand that the child is striped from her citizenship and be tagged enemy combatant and she should be taken to a Nazi concentration camp, I mean to a secret location.

What a joke. I guess our SS is having a great time on the internet looking for future enemies of the state in girly sites.

I think the girl deserve it. It only helps the enemy when people especially in the States spread bad proparganda about the president.

Let me try to explain this again, though some of those Im trying to explain to are rather notorious for um...shall we say not seeing the whole picture. Take ANY PERSON. Say they make a public web site SPECIFICALLY STATING the president should and needs to be killed. THIS IS A CRIME. (If you disagree with that, contact your representative...that IS what they are there for.) Why should said person not be treated as a criminal? In this case, the child was let off with a warning, because she was a foolish child. Thus, there were no boundries crossed. Going too far would have been prosecuting said foolish child. As to if the law crosses boundries, that is an entirely different subject.

Secondly, I think this is a great example to make to the mindless parrots that are the youth of today. For instance, some of them listen to uneducated "entertainers" who spout mindless hate because it is the "in" thing to do. (and because it makes them a lot of money, of course. Green Day, anyone?) They in turn begin to spout this uneducated hate on their own, in an illegal manner. If you have any interest in denying the ignorance that plagues our world, you should stand up and applaud. Whether or not you think this girl's opinions were valid...they were obviously not based on any in-depth knowledge of the subject, but rather on parroting the mindless (but trendy) hatred of others. Ignorance in the highest degree. Hopefully a few of her peers might become inspired to actually learn something about the subject, and form opinions that are their own, and not just regurgitate the opinions of others.

[edit on 10/14/2006 by saturnine_sweet]

What some don't seem to realize is that nobody's really angry that this girl was spoken to about her site.

The issue is that a 14 year old junior high kid was actually pulled out of class by SS agents. The issue could have been resolved at home, in front of her parents by police or feds or whatever, but out of the public eye and without projecting this Gestapo image.

I never said it's okay to have a hate site about someone, please read before posting.