Man Goes to Jail for Puting a Sign in his Yard

whether we agree or disagree with the sign on the man's lawn, he has the right to speak his mind!

remember, freedom of speech is a protected RIGHT.

And we must always protect other's rights, if anything, to protect ourselves.

this story makes me sick, simply because the government, local or otherwise, is getting too much power over it's citizens.

good job lady!

my points EXACLY!!!

no matter what the sign said its still legal...

our (americans) rights' are being taken away everyday in small towns such as these... soon they will be nationwide... look at the patriot act and the NEW constitution if you dont agree...

As far as I am concerned ALL speach should be protected.

HATE speach is fine with me. The KKK has been spewing their venom for hundreds of years and no one really has that much to say about them aside from shaking their heads.

As for slander, they have the right to say it, but that is what we have civil courts for. Should damages be incured due to what is said, reparations for damages should be awarded, but that doesn't lessen the rights of the person to say it.

Originally posted by KrazyJethro
As far as I am concerned ALL speach should be protected.

HATE speach is fine with me. The KKK has been spewing their venom for hundreds of years and no one really has that much to say about them aside from shaking their heads.

As for slander, they have the right to say it, but that is what we have civil courts for. Should damages be incured due to what is said, reparations for damages should be awarded, but that doesn't lessen the rights of the person to say it.

Amen.

The reason no one listens to the KKK is BECAUSE they have been allowed to speak.

After a few minutes of listening to them even an idiot can tell they are full of #.

ALL speach is protected or NONE is protected because everything you say will be offensive to someone.

I would wait and see if the something happns to the Judge for his actions. This would not hold up in a supreme Court and I sure the judges actions would be reversed, So it not america who took this right away from this man, it was this one judge. So dont start sweating yet, unless you plan on defacing a local judge on your lawn, Id say your asking for trouble.

PS you can't name or defame a person. If someone put on there lawn "(Your moms name here) is a dirty Wh@re". Not only would you go beat him, youd expect the police to make him ake that down.

It's actually libel we're dealing with here KJ, but you're absolutely right in what you're saying.

Here's a nice link the history of the libel law. History of Libel

The only time something can be done about this is if defamatory information is "proven to be false".

That would mean the mans sign could remain whilst the case went through civil courts, and only then if proven to be false could he be sued for damages, but again the sign could still remain, although he would continue to be sued and dragged through courts.

Those officers had NO RIGHT to remove the sign, and was in fact against the law. They should have the book thrown at them but that wont be the case, because now they can rely on "possible terrorist" or subversive BS.

HowardRoark spin this anyway you want but it was plain illegal.

Then why do you live here? If you think it sucks then get off your azz and do something about it, besides sitting behind a keyboard bitching.

If you lived in a number of other countries, oh, lets say a real free country (*insert sarcasam*) like......Saudi Araiba. You'd already be hauled off for typing that and hanged or shot. Like someone already said, the govt. sucks not the people (well some of the people not most).

Would you like to be told how many children you can have?
Would you like to live somewhere where the men can beat the crap out of the women legally.
Would you like to live somewhere where only the leaders and their close friends are the only ones who have rights?
Would you like to live somewhere where that bombs are regularly blown up outside supermarkets, nightclubs, on busses, and infront of hotels?
Would you like to live somewhere where orginized crime and drug cartells are more powerfull than the govt and the govt has to answer to them?
Would you rather live somewhere where a payoff is all it took to get you put in jail for ever?
Would you rather live somewhere where they put children to work in sweatshops for a few cents an hour
Would you rather live somewhere where children are used to blow up crowds of innocent people.
Would you rather live somewhere where DRIVE ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD AND SPELL NEIGHBOR AND COLOR WRONG Just kidding!

All in all I think it's a still great place to live. We have some problems, but I think those can be fixed if people get off their azz, stop crying and do something about it.

A good start would be to write the Govonor of that state in the article and tell them how you feel about this incident. Hell, all you have to do now is email them. Send the same letter every day untill they respond.

The folks that are dying to keep this country free don't think this country sucks, and I think it's a little offensive to them to say such a thing, being the ones enjoying what they are dying for.

Anyway, you are entitled to your opinions.

I read alot of "This country sucks" in this thread. Any of you wonder why? Maybe it's you! Get all the people in a room to believe something sucks and guess what...it's gonna suck. So continue believing that our country sucks...I for one love this country and will not be brainwashed by you.

[Edited on 3-4-2004 by I See You]

Originally posted by John Nada
It's actually libel we're dealing with here KJ, but you're absolutely right in what you're saying.

Here's a nice link the history of the libel law. History of Libel

The only time something can be done about this is if defamatory information is "proven to be false".

That would mean the mans sign could remain whilst the case went through civil courts, and only then if proven to be false could he be sued for damages, but again the sign could still remain, although he would continue to be sued and dragged through courts.

Those officers had NO RIGHT to remove the sign, and was in fact against the law. They should have the book thrown at them but that wont be the case, because now they can rely on "possible terrorist" or subversive BS.

HowardRoark spin this anyway you want but it was plain illegal.

DUUUUHHHHHH.

My bad. Man, I think my brain is not connecting 100% today.

Libel - Writen
Slander - Verbal

~sigh~

Ok, thanks for the correction.

Originally posted by John Nada
Remember, you gave up those rights so you could find those nasty people hiding in the shadows. Live with it.

So now im nasty just cause i hide in the shadows
heh im joking John, well its so wrong but so true too, so stupid it might just work... i never heard such a thing like that untill now pretty stupid that he got locked up for it

[Edited on 3-4-2004 by ShadowMan]

First off America does not suck the goverment does, its an evil corrupt thing buts sadly we need some goverment, can't be an anarchy.

His sighn should've stayed up, what law did be break? He just sayed the truth that our court system is a big fat joke. 9th Circuit is full of godless idiots and the rest of them spend more time screwing aroudn than getting tot he case at hand.

First the FFC on their crackdown, and now this all going down the crapper.

Only thing about the site, is that while I want to belive it I am kind swayed by that its a biased site against Bush, which it could just be made up propoganda mainly with the spelling errors.

baked--- all your reasons sound like america buddy...

and im safe behind my computer... do you really think im gunna stand up against my goverment and get "silenced"???

hell no!!!

Originally posted by John Nada
HowardRoark spin this anyway you want but it was plain illegal.

I am not trying to defend the judge or the duputies.

One thing I did note in the story was that Dean had a case before the judge. If the case was ongoing at the time (I don't believe that it was), the judge could very well have had a reasonable case for contempt of court.

Anyway, one of my points was that it is stupid to get all worked up over this.

This kind of thing has been going on since this country started. Judges are, after all, human like the rest of us. You get some good ones, and you get some bad ones.

That is why they have processes to elect/ install and remove/ impeach judges. This also happens on a fairly regular basis.

So far we have been doing pretty good as a country, and I don't see the need to cry doom and gloom, all because of one nutjob judge. Also, you may have noticed, that the situation hass resolved itself. That is also what happens in cases like this. If Dean was still in jail, then it would be an entierly different matter.


[Edited on 3-4-2004 by HowardRoark]

[Edited on 3-4-2004 by HowardRoark]

Originally posted by they see ALL
baked--- all your reasons sound like america buddy...

I'm not sure how you mean this.
South America maybe. I however know of no where in the United States my examples happen. But take a look at China, Phillipines (sp?), most of Africa, centrial, south America, and mostly the middle east. My examples sound nothing like America. There is no other country as SISSY, WIMP, and PUZZY friendly as America (except France). Sometimes, I feel loosing my freedom of speech would be worth it if it meant I didn't have to listen to all the crybabies whine about how bad they have it here.

and im safe behind my computer... do you really think im gunna stand up against my goverment and get "silenced"???

hell no!!!

Like someone else said this whole thing sounds like "redneck politics". As for being safe behind your computer, it sounds like you can cry as loud as the rest of them but when it comes down to actually doing anything about it, you will let everyone else do the dirty work. That is what's wrong with America, some of the "so-called Americans"

americans doing sumthang lol

thats sum funny #!

sounds like this man was jailed for contempt of court, not posting signs on his property...hell, it could have been against a homeowners association to have those signs in the yard...freedom of speech? htose are your neighbors denying your rightsd if its a home assoc....not the gov....it doesnt sem to have enough details about the specific charges on the sign guy for me to tell if this was politics or actual 1rst amend issue...
dont forget that ANYONE can be arrested at ANY time for ANY charge the cop sees fit to levy....your still innocent until you see the judge. Tho being arrested is problematic enough.

I'm only interested in the facts, not BS stories. Here are the facts. Two officers went to his property WITHOUT warrents and removed the sign. One word: ILLEGAL.