Posted on 08/30/2006 9:00:34 PM PDT by Aussie Dasher
A US student who sued school officials after he was made to censor his T-shirt that labelled President George W Bush "Chicken-Hawk-In-Chief" and a former alcohol and cocaine abuser won an appeal yesterday to wear the shirt to school.
The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favour of Zachery Guiles, who through his parents claimed his free speech rights had been violated.
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 favour 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".
The court agreed with the lower court that ruled Guiles' suspension from school should be expunged from his record.
One would hope that when he's older and free from his lunatic parents the kid will be able to think for himself and look back on this part of his life as when he was young and stupid. And drive his parents nuts by voting Republican...
by whom?
the same parents that probably provided the shirt and then took it all the way to the supreme court?
A good solid ass-whoopin is needed - on the parents
The triumph of tawdry demoralizing low-class behavior.
We are become a nation of slobs.
It worked for Alex Keaton : )
Yes I do. We live in America, not the Soviet Union.
Hmmmm.....
That's a good point you are making.
Red diaper baby alert!
Since this kid is now a "public figure" due to this I suggest some of his current fellow students wear t-shirts with his likenss and an appropriate message about his IQ.
You can bet his parents won't think someone with a t-shirt of their little s**thead is free speech.
Time to break out the Hitlary T-shirts and see how well this ruling works.
And how many US presidents in YOUR family, Zac?
Have you checked out Myspace......????
who cares if he wears a anti-bush shirt?
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Isn't this the CV for the Chap of Quiddick?
I know, I know. You can imagine how this situation played itself out:
Mom: Now Jimmy, go put on your Coke and Bush shirt.
Kid: No Mom! The kids at school make fun of me for it!
Mom: Dammit Jimmy! Just because your friends' parents drive SUVs, vote Republican, and are anti-gay homophobe theocrats doesn't make them right. I need you to wear that shirt so the kids know that Bush lied and people died.
Kid: Mom, please....
Mom: Listen. If you wear the shirt I'll let you pick out your own organic wheat at the co-op. No more spelt for you, trooper! Since you're teaching your friends about Herr Bush the Cokehead, I think you're responsible enough to decide what flavor tofu you want.
Kid: I'm gonna get an ass-whoopin' for this.
Nobody. The whole flap is over him wearing a shirt that promotes drug use by showing a pile of cocaine, a razor blade, and a martini glass. The fact that it is anti-Bush is being waived about by lefties to distract from the actual problem. Do you think a tee-shirt showing a pile of cocaine, a razor blade, and a martini glass is appropriate for the seventh grade?
Fine with me so long as the same standard is used when looking at non-liberal t-shirts.
That sounds inappropriate for school to me even without the President.
Sad.
And typical.
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