Posted on 12/04/2007 5:19:45 PM PST by Baladas
MADISON, Wisconsin (AP) -- Bloggers and free speech advocates are calling on prosecutors not to file charges against a teacher arrested for allegedly posting an anonymous comment online praising the Columbine shooters.
In 1999, two Columbine High School students killed 12 fellow students, a teacher, and themselves.
Some were disturbed by the post that police say James Buss left on a conservative blog, but other observers said it was a sarcastic attempt to discredit critics of education spending.
The suburban Milwaukee high school chemistry teacher was arrested last week for the November 16 comment left on www.bootsandsabers.com, a blog on Wisconsin politics. The comment, left under the name "Observer," came during a discussion over teacher salaries, after some writers complained teachers were underworked and overpaid.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Where’s the crime?
I agree, there probably is no crime here, but this guy is most certainly a nutjob. He also slandered Mark Belling (local talk radio conservative) by liberally making things up and posting them on this blog entry. Belling never said those things on the air.
What did he say precisely?
Agreed. If this teacher faces charges, someone ought to warn Ward Churchill and Bill Maher that the cops will be coming for them also. Reprehensible, yes, illegal, no.
This guy just let us know that he has removed all doubt from our minds that he’s an idiot. People these days will say anything to get attention.
Agree the teacher’s a little mental, and this:
“They knew how to deal with the overpaid teacher union thugs. One shot at a time!” he wrote, adding they should be remembered as heroes.
He sounds like any member of the NEA...
Liberal troll on a conservative site. The guy is a teacher and a former head of a teacher’s union. Basically, the guy got arrested for trolling. No way in hell those comments were serious.
I’m trying to imagine a mother of high school age kids sitting on a jury and having the phenomena of “sock puppeteering” explained to her. I suppose that anyone busted for making terrorist threats, assassination threats or inciting others to commit violent acts over the internet can claim a sock-puppet intent with this precedent...if the excuse ends up working.
so...how did they find him?
I don’t think being stupid and irrational is a crime. After all, Reid and Pelosi are still walking around.
Yes, and our local ABC affiliate whislt reporting on this story left out the fact that his post was meant to discreedit coservatives,leaving the impression that he meant what he said.
Let me get this straight - a troll is a liberal posting on a conservative site, who may be using the tactic of posting outrageous comments to inflame and discredit the conservatives.
Or vice-versa. Basically, a troll is one who posts on internet forums just to make trouble. Some are open about their intentions, some hide it. This guy was a special kind of troll. He tries to posts outrageous comments on a forum in an effort to besmirch the forum and by proxy, the people who post there.
Buss, a former president of the teacher's union, allegedly wrote that teacher salaries made him sick because they are lazy and work only five hours a day. He praised the teen gunmen who killed 12 students and a teacher before committing suicide in the April 1999 attack at Columbine High School.
"They knew how to deal with the overpaid teacher union thugs. One shot at a time!" he wrote, adding they should be remembered as heroes.
Yeah there's no reason to home schools these days .......< /sarcasm>
Just curious if it's someone young -- possible in or recently out of HS in 1999.
Sheesh...Buss should have chosen his words a l-i-t-t-l-e more carefully! Columbine was a tragedy, but this guy certainly hasn’t helped things.
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