Speech is no longer free...

Apparently in a moment of righteous outrage, a DeKalb county police officer ticketed one Denise Grier for her offensive, "obscene" bumpersticker that said, "Tired of the BUSHIT."

Although a DeKalb judge threw out the ticket in April because the state's lewd decal law that formed the basis for the ticket was ruled unconstitutional in 1990, Grier is seeking damages for "emotional distress" against the county, according to the lawsuit.

Grier also seeks a declaration in federal court that her bumper sticker is considered protected speech under the First Amendment because she is "uncertain and insecure regarding her right to display her bumper sticker in DeKalb County," the lawsuit said.

I guess we don't really have free speech anymore, or at least not written free "speech"~

This is so disturbing on so many levels! It used to be that the fool could say anything to the king, that no other man would ever dare utter such truths to power. Our forefathers tried to break that stranglehold by giving us freedom of speech, specifically to criticize those in power. It seems that not only the administration but low-paid minions who feel themselves to be the guardians of purity can now cite us for our very act of voicing (or displaying) our opinions and criticisms of those who hold the key to our very lives and deaths in their hands.

This reaches into the tubes known as the Internet:

Disaffected people living in the United States may develop radical ideologies and potentially violent skills over the Internet and that could present the next major U.S. security threat, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said on Monday.

Stand by for censorship, additional wiretapping (through Carnivore and it's successor) and other programs designed to collect, compile and analyze data, i.e., Total Information Awareness and the Matrix.

Now, go order yourself a pizza and feel the love of community and total lack of privacy!