Quote :

"Wis. teacher arrested for blog comment By RYAN J. FOLEY ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER MADISON, Wis. -- 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. Some were disturbed by the post 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 Nov. 16 comment left on http://www.bootsandsabers.com, a blog on Wisconsin politics. The comment, left under the name "Observer," came during a discussion over teacher salaries after some commenters complained teachers were underworked and overpaid. 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. The comment disturbed at least one teacher, who called police in West Bend, 40 miles north of Milwaukee and home of the blog's administrator. Police traveled to arrest Buss at his home in Cudahy, south of Milwaukee, last week after the blogger gave them the anonymous poster's IP address. After his arrest, Buss spent an hour in the Washington County jail before he was released on $350 bail. He did not return phone messages and e-mails seeking comment, and it was unclear whether he had a lawyer. Washington County District Attorney Todd Martens is considering whether to charge Buss with disorderly conduct and unlawful use of computerized communication systems. "If you look at all the factors in this case, it's pretty clear it would be a mistake to charge," said Larry Dupuis, legal director of The American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin. "At worst, it was somebody expressing admiration for somebody who did something reprehensible. But the more reasonable explanation is this is somebody who is trying to mock the conservative view of teacher salaries." Police Capt. Toby Netko defended the arrest. He said the teacher who complained was disturbed by the reference to "one shot at a time" and other educators agreed it was a threat. "What happens when you say bomb in an airport? That's free speech, isn't it?" he said. "And people are taken into custody for that all the time." Donald Downs, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor and expert in free speech, said that "all sorts of unsavory, controversial speech" are protected by the First Amendment. "It has to be intended to incite violence" to be illegal, Downs said. "If it's tongue-in-cheek, there's virtually no way they can claim that." Downs added, however, that the school district might have legal grounds to discipline Buss. The teacher has been placed on paid administrative leave while his school district considers what action to take. Sara Larsen, superintendent of the Oak Creek school district where Buss has worked since 1994, said she was "dismayed, disappointed and discouraged" by the posting. She had worked closely with Buss when he was president of the teacher's union for three years ending in 2006. "It's not something that I would have expected any teacher to do. As much as teachers understand the whole situation in Columbine, to reference that is certainly inappropriate," she said. "

the guy in question sounds like a real piece of shit. i wouldn't want him to teach my kid, or ANY kids for that matter... the district has every right to fire him.

but should he be *arrested* ?

12/4/2007 5:05:32 PM

he's twisted, but he doesn't deserve to be locked up

12/4/2007 5:08:58 PM

dude

he just trolled the shit out of that blog

12/4/2007 5:09:56 PM

yeah i dunno about arrested...maybe suspended

12/4/2007 5:27:52 PM

^^ yeah

It sounds like he was being sarcastic to me.

[Edited on December 4, 2007 at 5:30 PM. Reason : ]

12/4/2007 5:29:55 PM

definitely suspended. probably fired, too (particularly because he's a teacher. it wouldn't apply if he had a different job)
but not arrested. he's got the freedom of speech covering him on that one, since he wasn't making any direct threats or anything

12/4/2007 5:30:50 PM

Sounds like one of the fags here in the soapbox, whose main contribution to the forum is mocking conservative viewpoints and using strawmen.

12/4/2007 5:32:42 PM

Quote :

"bootsandsabers.com"

wow what a dumb name for a website (it probably has some political or historical significance in Wisconsin, but to me it sounds dumb)

12/4/2007 5:34:51 PM

Quote :

""They knew how to deal with the overpaid teacher union thugs. One shot at a time!""

Maybe the teachers in their union. Even the slack teachers I know in my school work 8 hours a day. Good job using a sample to generalize about an entire population.

Quote :

"Donald Downs, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor and expert in free speech"

Are you serious, an expert in free speech?

12/4/2007 5:38:50 PM

what is next???

i detest the ignorant fucktards but are we gonna arrest every neo-Nazi claiming that Hitler's idea of the "final solution" was an awesome idea. This is a pure example of the state encroaching on civil liberties. Not like the guy was proclaiming to carrying out his own "columbine" aginst the WI teachers.

12/4/2007 5:44:48 PM

Quote :

"i detest the ignorant fucktards but are we gonna arrest every neo-Nazi claiming that Hitler's idea of the "final solution" was an awesome idea."

i hope not, and I doubt it's coming to that, but you would fire a guy like this if he happens to be working at a private jewish school.

12/4/2007 6:01:54 PM

I'm a teacher, and I think this is stupid. Although it is not clear exactly what words were written and the complete context (and thus it's really not possible to fairly draw conclusions), it at least appears that he was being sarcastic and biting, and that the political correctness bug has gotten into people too far.

When you look at a simple description of his background, a teacher who was also part of the union, it becomes comical. Using hyperbole is completely understandable here, and it seems that his attempt to show his perspective in the outrageousness of the belief that teachers are underworked and overpaid was apropro.

I would have imagined that the police who arrived to investigate the matter would have talked to him before arresting him and gotten the whole thing cleared up, but maybe they weren't satisfied, or maybe there somehow is more than we see. If thisis what it seems, though, they were pretty ignorant to actually arrest him.

12/4/2007 6:33:37 PM

I feel like our world is evolving into the one in Minority Report. The Police are coming along and snatching you up for crimes that happen in the future.

12/4/2007 7:33:21 PM

Suspended or fired, sure why not. Arrested? For what? Being a jackass? Hell, if that was all it took, we could have fulfilled his fantasies and had Salisburyboy sent to a secret prison in Siberia long ago.

12/4/2007 8:03:55 PM

Quote :

"What happens when you say bomb in an airport?"

what happens when you yell ORANGE at an apple tree?

12/5/2007 12:32:36 AM

More information from the site administrator of that blog:

Quote :

"In fact, let’s put it in context with the commenter’s next comment on that thread. "I am NOT advcting shootng teachrs. I agree with Mark belling when he said that theese kids were pushed into doing this by the stupid union teachrs at Colmbine. belling said that to bad only one teachr got it and lots of kids. shuld have been the other way. belling hates teachrs I like belling" It appears to me that the commenter is attempting to do one of two things. Option 1: the commenter is a right wing whack job that isn’t violent, but likes to engage in outlandish rhetoric. Option 2: the commenter is a liberal who is trying to discredit conservatives by acting like option 1. As you can see from the story, the commenter is actually a union teacher from Oak Creek, but it gets more interesting than that. The commenter was also once the president of his local teachers’ union. This leads me to believe that Option 2 is the truth."

Seems pretty clear-cut to me that the police who arrested him are idiots and he should be left alone.

And if I were him and the Superintendent so much as lifted a finger in my direction, I'd sue the school system for so much money their heads would spin. I'm sure the ACLU won't have trouble bleeding a nice settlement out of them.

[Edited on December 5, 2007 at 1:18 AM. Reason : foo]

12/5/2007 1:17:44 AM

jesus christ.

12/5/2007 3:14:56 AM

^^ so i was right

he just trolled the shit out of all those people

12/5/2007 10:05:56 AM

How can any of you fuckers support firing or suspending this guy from his job?

For some joke he made on the internet?

What the fuck, guys?

Y'all fucking suck so bad.

12/5/2007 11:53:06 AM

I hear so many people on the internet sarcastically compare people to Nazis in the way this guy referenced columbine. Its stupid and childish, but not illegal or dangerous.

12/5/2007 12:38:05 PM

Even the postings on this thread shows how important context is in drawing conclusions. A few posters in this thread even drew the conclusion that the guy was some sort of nutjob, based on the article and the comment itself.

In the context of the actual blog postings, it's clear that the guy was being completely sarcastic.

12/5/2007 1:04:53 PM

And now his life gets fucked up because of some tightwad chowder monkey on the internet.

Ain't that some shit?

12/5/2007 1:14:46 PM

well the internet is:

12/5/2007 4:18:04 PM

Did it mention how she even got caught? If she was dumb enough to use her k12.wis.mil.edu or whatever email address instead of just posting from an anonymous account, maybe she'll learn her lesson

12/5/2007 4:23:17 PM

^ I thought it said they had to trace her IP address back to her?

12/5/2007 5:25:15 PM

^^ mil.edu ?? is that the domain for boot camps and A-schools? ... hey, aren't you supposed to be some kind of tech guru with an IT job????

anyhow, i didnt realize the guy's comment was sarcastic. i was originally thinking he was some conservative whackjob, and i was still upset that he was getting the treatment. now i see that he was most likely making fun of them, and it only makes his arrest that much more ludicrous.

yeh, im sure this guy is going to have a fat lawsuit. sounds to me like some of their local cops were regulars on the "bootsandsabres" website and got tired of him PWNING their redneck asses.

bootsandsabres. good lord. you know salisburyboy has got to have an account there. if he doesnt yet, he will soon.




[Edited on December 5, 2007 at 6:31 PM. Reason : ]

12/5/2007 6:30:01 PM

Quote :

"mil.edu ?? is that the domain for boot camps and A-schools? "

i was thinking MILwaukee but a quick google search turns out the domain is actually milwaukee.k12.wi.us

but thanks for caring

12/5/2007 10:15:34 PM

Wait...

there are people in the Soap Box who believe trolling is grounds for being fired from your job?

And TreeTwista10 is one of them?

...

I'm going to be optimistic and assume you all just suck at reading comprehension and didn't even understand the story.

12/6/2007 8:19:57 AM

If this guy deserves to be arrested, then some people on tdub need to be arrested immediately for their comments.

12/6/2007 9:53:44 AM

^^nice ad hom, troll

12/6/2007 10:34:35 AM

GET A ROPE

12/6/2007 1:50:40 PM

Quote :

"Wait... there are people in the Soap Box who believe trolling is grounds for being fired from your job? "

For what it's worth, I think it should be legal for your boss to fire you because your farts don't have the nutty aroma he's looking for. Now whether it's a smart idea or whether your boss should is another matter entirely. Same here. Fire him if you want, but what the hell are you going to arrest him for?

12/6/2007 6:45:17 PM

Quote :

"1337 b4k4: For what it's worth, I think it should be legal for your boss to fire you because your farts don't have the nutty aroma he's looking for."

?

Under your vision of things, should a boss be able to fire someone based on race, religion, ethnicity, gender, romantic orientation...?

[Edited on December 6, 2007 at 8:36 PM. Reason : ?]

12/6/2007 8:36:02 PM

^^there's a marked difference if your boss is the state.

12/6/2007 8:54:38 PM

^^ Yep. Freedom of association also includes the freedom to not associate.

^ True.

[Edited on December 6, 2007 at 9:00 PM. Reason : dfy]

12/6/2007 8:57:54 PM

see, this is why i love you libertarians. you're just so darn cute in your persistence for antiquated notions of justice.

it's just too bad that the US Supreme Court has ruled that your "personal" association preferences dont extend to discrimination for housing/schooling/employment/etc.

i'm sorry to let you know, but your Jim Crow laws are dead and gone.

so you might as well move on to another issue.

12/6/2007 9:55:12 PM

the supreme court also once ruled that black people weren't really people and more recently ruled the government can take your land and give it to a private developer if the developer promises better tax revenue. As much as the supreme court gets right it gets many things wrong

12/7/2007 12:15:34 AM