Like vintorez said, it'd be horrible for the School to just tolerate it.

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I may be wrong here, but aren't threats against the president treason?

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I think technically it can be, but I don't believe it's usually taken as such.  If you make a threat to the president, it's usually taken more or less the same as a threat to any person, but it's taken a lot more seriously since it's to the president who's a potential assassination target more so than a typical citizen.

Besides, given the context and the way it is said, this isn't so much as a threat as it is simply just a stupid joke and I doubt it'd go any further than that.  Kicking him off the football team is stupid.  A public university really has no business in monitoring what a student says and does online.  Leave that to the police if it's serious enough.

So its not that he just badmouthed Obama

If he'd just say "oh shit there's a nigger in the white house" I'd say he's got the right to say wtf he wants even if its racist.

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"Everyone helpin' each other whenever they can we makin' it happen, from nothin' to somethin'
That's how we be survivin'" - BEP

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Besides, given the context and the way it is said, this isn't so much as a threat as it is simply just a stupid joke

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Its retarded but its the truth. They did that under Bush too you know.

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"Everyone helpin' each other whenever they can we makin' it happen, from nothin' to somethin'
That's how we be survivin'" - BEP

Football, and educational sport in general, is a privilege, not a right. You have to show exemplary conduct and do so a consistent basis. If he was making such comments and the coach saw it, and to the coach, it wasn't indicative of what he thought was good behaviour, then he is within his rights to kick the guy off the team.

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except that a lot of school these days don't take stupid jokes about the prez as just stupid jokes.

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Not saying it wasn't serious.  If somebody said that to me, I'd most certainly take it as a joke and so would most people - but obviously there'd be people looking into that.

The fact that his school took action is, however, inappropriate.  There is no proof of him saying this while at school.  The only relation his statement has with the school is the fact that he made it at some point of time and that he happens to go the school and also plays football for them.  That's not grounds for a public school to get involved - they ought to leave it to the police to handle and let it be.

Post edited at 12:34 am on Nov. 15, 2008 by Bud2400

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I wouldn't dismiss it as just a joke.

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Why not?  When somebody says "I'm gonna kill you" after you played a joke on them, would you ever consider taking the statement literally?

Obviously the analogy doesn't totally fit as Obama hasn't done anything personally to the man, but the fact that his statement isn't to be taken literally still applies.  You can see this by his vocabulary - notably, how he says hunters (instead of something more general, which he does so to create an image) and goes as far as to use the word nigger (which, if it were to be serious, wouldn't use such frivolous terms).

Not saying, though, that it shouldn't be looked into with some precaution, but that it shouldn't be overblown at the same time.  Doing so gets us into the whole "guilty until proven innocent" mindset, as if he can prove his intent over something which has yet to happen.

Post edited at 12:32 am on Nov. 15, 2008 by Bud2400

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That's not grounds for a public school to get involved - they ought to leave it to the police to handle and let it be.

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And the problem about facebook is that the stuff is public. People get fired at work for stuff they post on facebook on things they do in private time.

http://blog.gocollege.com/2007/12/31/facebook-myspace-pictures/

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Take the picture above, for example. This is a picture of a 25-year-old woman, a mother of two named Stacy Snyder. This photo of hers was taken at a holiday party. She was fired from a student teaching program for being a "drunken pirate," according to the New York Times. But who is to know what was really in that plastic cup? Who is to know if she's really drinking alcohol?

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http://www.lifehack.org/articles/management/how-to-avoid-getting-fired-by-facebook.html

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Penn State's Daily Collegian columnist Zach Good was fired over comments made regarding a cancer fundraiser. His editor in chief wrote in a blog post titled "I'm no Donald Trump, but..." followed by comments "Anyone has the right to free speech. No one has the right to be employed at a newspaper. That is a privilege." Canadian grocery chain employees Devon Bourgeois and James Woodwere fired for making wisecracks admitting theft.

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College football is pretty serious shit these days, So it's almost like a real job maybe more important. It carries the school name and everything.

I don't say its right but it's what's going on.

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"Everyone helpin' each other whenever they can we makin' it happen, from nothin' to somethin'
That's how we be survivin'" - BEP

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Yeah but you know there's a lot of stuff schools get involved into thats none of their shit and they still stick in their dick into it.

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Are you referring to public or private schools? I have no problem with private schools doing these things, but public schools I do, for I believe that a students' demeaner should only concern public schools as far as their performance at the school is concerned. I may not believe it to be the business of a private school, but a private school is not funded by tax dollars either, hence what they do is their choice.

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And the problem about facebook is that the stuff is public. People get fired at work for stuff they post on facebook on things they do in private time.

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Public place or not, so long as it wasn't at the school itself, it does not concern the school, but rather, the local law enforcement. The school has no business to be involved.

As companies are generally private entities, my opinion in regards to what they do is more or less the same as private schools.

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College football is pretty serious shit these days, So it's almost like a real job maybe more important. It carries the school name and everything.

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Eh, I can at least understand this point, however, I don't think it's up to the school to get involved regardless. As soon as the guy is convicted with something, or simply admits to it in front of a judge, then it'd be appropriate. But right now I see it more or less as the whole "guilty until proven innocent" bullshit. There's still a very slight chance that it wasn't the guy in question who posted that nonsense on Obama's Facebook page, and I believe it's very presumptuous, as well as politically correct, of the school to throw him off the team in order to save face when he is convicted of, and plead guilty to nothing.

Post edited at 12:55 am on Nov. 15, 2008 by Bud2400

EDIT:
They should have confronted him privately and told him to take it off.

It wouldn't have been such a big deal - and it would've been harmless.

Post edited at 7:46 am on Nov. 15, 2008 by kidd rune

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"One of the Germans... would frequently snatch a child from the
woman's arms and... tear the child in half... Such incidents...
occurred all the time." - A Year in Treblinka, Yankel Wiernik,
Treblinka's "most authoritative eyewitness"

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Quote: from I never forget at 9:31 pm on Nov. 14, 2008

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I may be wrong here, but aren't threats against the president treason?

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I think technically it can be, but I don't believe it's usually taken as such. If you make a threat to the president, it's usually taken more or less the same as a threat to any person, but it's taken a lot more seriously since it's to the president who's a potential assassination target more so than a typical citizen.

Besides, given the context and the way it is said, this isn't so much as a threat as it is simply just a stupid joke and I doubt it'd go any further than that. Kicking him off the football team is stupid. A public university really has no business in monitoring what a student says and does online. Leave that to the police if it's serious enough.

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Are you referring to public or private schools?  I have no problem with private schools doing these things, but public schools I do, for I believe that a students' demeaner should only concern public schools as far as their performance at the school is concerned. .

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On Friday, the boy was questioned by the Secret Service after his art teacher turned in sketches by the boy featuring President Bush. In one, Bush's head was on a stake. In another, he was dressed as the devil, firing off rockets. The caption on one sketch read, "End the War -- on errorism."

There were more sketches, including one of the Bill of Rights and the Constitution in flames. A family friend says the sketchbook has not been returned to the boy. His mother, who refused to comment yesterday, was given photocopies.

"Ridiculous and kind of embarrassing," is how Tom Smith describes the situation at Prosser High School, where he attends school with the 15-year-old.

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http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/170992_prosser28.html

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A friend with a child in the Richland County,WI high school where George Bush appears today reports the following. Students were told they could not wear any pro-Kerry clothing or buttons or protest in any manner, at the risk of expulsion. After a parent inquired, an alternative activity will be provided, probably a movie being shown in an auditorium. (The school secretary reportedly said that students had the choice of just staying home if they didn't want to attend the Bush rally, but the principal subsequently offered an alternative.)

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http://www.noahbrier.com/archives/2004/10/a_school_that_d.php

And about public schools and silly rules that have nothing to do with academics

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Tracy Jannicelli's last day of public school started out pretty bad, with a sore throat and a headache, and ended up even worse, with a 10-day suspension from Lake Region High. Worst of all, SAD 61's school board expelled the ninth-grader a short time later for violating the school's drug policy. But if you listen to Jannicelli, all she took were a couple of aspirin.

Feeling under the weather upon arriving at school, Jannicelli began asking around for some aspirin. "A girl came up to me and handed me two pills," she says. "And I trusted this girl. She said they were a pain reliever. I said OK, and I took them."

By taking these pills, Jannicelli violated the school's policy on taking medication — students are only allowed to take medicine, even over-the-counter medication, that is dispensed by the school nurse. However, according to Superintendent of Schools for SAD 61 Candace Brown the pills were not aspirin but prescription drugs, and therefore Jannicelli had also run afoul of the school's zero-tolerance policy on drugs. Later it was revealed in court documents that the school board believes Jannicelli took Ritalin. As is the policy with many schools across Maine and the nation, when you are caught taking drugs at Lake Region High, the sentence is automatic expulsion.

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Unless you're the student who is punished, the results can actually seem pretty funny. An Arkansas first grader was suspended in late January when he pointed a chicken finger at his teacher (he claims he was pointing at his friend) and said "pow, pow." In September of last year an 11-year-old in Atlanta was suspended for 10 days for possessing a weapon in school. The weapon: a 10-inch chain connecting her Tweety Bird wallet to her pants. A senior in Loudoun County, Virginia, was suspended for 10 days when he used mouthwash at school. Because the product contained alcohol, he was charged with violating the zero-tolerance policy on liquor and was required to attend a three-day substance-abuse program. In Pittsburgh, in 1998, a 6-year-old boy was expelled from school for wearing a plastic axe as an accessory to his fireman Halloween costume.

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http://www.portlandphoenix.com/archive/features/01/02/16/school.html

My school is public and they have all kinds of stupid rules on what we can wear or not. Its not even violent

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1 Hats, Caps, Bandanas, Beanie, Knit Caps, Head Stockings, Do-Rags, etc.

Baseball caps, hats, bandanas, head bands, do-rags or any type of head rags or head coverings will not be permitted on campus during normal school hours . Students who are enrolled in the JROTC program, or are engaged in a school-sponsored contest, performance, or athletic event are exempt from this policy only during their actual participation in such activity, or as part of their JROTC uniform.

3. Tagging on Backpacks, Clothing, or School Material

Clothing with student's personal writing or tagging on jackets, backpacks, pants, sweatshirts, etc., or school materials will not be allowed. The student's name in simple lettering is encouraged.

5. Blouses/Tops/Shirts/Sweaters/Sports Jerseys
All clothing pertaining to blouses, tops, shirts, sweaters, sports jerseys (as pertaining
to the upper torso) must not expose any part of the upper torso including midriff, shoulders, cleavage (low cut), or see-through in any form. All tops must extend to the end of the shoulder. Knit tops and net-type jerseys require a shirt or blouse underneath which does not expose midriff, cleavage, or shoulder. All tops must have a full sleeve, at least five inches in length from the end of the shoulder.

6. Belts which are deemed inappropriate or dangerous will not be permitted to be worn on campus and will be taken from the student.

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Anyways I agree with you but as I said its not like its new or anything.

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"Everyone helpin' each other whenever they can we makin' it happen, from nothin' to somethin'
That's how we be survivin'" - BEP