Bush's America

Another story about the misconception of freedom.

A southwestern Wisconsin man is fighting a civil citation for bringing a sign that read "F U G W" with him as he watched President Bush pass through Platteville last week. ...

Police told him he couldn't display the sign. Van den Bosch then changed the sign to say "Free Us G W" and added "End the Occupation" on the back, referring to the war in Iraq.

A few minutes later, another police officer came over and ordered Van den Bosch to surrender the sign. Van den Bosch rolled up his sign and moved to the back of the crowd. He held it up as Bush went by.

Police then handcuffed him and took him to the police station, where he was photographed, fingerprinted, cited $243 for disorderly conduct and released. Van den Bosch said he hasn't paid the fine.

I'll guess, and I'm stretching here because I like the original sign, that the legality of "F U G W" is questionable. However, after he changed it to "Free Us G W" and "End the Occupation", I can't see where those aren't perfectly legal and protected under the first amendment of the Constitution, which contains all those pesky little freedoms that Bush likes to claim our troops are supposedly fighting for.