Wednesday, November 21, 2007

"Get Osama" is Prohibited Speech in New York (Of All Places)



We read:

"There's a $25 million reward out for his capture, so it's no secret the United States government wants to get Osama Bin Laden. But when a Long Island man wanted to express that thought on his license plate, he got more than he bargained for. He's the most wanted man in the world, or as President Bush once put it: "He's wanted dead or alive."

Just like the president, Arno Herwerth of Hauppauge on Long Island wants to get "Osama" also, and he's making it known.... So when Arno, a retired NYPD sergeant, ordered personalized "Get Osama" license plates from the DMV, he said he thought he was being patriotic....

In a letter addressed to Herwerth, the DMV said they "prohibit the issuance of any license plate combination that is, 'in the discretion of the commissioner, obscene, lewd, lascivious, derogatory to a particular ethnic group or patently offensive.'"

Arno points out, however, there is a little something called "free speech" in the country he so adamantly believes he is supporting. He claims the president's September 2001 speech in which he announced Bin Laden was "wanted dead or alive," should not be forgotten, and if it was okay for the Commander In Chief to say, then the same words on license plates should be permitted.

Source

Cringing before Muslims again, I guess.