Most Mesa Ridge High School students got yearbooks with a black mark under one student's picture, covering up a phrase that has caught the Secret Service's interest.
After about 100 yearbooks were distributed May 6, somebody complained about the caption, which reads "most likely to assassinate President Bush." School officials asked students to return the yearbooks, and staff members used markers to cover up the words in those and the still-undistributed books. [...]
Lon Garner, special agent in charge of the Secret Service's Denver District, said all threats against the president must be investigated. "That's our mission," he said. "That's what we do."
Voted "Most Likely to [REDACTED]"
Secret Service Looks Into Yearbook Prank
Tags: big brother, pranks, security
Current Music: Tackhead -- What's My Mission Now? (Fight the Devil) ♬
42 Responses:
I know I'll sleep better tonight.
How many students in that class will be getting arrested for wearing t-shirts under their gowns that say "Most likely to assassinate president bush" ?
Let's hope that number is > 0
wow, so the yearbook kids voted this kid most likely to assasinate president bush, and he's going to have a file with the fbi and most likely be put on the no-fly list. nice job kids.
As soon as geeks figure that out, I have the feeling *alot* of jocks are going to get voted that all of a sudden.
The best part is that, as far as we know, he never threatened anyone at all, yet he's the one investigated. I bet he don't truck with no devil.
Investigation aside, I find the blacking out of the text horribly...Orwellian. The words are there. Everyone knows they're there. What good is covering them up going to do?
Think like a school administrator for a second. By doing that, they are - at least in their minds - being compliant with the wishes of the authorities and winning brownie points for good faith. To parents, particularly conservative parents, it would simply look bad if they allowed the books to continue being distributed as they are.
Let's start with the assumption that putting that in the yearbook in the first place wasn't appropriate. Some may not agree with that assumption, but that's not the point.
The administrators probably had two choices: Either black out the words, or pulp however many hundred copies had already been printed, and get a completely new run done at the last minute (paying for both, since it was the school's error). One of those is a lot cheaper. It's not Orwellian -- it's someone trying to save however many thousands of dollars a reprint would have cost.
Both options are Orwellian, their choice was just more pragmatic. And there was a pretty obvious third choice, they could just have let it stand.
No, seriously. What is "Orwellian" supposed to mean in this context?
I think they're referring to Orwell's Nineteen-Eighty-Four and the government's habit of revising and changing the information in history books and photographs.
thank god they blacked out that civilisation-destroying blasphemy. you all came THAT close to godless anarchy.
Oh, what whiny bullshit. Is there really anyone left on the planet that doens't know the Secret Service is made up of incompetent boobs that have had their sense of humor dialed to 0 and their ability to overreact dialed up to 11?
You threaten the big rich fucker in the Oval Office, the Secret Service is going to knock on your door. End of story. It's not new, it's not W's fault. Don't get me wrong, you'd think in Denver they'd be more concerned about counterfeiting (since they're part of the Treasury), but there it is.
Is there really anyone left on the planet that doens't know the Secret Service is made up of incompetent boobs
Apparently, there are some highschool yearbook editors who didn't get the memo.
You threaten the big rich fucker in the Oval Office, the Secret Service is going to knock on your door. End of story.
See, there's this thing called "stupidity". Many sheeple out here don't like it, and attempt to do this thing called "talking about it". On extremely rare occasions, "talk" turns in to "action". But here, don't worry, you don't have to play. Just have another big gulp and watch TV.
It's kindof new. When Clinton came to Dublin, he walked down the main shopping street with minimal entourage, shaking people's hands. Bush didn't even try to approach the capital on his first visit, he spent it holed up in a castle on the west coast surrounded by hundreds of Secret Service officers. (Even Reagan got to go to the pub.) There is a definite pattern of over-the-top levels of security and ridiculous amounts of paranoia to this particular administration. Denying it is silly.
Did the right wig out over Clinton to anywhere near the degree that the left seems to do for Bush? Perhaps that's at least part of the answer.
(Doesn't matter whether the wigging is justified -- just that it happens, and one natural response to that is more distance)
Let's see, Bush has tried to kill himself with:
- A pretzel
- A segway
- landing an airplane on a ship
Not only does the SS (Secret Service in THIS instance, just so nobody is too confused ;) have to watch out for everyone else, but they also have to watch their own protectant from offing himself! And with a brilliant mind like his, they're working overtime just to protect him from himself. They are understandably extra jumpy :)
hehe...
The Secret Service is now part of the Department of Homeland Security. I kinda thought it was obvious they'd switch it over there.
Ahh, you're right. I forgot about that. I didn't think that made a lot of sense, b/c most of the agency doesn't act as bullet catchers for corrupt millionaires. But this is the federal gubment we're talking about (and this is coming from someone who's pro-government)
struggle through this for starters:
definition: irony, n.
Your point is?
> Your point is
...blindingly obvious
It would be if you linked to the right thing.
The first line of defense from people who have nothing to say. Blurt out something and then claim I'm missing it.
Okay, your link was to a definition of irony (weird thing: it didn't open to the definition of irony, the URL was right but it was a different page, when I reloaded the URL it worked, odd, that). What was supposed to be ironic? That the Secret Service didn't get the joke? Well, no shit. If that was your point it wasn't worth the bandwidth.
Maybe the problem here is that your reading comprehension is so poor that you thought I was commenting in support of the Secret Service.
THANK YOU FOR NOT FEEDING THE TROLL, DUMBASS.
Get your adolescent pissing match out of my journal. The only person entertained by it is you.
In that case, perhaps you could answer me this: did they ever investigate Ann Coulter for her "impeach or assasinate" comment about Clinton? I've been curious about that one ever since a similar case happened to a LJ user last year and the conservatives were all justifying it with the "they have to investigate *every* case!!" argument.
...and the Department of Homeland Security takes a sudden interest in the affairs of <lj user="coachdoom">...
Denver Secret Service reacting to a meaningless threat? Oh no, not again!.
Seriously, this was probably the Right Thing To Do. USSS has to investigate everything, because how often does some loon pull something, followed by people saying how they thought he was goofy, but not serious. And then some people are dumb enough to believe anything, so the school has to do something to send the message that "This remark was not to be taken seriously."
Yeah, everyone knows what was written. (And even the grandkids can just shine a flashlight at the back of the page to see what's under the magic marker.) But now they're sure to know it's not for real.
Now, all that said, can we find a basement, an elk, some acid, and get Ann Coulter to drop by? >:-)
Obviously, our only choice is to ban yearbooks.
...a rational response.
death to yearbooks!
When yearbooks are outlawed, only outlaws will have yearbooks.
I went to a real redneck highschool for a short time in Georgia; we had all of our yearbooks recalled and edited for a similar reason. I would just post a link to a news article about it, but the only one I can find is to a white power message board.
We had a Hispanic kid on the football team; so when they asked one of the jocks to ID all of the players in the team photo, he said that the kids name was "Spic Rodriguez". The kid's family wasn't too happy about it, so everyone had to have their yearbook exchanged with one that listed his real name.
They never found out who gave the fake name, but my guess is the guy who had the huge Ford 4x4 with a confederate flag and a "go home wetbacks" bumper sticker. Damn you elusive criminals!
Could be worse. They could have been...homosexuals!
http://www.freep.com/news/locway/cody27e_20050527.htm
One male student at my school was topless in a group photo. The photo was "retouched" for the yearbook so that it would look like he was wearing a pale green v-neck shirt. It looked dreadful.
Only 1333 days remaining...
That doesn't look like a threat to me.
WTF? How the fuck can you reprint that in a newspaper if its a crime? Clearly it is not a crime. Why would the secret service get involved at all if its not a crime?
Jizz #9 (where is Scott Russo now), but you don't read B&Ws. (My reaction has always been the opposite: it takes a lot to draw me into a colour comic.)
Lmao
I go to Mesa.
It was a girl, not a guy.
They had the local news down there and everything. XFD
It was pathetic. Lol
Everyone freaked out.
The world's getting overly uptight.
I find it funny. It WAS a joke.