Bush Not To Be Confused With Groucho

The headline reads Bush-as-Groucho posters spark debate but it should say "Bush-As-Groucho posters torn down". Debate would have been a lot more ... civilized.

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Posters that depicted President Bush with a Groucho Marx-style mustache and cigar were ordered torn down at a high school after a student complained.

Did you catch that? One student complained!

Principal Kenny Lee ordered 100 posters removed from the campus of El Camino Real High School in the Woodland Hills area last week on grounds that they promoted smoking and "endorsing one ideology over another."

"That's our take on the student speech and conduct," Lee said.

The school-funded posters advertised the students' play, "The Complete History of America (Abridged)," which satirizes U.S. history.

A senior who supports the president wrote a complaint letter to the administration, teachers and students said.

"We had one student who was very upset," Lee said. "If something is bothering a student on campus, we're going to address it."

Oops! He forgot to add: "as long as that student supports the president ... otherwise he can stay bothered".

The poster ban infuriated some students.

And rightly so! Let the drama group make posters for their play! What harm would it do?

"It taught us that the First Amendment certainly does not guarantee the right of free speech," said Jes Shah, 16, a junior in the school drama program.

No, Jes, it certainly doesn't. Not this year, anyway. And maybe never again in our lifetimes.

This weekend, for Memorial Day, I suggest a moment of silence in memory of all the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution which have been taken away or otherwise abrogated since the hoax that changed everything.