Police citation over sign leads to federal lawsuit (Hughestown) (Wilkes-Barre: lawyer, income)

[Magritte25]

Police citation over sign leads to federal lawsuit | Wilkes-Barre News | The Times Leader (http://www.timesleader.com/news/Police_citation_over_sign_leads_to_federal_lawsuit _07-31-2009.html - broken link)

[EnyaGirl]

GOOD. I hope he wins!

[Magritte25]

Me too! That way I can put on the back of my window, "If you're in America and don't realize that English isn't the official language, get the *!@# out!"

[BLUEDIAMOND64]

I hope Decker becomes a millionaire and the resstriction of his First Amendment freedom of expression is disgusting. Deep pockets will compensate him.

Ruling on Cohen v. California and that is what his lawyer will argue the case on: Case Precedent.

Did California's statute, prohibiting the display of offensive messages such as "F^&&K the Draft," violate freedom of expression as protected by the First Amendment?

Yes. In an opinion by Justice John Marshall Harlan, the Court reasoned that the expletive, while provocative, was not directed toward anyone; besides, there was no evidence that people in substantial numbers would be provoked into some kind of physical action by the words on his jacket. Harlan recognized that "one man's vulgarity is another's lyric." In doing so, the Court protected two elements of speech: the emotive (the expression of emotion) and the cognitive (the expression of ideas).


Cohen v. California, U.S. Supreme Court Case Summary & Oral Argument
Source:

[johnqpublic]

Me too! That way I can put on the back of my window, "If you're in America and don't realize that English isn't the official language, get the *!@# out!"

It exactly that type attitude that this U.S. of A is going down the tubes!!!! we have lost sense of who we are and what we are about!!!!!!!!
This isnt the U.S. of Asia, the U.S. of Africa, OR the U.S. of LatinAmerica... At one time it was a "melting pot" meaning different people moved here and assimilated into 1 culture..
So sad it is a divided nation now!!!
Hopping down off the soapbox now!!!!!!!!

[thecoalman]

As far as Mr. Deckers sign I'm on the fence, his use of an expletive being the only reason, I'm not so sure that is enough to warrant a citation.

Official or not it's the language of not only the U.S. but the world. English shall dominate because of the internet. Let me give you an example. I'm a member of the phpBB team which produces forum software. The majority of the people on the team are overseas, the development team with the exception of one US resident is entirely overseas (non english speaking countries like Germany). They all speak (or at least type and communicate in English). The code itself as is most programming languages is based on English, the code that is written for that software is in English. You can't even get official support for the without using English and the people producing it don't speak English as a first language.

As a country we need one language, nothing wrong with people using their native language but they should know at least some rudimentary English. Language is a great divider and if we cannot communicate with one another then it we'll be a divided country. The collaboration on the phpBB project is great example, simply wouldn't be posssible without using one language.

[EnyaGirl]

Originally Posted by thecoalman

As a country we need one language, nothing wrong with people using their native language but they should know at least some rudimentary English. Language is a great divider and if we cannot communicate with one another then it we'll be a divided country. The collaboration on the phpBB project is great example, simply wouldn't be posssible without using one language.

Nevermind the FACT that --and census data shows this-- an immigrant's income raises about 30% as a result of learning English, thereby making them more productive citizens which benefits everybody (and let's not forget that to become a citizen, you must demonstrate an ability to speak and write English...wonder why? ). And not to mention the enormous cost to the government for providing multilingual services--- but in keeping on topic, the fact that profanity was included in the sign doesn't warrant a citation, IMO. As was posted, I agree with the "one man's vulgarity is another's lyric" statement.

[Slammin' Scrannin']

^This isn't really a debate about whether English is the official language. He was pulled over for different reasons. Hughestown police pulled him over for disrupting the peace by displaying either obscene language or language that could incite other people to violence. The rest belongs in the political forum. If you guys don't want to get this thread closed then we'll probably have to drop the English topic.

I think the police officer was probably wrong.

This case isn't factually analogous to Cohen. Wearing a jacket that says "**** the Draft" poses a completely different level of danger to incite violence than what Decker displayed on his car. It's foreseeable that the language could incite other drivers to road rage and pose a significant risk to other drivers and pedestrians. However, this is really just political speech, and political speech has enormous value. Even though Decker seems like a complete dumbass and his speech isn't especially worthwhile, it's still political speech and should be protected. I'm with the ACLU's position here.

[Magritte25]

A country does not need one language. There are plenty of countries where 2, 3, or even 4 languages are spoken. It's not an issue.

You know, I really believe that learning English is necessary to succeed in this country and that's okay. To be successful immigrants need to learn English. I get so tired of the "learn to speak my language" mentality because it's simply because that invidividual is merely annoyed at the fact that other peole speak a different language.

[Jungle George]

Originally Posted by Slammin' Scrannin'

^This isn't really a debate about whether English is the official language. He was pulled over for different reasons. Hughestown police pulled him over for disrupting the peace by displaying either obscene language or language that could incite other people to violence. The rest belongs in the political forum. If you guys don't want to get this thread closed then we'll probably have to drop the English topic.

OMG!!! Has it gotten THAT anal that a thread can be closed for talking about a related subject?? Say it isn't so!!!!!

To be ON topic, how many of us have seen bumper stickers with far WORSE things written on 'em than this guy had?? I know I have....