You have no right to limit my satire, fascist.

Weaver95: well all of fark is gonna end up in the same jail cell. maybe we'll luck out and they'll put us all in the same cell block!

If I had to go to prison, I'd love nothing more than to be in a cell with you folks. Just promise me one thing, no buttsex, please.

Man our government just keeps getting smaller and smaller.

FedExPope: If I had to go to prison, I'd love nothing more than to be in a cell with you folks. Just promise me one thing, no buttsex, please.

Mouthsex it is.

So this may become illegal to wear now?

namatad: serial_crusher: Um, the bill would make it a felony to use their acronym for purposes of pretending you're one of their agents, not for purposes of making fun of how incompetent and useless they are.

um, it include written things pretending to be REAL TSA .... so the Onion would have problems ...


Just like it's illegal to satirize the police because of the laws against pretending to be a police officer, right?

After actually reading TFA I'm not seeing the problem. There doesn't need to be a specific exemption for satire because that's protected by the 1st Amendment.

RobSeace: namatad: on his computers and floppy disks

Floppy disks? Are his computers all from the 1980s?

Well he is from Alabama.

Um, the quote from the law that the blogger uses answers the objection she raises, as it explicitly states that it applies only to a serious attempt at impersonation of a TSA official. Parody doesn't apply, you can still have your bachelor party strippers dress as TSA agents (briefly, assumably) or whatever if you want.

I'm sorry ...does this sentence actually say something? No really, does it? Because I read it 5 times and still do understand what it says.

...without written permission, use the words, acronyms, or symbols of those agencies on apparel or in a publication "in a matter that is reasonably calculated to convey the impression that the wearer of the item of apparel is acting pursuant to the legal authority of" the agencies or "to convey the impression" that the written materials "is approved, endorsed, or authorized by" the agencies.'

I guess I just can't read legalese.

Oh! Got it on the 6th try... also, it seems to me that this is protection against someone posing as TSA and that makes sense to me...

OH I also wanted to say, just because it makes sense to me, does not mean I agree ;)

And yeah, it will pass.

/But one vote no you can count on will be Ron Paul.

It has been a good run...

cfffffgagffacfacfacfacfacccccfcaaffff: FedExPope: If I had to go to prison, I'd love nothing more than to be in a cell with you folks. Just promise me one thing, no buttsex, please.

Mouthsex it is.

Why bother with prison? Soon, the TSA will PYITA for free - all in the name of security, of course.

Someone remind me what spate of crimes this law is intended to protect against?

1. CLEARLY a violation of the right to Free Speech.

2. OF COURSE, a republican would think up such goosestepping horse sh*t.

FedExPope: Weaver95: well all of fark is gonna end up in the same jail cell. maybe we'll luck out and they'll put us all in the same cell block!

If I had to go to prison, I'd love nothing more than to be in a cell with you folks. Just promise me one thing, no buttsex, please.



I'll just have to make a brand new hole and have sex with that then.

Walker: [img.photobucket.com image 320x320]

[img.photobucket.com image 200x283]

[img.photobucket.com image 640x425]

I want to fly with a t-shirt emblazoned with these.

Already covered.

TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 43 > § 912

Weaver95: Trance750: namatad: this is the party of small government? I would REALLY hate to see them be in favor of medium or large government!!

This.

And are they so thin-skinned they need to whine to Big Brother that people are cracking jokes?

yes.


Actually, apparently not. If you RTFA you'll see that the offending passage is actually just a law against impersonating someone from the TSA. Similar to how there are laws against impersonating a police officer, this will not affect satire or other mockery of them.

FTFA:
without written permission, use the words, acronyms, or symbols of those agencies on apparel or in a publication "in a matter that is reasonably calculated to convey the impression that the wearer of the item of apparel is acting pursuant to the legal authority of" the agencies or "to convey the impression" that the written materials "is approved, endorsed, or authorized by" the agencies.

That's all. But some ninny on a forum freaked out and now ZOMG the government is making joking about the government illegal...

MrLint: Someone remind me what spate of crimes this law is intended to protect against?


Impersonating a TSA agent. I imagine that could be useful for someone trying to sneak a bomb onto a plane.

The law does not outlaw mockery, as subby suggested. Read the text in TFA. It's just some guy wetting his pants for no good reason.


Worst.Fark handle. ever.: 1. CLEARLY a violation of the right to Free Speech.

2. OF COURSE, a republican would think up such goosestepping horse sh*t.

1. No, it really isn't. The law doesn't do what subby says it does. It's short, click on the link and read it.

2. What goosestepping horse shiat? This is a law against impersonating a TSA agent. That's perfectly reasonable, similar to how it's illegal almost everywhere to impersonate a police officer. That doesn't mean people can't make fun of the police or wear cop costumes on Halloween, same as this law won't outlaw making fun of the TSA or wearing a TSA Halloween costume. The only horse shiat here is subby's headline and the stupid blog post itself.

Weaver95: mongbiohazard:
That's all. But some ninny on a forum freaked out and now ZOMG the government is making joking about the government illegal...

the patriot act was supposed to ONLY be used against 'the terrorists'. But those wiretap provisions have turned out to be used more often in domestic drug cases than against 'terrorists'. it's not paranoia to assume that any law in the war on terror is going to suffer from 'mission creep' and go places it was never supposed to go.


Just like how all those laws against impersonating a police officer have resulted in it being illegal to make fun of cops or wear a cop costume on Halloween, right? Or how it's illegal to impersonate an FBI agent has resulted in all the vendors in downtown DC not selling FBI tshirts and sweatshirts all over the place, or making fun of the FBI, right?

I'm no fan of the Patriot Act either, but to compare that to this is simply nonsensical. I call out fauxtrage from the right, might as well call it out from the left as well.

This is fauxtrage. There is simply nothing to this at all.

namatad: serial_crusher: Um, the bill would make it a felony to use their acronym for purposes of pretending you're one of their agents, not for purposes of making fun of how incompetent and useless they are.

um, it include written things pretending to be REAL TSA .... so the Onion would have problems ...

No, no it wouldn't. Parody and satire is still protected under this law, it's exactly as serial crusher described it. This bill just makes it illegal to claim you're a representative of the TSA by using the acronym, on letterheads, shirts, etc. Sometimes the people on this site gobble up the most inane, insane crap.

Remember Tom Douchle saying you can't "professionalize unless you federalize"?

Bring on the Fauxmentation!

If I was a terrorist planning to blow up a plane I would totally tell a lot of jokes about terrorism on my way through security. It's just my way of dealing with stress and nervousness.

It's a pity that members of Congress who propose or vote for such flagrantly and obviously unconstitutional laws can't be impeached for treason. Alas, it doesn't meet the Constitutional definition of that crime (or, sadly, any definition of any crime in the US).

Funny how the Constitution protects people. You'd think government officials would appreciate it more, given that.

Weaver95: well all of fark is gonna end up in the same jail cell. maybe we'll luck out and they'll put us all in the same cell block!

A penal colony full of FARK posters...that should be interesting.