Is that Mussolini laughing I hear? Woman gets $100 fine for BUSHIT bumper sticker'

[Partridge]

[Partridge: Last time I checked, Bushit was not only not an 'obscene' word, it wasn't even a real word! Next up, 'Man shot over Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious t-shirt' - "He was a threat to the English language" Police Spokesmen say. Well if I'm ever in Atlanta, I must remember never to wear my "I Heart Scunthorpe United" cap, who knows what might happen!]

Driver fights ticket for bumper sticker
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

It was 9:30 on a recent Friday night when Denise Grier saw blue lights in her rearview mirror. She pulled over on Chamblee-Tucker Road, unaware of her infraction.

"The officer asked if I knew I had a lewd decal on my car and I thought, 'Oh gosh, what did my kids put on my car?'"

As it turns out, the decal was an anti-Bush bumper sticker Grier slapped on her 2001 Chrysler Sebring last summer. The bumper sticker — "I'm Tired Of All The BUSH—" — contains an expletive.

The officer "said DeKalb had an ordinance about lewd decals and wrote me a ticket" for $100, said Grier, an oncology nurse at Emory University Hospital who lives in Athens.

Grier said she thanked the officer — and vowed to see him in court.

"This is all about free speech," Grier said in a telephone interview Monday. "The officer pulled me over because he didn't agree with my politics. That's what this is about, not whether I support Bush, not because of the war in Iraq, but about my right to free speech."

Officer Herschel Grangent Jr., a spokesman for the DeKalb County Police Department, confirmed the incident Monday but said he couldn't "speculate on or discuss another officer's decision to write a citation."

Grangent said he not know of any ordinance dealing strictly with bumper stickers but noted the county's sign ordinance prohibits public displays that "contain words, pictures, or statements which are obscene."

"Only that officer knows what his or her probable cause was, and only that officer can discuss it or testify to it," Grangent said.

The officer's name is not legible on a copy of the ticket Grier e-mailed to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and Grangent said he didn't know who it was.

Grangent said he wasn't sure how many people have been ticketed for lewd bumper stickers but considered it a rare occurrence.

Grier, 47, the mother of four grown sons, is due in Recorder's Court on April 18. She has not removed the bumper sticker in question, or six other mostly politically oriented decals on her car. "I used to think that one person could not make a difference," said Grier. "Now I'm beginning to think one person can, and should. We shouldn't be afraid to stand up for what we believe in."

[PhilosophyGenius]

"Is that Mussolini laughing I hear?"-Partridge

That's just one of the voices in your head bro.

[Partridge]

Yeah, you're right. He's now having a fight with Stalin and Churchill. Sounds like Stalin is winning.

[jetsetlemming]

So... What's the problem? She had shit on a bumper sticker. The county had a law banning things like that. End of story.

[Partridge]

Aye. Presumably if she had a sticker saying "I Heart Shitzus!" she'd had been fined. Or if you want to make the argument that altrhough she didn't use a real swear word, her intent was clear - in which case anyone who's ever worn a FCUK (French Connection UK) t-shirt should be fined. What about Buck Fush?

I'm pretty certain someone with a lewd sticker such as "I Love Bush & Dick" would be fined too, right?

[jetsetlemming]

Actually, I wouldn't be surprised for someone getting pulled over for a bush and dick. The difference is that shitzu is a real word that happens to have shit in it. It's a coincedince. Bushit is a play on words, turning bullshit into bushit. It's still shit. The county banned swears and I'd imagine naked bushes and dicks as well.