The Rocky Mountain Collegian

You're wrong.

Firstly, your argument concerning the "taser incident" seems to rely pretty heavily on "facts" provided by a police report. In addition, this sentence: "Meyer immediately went crazy and resisted arrest, which is a huge no-no" has three significant problems. 1) Can you really establish that he went crazy? This seems a little far reaching, and I feel it puts the actions of the officers into even greater scrutiny, is it okay to taser an insane individual? 2) This is the first I have heard of arrest in your article, I thought the officers were attempting to remove Meyer, and 3) "a huge no-no" (I feel this speaks for itself - did you proofread this?)

About the "Fuck Bush" editorial: To start, I doubt anyone involved assumed that free-speech meant that anything could be said without regard to consequence, but I also don't think that that this concept of "consequence" as you put it somehow allows for any consequence. What is an appropriate consequence for printing (with full legal rights) the word "Fuck" in an editorial - with no authoritative claim whatsoever? Also, I have a sense that this particular issue of the Collegian was probably more widely distributed than most others - and the advertisers (who, in most cases, are explicitly essentially seperate from the content of the paper) got quite a bit more press for the ad-space that they paid for in that issue than in any other.

These events show your reactionary and unfounded narrow-mindednes. The consequence should be that this paper receives more press.

Also, I should note that the editorial itself is not something that I view as commendable or valuable, but this response is unwarranted - and unnecessary. The statement is powerless - but such hyperbolic protest only lends credence to it's worth.

Contacting your online and print advertisers voicing my objections is proving quite effective. $30k is just the start. Too bad the laid off employees have to learn McSwane's lesson for him.

I think it is nice to see a conservative look past the political comments and see this for what it was: an exercise in the right to freedom of speech without considering the consequences! There were no legal lines crossed in McSwane's editorial, just public lines of integrity, which have direct consequences...consequences that McSwane and The Collegian are realizing. People need to look past their hurt political pride in this issue.

The 1st Amendment does not guarantee unlimited free speech. If you read the entire amendment, and how the courts have interpreted it, you will see it in fact guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of the press without interference from the government. That's the key point, and what David McSwane seems to misunderstand. I doubt he ever thought that the Federal or State government would shut down the Collegian for its 4 word editorial. He wanted a public reaction. If that reaction is negative, the fault belongs to him and the rest of the editorial board and they should accept the consequences. The readers can stop reading, the advertisers can stop paying, and the paper can dry up. Freedom of the press has protected the Collegian from being shut down; this is not a first amendment issue of government censorship. The issue is social responsibility, and the social consequences are still playing out. Just like children which often test the limits of their parent's patience as they grow and mature, Mr. McSwane and the rest of the editorial board was testing the patience of their readers. Now let's just hope they'll grow up and mature too.

Ron Paul is the ONLY antiwar Candidate and the ONLY man with the proven spotless track record that deserves our trust to inherit the 'thrown' after Bush.

With some 10 terms in office, his voting record is spotless along Constitutional lines. He truly is a champion of our freedoms.

We the People need to unite, stop getting divided over petty issues, and take action to save our country while we still can!!!

Find out more about Ron Paul here:

www.RonPaul2008.com

www.RonPaulAudio.com

www.RonPaulLibrary.org

www.FreeMe.tv

http://ronpaul.meetup.com/

Two great cards just in case of an emergency.
1) The Free Speech card
2) The Race card

What card are in your wallet?