people who blame this on the bush adminstration simply have no idea what they're talking about and need to do a bit of research next time... the secret service does not act on behalf of the president... they are not the president's personal police squad. they have one job and one job only, and that is to protect the president and his family (as well as other political VIPs... vice, SecDef, etc etc). The majority of the members of the current secret service were also members of the secret service durring the Clinton administration.
if you make a threat, even as a joke, against the life of the president, and that threat is reported to the secret service, it WILL be looked into, no matter how childish or stupid the comment may have been. that's the way it's always been... durring the bush admin, the clinton admin, etc. etc.
and for those who say this girl's freedom of speech has been violated... BS. no one's freedom of speech was violated. this girl is not in some secluded prison cell for speaking her mind. but she apparently made some sort of comment regarding the president's life, and it was checked into. once they concluded that the person was not a real threat to the life of the president, that was the end of it. period. free speech is not an end all to say whatever you want. if you make a threat against someone's life, it will be... and should be... looked into. if you scream out fire in a movie theatre, you will be arrested. your right to "free speech" will not help you there. if you harass somebody in an ethnic or sexual way, you will get in trouble for it. freedom of speech gives you the right to state your own opinion... it does not give you the right to cause harm to somebody.
if you make a threat, even as a joke, against the life of the president, and that threat is reported to the secret service, it WILL be looked into, no matter how childish or stupid the comment may have been. that's the way it's always been... durring the bush admin, the clinton admin, etc. etc.
and for those who say this girl's freedom of speech has been violated... BS. no one's freedom of speech was violated. this girl is not in some secluded prison cell for speaking her mind. but she apparently made some sort of comment regarding the president's life, and it was checked into. once they concluded that the person was not a real threat to the life of the president, that was the end of it. period. free speech is not an end all to say whatever you want. if you make a threat against someone's life, it will be... and should be... looked into. if you scream out fire in a movie theatre, you will be arrested. your right to "free speech" will not help you there. if you harass somebody in an ethnic or sexual way, you will get in trouble for it. freedom of speech gives you the right to state your own opinion... it does not give you the right to cause harm to somebody.