Obama Disappoint Mints Suppressed

One of the reasons the American system has been so stable over the centuries is that our First Amendment liberties allow us to blow off steam that would otherwise reach dangerous pressure levels. But these liberties need boundaries. You can’t let people go so far as to express disappointment in the preposterously hyped catastrophe of Barack Hussein Obama’s presidency:

[University of Tennessee] officials pulled [novelty candies] poking fun at Obama from store shelves after state Rep. Joe Armstrong, a Democrat, visited the bookstore and told the director he found the satirical mints offensive.

“When you operate on state and federal dollars, you ought to be sensitive to those type of politically specific products,” Armstrong said. “If it was a private entity or corporation or store, (that’s different), but this is a state university. We certainly don’t want in any way to put the university in a bad light by having those political (products), particularly aimed at defaming the president.”

Thank you Rep Armstrong, for reminding us that nothing comes from the federal leviathan for free. Every penny you takes costs you freedom.

[Director David] Kent, who has run the bookstore since 2009, said the university and the store had no intention of offending anyone with the mints. The store previously carried satirical mints aimed at former President George W. Bush when he was in office.

No one complained about those, because Dubya is a Republican. His friends are also the Constitution’s friends. Plus they can take a joke.

But Rep Strongarm’s arm-stronging, I mean, Rep Armstrong’s strong-arming doesn’t violate Constitutional principles, because…

…since the mints were not educational material, there was no breech of the First Amendment.

“With a book or something of that nature, then fine, but that (the mints) is sort of a discretionary product they have,” Armstrong said. “It wasn’t viewpoint neutral.”

The fine print under the First Amendment says only “viewpoint neutral” speech is protected.

The company that sells the mints, Unemployed Philosopher’s Guild, sells more than 25 different varieties of mints on their website, including ones that poke fun of Sarah Palin and Bush.

In the future they’ll stick to selling the Palin and Bush mints if they know what’s best for them. Otherwise, the next visit they get could be from the IRS.

disappointment-mints
No laughing at the Community Organizer in Chief.

On tips from Stormfax, Lyle, Kevin M, and G. Fox. Cross-posted at Moonbattery.

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