Offensive...

If you have not already heard about this, please be prepared to be offended.  Last week Steve Pearcy, a lawyer from Berkeley, made the news for trying to make a political statement.  He and his wife are against the war on terrorism, and to show their opinions they hung a soldier in effigy with a sign that reads "Your tax dollars at work."  He and his are claiming that this is protected political speech and the story reached a head when a young man was filmed by a local news crew tearing down the display.

Here is a picture of the solider hung in effigy:

And the home (complete with Saddam era flag of Iraq):

The story, however, does not begin there.  This morning Armstrong & Getty had a young woman call into their show who used to rent this home from Steve and his wife.  Before the election they placed a 8x10 sign in the front window for Bush - Cheney 04.  Someone called Steve and he in turn called this young woman to inform her that he and his wife would be in town the following weekend to do one of two things:

1. Place an over-sized Kerry sign on the lawn
2. Paint the house in support of Kerry.

Neither of these thing are bad in and of themselves, but it was an obvious reaction to this young lady and her roommate expressing their right of free speech.

The following weekend Steve and his wife arrived and began to work on the house.  The young lady decided to go out while they were there and upon returning home found that instead of options 1 or 2 listed above, the Pearcys decided to but up a huge hand painted sign on the lawn that read "Only an Idiot votes for the Idiot."  It was also that weekend when they decided that their home would display an allegiance to Saddam's regime.

The young lady decided to talk to him about this and her concern that these displays might attract attention to the home she was renting, and that made her uncomfortable.  Pearcy blew her off and she then decided it would be a good idea to document these displays by taking pictures.  Pearcy then confronted her, asking if she planned to begin legal action against him, and then telling her that he would have no problem suing her and her roommate over the disagreement.  At this point in her story Armstrong commented that if it were him he could not have said F.O. loud enough.

the young lady simply said to Pearcy that she did not realize she could be sued for taking pictures.  She and her roommate decide shortly thereafter that they should begin looking into other living arrangements.

Now that the Pearcys and their home has made the news they are crying (literally) over the fact that their 1st Amendment rights to free speech has been infringed upon.  They did not, however, have a problem with trampling upon those same rights when it can to their tenants.

This may be political speech, but Steve Pearcy is nothing more than an offensive Anti-American blowhard.

Comments

[Darren]

I heard the Armstrong and Getty call this morning.

It's amazing that people seem to think that their 1st Amendment rights mean that people shouldn't be offended by what they say, or that they should be free from any consequences of their words.

[Mike]

Great post!

[Natalie]

Want a picture of these tenants?