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<blockquote data-quote="Babagounj" data-source="post: 863548" data-attributes="member: 12952">Re: Obamanomics<a href="http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/aug/04/other-products-poke-fun-at-variety-of-targets/" target="_blank">Tennessee store pulls Obama &#039;DisappointMINTS&#039;.</a>Boxes of breath mints were taken off of the&nbsp; shelves at a University of Tennessee bookstore after state Rep. Joe&nbsp; Armstrong&nbsp; (D) asked the bookstore to remove them.&quot;Let me make very clear, there is no candy exception to the First&nbsp; Amendment,&quot; said Glenn Reynolds, who teaches constitutional law at UT.&nbsp; &quot;Free speech is free speech. If you make fun of the president in a mint,&nbsp; it is just as much free speech as it is if you make fun of the&nbsp; president in a political cartoon.&quot;&nbsp; While citizens have the right to express disapproval of a message on a&nbsp; tin can of breath mints, that opinion has more heft when it&#039;s coming&nbsp; from a government official, Reynolds said, calling it &quot;a species of&nbsp; censorship.&quot;&nbsp; &quot;The other thing I have to say is, I just think it&#039;s really quite odd&nbsp; to hear of a state legislator to take it upon himself to have something&nbsp; removed from a bookstore.&quot;</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Babagounj, post: 863548, member: 12952"] [b]Re: Obamanomics[/b] [B][URL="http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/aug/04/other-products-poke-fun-at-variety-of-targets/"]Tennessee store pulls Obama 'DisappointMINTS'.[/URL] [/B]Boxes of breath mints were taken off of the shelves at a University of Tennessee bookstore after state Rep. Joe Armstrong (D) asked the bookstore to remove them."Let me make very clear, there is no candy exception to the First Amendment," said Glenn Reynolds, who teaches constitutional law at UT. "Free speech is free speech. If you make fun of the president in a mint, it is just as much free speech as it is if you make fun of the president in a political cartoon." While citizens have the right to express disapproval of a message on a tin can of breath mints, that opinion has more heft when it's coming from a government official, Reynolds said, calling it "a species of censorship." "The other thing I have to say is, I just think it's really quite odd to hear of a state legislator to take it upon himself to have something removed from a bookstore." [/QUOTE]

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