Man Accused Of Punching, Kicking War Protester Who Was Carrying a Defaced U.S. Flag

WISC-TV ^

[Ronaldus Magnus]

WAUSAU, Wis. -- A man upset that a war protester was parading around downtown Wausau with a defaced American flag is facing a disorderly conduct charge after attacking the demonstrator.

The incident happened Monday afternoon outside the Marathon County Courthouse. Mike Wallschlaeger of Mosine carried an upside down flag with "EMPIRE" written across it.

A fellow demonstrator says a man got out of his car, tried to grab the flag, then pushed Wallschlaeger to the ground, punched and kicked him.

Wausau Police Chief William Brandimore says the right to free speech is protected, but disorderly conduct is not.

[mhking]

a man got out of his car, tried to grab the flag, then pushed Wallschlaeger to the ground, punched and kicked him.

A salute to that unnamed driver....

"Hold muh beer 'n watch this!" PING....

If you want on or off this list, please let me know!

[Dimensio]

It seems to me one citizen was expressing himself freely as protected by the bill of rights

I'm not aware of any court decision that has ruled that violence against another person or vandalism against another's property is "speech", much less "protected speech". I've heard of some idiot cops who said that "peace" protestors who defaced a September 11 memorial were just expressing their "free speech" rights, but I think that those cops are idiots. Do you agree with those cops that free speech "protects" acts that would otherwise be considered crimes?

[rj45mis]

Isn't it odd that we didn't hear a peep out of these punks amidst watergate, filegate, Chinagate? Where was their righteous indignation then?

Oops! I'm giving away my age. I mean whitewater.

[cardinal4]

Well it took 18 posts for a dissenter.

[PhilDragoo]

jchristo@wdhprint.com

Joel

Who's the man who punched the flag desecrator?

He is being railroaded while the desecrator is protected by tax-paid police--all because of liberal judges.

Why aren't reporters doing the spadework of finding the man's name?

It's three days after the incident and all we know is the name of the desecrator.

All Wisconsin demonstrates is that it stands for flag desecration--not patriotism in time of war.

What an impressive display.

Phil Dragoo
email address
phone number
street address
city, state

[eBelasco]

Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire "Chaplinsky still remains viable for the principle that ''the States are free to ban the simple use, without a demonstration of additional justifying circumstances, of so-called 'fighting words,' those personally abusive epithets which, when addressed to the ordinary citizen, are, as a matter of common knowledge, inherently likely to provoke violent reaction.''98 But, in actuality, the Court has closely scrutinized statutes on vagueness and overbreadth grounds and set aside convictions as not being within the doctrine. Chaplinsky thus remains formally alive but of little vitality.99 On the obverse side, the ''hostile audience'' situation, the Court once sustained a conviction for disorderly conduct of one who refused police demands to cease speaking after his speech seemingly stirred numbers of his listeners to mutterings and threatened disorders.100 But this case has been significantly limited by cases which hold protected the peaceful expression of views which stirs people to anger because of the content of the expression, or perhaps because of the manner in which it is conveyed, and that breach of the peace and disorderly conduct statutes may not be used to curb such expression."

[Dimensio]

Ah, so your justification is based upon the fact that the presence of this peace protest required law enforcement attention, as is always the case during a large and relatively organized gathering of people, when the police could have been doing something more productive or beneficial for the city. Do you believe that this should be the case for any organized rally, or do you believe that attacking another person should only be considered a minor offense when that person expresseses a viewpoint with which you disagree?

[action_reaction]

I wonder what would happen if that liberal socialist tried defacing a picture of Saddam in downtown Baghdad?

[JavaTheHutt]

If 'black rage' can be consider a legal justification for murder, shouldn't patriotism be considered legal justification for kicking the crap out of a commie?

[Young Werther]

Wait a minute! Wait a minute!

Are his free speech rights being violated?

Surely, the protesteer can deface the flag under his freedom of speech rights.

So can't the counter protester deface the anti war protester?

[Dimensio]

I suppose that now someone will wrongly claim that I agree with the peace protestors, simply because I don't believe that violence is a justifiable response to expression of an unpopular or even stupid opinion.

[rj45mis]

"I don't like your opinion on this matter. Do you think that it's okay if I beat you up?"


I'm supposen that wouldn't be the outcome, but that is certainly an illegal and unwise choice you could make.

[Ronaldus Magnus]

RAGGED OLD FLAG
by Johnny Cash

I walked through a county courthouse square,
On a park bench an old man was sitting there.
I said, "Your old courthouse is kinda run down."
He said, "Naw, it'll do for our little town."
I said, "Your flagpole has leaned a little bit,
And that's a Ragged Old Flag you got hanging on it.

He said, "Have a seat", and I sat down.
"Is this the first time you've been to our little town?"
I said, "I think it is." He said, "I don't like to brag,
But we're kinda proud of that Ragged Old Flag."

"You see, we got a little hole in that flag there
When Washington took it across the Delaware.
And it got powder-burned the night Francis Scott Key
Sat watching it writing _Oh Say Can You See_.
And it got a bad rip in New Orleans
With Packingham and Jackson tuggin' at its seams."

"And it almost fell at the Alamo
Beside the Texas flag, but she waved on through.
She got cut with a sword at Chancellorsville
And she got cut again at Shiloh Hill.
There was Robert E. Lee, Beauregard, and Bragg,
And the south wind blew hard on that Ragged Old Flag."

"On Flanders Field in World War I
She got a big hole from a Bertha gun.
She turned blood red in World War II
She hung limp and low by the time it was through.
She was in Korea and Vietnam.
She went where she was sent by her Uncle Sam."

"She waved from our ships upon the briny foam,
And now they've about quit waving her back here at home.
In her own good land she's been abused --
She's been burned, dishonored, denied and refused."

"And the government for which she stands
Is scandalized throughout the land.
And she's getting threadbare and wearing thin,
But she's in good shape for the shape she's in.
'Cause she's been through the fire before
And I believe she can take a whole lot more."

"So we raise her up every morning,
Take her down every night.
We don't let her touch the ground
And we fold her up right.

On second thought I DO like to brag,
'Cause I'm mighty proud of that RAGGED OLD FLAG."

[Conspiracy Guy]

I keep a hot cup of jo in my car to spill at just the right moment.

[action_reaction]

by attacking the commie, he was exhibiting his right to free speech--- with his fists of fury!!!

[ctlpdad]

please send a thank you to your ffspring, and a prayer for a safe & speedy return home.

[Texas_Jarhead]

Kudos Mr. Unidentified Patriot

[AuH2ORepublican]

Don't compare having a Confederate battle flag decal on your windshield with defacing the Stars and Stripes. Even if that idiot peacenik had a pro-Saddam sticker or sign, it would be unconstitutional to prohibit such behavior, while, in my opinion, a state could legally proscribe flag desecration (notwithstanding the Supreme Court's opinion in Johnson v. U.S.). The First Amendment should not be misconstrued to allow a person to burn or deface ANY flag, since it's an activity whose only purpose is to instill hurt on its audience. There are millions of ways for peaceniks to manifest their oppositon to the war, and there is no justification for them to resort to hate speech. What we need is a law that makes it illegal publicly to burn or deface ANY flag---this would be a neutral law, applying with equal force to both anti-Iraqis and anti-Americans, and should withstand constitutional scrutiny pursuant to RAV v. City of St. Paul.

As for the person who kicked the flag defacer, I think this would be a good time for the executive to exercise his power of nonprosecution. The guy who stood up for the flag did so in a fit of rage at the peaceniks "fighting words," and I don't believe we need to clutter the courts with such cases when there are plenty of protesters to arraign for illegally blocking traffic, etc.