Poor guy.

I drew demonic pictures in class of fellow students and teachers dying in hideous ways in class. How else is an artist to pass the fuckin time?!?! I drew malevolent images of family members whom pissed me off recently as a tot, better then hacking them up I say!! Kentucky?!?! Christ on a stick, here's another kentucky law:"No female shall appear in a bathing suit on any highway within this state unless she be escorted by at least two officers or unless she be armed with a club." Time for some goddamn amendments I say!

Hey I should scan in my high school student handbook from 1983 and you would see how this kind of thing has been around since then and probably even before. I think this has less to do with Terrorism and more to do with Columbine.

There must have been something in that story to convince them to shop him to the Filth. America isn't that fucked is it? Er... I'll get my coat then.

John was a lonely boy. He wanted to kill the president, but he didn't want to lower himself to the presidents level. Hmmm...how long before the FBI comes knocking on my door?

For those of you yankees who think you live in a free place, there's a lesson you should remember. America was never a free place. It is rather a theocratic neo-fascist place, with a few islands of exception, like NY and LA. Almost everywhere between those two cities is nothing short of a hell hole who deserves everything bad that happens to them. Wake up, America didn't get worse in the last few year, it only stopped hiding its true face behind the mask. if you want to live in a true democracy, move to Canada, or even Mexico. God, when I see news like that, I wonder who is the real bad guy, you or your enemies. Maybe, just maybe, you people deserve to burn. Think about that, if you dare

Because I'm going to puke in it. This kinda nonsense makes me want to wallace and gromit.

Christ, they must hate him. If most people found stuff like that in one of their relation's possession would they turn it over to the police or ask their relation what it was first? And "Anytime you make any threat or possess matter involving a school or function it's a felony in the state of Kentucky"? Possessing matter involving a school is a felony? Does this mean that school yearbooks are illegal in Kentucky?

What they should have arrested him for is his grammar. Seriously though, that arrest -- if it turns out to be as it's been reported here -- is reactionary and thoroughly unamerican. On a somewhat related note, Dead Megatron can go fuck himself.

Write the script, Sell the script,Produce the movie, Option the soundtrack to Green Day...Make millions thats American. It has to be a better choice than Cat Woman.

Does it matter what the story contained? Like Quint said, America has been attacked too many times to count in fictional form - including schools and government property. Should such fiction be banned? Is "Independence Day" and "War of the Worlds" aiding and abetting terrorism? Or does the First Amendment mean nothing? If this story is some indication of a troubled youth then he should be given counselling - not arrested.

This story does not belong here. It is poorly conceived and we have no idea what the truth of the matter is as you only cover one side. Furthermore there is no reason to vilify conservatives as no where does it state the political leanings of those involved. If they do something stupid they must be right wing conservatives, huh Harry? Dude you seriously need to start a second website for your political rants and leave this for articles about movies.

I was a rather lonely outsider type, but the one thing that made me cool was my writing -- I edited the school paper, and in my spare time wrote ghoulish horror stories in which I slaughtered not just my school but the planet (ripping off everything from Stephen King's "Trucks" to "V: The Miniseries" to, yes, Romero's zombie stories). They were actually a nine-day wonder, and the loose-leaf binders or spiral notebooks or whatever I wrote in at the time got passed all over my high school. It was as close to cool as I got back then. I can't imagine what it would have done to me to get arrested for such a thing. Christ, we've got to do something about our country, people. We're turning into a nation of frightened, wounded, PC-addicted assholes.

I've been writing a fictional (as if it couldn't be) story containing zombies, cannibals, biker gangs, overrun small towns, etc. All in a post-apocalypic Pacific Northwest setting... So now do I have to destroy it to avoid commiting a felony? I sure hope not, cause I thought I had the right to write fictional stories, among other things. Obviously I don't know the other side of the story, but still, if it didn't contain anything nonfiction (names, titles, and such), then this sounds horrible.

What, is he a voodoo priest or does he has a barrel conatining the original living dead a la Return of the Living Dead?

My arse. You can call me Bin.

..and who wants grandparents like that?

I would like to post my opinion on this matter but I want to visit my dad (who lives in the US) this summer and so I'd rather not. Because I sure don't want to be arrested, imprisioned and tortured for a few months uponnmy arrival.

Those grandparents should take a peek at my diary sometime.

It's nice to know we've finally gotten terrorist #1, the brains behind it all, some kid in Kentucky.

Yeah, that's right. We don't know who wrote the law. But I sure as hell know who fanned the flames of fear over the last four years or so, to the point where, obviously, family members are turning each other over to the authorities. Can't wait for the armbands and jackboots...

I'm not jerking your turnip, Kiddies. Believe everything you hear. Kentucky is that much of a bleeding, fanatical, nightmarish Republican Hellscape. I've lived here for a significant portion of my life and sadly, when I see a story like this slither its way from under the compost heap of possum-sucking, sister-fucking, po-dunk backwoods of Lexington, Kentucky, I'm not a bit surprised. Stay away if you know what's good for you. Unless you have a thing for rubbing elbows with a bunch of sweat-stained fascits who firmly maintain that Fox News is the last word in the goings-on of the world at large, or you have some twisted desire to be sodomized by roving gangs of toothless heathens. Now, if you'll excuse me, the fine upstanding American congregation of the Southeast Christian Community Center is banging on my door, no doubt salivating at the prospect of having their way with me, after which they plan on glueing me to a chair while a colony of frenzied fire-ants are allowed to run amok on my gentials until I, as the good Reverand puts it, "fess up to my part in the Terrorist Conspiracy to Defame Toby Keith."

Way to sum it up stvnhthr! You are 100% correct. A) We don't have the full story. I could write this piece from a different angle without changing any of the "facts" and have you posting it to show how deranged the youth is. B) You can talk all you want about red states and blue states and whatnot. But you don't know what political affiliation the persons involved in this story are at all. We don't know what was in those journals. How do we know the story wasn't written with obvious plays on names. Principle Harry Knowles doesn't appear in the story. But Principle Barry Holes does. What would we have said to a story about the Columbine kids if they'd been arrested two days before they carried out their plans? "Man, these two kids get arrested for wearing trench coats and writing stories. How UNamerican is that?" And lastly, how could they even tell what the story was about, with this kid's writing style. Maybe they havn't correctly translated it yet. That must be it.

Aside from a few upstanding, good-hearted, salt-of-the-earth individuals I met in Charleston, Ripley and Parkersburg during a few lost years spent living in West Virginia, I would say you've painted a surprisingly accurate picture of Kentucky's neighbors as well.

especially Spaldingreese's, I would have to agree with the few logical voices that have spoken out about the fact that....we don't know all the facts. The media tries to sensationalize everything, and Quint has fallen into that trap too. I am sure he was just sent that new article, which contains very little facts about the case at all. I seriously doubt he was arrested just for a zombie story. If anything I hate the country's propensity to judge criminal cases in the court of public opinion without knowing all the facts. Have any of you read the story? I think not. And of course the kid accused is going to downplay the story when interviewed by a reporter before he goes to trial. Wait til you have all the facts before you pass judgment on this kid, the school, or the authorities. Otherwise you just have a pot/kettle situation where you are just as reactionary as you are accusing them of being.

I wrote a story in high school where I was trapped in Kentucky. It was the scariest god damn thing I ever wrote. Good luck to you my boy.

is that prosecutors will go after anyone. Hoefully this kid is not used to make an example of anyone. This might have to go higher than the state before any justice prevails, but seriously if state courts find someone guilty and then Supreme or Federal or whatever courts find that they're fucking stupid, they should be revoked from law practice as judge/prosecutor. Because if someone's sense of justice is so construed that they'll lock up anyone for this kind of shit then they are just as dangerous to the public as any criminal.

then I'd have to say that it's a work of FICTION. It means the story CAN'T POSSIBLY HAPPEN. That's all I need to know.

You know what's really amazing? How you jackasses will immediately jump to the conclusion that the fucking teenager must be telling the truth and the adult cops must be lying. Because, of course the police are all incompetent morons who will arrest people for no reason. I'd be willing to bet cold money that if we could all see that journal, we would see that the police had completely justified reasons for arresting the kid. It's called benefit of the doubt. You know, it's that thing we ought to give adults when they're dealing with kids?

Although I'm afraid Australia and England will soon follow suit. Actually, scrap that, the Australian Education Minister has fixed it so that soon enough kids won't be able to write well enough to write a short story at all, let alone a terrorist threat.

Wouldn't "benefit of the doubt" mean that you give the kid the benefit because of his stories about zombies probably were just that. I know, I know, I haven't read the stories, whatever, but if, as he says, half the people in the school know him and know that he would definitely never do anything "that stupid" or whatever, shouldn't they maybe do some police work, like investigating and interviewing, before they arrest an 18 year old on such a serious charge?

That an entire fucking police department and a prosecutor can't tell the difference between a zombie story and a threatening journal entry? OR that a stupid kid made a threatening entry in his journal and, now that he's in deep shit, is desperately trying to back-pedal? Use your heads, you melodramatic dipshits. None of you have even seen the frilling journal entry, yet you all jump to the most illogical conclusion.

Let me try again: Wouldn't "benefit of the doubt" mean that you give the kid the benefit because his stories about ZOMBIES probably were just that. I know, I know, I haven't read the stories, whatever. But if, as he says, half the people in the school know him and know that he would definitely never do anything "that stupid", shouldn't the police maybe do some police work, like investigating and interviewing, before they arrest an 18 year old on such a serious charge? Hopefully that's at least readable.

Monkey, what in the world makes you think the police DIDN'T investigate any of those things? Again, you assume that the kid is telling the truth, and the entire fucking police force must be incompetent boobs, which is completely illogical. You guys are just looking for an excuse to bash the cops, the government, and whatever. There's plenty of legit reasons to bash all of those. THIS ain't one of them.

Like it or not, the criminal justice system is very, very politicised, and in a state such as Kentucky, a completely innocuous story could very well be used as a tool for whatever end by the police and the DA (and both the sherrif and the DA are elected positions). I mean, you're talking about a community where people would dob in their own grandchildren. I don't think it's too much of a stretch to think that the prosecution wouldn't take a swing regardless of the content of the story.

For those who argue that Harry should only post movie-related news, keep in mind its a free site. He can allow whatever he wants to be posted on his site. If you don't like it, don't read that particular article. This site is better for having the occassional debate, and those of you who argue otherwise can just opt out of being involved. A lot of us who actually lived within 3 blocks of the Wolrd Trade Center find 9/11's exploitation repugnant, as well as the way others who get to remain submerged in a free and easy lifestyle here at home while our soliders are killed on a daily basis in the name of fighting "terrorism." Sorry, but free thinking non-Republicans are not going to shut up just because conservatives wants us to. We'll fight you fuckers to the grave not to have your religion shoved down our throats and our porn taken away. Your Hillbilly President didn't win by that many votes, and I'll respect his office but I'm not wiritng him a blank check because he proved he can't balance the book. That is it!

Even in Kentucky, the school boards are run by leftists, and this is another example of the dumbed-down liberal "zero tolerance" policy.

Hey, dipshit, you'll find no love for cops from me. All I'm saying is, WHAT's more likely? That a whole bunch of adults are lying? Or one teenage kid is lying? It's statistical probability, you stupid jackass.

With the media attention the kid will probably get a pro bono First Amendment lawyer to represent him. Laws about threats really ought to have some kind of requirement that there be some evidence of intent. Actual fiction is obviously free speech. Columbine was a one-in-a-million statistical anomaly and the overreaction to it is that fails to consider its rarity is doing damage to people who never would have been touched by the actual event. Fear and political cowardice in the face of any perceived risk are the most destructive forces America has ever faced.

Apparently some on this board believe there is such a thing as thought crime. That it's actually possible to commit a crime by writing something in a private journal. Perhaps a person's writings might justify surveillance or asking around to see if there are signs of actual violence being planned, but how can writing itself, writing that is meant for nobody but the writer, be a crime?

goddamn this sounds like some damn stupid hillbilly shit. have these rurified dipshits never seen a simpsons halloween special? wanted to be john mc clane and save their ______ (school, place of work, favorite strip club) from bag guys? seen a george romero movie? played a videogame? fuck, it's not a culture war going on- it looks like we got ourselves a culture GAP. and of course you know damn well if the kid had written a short story about saving a school from al queda or deranged abortionists he would have gotten a medal and published in the school paper. ah... what a wacky country.

What the fuck exactly is "dumbed-down liberal zero tolerance policy"? And how does it relate to this story?... you dumb fuck. I bet you probably live in Kentucky too asswipe.

I'm really tired of people on this site not familiar with the ideologies of either side. Zero tolerance policies are indeed killing our schools. One kid got expelled from school for throwing a rubber band. The list goes on and on. We are human beings and MUST use our rational brain to deal with these issues. We can't blanket these acts with mindless zero tolerance policies. We're not robots.

mass generalization doesn't help anyone although i suspect you're just trolling for an argument .And i'm not american either.

Like Quint said, you might as well lock up Stephen King, George Romero, John Carpenter, hell, the list is endless! You know, those evil terrorists who want to overrun your school with make believe creatures known as zombies. If anything, this kid sholuld be commended for creativity and imagination in writing, not being branded a terrorist! *shakes head in disbelief* _____Just remember: Bush owes the evangelicals, and after all, it's a MANDATE......

FUCK THIS THOUGHT POLICE SHIT. That's what you get with old people in KINTUCKY that are frightened of "dem negros"

Terrorists your game is through, 'cause now you have to answer to America! Fuck Yeah!! Some things just make me want to cry, with laughter that is. Next time you sing the Star Spangled Banner you might want to consider whether any of it actually means anything. I know I'd be ashamed if I realised my country was based on a lie. Fuck Yeah!!

Hey talkbalkers, Try to have memories that reach back beyond your last week's visit to moveon.org. The policies at play here date back to the Clinton administration. Sorry if that robs you of your "Bush sux" binkie, but the problem is more encompassing than that. It has more to do with liberal and conservative moral groups, along with the media, demanding "action" regardless of whatever these actions might cost. This poor kid's case is an example of that cost, and is a reflection of American culture as a whole - not just red state/blue state. Having made that point, allow me to troll a bit: idiots.

You guys are ridiculous. "Freedom is dead," and "this is 1984" and "this is Bush's America." YOU FUCKERS DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT THE JOURNAL REALLY SAID!

I once day-dreamed of bangin all 4 girls from the movie "Mean Girls" Does that mean I'll get charged with statuatory rape for dreaming up of busting a nut on Lindsay Lohans freckled ass? Im sorry officer, I didnt know she wasnt 18 at the time of shooting!

...and all my stories of graphic death and violence were published in my high school's literary journal. Really now, if I'm not arrested for writing a story from Lee Harvey Oswald's point of view, and this kid's arrested for what is at most an ALLEGORY? Fuck this.

i read this story on another site a few days ago and just started laughing at the absurdity of it all. speaking as a writer who has had her fiction taken as fact before (by parents and friends, fortunately not the police), this doesn't seem like too much of a jump. don't kid yourself, adults are idiots sometimes.

Always happens that an article is posted and someone vilifies Harry for his "evil ways" on this site and Quint, Moriarty, and many others must sit there and go "wtf? hello, Harry did shit! Muggins here kicked ass into gear to post this"....funny is all.

These stories always seem to bring the America-haters out from under their rocks - it's an isolated incident about some over-excited Bible thumpers in a small town in Kentucky. Sam Raimi and Romero are not about to be arrested for terrorism, so relax. Let's paint the entire country based on one isolated incident. In my home country of Canada, a drug-growing nutbag just murdered four police officers (the type of crime that lefties think should only happen in America). That doesn't make us all cop-killing druggies. It's an ISOLATED INCIDENT. You can't generalize from it - unless you need re-enforcement for you pre-existing hatreds. Like the guy who said people should move to a "more democratic" country - and he was talking about Mexico. May I suggest the Democratic Republic of North Korea.

But, what if William Poole's grandparents hadn't been as vigilant as they were? I'll tell you what: Poole would have organized his gang of zombies and taken over the school. People would have died. Brains would have been eaten. And then, he would enough dead bodies to send an army of zombies out to take over the world. I think that constitutes a serious terrorist threat. They should give this kid the chair.

Notice how he says: "You cant generalize from it- unless you need re-enforcement for you(?) pre-existing hatreds" while calling a given/certain group of people "America-haters". Fuckin Hilarious. Though to his credit, he restrained himself from saying "lefties kill babies for pleasure and take the lord's name in vain". Those God Damn Liberals! Haha.

I called them America haters because they refer to one isolated incident to "prove" their point that America is an evil fascist state like in Orwell's 1984. Since it's obvious that these people despise America on political grounds, I won't belabor the point. Like all pissed of idealgues, you seem to jump to conclusions about my political beliefs. You are of course wrong, but what does that matter to you?

OMG somebody was arrested must be the Republican's fault. Some of you people are fucking morons. Guess what. Columbine happened under Clintoons fucking watch. It was under Clintoon that all this hyper over reaction shit started. Oh but something goes wrong, please, for fucks sake blame the conservatives.

Back when I was in Junior High School, I used to write stories about aliens invading the school, or killer toys destroying shopping malls, and an uprising at Disneyland. They were gory and vicious and we thought it was funny at the time. (Now I do happy little religious cartoon strips... oh the contrast). Kids need to vent and push their creativity. This world is becoming seriously messed up via lawsuits and terrorist paranoia. Too much fear mongering and hate mongering. DAMN THE FANATICS and their accusations on us creative people!!! Maybe I should go back to my roots and write violent stories in schools again just to piss people off.

They say they're so open minded and tolerant but just look at all the posts mentioning "rednecks" and "hillbillies". Yeah, way to be tolerant guys.

If you're not shooting someone, you're suing them... if you are not suing someone, you acuse them of being a terrorist... if you are not acusing someone, then you're military shoots allies in friendly fire because they were mistaken for a terrorist (how the hell you confuse Canadian soldiers and Italian journalists as terrorists still baffles me)... and on top of all that, YOU ELECTED BUSH AGAIN! No wonder NO ONE in the world like Americans.

With all due respect, this kind of incident as of late, is hardly isolated. From Janet Jackson to Howard Stern, and countless other "incidents" of muzzling people write, do or say that isn't of a "popular" idea, this kind of incident is becoming more frequent. Yes, it started a long time ago and isn't anything new, but there seems to be a political and religious push behind it these days that is stronger than in the past few decades. Shutting people up and smearing them in the name of fighting terrorism is becoming too common. Of course, we don't know every detail or angle and I wouldn't make a final judgement until I did, but it certainly smacks of stupidity to me at this point.

Ahh you're just jealous you don't live here. Terrorist.

Well, it wouldn

Frank Black - I agree with you, but both sides of the political spectrum are equally responsible. Both the left and the right go after their ideological opponents with a vengeance. That includes smears, lawsuits, character assassinations and general demagoguery. But it's not the general rule. And his has more to do with special interest groups than the gov't. Columbine and all this nonsense about arresting 7 year olds for drawing pictures or bringing toe nail clippers to school started under Clinton. The religionists on the right are pushing their agenda. The leftwingers are pushing there's. If you want to be shut up or detsroyed for your speech by the left, say something on a college campus.

Unless someone comes out and says the kid has written down bomb-making procedures and lists of students he would like to kill in real life as well as in fiction, I'm siding with the kid. The day we allow the Thought Police to trample on our individual rights to our private journals and hobbies -- and I would bet money that's what this was, a HOBBY -- we might as well pack it in and drink the funny Kool-Aid, people. You kneejerk conservatives whipping up your frenzied bloodlust... imagining wolves at every door... preparing to light the mob torches at any hint of transgressive (i.e., different) ideas or beliefs... God, you lot make me truly fearful for the world my son will grow up in. God help us, we're growing no smarter as a people, despite witnessing all these years of ideological failure on all sides. You know what America needs? A healthy kick in the ass and a nice tall drink of Shut the F*ck Up. Nobody's ever going to tell my son what he can or can't write in a creative journal. I hope as folks on this board get a little older, they'll take off the blinders and start LOOKING at the world the way it really is, not channeling it through their Fox-colored glasses.

I'm just sick and tired of all this left wing bullshit everywhere.Its always hilarious to hear people say that theres no liberal bias in the media when there is liberal bias in EVERY form of media except for talk radio.I left the CHUD boards because of shit like this from that asshole Devin and this is the final straw here.It would serve you right if one day America actually does become the evil fascist state you liberal whackos imagine it is now.But that won't happen because it will probably be destroyed by all you America hating/terrorist loving assholes. Heil Bush bitches!! See you all in Hell!!

Yeah, we have not read the story. Who knows what was really written. But I still think this level of crazy panic is very possible. Take into account the sudistic level of gore in most Zombie stories. I could totally see some grandparents and parinoid law inforcement agencey goign apeshit if the read about cheerleaders being riped to shreads and hung from there intestines. Yeah, some people are still freaked out by that kind of stuff. Just thought I'd throw that perspective on this.

I dont wanna be a dick (excuse the pun) but BIGD's post reeeeeeks of partisanship. Sorry dude, but FRANK BLACK post was eloquent,incisive, and most of all objective. Your rebuttal started off beautifully until you put your foot in ur mouth by bringing up fuckin CLINTON. Seriously...WTF? (Does your kind sleep, breathe, and eat Clinton?) Then after trashing all coherence and objectivity in your post by bringing up Slick Willy, you go for broke and say how "The left shuts you up and destroys you in college". Im sorry, but for someone who hates ideologies in other people, you sure have an extremist one of your own. Too bad its not as stealthy or transparent as you'd like it to be. Frank Black...my hats off to u man...you speak like a true wise man. Peace out.

...I'm reading this story and I'm kind of confused as to why you guys are equating fear of another school shooting to "Conservative paranoia." Simply because they balked at (possibly) a mere zombie story? That doesn't make this about George W. Bush, nor does it make any overarching statements about the government in a larger sense. Considering Columbine happened in 1999, this kid probably would have been taken in, justifiably or not, even if Ralph Nader was in office.

Fucking assholes! What the fuck do the "authorities" think they're doing? Hypocrits! What's the next step? Burn some books?

There's more to the story than that news link provides. Do a Google news search and you'll find out (1) that his family reported him because they though he was trying to organize a gang (2) there was no English assignment (3) the "story" looked like plans and notes (4) ZOMBIES WERE NEVER MENTIONED!!!! It might be a misunderstanding. Who knows. Don't blame Bush. This kind of knee jerk reaction started in the Clinton years after Columbine (and the over reaction wasn't his fault either)

What the hell ? How screwed up is that ? So, is the message here that America is the land of free speech...except in Kentucky, where the senior citizens rule ? For the sake of sanity, I hope this case gets thrown out of court and a charge of wasting police time applied to those responsible.

If the kid

America,like Italy, is a borderline fascist state. Dead Megatron uses intemperate language but he's basically right. Americans are brainwashed from birth that they live in a uniquely free country when in fact most countries in the western world are more fundamentally free. Did you know that the USA - self-proclaimed "land of the free" - has only just stopped executing juveniles? That puts the US in a club with such beacons of liberty as Iran, China and Saudi Arabia. The US has over two million in prison, had slavery until the 1860s and virtual slavery for another century after that, it has supported terrorism and dictators all over the world, crushed democracy in Latin America, murdered millions in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia and has had several very dubious elections in the last few decades. Wake up. You are the serfs in a christian-fascist state where the giant corporations openly buy and sell the two political parties. If you are perceived as a threat you will be tortured and murdered by the government. The USA is not the land of the free.

Christianity becomes a Republican owned religion just because they are the most outwardly opinionated about it. It

You know how CSI AND LAW AND ORDER have all their spinoff show's? Now its "24" Lexington....We already have the supposed Bad material,and the suspect that is being set up..and by terroists by of all things...Can Jack Bouer save Kentucky..or instead his former heroin addiction..he turns to moonshine and bluegrass marajuana..... OR AND THIS IS FOR THE BUFFY ANGEL PEOPLE, LIKE MUAH...SEND SPIKE T THE SCHOOL AND ITS "SCHOOL HARD 2" NOW THAT WOULD BE FUN!! Peace

When I was in high school, I constantly wrote stories about school shootings. They were satirical in nature. At first, it was just me writing extreme stories to make my friends laugh, and eventually I started exploring the characters more, expressing the absurdity of violence through humor. I never had the slightest interest in causing phyiscal harm to any other student. I suppose that if this had happened in the post-Patriot Act Bush Administration area, I would have been arrested too. THIS IS ENTIRELY UNAMERICAN.

Like stvnhthr a voice of reason. I hope if AICN is covering this they will update it when more info is out and clear. We just don't have enough to go on. We can have side conversations about things this brigns up like the afore mentioned increased rate of religious and political concern for what is and isn't acceptible, the increased rate of outrage and censorship, but as far as this actual story is concerened we got nothing left to go on till the facts roll in. Peace.

This isn't about American Politics, folks. Its about religious politics hijacking the secular government. It isn't Democrat, it isn't Republican (even though it is using them to take over the government); these people should, for all intents and purposes, be wearing turbans and cutting their faces with machetes once a year. Osama Bin Laden wanted to strike back at us, and he did in the worst way, by inciting the weakest-willed of us to change the country into something he would find acceptable, an American Taliban. And why is this up for discussion? Because we're still Americans, and we still have the right to argue with each other. Believe me, we wouldn't be allowed to do even that if this asshat behavior continues unabated. Stop arguing with each other; it isn't Bush, it isn't Kerry. Its these asshole hypocrites with their bibles firmly grasped between their buttcheeks and tied against their heads that don't believe people should think for themselves or, clutch the pearls, write about things that are blasphemous! (oh, and yes, Lazarus was a zombie; they cut the whole 'brains-r-yummy' psalm out though). Stop arguing with each other about who's fault it is, and get to the issue of solving the problem.

This level of paranoia is more prevalent than you may think. I am a teacher in Kentucky. A few years ago, I *HAD* to report a kid because he drew a gory picture in Microsoft Paint. Why? Because if another student saw him and told mommy and daddy, then they would have called the principal. I would have been guilty of "creating a hostile environment, blah blah blah." Then I'm screwed. I could lose my job for not reporting something suspicious. The kid got suspended for a week and had to go to counseling in order to come back to school. He was a minor. Some of this hysteria stems from the need to save ourselves from seriously deranged people. A lot of this hysteria stems from schools and teachers not wanting to get sued.

The defenders have a good point in that none of us have read the story and have to take the kid at his word for what it contains. Nevertheless, even if the story had real characters, real locations, and the kid was the protaganist killing everyone, so long as he simply wrote it in his journal - IT'S NOT A CRIME! The crime of making terrorist threats necessarily implies making them publicly in some way via talking with others, the internet, or a letter to someone. There are two components to every crime - actus reus (the act) and mens rea (the mental intent to commit the said act). Here, no matter what, the kid couldn't possibly have had the mens rea required to make terrorist threats because simply writing something in your journal for your own use can't possibly be a public threat.

urrrrrrrrrrr....privatization....uuurrrrrrrrr.....spreading democracy through war.....uuurrrrrr....the UN is the antichrist......sounds entertaining!

I fucking told you guys. Read drewcaster's post before you start spouting off about thought crime and fascism. I TOLD YOU it was more likely the kid was lying.

Dude, your projecting. I was a supporter of Clinton. See, when you spend your whole life jumping to conclusions, you wind up looking like a doushe bag most of the time.

If there are no more facts to this case, it seems to me that this is a miscarriage of justice of epic proportions. I would suggest this kid and his family get a good lawyer and start suing for false arrest, not to mention various civil rights violations. And, by the way, for all those of you who want to use this as a club to beat up on President Bush and the War in Terror, be informed that the zero tolerance madness started with incidents as at Columbine which occured, as I recall, in the 1990s.

Hey, what's this I hear about the whole story being false??

Put this kid away for LIFE.

You only had the word of an entire police force, a prosecuting attorney, and at least one judge versus a fucking teenager's word. You guys that immediately believed the kid's story, against ALL logic, are a bunch of fucking morons.

Which reminds me. Joss Whedon needs to go to reeducation camp as well. Did he not once have a TV series about vampires and demons and what not set around a High School? In fact, a episode in which the student body does battle with such had its broadcast delayed because of post Columbine hysteria. Can't blame Bush about that, of course. That too tool place in the 1990s.

http://www.splc.org/newsflash.asp?id=973&year= Says no zombies are mentioned in the "story."

I heard about this story and it pissed so much the fuck off I ran around all day telling people about it. I wish there was something we could do to help the poor kid. A giant protest or SOMETHING. I just can't fucking believe that that the government is charging some kid with a FELONY for writing a fucking story. Listen, this kid isn't some published author like Dean Koontz who should have to consult a lawyer before letting his imagination run wild on paper. But that sure as hell seems the way we are going - consult a government official before you do anything: sneeze or spit. Soviet America is just a generation away folks. In ANY case. I fully support EVERYONES freedom of speech. This country was founded on giving people more freedoms - not selectively taking them away. If anyone finds a way to help this kid, let know. Heck, if you pay for the plane ticket I'll fly out there to Kentucky to help any protest efforts. Veraxus@Gamegestapo.com

Read some of the above posts. The kid was lying, you big dumb bastard.

Hey, if you pay for my plane ticket, I'll fly out there too! Also, I will require 1st class hotel accomodations and an expense account. But seriously, if it turns out this story is false, and the kid was ratted out by grandma and grandpa for trying to organize a gang and not for writing zombie stories - I say we still go! By the way, what's to see in Kentucky?

The link I posted might have a Virus. My PC went apeshit when I read the kids story. On the other hand, that PC always was a tad fucked. Anyway I'm... BACK IN MAC! So all you PC readers proceed with cuation. Wired's a good site though, so it's probably nothing. Peace.

More here: http://www.pittnews.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/03/03/4226f4e735b94

This whole ordeal isn't about red-state/blue-state, Democrat/Republican, religion or terrorism. It's about Columbine, and the "any means necessary" approach that people are taking to making schools safe. Until 9/11 school shootings and the threat thereof were known only as "school shootings". Since 9/11, though, we have attached the word "terrorism" to just about any kind of violence, whether it is executed, considered or even remotely possible. Why? Because we apparently don't know what the fucking word means. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language defines "terrorism" as "the unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons." Unless Little Johnny is planning on shooting up his high school to coerce the food services people into switching back to the better, more expensive brand of fish sticks, it isn't terrorism. So the true heart of the problem is that school districts, administrators, teachers and parents are so leery of having something like that happen in THEIR school that they are willing to go to absurd lengths to prevent it. Even if it means jailing some kid for shooting a rubber band or writing a zombie story. Now to the best that I can tell, there are three possible "true" conditions for this situation: (1) Maybe the kid is full of shit. Perhaps he WAS drawing up plans to launch some variety of assault against the school (if what drewcaster says is true regarding the contents of the kid's writing, it's still a solid possibility), in which case he doesn't need to be jailed. He needs some fucking therapy. I'll remember for the rest of my life what Marilyn Manson said about Harris and Klebold in "Bowling for Columbine", when asked what he would have said to them: "I wouldn't have said anything. I would have listened to them, because that's what nobody was doing." If the kid really was planning something, get him some help, not jail time. Catch him BEFORE he commits the actual, physical crime... send him to therapy. Catch him AFTER he commits the crime, send him to prison. (2) Once again, if what drewcaster posted was true, another possibility is that he was prewriting. Yes, some of us prewrite... do outlines, character descrips, etc. In which case, let the kid go for chrissakes. (3) If the kid actually had a STORY written--a plain-English, garden-variety narrative--then let the kid go and suggest to him that he perhaps should wait a few years before he writes anything violent set in a high school. As far as the grandparents go... I don't fault them for being concerned upon finding something like this. Grandparents, for the most part, are notiorious for their "ease of alarm". God knows MY grandparents were. However, I do fault them for turning the matter directly over to the police instead of at least talking to the kid about it. I guess I'll look on the bright side, though, and say "well at least they didn't go straight to the FBI or Dept. of Homeland Security." --LMC

Attn. All Writers from Kentucky: to avoid being arrested for makeing "terroristic threats" be sure that all of your storiess are about W wielding an M60 mowing down "rag heads" and "sand niggers" that way you're sure not to offend or draw the attention of any authorities from your state. Enjoy your "freedom."

Read up on the talkbacks, moron. The kid was lying. There were no zombies. There was no school assignment. That's just a bullshit editorial written by another knee-jerk overreactive moron like you.

I've learned to take everything people say with a grain of salt. If I were to have just read Quint's 'summary' of the case, I would be under the impression that a preschooler turned in a story and was arrested. A "kid" Quint? The guy is 18, an adult. I agree, it still sucks, but why try to make a terrible story sound even worse? You didn't even mention the things they said they found at his house, it just so happens that this article only covered one of those items. You also made it sound like he turned this assignment in, when his grandparents are the ones that found it and turned him in. Once again, I'm not saying that what happened is right, but no one here, based on reading the link above, knows the complete story. This is the kind of thing that Sam Adams used to do to the colonials to get them all fired up. Sure, it worked out in the long run, but most of those guys were going to the Boston Tea party with half truths and no real idea of why they were doing it. Just shoot people straight, that's all I ask. It says the law in Kentucky is such and such, it says he had other suspicious evidence in his house, it said he was an ADULT, why leave that stuff out?

Heck, let the government censor everything we say and do. That'll stop terrorism. In fact the government should control the media. No more potentially offensive or shocking entertainment...unless of course it supports The Cause. What we need are Gulags. Thise way we can send all non-believing dissidents there. This'll stop those America hating liberals. Heck, why stop at Gulags? Let's start extermination camps for indecency offenders! This way those dissident elements can't hurt our nation or introduce sex and violence to our children. Freedom, Democracy, and Total Government Censorship go hand and hand after all. USA! USA! USA! C'mon everyone with me now: USA! USA! USA!.....

I'd be amazed only if the prevailing cultural mindset on this site wasn't so consistent. Excepting a few unbiased folks, so many of you people have finalized your opinion on the sole interpretation of one reporter for a single publication about the sole, subjective opinion of the 'victim'. I mean, look at some of the reactions here... to paraphrase: "Zombies aren't real, so obviously this couldn't happen." Yeah, and there's never any subtext in anything remotely fantastic, genius. "The cops aren't upstanding citizens either." Right, so many cops are rawng and so few felons are right, erm, I mean 'victims'. All priests of any age everywhere must be pedophiles under such logic. Please. "Right-wingers only believe Fox News." So? Left-wingers only believe CNN and the NY Times. The pot-n-kettle story here. Oh, and ole mainstay, "This is Dubya's fault." It's amazing how any pre-emptive action turns into this and how any post-Columbine reaction turns into a slam on the (right wing idealology of) the 2nd ammendment. No one is ever to blame with you liberals, except for the governing authorities. Look, I'm an amateur writer. As a writing aid, I often write diaries in-character. My wife found one and was horrified until I showed her similar diaries written for other characters AND THEN showed her the piece I'd been working on. It wasn't until then that she cooled out. Now, the one thing she did that the grandparents PERHAPS did not do was chat with me about it. Perhaps they did and made an executive decision. You don't know, because all you have is this one reporter's story! The 'victim' says "Half the school knows I'm not like that." Oh? What about the *other* half then? Fault me for playing Columbo with the rest of you, but geeks that write zombie stories tend not to be very popular! Think, question, research, THEN decide. You do yourself a disservice with the knee-jerk reaction, be it leftward or rightward leaning.

a TEENAGER wrote THOUGHTS in a JOURNAL. I don't care if it said he wanted to kill the president. They're private thoughts in a journal. Look, it might be different if he was some angry 40 year old loner living in his parents basement. But we do not persecute someone for their THOUGHTS. There is a huge difference between thought and action... There are no more facts to know.

I just heard this on CNN! Bush has signed an edict that all children who write stories will now be executed by Dick Cheney wikth a Scimitar gifted to him by Prince Ibn Saud Ibn Jihad. Boy, you liberals were right! It's over, man! Game over!

then you'd know that the kid was lying, and he wasn't arrested for writing "thoughts" in a "journal," you stupid motherfucker.

Talk about having your priorities all screwed up. Kentucky, the state with one of the highest levels of incest and statutory rape decides that putting a kid behind bars for his creativity for writing about zombies is a larger threat. In this day and age I seriously think these schools and the police are taking things way too seriously. Ten years ago this shit would have never happened. In just about four years we have lost some of our freedoms while others are being discussed in Washington as we speak. Bush is an elected dictator and Kentucky is his little imbred bitch

The kid was LYING, dumbass. It wasn't a story, there were NO zombies. You just fell for Quint's ill-informed article like the 10,000 other dumbasses in this thread.

Bush has just signed another Presidential order - all underwear must now be worn on the outside! Also, all children under sixteen years old - are now sixteen years old! Any assertion that this comes from the Woody Allan movie Bananas is a damnable Republican lie!

...he's in jail for writing something. That's it. Writing. To the jackass that says the kid must be lying becuase scores of cops and prosecutors say so: you are a retard. I've read every link posted in this talkback and have yet to find one that supports the angle that the kid was fabicating anything other than the spew from the guy who'll look like a jackass for throwing a kid in jail for tales of zombies. Either way he's in jail for writing. Writing is now a crime should the government deem you writing a "terroristic threat". I also like how the prosecutor gank said it possibly couldn't be for school becuase the school had no such program: did it ever occur to this inbred fuck that it is possible to write OUTSIDE of school? Reminds me of the inbred fuck who deliverd my couch and marveld at large numbers of books in my library and then said "I haven't read a book since hihg school" and that's why he delivers couches for a living and in Kentucky, apparently, they are involved in law enforcement.

So this whole argument about deciding who's "lying" is a straw man and a red herring. The cops have not said anything different than what the kid is saying. The cops have not said that this story contains real people (not that it would matter. You're allowed to write stories about zombies eating real people...just FYI...I know a lot of you dittoheads have never heard of the first amendment). The cops have not said this is anything but a zombie story. If the kid is lying about that, then why don't the cops say so? I'll tell you why...becaues the kid's not lying. That's why the pigs have to fall back on this stupid, vague horseshit about "possessing matter realting to a school.." or whatever the fuck they're burbling about. Nobody is accusing the cops or the prosecutors of lying because they HAVEN"T CONTRADICTED THE KID. The only difference is whether a zombie story is a terroristic threat.

Take five seconds and do a Google news search like drewcaster did, and you'll see that you have no idea what the fuck you're talking about. The kid was lying. Imagine that. You fucking moron.

I'd say its entirely possible that this menacing 10 year old has found a way to create a zombie army and in true Bond villain style wrote an account of what would happen when he released it upon America. It's possible for writing to be considered terrorist threats(communications between the 16 and Osama come to mind), but this isn't it.

*WHAM!*

I'm gonna sit here ALL GODDAMN DAY and tell every one of you who's stupid enough to believe Quint's article (without even looking into it) what a complete MORON you are.

I like the thinking I'm seeing on the board. Sure, there's alot of Bashing of Bush, CNN, Fox, NYtimes, Kentucky, etc. But there is alot of good thoughts too: TALK to the kid; protect writing; Consider the source; Subtext is everything; question authority; and Harry Sucks. I need to look at the news item in question, but the fact that he's a legal adult, and that he was arrested for something he wrote, no matter what, was a mistake. The authorities should have spoken to him about it, done some actual legwork you know? Does the guy have firearms (uh, dumb question; this is Kentucky, not Amish country); is there any collaborative evidence? AGAIN, IS THERE ANY COLLABORATIVE EVIDENCE? If not, let the guy go and consider yourself lucky not to be sued. Immortal_fish and LoudMouthCracker, you guys should have your own blogs or something. You're the only ones on this board who aren't openly attacking either 'side'. And for those of you who believe this is the end of days for America, just remember that liberal progress is unstoppable. For every Victorian era, we have two Renaissances. This time will pass; we just may have to slog through a facist regime or two before the flowers start blooming again. That goes for you conservative theocratic nincompoops, too: enjoy the flowers of the shit-bloom you've created, because the reaction is already on its way.

I got into similar problems when I was in middle school at the time of Columbine, they thought they needed to root out all the "edgier" kids. Before college, schools for the most part are run by undereducated grad students with the few exceptions of some of the amazing teachers that their are. Let this be a shining example of our school systems stupidity. This boy was being creative and he got punished for his creativity. Let's arrest every filmmaker who has ever "killed" someone on screen then, or better yet, the actor who "killed" the other actor, he should be tried for murder. this is such baloney.

On CNN - Bush has capitulated. Michael Moore was just sworn in as President! The flowers are blooming...Hallejuha...Hallejuha

What more do you need to know? Well, you can make anything sound like anything you want if you leave out the details. For example, read your own post, see how easily you left out the part about him MAKING THE ENTIRE THING UP!

"if another student saw him and told mommy and daddy, then they would have called the principal. I would have been guilty of "creating a hostile environment," ...... Soooo, you let a student get suspended and attend counselling instead of doing the right thing. Allow me to quote Han Solo: "Yeah, you're a real hero." I have a large number of teachers in my family, both liberal and conservative, and I doubt any of them would react to your ethics with anything other than projectile vomiting. You take the path of least resistance and then pass the blame on to your superiors. Please explain how the notion of your creating "a hostile environment" would be predicated on how the drawing was discovered and by whom, rather than the drawing coming into existence at all. I'm sure you sleep well at night -- after all, you "vere chust obeyink orders."

Dam fast typing....I mean damn

http://www.splc.org/newsflash.asp?id=973&year= There was NO zombies. There was NO school assignment. There was NO short story, just notes and plans! MORONS!

still feels like a knee jerk reaction ... one horrible incident like columbine and all kids are potential serial killers. nation of fear.

... we're all stuck here in "Redneck AmeriKKKa"

Fantastic. You wanna argue that it's overreacting to jail a kid for drawing up terrorist plans that he may never use? I don't agree, but you won't hear a peep out of me. But that's not what's going on here. You've got 10,000 stupid idiots in this thread ranting about free speech and zombies when if they spent five seconds looking they'd see that it's ALL BULLSHIT!

http://www.splc.org/newsflash.asp?id=973&year= No zombies, no short story, no school assignment. Moron!

You fucking disingenuous cunt, the story says nothing about "plans." It just says it doesn't have the word "zombies" in it (it wasn't finished and apparently the kid was just taking notes) but it ALSO says, that the name of the school is not mentioned and that there are no real people in it so there is nov fucking way this can be read as a threat. This is the pigs and the prosecutors trying to damage control after being caught out as anti-American, nazi, fascist Taliban, psycho motherfuckers. And guess what else, fucko, even if the kid was writing a story about real people taking over a fictional school intead of zombies...THAT"S STILL NOT A CRIME.

Now there's God-knows-how-many people who mistakenly think there's some "poor kid" out there in Kentucky jailed for writing a story because you jumped to conclusions and didn't bother to spend five seconds doing a Google search. Way to go, you dumbass!

"Atkins said law enforcement agents showed him the writings, which resembled 'notes and a plan.'" Is that clear enough for you, you retard? It wasn't a story. It was notes and a plan, you dumb bastard.

I already told you, your story doesn't support your fucking side. The proecutors are being very careful and deliberate about they decribe the contents. They say it doesn't contain the word "zombie" but they don't say it's not ABOUT zombies. Maybe the killed called them something else, like "undead," or "braineaters" or something. They also don't give any real details about what the story IS, they only cherry pick something about the kid researching a response time for the cops. They ADMIT that the story is not about the kid's real school and does not have real people in it. You are wrong. Sorry.

I consider myself the other lib-meat, Libertarian. Around here on this site, be it mere questioning or outright opinionated exposition, folks like me tend to be cast as right wing, rednecked, deer hunting, 'traditional value' toting, pick-em-up truck driving, right-wringer. While I admit those opinions also count in the grand scheme of things, thanks for interpreting posts as they are without viewing them through a blue hued prism.

It's fucking greasy prosecutor speak. He didn't say it IS a plan. And he said it doesn't have real people or the real school so that angle is really not going to work for you. You probably beleive everything Bush says too, don't you. You probably think Iraq was a threat. You probably think they just had a real election. You fucking sheep.

Kentucky has been over run with zombies and they don't want it getting out till they have at least over run the school, so they had to get the kid out the way . And thats a fact!

When I initially read this story that Fangoria provided a couple of days ago, I was fuming. I forwarded ALL of my friends and we all have the same reaction...conservative or liberal!!! But, after calming and thinking with a clear head, I realize how BIG MEDIA twists, contorts, "conveniately' leaves out important messages. in order to create a more outlandish headline...that led me to realize, NONE of us TRUELY know the entire story...it is possible that the police found other materials that would make it a crime, actual threats, plans for a shooting, bombing, etc. Amongst this, he may have had his short stories, which, referencing schools, may also be in evidence. or, he may have outlined actual plans, disguised certain characters as "zombies", using metafor. The fact remains, WE ONLY KNOW, WHAT THE REPORTER TOLD US!!!! The zombie story may only be cercumstancial evidence, character evidence, but the police must collect ANYTHING that may pertain to the investigation, this is standard detective work! So, before you start FLAMING me and taking EVERYTHING I said out-of-context, as usually happens in these feedbacks, use your brain, and not your emotions, to realize how complex this case may actually be! If it does turn out to be a raw deal, then I and all other's voices need to be heard, including Hollywood...they LOVE to talk free speech, but never seem to stand and do anything about it other than whine and take jabs at conservatives!

Did you even read the fucking article, stupid? It NEVER said it wasn't about the kid's high school. It says that it simply doesn't address the high school by name, and that it is strongly implied that it was referring to their high school. And give me a fucking break about the being specific on the word zombie, stuff. That's loony conspiracy theory bullshit! There's no fucking zombies! http://www.winchestersun.com/articles/2005/02/24/local_news/news01.txt http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/10982804.htm

"I have fact-checked Internet Source A!" "Oh yeah?! Well I HAVE DOUBLE FACT CHECKED Internet Source B AND I USED GOOGLE NEWS SEARCH!" "You're reading it wrong!" "No, YOU'RE reading it wrong!" "Asswipe!" "Douchebag!" "It says plans!" "You say it says plans!" "My girlfriend found my in-character journals!" "Dickshit!" and so on, and so on,

thanks for the definition of the word spoonfeed:'Giving people ONE source to satisfy your opinion' One example does not a theory make; nor does one source an position substantiate. Let's triangulate a little bit. So far, I've got one story from you and one story from Quint, which equals ambiguous. Again, COLLABORATIVE EVIDENCE. We have more 'evidence' of Bush's complicity in 9-11 than we do of this guy's seriousness of what they say he was planning on doing. I live in Cupertino, and we have a community college where some whacko was planning on bombing the shit out of it. A photograph developer saw all sorts of military style weaponry and bomb appliances in the photos, and reported it. He was seized and the plot was stopped due to all sorts of shit he had in his apartment. If the authorities in KY can find any kind of COLLABORATIVE EVIDENCE in this guy's apartment, aside from notes, then his ass is grass. Wrabbit, all due respect, you're almost as bad as the tinfoil hats. Flame on, but at this point you're just burning your own tail.

Thank you. 'Journalistic reporting' is sensationalism at the heart. Not only is it all subjective sensationalism, but it's all ratings driven. Hrm, is here a differenece? Let's review. "Is YOUR child playing with the newest toy that'll kill thousands?!? Tune in at 11!!!" Unfortunately, this is on the municipal level as well as the national level, no matter which 'side' you're on. This case coul very well be an example of the rule, not the exception.

And THEN tell me this kid got arrested for no reason. Moron!

Cool Wrabbit, thanks for more links. That helps everybody (no snark included). Now, just clean up your language and people will take you more seriously.

I've posted three links, and there's more. Not all of them contain information that refute the kid's story (although some do), but NONE of them support his story. He's lying? Do you get it? Moron.

Unless the kid expressed a specific intention to commit a crime in this journal then there is no crime here. The pigs won't say that there's a specific threat, which pretty much guarantee that there isn't one. All they can do is make up shit out of their assholes about what they think in their inbred minds that the story "strongly implies" and nitpick about the word "zombie." (I bet anything the kid uses some other word).

I know, I know, you're right. But just LOOK at the unbelievable amount of people who have come into this thread, immediately jumped to mistaken conclusions, and started ranting about free speech, fascism, Bush, etc. The stupidity is MIND-BOGGLING.

Facinating observation, tool. A total of 19 UN resolutions averted. Evidence of WMD aspiration AND use. They shot at our planes over the UN mandated no-fly zone. Fucking food for oil. What's the matter with you? No matter how you slice it, Iraq - WMD = Bosnia. Go ahead and allow Madeliene Albright to convince you how 4 - 2 doesn't equal 2.

That is a fucking load of crock. Quint, is there anything we can possibly do at this point?

I can so see this happening. The documents that they found could be notes he was using to create the story. The fear in this country is so insane right now that this does not surprise me. And the fact that it happened in Kentucky doesn't surprise me either. I"m from Southern Illinois, and the fact is I was treated like a freak outcast by everyone in my High School. I wrote stuff like this all the time and everyone thought I was possessed by Satan. Thankfully the shit that has gone on in past 10 years or so hadn't happened yet, or I'm sure I would have been busted. As it was, when Rod and his Vampire Cult happened (in Kentucky) I was working at a hospital. I had stickers on my car that showed how much I loved vampires and horror films. I found out that the security guards had started scoping me out and my car in case I wanted to steal some blood or whatever. Fucking crazy man. I feel for this poor kid because I think he's telling the truth. And my Grandma would probably do the same thing, sadly.

Show us a SPECIFIC THREAT, not weasel words from law enforcement. If you can't show a specific threat, you haven't proven dick. Now, piss off. Shouldn't you be out making fertilizer bombs or raping your sister or something?

Instead of blabbing here. Why not phone or write the faculty and air your concern. http://www.clark.k12.ky.us/grc/Faculty/Principals/jatkins.htm

"Unless the kid expressed a specific intention to commit a crime in this journal then there is no crime here." He did just that: "after notes outlining possible acts of violence against students, teachers and security guards were found." And, from another source: "Police recovered writings in which Poole allegedly attempted to convince other students to participate in an armed takeover." And: "The threat involved the use of weapons, according to Purdue. "He didn't have a gang, but he was attempting to organize one," he said."

''An 18-year-old junior at George Rogers Clark High School has been charged with terroristic threatening, a felony, after notes outlining possible acts of violence against students, teachers and security guards were found. No direct threats were made against named people, Winchester police Detective Steven Caudill said. '' i think this kind of says it all - even if i write down a fantasy about myself storming through the offices where i work, offing every overpaid mofo that sits slumped over their pc buying shite off ebay all day, it doesn't mean i'm actually going to do it does it? Maybe they should sit down with the guy, give him some councelling and find out whether he has any problems ?

By the way, what is it with the civility factor here? I've seen less epithets thrown at a Philly ball game. Grow up some, folks. Nobody would have listened to Thomas Payne if he had been flinging poo while he orated. I'm pretty much a tinfoil hat myself, but I can smell flung poo when its in the air around me. Remember what Adlai Stevensen once said, "I will make a bargain with the Republicans. If they will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them." hee hee heee....

With the exception of a handfull of clear-minded individuals, most of you are MINDLESS SHEEPLE!!!! Your getting hostile over something you know NOTHING about...none of us do, your following this reporter into battle, and you HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT'S ABOUT!!!! GET A FUCKING CLUE!!!!

Got anything else you want to pull out of your ass so I can prove it wrong?

Clearly, this is a case-by-case scenario, not deserving of a typical knee-jerk reaction. Granted, we as a society (should) have risen above the "burn the witch" mentality. But then, not so far as to wrongfully smear all law enforcement with the broad brush. Please, please WAIT!! Time will tell with this case.

If they've really got something like that then you've got me and the arrest was kosher. I'm suspicious, though, because they said in the other story that there were no real names, so I wonder if they're just spinning something fictional into something real.

According to the law, you don't have to name names in order to make credible threats (which is illegal). This kid was obviously making threats.

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/10982804.htm and http://www.winchestersun.com/articles/2005/02/24/local_news/news01.txt It's just the word of the police and his family, but I'd say that's pretty credible considering it's all-but certain he lied about other parts of the story (the school assignment that doesn't exist).

It's obviously misrepresenting the whole situation and giving a TON of people the wrong idea.

Are you kidding me?! We've literally become fucking Nazis!!

Does ANYBODY read this shit before they post? Anybody? mwhelan, look at the links I've posted. Yes, Quint is "kidding you," because he didn't look into the story at all.

This is just wrong. I'm a Bush-supporting Republican, but this is just plain wrong. Still, before anyone calls America Neo-Fascist, think before you start picking your extremes and just remember that stuff like this is just as likely to happen in a Communist country, and there have been -- and are -- Communist countries that restrict speech much more severely than America. Frankly, I think censorship should be gotten rid of altogether, which is where I likely differ from most, if not all, of my Republican comrades. Censorship doesn't protect from taboos so much as it creates taboos. But to the topic at hand, this arrest and detainment of a kid for writing a zombie story when they KNOW the context is awful.

I wish you people would stop using the derogatory term "zombie" and adapt the correct term "undead American."

...but you were right. Quint jumped the gun on this story. I still think there's a chance this kid was writing fiction but the facts of the case are not as they were represented in the AICN story. Having said that, Bush is still a war criminal and a chimp.

This is ridiculous. This whole thing is not reported on enough. I have looked at too many news articles on this story and all of them have a spin in either one direction or the other. Some are just plain vague. This whole thing happened on February 22 and there is still no more information on it. There is nothing about if this kid DID get any weapons or if they found anyone involved in this or if this kid had any other problems. From all of my research I can only summize that this kid was misunderstood. That his grandparents didn't see him going in the direction they wanted him to go in so they needed him straightened out. I agree with all those before who said that they should have talked to him.

Producers hope it will add more life to the ceremony.

next season on 24- jack baur-the babysitter.

Bunch of over-zealous troglodytes in Kentucky, obviously. Of course, this is the same state that received $37,000 in Federal Homeland Security grants to fight the terrorist threat, so they should be ready for the imminent zombie attack! Fucking morons! Go get back into bed with yer sister, Cletus!

But what about the REAL zombies? ... the people who propogate fear (with non-existent WMD, perhaps?) and suck life (and freedom) out of us by making sure we quake with paranoia at every person who appears different, is creative, or unusual. The REAL Zombies, much like the Nazis, make sure that Americans will soon see only two categories for living beings: THEM & US. The REAL zombies don't want us to know the difference between a kid's short story and a real threat. They don't want us to have the emotional release and entertainment provided by Zombie stories and movies. That way, we'll have so much stored up fear, we'll agree to pre-emptively destroy the entire planet OR we'll wither and die of REAL fear long before a terror attack could do us in. I might, out of fairness, say there may have been more to this kid's story than the article suggests. However our government seems satisfied to let everyone stew in this kind of suspicion (that includes fear of normal teen angst or creativity) until we gladly give away all of our rights and freedoms in the name of fear.

Burton promises "reimagining" of zombies. Johhny Depp set to star.

Yeah, maybe by "international" law, if you want to get technical, but after 9/11, I don't care how many "suspected terrorists" Bush has detained without charging or how many "international" laws he breaks. If it weren't for the U.S., Western and most of Eastern Europe might be speaking German and bowing to a REAL fascist government. Some people act like Bush is the first president to ignore certain constitutional rights and guidelines, but Lincoln did it during the Civil War (which, by the way, helped free the slaves) and Roosevelt's "New Deal" was borderline-socialist, NOT something specifically condoned in the Constitution. And if I'm wrong about what is or is not condoned in the Constitution (as one or most of you are bound to say if you say anything), then so be it. I know what I stand for, whether it's in the Constitution or not. That's my "bait" for this board, but once again, as for the story about the kid's arrest, if it's true, it IS a travesty and not something that I think most TRUE conservatives would like.

I hail from kentucky, and I'd just like to point out that we aren't all as ignorant as our laws. While the stereotypes are true for a LOT of people, in louisville and Lexington there is a pretty groovy underground movies and music scene. So I apologize for our idiotic police and our ridiculous mentality, but please understand that there ARE a FEW sane people living in the Bluegrass State.

Although I can't give legal advice (don't take the Bar until July), with that caveat I would like to comment on a couple things posted here... #1, there are some angry angry people...please take your meds and breathe deeply. #2, an area, town or state has the right to make the rules it wants to - it is the place of the court, when properly asked by competent counsel, to point out that they're being quite silly and to cut the nonsense out. #3, the police have some latitude with regard to statutes, but not zero tolerance. You can tell in the interviews that the police are QUITE uncomfortable with the whole situation, but what can they do? Just their jobs... #4, this comes down to the prosecuter who will be bringing the charges. This is a political position and they must be very careful as to how the wind "blows" politically. #5, if the prosecuter decides to go forward, then the defense attorney (hopefully a PD. Who would you rather have, a professional who does one thing, day in and day out, for hours a day, or a professional who does it once in a while?) will go into court and, quietly and professionally, point out that this is silly. #6, this gets the prosecuter off the hook, since they can say they are "tough on crime" but it's the judge who is slacking. There's a lot more going on here than appears. There are egos, political motivations that would make Machiavelli blanche, and a host of personality types that, quite frankly, would not fit into a movie, since the average audience member would not believe that someone is like that in real life.

Thanks, McGee (sorry, just can't bring myself to type the first part). Those headlines are hilarious - keep them coming!

You have *one* side of the story. Here is another ...[ http://www.winchestersun.com/articles/2005/02/24/local_news/news01.prt ]THINK for a second. The only quotes in the original story linked at the top are quotes from the student or quotes that basically state a law, without putting it in any context. In the real world, the police *do not* put someone behind bars for writing a story unless there is a real reason to feel a threat is present. You don't know the whole story. You only know what one writer chose to write about it. And if you're that writer, would you write the version of the story where a typical nut job was caught for making typical threats, or would you latch onto the most unusual facet of the incident in a hope that it'd get your account of the story more attention.

DocPazuzu: i'm not one to willing fuck myself, but if I did, at least i wouldn't go to jail on anti-sodomy laws (thank God I'm not American) ScaryJim: you're right, I was a bit out of line. I just like to use shock arguments to get people to think, something I learned from chaos magick (read V for Vendetta). But you have to admit 85% of the USA is a very scary place that no rational person on their right mind would like to visit/live in. When I was 16 (12 years ago), I spent 2 months in Indiana in a student exchance program and man!, what an eerie place it was.

Then had one of his goons threaten me with violence before telling me to "get the fuck out of here" and had me escorted away at gunpoint. All I was doing was being a reporter at a Bush rally before the 2000 election. What made it a criminal act was that I was from an independent newspaper (i.e. not one that Bush could exert any measure of influence/control over). I've watched his paranoia spread all over the place since then. No, I'm not one of the kind that believes Bush made 9/11 happen (yet, anyway) but you do gotta wonder how it is that the PATRIOT Act was already written out well before the attacks took place. He and his kind aren't conservative or "Christian" the least bit. They are big-government fascists that want complete control over our lives.

Young angsty Zombies look back at Chris Rock and Depp

Actually this sounds VERY American to me.....

Here's how the story begins: "Fuck you, you stupid fucking cunts. Hopefully SARS will come back and everyone in your state will catch it and fucking drown in the fluid in their own lungs. I will piss myself with laughter if this happens." The End. Come and get me, motherfuckers.

Actually, in most states there are no such laws, and in the ones there are, they aren't enforced........ "But you have to admit 85% of the USA is a very scary place that no rational person on their right mind would like to visit/live in." ..... I suggest you read up on the latest statistics on how many people visit and emigrate (legally and illegally) to the United States every year as opposed to other countries. Are all those people not in their "right minds"? Oh, and I love how you use a two-month stay in Indiana as a gauge to pass judgment on a Western Europe-sized nation as heterogenous as the United States. Ignoramus.

Historians argue that the title D.W. Griffith belongs to George A. Romero and not Peter Jackson. Young angst ridden Zombies scratch their heads as to who D.W. Griffith is. Peace.

Real nice.

I love how, checking back in on this thread hours later, people are still yammering about big, bad Bush in spite of the fact that the laws and reasoning in play date back to the Clinton era. This is why I was so happy when Bush won reelection - not because he won, but because the absolute misery he put people like you in for the entire month of November. It was high comedy every moment of every day. The issue with the kid is obviously pretty murky, but I will say that I have never liked times like this when it appears children were arrested, expelled, etc for things they wrote or expressed. But in the meanwhile, on with the misplaced anti-Bush ravings. I know you can't actually help it.

Wrabbit: Some people and reporters will automatically believe EVERYTHING the authorities say. The stories you quote were mearly the reporters repeating the police blotter information. I sincearly think that the cops and the DA missunderstood the guys notes. I believe that he WAS writing a story (Sometimes you do things like outlines, and notes to get events of the story clear in your head before writing) The other articles you mention did not post HIS view of the story. Still, on one hand the Police have a duty to error on the side of caution. I would rather have the kid arrested and place into custody UNTIL tney can figure it out, then to have him a danger to people if the NOTES turned out to be true plans.

On a side note, Republicans agreed to end Zombies suffrage. When questioned President Moore replied,

Let's arrest Spielberg for making a movie where aliens invade, let's arrest George Romero, and while we're at it, let's kick the remains of Douglas Adams for having Earth exploded so many times.......Thank god i'm Canadian.

All you people on the Net. You're a bunch shiteheads. And you've had me laughing my ass off all afternoon. Thanks for turning a grim little footnote news story about the impending fascist takeover of America into a much lighter affair -- I needed that!

Ok, I

...back-ass, back-woods Bush backers. This scares the shit out of me, I swear.

I'm sure I'll get flamed, but, hey, why all the cop hate? Why is everyone here resorting to words like 'pigs' and 'fascists'? Believe it or not, cops are guys like you and me who go to a job every morning but with the intention of helping people, day in and out. I grew up with a lot guys who ended up in the NYPD. These guys are not goose-stepping Nazis; just regular dudes who work jobs doing some good in the world, catching bad guys, along with the means of a stable paycheck that allows them to put food on the table for their families. So ease up on the cop hate there fellas. There is the occasional cop who is corrupt and takes payoffs just like there are priests who abuse their positions of authority and harm others, but both are in the minority of their professions. Flame away....

Some lovable grandparents. This is pretty much Pavlik Morozov in reverse. (Yes, of course you Americans have no idea who he was, but I won't serve as a history book here)

You sound like the problem, not the US. I say thank god you are not American as well so that we have one less prick to deal with.

First off, I am getting my sources from: http://www.splc.org/newsflash.asp?id=973&year= William Poole's Grandparents turned him in! They found the story, and called the cops. The cops did not just happen to ransack his home. There seems to be a problem about what the 18 year old junior said the story was about, versus what the authorities read in the story: "The boy's version was that he was writing a story about zombies and it was for a portfolio entry that was going to be turned in at school," Atkins said. "The teachers aren't aware of any kind of project like that. The word 'zombies' was not mentioned in the writings." Also, regarding his Zombie story: "It did not mention [Clark High School or school officials] specifically but it did mention 'the high school,' and how many teachers were there and how long it would take the police to arrive once they received an emergency call," Atkins said. "It implied very strongly that it was referring to this school." After the massacre at Columbine, and all the clues that the parents of Eric Harris and Derek Klebold totally missed, bravo for taking action.

...that if your own family hates you that much, you are one damn bastard. Perhaps he fully deserved it all, then, but one would need the full story with all details to find out.

"Brains is good," says one undead spokesman who wishes to remain anonymous

Acutally this kind of crap started under Clinton.

...not all of us are ignorant. Morozov is the kid who turned his father in to the Soviet secret police for bad-mouthing the state (as I seem to recall) and became a communist hero for it. Morozov was the first thing I thought of when I read about this kid and his grandparents.

"Send more Cops"

I love how some whiney Europeans, etc. go off how evil and racist the US is, yet the shit that comes out of their mouths is by far more vile than anything from the US. They generalize that ALL Americans generalize about other races, religions, nations. Nice hypocricy some of you supreme dickheads have. Go fuck yourselves and die.

Good question. There are a lot of reasons different people might hate cops. I

is that at least everyone cares. come on... group hug.

I need to come up with a way to get myself enrolled in a Kentucky high school, despite my age. Here's the essay I'm turning in on my first day of Social Studies class: "I advocate changing the US Constitution to give me the right to walk through Kentucky killing high school students randomly with a sword. I further advocate changing the US Constitution to guarantee me the right to parade around town with the English teacher's head on a pike. I think these would be salutary changes to our current political landscape." Although somewhat absurdist, these statements are obviously political advocacy. They also would seem to violate Kentucky's piece of shit law. That means that Kentucky's entire code of laws is not good enough to use to wipe my ass after I shit out loose Mexican food shit. Fuck Kentucky. Fuck its schools, its courts, its legislature, and its fucking piece of shit college basketball team. Fuck them right in the ass.

I hope this kid gets himself a good lawyer and sues the m-f**king shit out of the m-f**king state of m-f**king Kentucky.

It's about the movies, stupid.

A coherent argument with many valid points, and well-written too.

I thought he was going to be here all day? Telling everyone how stupid they are for not Googling the story. Everyone who jumped to the conclusion that the cops are wrong are stupid. Wrabbit, who apparently jumped to the logical (?) conclusion that the cops are right, is smart. I don't understand the logic of assuming that because the cops took action, their action is correct. Explain. Oh yeah, and was it Johnny Tremain who wondered why people are hostile to the police? It's because a lot of people have experienced the police being hostile to them. We can't do without them (the cops), a lot of them are good people, but it is very American to distrust those in power. Because those in power (Clinton, Bush, or fucking Nader if he got elected) abuse power. Peace.

This whole story/talkback only proves how Liberalism is a mental disorder and Liberals are tearing this country apart. good job pinks.

hey ass pals!

I remember I got in trouble once for drawing a velociraptor with a severed hand in his mouth on the side of one of my math papers. (I am a shy girl with glasses, mind you.) That was under Clinton, as I recall...

There's two sides to every story and we don't know all the details. People do not get arrested for just writing a stories, if that were the case they should've arrested Kevin Williamson for that horrible Cursed screenplay...now there's a crime. Since none of us were there, we don't know all the facts, what we do know is high school violence is an all time, out of control high. If the kid is innocent, I'm sure it will all come out in court, but I get the feeling there's more to this than what we've read.

dammit, you know not everybody here in kentucky speaks like this kid. we also have shoes and don't all vote for george w. bush. i think this story sucks for the simple reason it is narrowmindedness at it's worst, and this kid sounds about as clever as jethro bodine. i just want to scream when this stuff goes on.

Nobody in America ever gets arrested without good reason, do they? We simply don't know the facts. After all, if the police arrested the kid, he must have done SOMETHING wrong. How naieve can you people be? The fact is, things like this happen all the time; the only difference is...and this is crucial...they're not usually white people. I'm sure the citizens of Germany never would have believed what was going on either. Soldiers wouldn't drag Jews off to concentration camps simply for being Jewish, right? They MUST have done SOMETHING. Just keep telling yourselves that. You'll sleep better believing that the government is really on your side.

Thinking that if he's innocent, it'll come out in court is just simple-minded. To believe that the truth is what wins in court is ridiculous. What wins is the best legal team. See O.J. Simpson. Our prisons are full of people who've done nothing. If you believe otherwise, you're kidding yourself. But, again, if that helps you sleep at night...

You know, reading this story, I feel bad for the student on this. It's kind of like when a child goes to school with Tylenol for a headache, but get s busted for carrying around drugs. Sometimes "zero tolerance" doesn't work. However, when reading the comments from you people, I can't take this seriously. Most of you have littered this thing with "fucks" and "shits", making the whole thing seem like a joke. Going off and calling another poster a "idiot" isn't helping it either. I usually read the talkbacks to see what folks are saying about the movies and some of it reads like there are alot of folks out there who take who plays Sue Storm WAAAY too seriously. Well, after reading about soething that happens in real life, this confirms it. Alot of you can't deal with reality off the screens. Go on ahead. Start with calling me a "fuckhead". I'm wide open. Then, think about how stupid you'd look posting it when you should really try to make sense of this story.

Because I can't decide what you think your point is, and whether your point is about the story itself or about the secondary-level concern of the quality of the commentary being made here about the story. I guess I should err on the side of caution and call you a fuckhead just to be safe, though.

He's not being arrested as a "terrorit". He's being arrested for "terroristic threatening" - which is something people have been charged for long before Bush. This is a school-shooting context, which is mostly liberal handwringing, not a War on Terror context. This is still crazy school administrator crap - but school administrator's and school boards tend to be liberal and part of the very leftist Teacher's Union. Not Conservative.

Chief of Police W.M.Jackson II - Phone: 1-859-745-7400, Fax: 1-859-745-7404 Express that First Amendment right and give him a piece of your mind.

Soo...what exactly are you implying, exactly? Allusions to the Holocaust are all well and good and melodramatic, but I'm not quite sure what they've got to do with this story. Open my eyes, man!!

They were arresting kids for bogus crap like this all the time after the Columbine incident. It's only now that the media reports it as a "terrorist" charge to make it look like Bush and Homeland have something to do with it. While this is in fact the stupidest crap ever, Bush and the government have nothing to do with it, it's idiot local police who think they're preventing another columbine.

Send all us young ones to Iraq to get killed so we won't have a future to worry about. Man, fuck this shit. I grew up in KY and though many of the facts regarding its stereotyped reputation are true in some parts, other places are okay. Just don't go to Louisville, the only city with a building shaped like a giant dildo peaking out of the skyline. Anyway, if the kid has real threats to real people than he deserves to be arrested. I ain't gonna bother spending hours on the net reading all sorts of articles and shit then coming to a talkback twenty different times to argue about it.(silly wrabbit) Cause frankly I don't give a shit anymore. Worlds going to hell in 2012 anyways, so get out your sunscreen and grab a six pack and enjoy the view. Now bring on the shitty comeback post like "Hey Kongmonkey, just kill yourself now" and all that shit.

Er, Stewie, were do you get your "facts" that school violence is at an all time high? Do you have actual numbers or do you, like many people, get that "feeling" from watching the news...there is a difference you know.

This is a little off topic but bear with me, it's kinda relevant. You know, I love America, I really do. I'm English but my work brings me to the States all the time and I

Charlies Kaufman should write this... it's a horror movie with zombies, but without actually having zombies in it, all the while turning the idea of what a horror movie is on its head. Yeah!

1) Hire the most vicious, gut-munching lawyer around and sue the school district and the police department into bankruptcy; 2) Write a new screenplay on my travails at their hands; 3) sell it to Hollywood and 4) Profit. If life hands you shit, make shit-aide and force the fuckers to drink it. Toppu o Nerae!

For those who think the police couldn't possibly be so backwards and corrupt to arrest this kid for writing a harmless horror story, I have 3 words for you: WEST MEMPHIS THREE. www.wm3.org

The rest of this enourmous webpage is basically people going "AHHHHHH!!, AHHHHHH!!".

Holy Shit! I was trying to write that last year! My partners dissapated and contact was lost, then collage started up again, so the script was abandoned just a few pages beyond an outline. Damn... I think I'm going to go watch The Golden Girls now... Peace.

Neither Germany nor Japan nor Germany and Japan in combination were in any position to attack the continental United States with anything more than punitive forces, even at the height of their power. They almost certainly wouldn't have been in a position to do so at any time during the 40's regardless of the outcomes in Europe or Asia. It would have taken Germany decades to carry out their plan to reshape the demographics of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. The "kill everybody" part would have gone quite quickly but the "repopulate Poland and the Ukraine with ethnic Germans" part would have taken quite a bit longer. And Japan had no ambitions whatsoever in the Western Hemisphere and her planners openly acknowledged that the best they could hope for against the US was a Pacific Theatre stalemate that allowed them to keep the possessions they seized in China and the former British, French and Dutch Far East colonies. US industrial and energy production in the early 40's was also much less dependent on overseas trade than it was to become later in the century. If the US had wanted to sit it out and just let Eurasia go, it would have stung a bit, but we could have done it. So although it may be annoying to listen to rubes shake their fists in the air and talk about Brits speaking German, don't compound the lunacy by trotting out potboiler fantasies of a German attack on the US. It's not a matter of the Germans being nice guys, it's a matter of relative GNP's, relative populations, patterns of oil production, and the state of air and naval technology in the mid 40's.

This zero tolerance shit in pure liberal, NEA bullshit.

Was that the "kid" in question was actually Osama Bin Laden, and the "zombie story" was actually a nuclear bomb. Damn dirty bastard reporters with their liberal agenda, not giving the whole story... But seriously, if this story IS the whole story, then something is definitely wrong in Kentucky.

If this kid did really write a story about zombies and not just a Columbinesque list of death then he'll get off. As dumb as Kentucky officials may be I doubt there's a judge in the land, rabid hysteria notwithstanding, that wouldn't find the truth of the matter.

And that is that the true answer to all the problems with Bush, republicans, democrats, conservatives, liberals, 18 year olds with shitty grammar, WWII, Wrabbit

Although Kentucky's laws could probably use a little revision...then again, I do want to stress that I know fuck all about what exactly prompted the police to take this student into custody.

Guess what all of you crying foul as soon as a yet unclear report mentions a kid being arrested for writing stories involving an attack on a school,I have absolutely no problem if 100 kids writing such stories goes through a few checks and interrogations then is set free after a warning, especially if it's the law of the State he lives in. (And by the way, Harry, it wasn't a school assignement but a Journal, quite intimate and personal ) if it means that one out of one hundred will be prevented from actually doing it and killing my (yet unconceived) children at school.Anarchist freedom and security don't usually pair well, so would I relinquish a bit of freedom so my kid doesn't get his head blown off at school by some immature psycho? You bet I would!If you see a guy breaking into a window of a neighbor's house, WILL report it, and once in a while it'll be the neighbor who forgot his keys... NSOMNIA OUT.

There's a lot of talk in here about not knowing the full story. Someone mentioned giving the police the benefit of the doubt because they are adults and the accused in a kid. There are some here claiming to be "voices of reason" who are willing to be open-minded and "see all sides". Here is the trouble with that attitude in this case. For one, we live in a free society. One of the fundamental tenets of a justice system in a free society is giving the accused the benefit of the doubt. It is anti-democratic (small 'd') to begin any case with the assumption that the police are in the right, regardless of the relative ages of those involved. Does this make law enforcement harder? Clearly, yes. Quick and easy law enforcement is one of the things one gives up in order to have a free and democratic society. Also, some of said that we don't have the full story. This I grant you. What it seems many of you don't understand is that the legal bar for prohibiting speech (writing does count as speech) is (supposed to be) quite high. The United States Supreme Court has ruled that speech must pose an imminent threat to be banned. This covers the prohibition of things such as shouting 'fire' in a crowded theater, inciting riot, or issuing direct threats. This means that the writings of the accused have to be more than just "disturbing" to be unlawful. They must do more, in fact, than give us evidence that this is a person with an unpleasant personality. These writings must convince us that the person is criminally insane, that they are directly threatening a person or group, or that they contain actual plans to carry out some variety of threat or attack. This is true regardless of what Kentucky law says, these rulings supersede state law. While we do not know the exact contents of the writing, it is safe to say they would have to be fairly extreme and explicit in their intent in order to make this arrest lawful. There seems to be no evidence, even in "reading between the lines" for what has been left out, to warrant an assumption that there is any content meeting such criteria.

I said "GROUP HUG" you motherfuckers! :)

This is why you guys need organizations like this.

Nothing wrong with your reasoning about WWII, true, but if one were to take into account the passage of time and advances in technology, the United States would indeed become both a desirable and feasible target for invasion. During the decades following the conquering of the rest of the world, other things would be going on besides wholesale exterminations and the breeding of new generations of soldiers. For one thing, German rocket science combined with an intact nuclear program might have meant that they not only obtained the bomb first, but a devastating means of delivery which the United States might not have been able to match. It's not unreasonable to think that in a world in the 1990s where the rest of the planet has been divided between two (not counting Italy) vicious, militaristic, fanatical, technologically advanced dictatorships, that it would only be a matter of time before the United States was attacked. Yes, if America hadn't stepped in at the right time, most of Europe would be speaking German. However, within a hundred years of that fact, so would whoever would be left alive in North America.

Sets all you peace-pipe smokin liberal bastards straight!!!

Assuming this event is as you described, this isn't about political affiliation. It's about an apathetic populous not paying attention to the idiots they elect. I pay some attention and I have seen this kind of dogshit brainstorm come from all parties. Part of it is the incessant creation of new laws. Every term and every tradgedy brings more law whether it is truly needed or not. And since you had to go and take a jab at conservatives I will point out, with due respect to classical liberals, that some of the worst fascist speech suppression is on our college campuses, perpetrated mainly by folks who didn't vote for George W. Bush.

Something smells of Smallville.

Quint leaves the movie format to post a news story (which I can't recall a current events story on this site since 9/11) and instead of it being meaningful, it laughable. What a joke, to highlight a story like this on the page only to find out most of it's fabricated. Harry, Mor, please tell me you rolled your eyes when you read 'article'.

Dammit, if this story could be construed as a real and substantial threat, release the kid from custody and let him make zombie movies. That's prolly all he really wants to do with his life anyway. Boy, the things adults do to scare kids into submission. I call bullshit.

Robert Crumb would have got the Chair!

Since the big Hollywood reporter can't be bothered to spend five seconds on Google before accepting the word of a teenage kid as gospel truth, allow me to show you the truth. Read these links, and THEN tell me the kid isn't lying. http://www.splc.org/newsflash.asp?id=973&year= http://www.winchestersun.com/articles/2005/02/24/local_news/news01.txt http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/10982804.htm There was NO zombies. There was NO school assignment. There was NO story, just notes and a plan for an armed takeover of "the high school." Don't expect Quint to print a retraction, though, because that would be the RIGHT thing to do.

I'm about to kill somebody for hearing this story. Did anybody read what I just wrote? Gee, I hope I don't get arrested for being sarcastic! His grandparents should be shot.. whoops. There I go again. First off, shame on them for going through his journal. Secondly, THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU LISTEN TO RUSH LIMBAUGH (nazi) AND SEAN HANNITY (nazi in training) ALL DAY. This is one of my biggest fears, because it's a problem that has escalated to a point of no return. This kid should NOT be in any kind of detention center for this, and the prinicpal needs to be fired, because he's clearing trying to make himself famous. That, and he's trying to scare kids into being creative so they won't do it again. I encourage all kids at this school to come up with thier own comic, wether it be about zombies or terrorists, and spread them all around school. Slap your names on the covers, be proud, unite, and show your dumb high school and the world that what is happening is wrong, and that you're not going to take it anymore. Of course, I'm sure nobody is reading this, so whatever, but still. I stand by the kid... and would be proud to be arrested and share a jail cell with him for writing a post that supports his "horrible terrorist acts" of art and expression.

sorry. in a rage of typing i made some grammar errors. that should read, "clearly trying to make himself famous as a wannabe hero" and "scaring kids into NOT being creative" Sigh. sorry kids. I went through stupid shit like this in high school... not on this level, but on a level of, people thinking they have the "right way" of living and that it's okay to inflict this on others. most of these people are god humpers that need to stay in the church they love so much, and stay out of the comic stores they preach against. don't try to ruin my life because you don't understand how life works. that's it from me for now. i'm still pissed...

sigh. nevermind. i'm going to go take a nap now.

Since the big Hollywood reporter can't be bothered to spend five seconds on Google before accepting the word of a teenage kid as gospel truth, allow me to show you the real story. Read these links, and THEN tell me the kid isn't lying. http://www.splc.org/newsflash.asp?id=973&year= http://www.winchestersun.com/articles/2005/02/24/local_news/news01.txt http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/10982804.htm There was NO zombies. There was NO school assignment. There was NO story, just notes and a plan for an armed takeover of "the high school." Don't expect Quint to print a retraction, though, because that would be the RIGHT thing to do. It's a shame that this site is misleading so many people about what happened in Kentucky, and apparently has no intention of correcting their mistake.

...democracy my ass!

You're in China, right?

Several months ago a 10 year old girl was carted off from school in handcuffs by the police and taken to jail. For what? Having scissors in her backpack!

First, turns out these "facts" aren't true. Second, arrests like these went on before Bush was elected. And finally these are local decisions, made by people who are more likely than not liberals. I think this is laughable the way they have taken this story, totally twisted it around so that it isn't even true, reported it as this kid getting arrested for terrorist activities, and then pinned it on "Bush's America". I love the six degrees of seperation of all this, the way a liberal can get in a car accident and then trace it back to "Bush's America".

I'll give you a hint, a bunch of liberals. The kind that ban dodgeball because it hurts kid's feelings... But I'm sure you'll blame it on Bush.

I don't need a school assignment to make it OK for me to sit down and write a compositional exercise about how much fun it would be to capture random people in my town and torture them to death. Maybe I want to practice genre writing, or maybe I just like to jerk off to that kind of thing. Or maybe I am interested in military tactics, and want to study how to wipe out the police force in my town, purely as an intellectual exercise. Or maybe I want to compile a huge pile of material detailing how to conduct an insurgency throughout the state, including detailed schemata on how to destroy communications nodes, eletrical generating facilities, state police barracks and national guard armories, and I label the whole shebang "To only be used in the event of a Communist takeover". Any state which would criminalize any of these activities does not deserve to have anyone respect its laws, and in fact deserves contempt. And to the person who said they would like to see 100 people have their homes invaded, get their writings seized, get interrogated by the cops, and held in jail because they can't raise the bond, if it would stop one school shooting, I actually say the opposite. I would much rather there be a 1 in 3 million chance that your kids get shot in school than live in a police state. You will never stop all crime, or all terrorism for that matter, and the fucking asinine things you are likely to try in the deluded belief that you can are simply not acceptable. And the funny thing is that it's not even making you safe. There was a similar discussion in the "torture" talkback and the pattern is clear. There are people in the US who believe, somehow, that a dictatorship would be SAFER and STRONGER than a republic, and that civil rights are an expensive luxury that we pay for in weakness and insecurity. They believe this despite the fact that more flexible systems have defeated more rigid systems everywhere they have encountered each other throughout history, despite the fact that not one but two dictatorial ideologies went up against Anglo-American liberal capitalism and got their fucking asses handed to them in the last century alone, and despite the fact that until Osama had his one lucky day you were not as secure against terror anywhere in the world as you were in the United States even in the absence of a security regime. We are [or were] strong because we are [or were] free, and to the extent that we ossify our system in the name of security, we are weakening ourselves for future challenges.

Thank God for patriots with brains.

Obviously his family thought it was a serious problem. Why wasn't that reported on this page? Sounds like whoever posted this message decided to cut and paste the real story to fit their political views. It's a shame that people will take a tweaked and fabricated story as fact and spread it as such.

They are the one's who alerted the authorities about it.

It's not irrelevent, Fluffy. If you want to argue whether it should be illegal to write armed takeover plans, that's your deal. My problem is Quint is still portraying this as a kid getting arrested for writing a fictional zombie story, WHICH IS NOT THE CASE. He was arrested for making plans about taking over the school and papers to recruit a gang to help him do so. There were no zombies. There was no school assignment. There was no fictional story.

Appparently, your "brave boys" in Iraq tired to kill a citizen of a ally country (here's the link: http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/03/06/italy.iraq/index.html). And you people get angry when I say "America" is a eerie place. And those links stating that "the kid lied" seem to be strangely undetailed to me

If that truly was an assassination attempt, don't you think they would have made sure she was dead? Why would they stop firing and proceed to give her aid after the incident if they wanted her dead? I wouldn't trust the word of a socialist journalist over that of the witnesses among the multi-national forces who claim warning shots were fired by the Americans.

You might want to note how "eerie" it is that an American news agency decided to pick up the story and run with it. I guess that's fascism for you.

First, this article posted on AICN was "strangely undetailed". It presented ONE side of the story, which according to the people who have the actual material in their hands and believe it's enough to convict with (as well as his own family) isn't anything near the truth. It's obvious this was cut and pasted to have a certain effect. And to say those posts are strangely undetailed when they post actual links to the full stories is very odd to me. Secondly, once again with the Italitan journalist story, you take the one side of the story as fact and ignore anything else. Maybe you should take a look at how you're influenced by media because you're obviously not very objective.

I'll tell you: Harry feels the need to lash out at the "radical conservatives" that perpetrated such a horrible act. Specifically, for electing Bush to office. This is not a matter of being conservative, yet Harry immediately knows where to place the blame as surely as if the principal were wearing a John Birch Society shirt. This took place in a government school. Ask any true conservative how they feel about government education, the rise of P.C. everywhere in our schools, and the stifling of individuality in the educational system and they will not give you a positive review. But noooo, its the fascist Bush doctrine goose stepping over the education system and changing our schools into a totalitarian state, isn't it? Yeah, thats where you find all the conservatives; American public schools. Thats just plain ignorant. To the Bush haters: keep bitching and whining, please. Your inept, impotent rage and frustration is supremely entertaining. I can't tell you how hard I was laughing the day of the election results. At least Harry had the honor to accept the results rather than lean on the crutch of ultra-liberal conspiracy theories and calling Americans retards. Really easy to spot a pathetic sore loser and this page was full of them. Can we get back to movie news, please?

Eat it you stupid hippies.

It

In 1967, three times in less than 24 hours, two different sets of local cops pulled me over while I was driving my granmother's '60 Pontiac Bonneville, placed a shotgun across the bridge of my nose, had me lie on the August-heated street as they tore out everything (including the seats) from the car. After 20+ minutes, they let me go, without putting anything back in the car. I spent a considerable time attempting to find out why I'd been pulled over the first two times. The third time was by the same two cops as the first. I finally said "Just shoot me and take me out of my fuckin' misery you assholes!" Seems there was a report of some thirtysomething bearded drug runner bring stuff across the Mexican border (I was and am in Sacramento, a few hundred miles north of Mexico) in a white '59 Pontiac. I was 17. ------ Last month, after spending a weekend & $200 on building a cabinet for my new 55" HDTV, I came home the day the TV was to arrive to find the the carpet I had glued on the top of where the TV would rest had been shredded by my kid's cat. I threw the cat out into the garage, threatening to kill the cat, to send her to the pound, etc. An hour later, the cops knocked at my door, demanding to be let in without telling my why. It turns out they were convinced by a neighbor that I was strangling my wife (who was at work three miles away). ----- cops do NOT do their homework.

... and a fucking brain.

I think it says a lot about you that you spent your Saturday night posting on aintitcool.com.

stop it Stop It STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT!!!!!!! CAN YOU FUCKING PEOPLE TONE YOUR SHIT DOWN??? SOME OF US ARE HUNGOVER AND THE LAST THING WE NEED IS ALL OF YOUR NOISE!!! I SWEAR TO GOD...IF I HAVE TO COME BACK TO THIS GOD DAMN TALKBACK ONE MORE TIME TODAY, I'LL BE BUSTIN' SKULLS!!!!! YOU MOTHERFUCKERS GOT IT??? YOU SURE???....And thus, mess with the Chicken, get the beak! - - - George, The 7th Chicken!!!!

Please believe me when I say that the whole state isn't as insanely idiotic as this! Actually, Louisville is a pretty cool openminded place to live that almost seems like it doesn't even belong to the state of Kentucky. And hey, it was the birth place of such notable figures as Muhammad Ali and Hunter S. Thompson, so we're doing something right. BUt this story is a disgrace not only for my state, but for the state of the country. As someone who lives here I can easily envision this happening, especially in a rural area like Clark country. Bunch of backwoods, Bible thumping idiots in that part of hte state, so naturally it's easy to see someone like this kid get arrested for writing a story about zombies. I can only hope that this whole thing is straightened out and the kid gets released soon before Kentucky hits the national news for such stupidity. That's the last thing we need besides the stereotype that we don't wear shoes (which we do... sometimes).

As I stated in a previous post, I'm from Kentucky and I can tell you that a lot of people down here would be pissed at this sort of news. You got to remember that while there were probably a lot of Bush votes down here, there were also Kerry votes. Which means, Kentucky isn't just a backwater haven for conservatives to run amuck; we got our fairshare of liberals just like any state - even Texas. So saying that everyone in Kentucky deserves to die is kind of an immature and generalizing statement. While I may agree that a vast majority of the types of people that would perform a witchhunt like this deserve a nasty fate (like lighting their nosehairs on fire or something), try to remember not to lump everyone in Kentucky into one Bible Belt beast. Things are a changing too; my hometown, a tiny place full of stuffy conservatives, just got a law passed allowing liquor to be sold in restaurants. May seem like no big deal to you, but you can rest assured that I DELIGHTED in reading the outraged letters from old ladies and such in the newpaper the next day. Take THAT Family values! Cheers!

Like a lot of you have mentioned, I wrote the same damn sort of things back in my freashman and sophomore years; this is disturbing beyond belief. I found the Clark County Prosecutor's email address and sent off a scathing letter of protest. Anyone who can sympathize should do the same. And that should be everyone here.

"I can't tell you how hard I was laughing the day of the election results." Keep laughing chuckles, if you think there's something funny about watching your country get flushed down the shitter for 4 more consecutive years. I'm Canadian, but I am also a staunch supporter of Bush. You see in the 4 years that he's been President, your dollar has dropped %20 compared to our dollar. In '99 the US dollar was worth $1.45 CAN, now it's down to about $1.20 CAN. Which means that if I purchase online from the US and avoid paying canadian sales tax, I'm paying 40 cents less per dollar than I would be if there were a competant man in your White House.

...anyone ever hear of the West Memphis Three?

what is the e-mail address?americans are always rattling on about the freedom of speech,seems it maybe only a fantasy or fallacy.it's a sorry state of affairs when the use of imagination is considered a federal offence.

... I mean both types of stories. I hated my school and most of the people in it. Writing things like that was an outlet. That it has evolved into a warning sign of a pending attack is another sibject, one we'll be dealing with for a long time to come. On a side note, in my freshman year at Saunders Technical and Trades High School in Yonkers, NY several kids were arrested for cutting thier own gun parts in machine shop. I'm sure they got some sort of parole/probation, but I'm also sure they weren't federally prosecuted. And that was an active act, unlike writing.

http://www.clarkcoatty.com/

Instead of wondering what my motivations are (I can tell you: I'm really afraid of what your government will do to the world next), you should start wondering what you can do to reverse this ever worsening situation, before it's too late. The USA are a nation build on an ideal that was never truly realized, namely, freedom and equality. You own declaration of independence states that a people has the right, and the obligation, to take down a government that's not working for the benefit of its people. I say, what are you waiting for? Forces of evil has taken over your federal and most of your states' government. And most American citizens, moved by prejudice, arrogance, prepotence, fearmongering, seem to aprove it all. If things don't change, history will end up remembering Al Qaeda's fanatics not as terrorists, but as guerrilla resistance fighters, and America as the ultimate "Evil Empire" of the world. It's like the Sith have taken over the Republic, while the Jedi are led to figth a mistakien war against equally mislead people until they are both dead. Is that what you want for your kids? For the world? For humankind? For Christ sake, you are shooting your own allies now! Arresting your own kids for expressing their anguish in written form. Regardless of if such is due to some cover-up or just plain incompetence, how fucked up is that? I don't want anyone to get hurt, not even the abusers of Jesus teachings of love and tolerance that seem to be the majority of the American people. I'm not direven by hatred or prejudice, I'm driven by what I believe to be a genuine concern for the downfall of any dream of peace and progress before your politics, both internal and foreign (you don't need to believe me on that if you don't want to). Stop worrying about me. Maybe I'm a prick, maybe I'm just a lonely voice of reason. It doesn't matter, I'm not important, for I have no power to stop this madness. You are! Do something. There's still time to salvage this. But not much

To answer your question, people seem more willing to take it from government agencies than they used to as long as thier quality of life isn't severely affected. Think I'm kidding? 200+ years ago, we went to war with a giant empire over taxation without representation and being treated like shit by an unfeeling beauracracy. Today, we'll probably let our government pass the Patriot Act again, screw with Social Security (which is supposed to be protected from screwing with), and allow for greater invasion of privacy in exchange for security. I hate it, and I'm a Republican (don't yell at me; I didn't vote for Bush).

...but they're also very, very worried.

The world would be worried if there were another revolution here (oops, did I say that?) as well. Who has control over what and all that. It would also be very fractious. You'd have some alliances, true, but other groups would simply look to themselves. That kind of sucks, but there it is. What we would end up with afterwards is a mystery, and that is scary as well. What if it didn't succeed?

The kid lied. Read these links and you'll see. http://www.splc.org/newsflash.asp?id=973&year= http://www.winchestersun.com/articles/2005/02/24/local_news/news01.txt http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/10982804.htm There was NO story. There were NO zombies. There was NO school assignment. Quint is simply letting a false story run, for whatever reason.

But then, Megatron, you go on to say that it's Bush who's turning it into a fascist state. So which is it in your eyes -- a new fascist America or just that you've never liked America at all? Judging by your earlier comments I would say it's the latter. Interestingly, people like you who use that argument to criticize America use an entirely different standard as compared to other nations. American democracy is far from perfect -- just like every other democracy in the world. They all struggle to improve themselves, yet America is the only country upon which an immediate demand for perfect democracy is placed by people of your ilk. At the same time you choose to ignore the progress that has been made in America over the generations by her own citizens. For your information, by the way, I didn't vote for Bush. However, living in a democracy and playing by democratic rules also means accepting it when your candidate loses an election instead of whining like a little bitch and calling every other candidate except your own a no-good communist/nazi/fascist/theocrat/plutocrat/alien/android. There are tons of Bush's policies which I abhor, but unlike you, I'm not going to stoop to the watering down of the distinction between true totalitarian ideologies and political ideals which may oppose each other strongly but still reside firmly within a democratic framework. The only people who will remember Al Qaeda as "freedom fighters" are those who can't make that distinction and if given a chance will repeat the very worst of history's mistakes -- politically motivated relativists like you.

...keep writing about Movies and forget about this pseudo journalistic crap that you think serves your beliefs. First you fail to proof your facts when it would have taken five minutes of research to present us with a fair assesment of what happenned, then your scandal blew up on your face when readers found out the report was flawed and bias, thus completly smashing any future credentials and trust next time you try to step off the Movies boundaries. I strongly recommend you post a retraction and/or an apology and from now on leave the non-fiction to journalists and off this site, for the only reason it appeared in the first place is because the kid's story allegedly mentionned Zombies. I'm sure it touched a nerve and you guys remenbered years ago writing your Zombie stories but in the end, just stick to Zombies on the screen...oh and did I mention you should post an apology, every decent journalist does it, sowhen in Rome... INSOMNIA OUT

"The boy's version was that he was writing a story about zombies and it was for a portfolio entry that was going to be turned in at school," Atkins said. "The teachers aren't aware of any kind of project like that. The word 'zombies' was not mentioned in the writings."

You should email Quint with all that (I've already emailed him myself), because he SHOULD post a retraction. In fact, everyone should, or he never will. Which is really bad, because right now God-knows-how-many visitors to this site are getting the VERY mistaken impression that some kid was arrested for writing a zombie story. He's misleading people badly. I don't believe he did it deliberately, but he NEEDS to correct it.

Dude, this is retarded. Whatever happened to freedom of speech? Whatever happened to being a fucking America?? I didn't realize 9/11 turned this country fascist. Or is it Nazi now? I don't know, a mixture of both it seems. Fucking Gestapo bullshit. Roland Emmerich needs to watch himself, he destroyed America (and the world) twice over. First in Independence Day (the White House is blown up!!!!!) and then in The Day After Tomorrow. I dunno, this whole high school thing is getting out of hand.

*sigh* Scroll up, read the links I've posted. The kid lied. No story. No zombies. No school assignment.

Somebody resurrect McCarthy. What if this kid had written Elephant? Isn't this just The Faculty only with zombies? This just makes me unbelievably angry.

I hate to quote Dr. Phil but "either get it or you don't". Felony fiction? You've got to be kidding me. Neo Cons are destroying this country by giving thier (mostly red state) base EXACTLY what the want, or at least what they think they want. The high speed rev'ing you hear is the founding fathers spinning in thier graves.

Hey, genius. Before you bestow all your blue state wisdom on the rest of us, maybe you should scroll up a few posts, read the links I've posted, and see that the kid was FULL OF SHIT.

MORONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So fuckin' stupid it gets hilarious...and scary at the same time (neo totalitarism in the disguise of democracy: a reality in just a few years).

Um.. I was quoteing one of the policemen from the article. It DOESN"T matter that the kid was lying, it MATTERS that "The Nature of the STORY MAKES it a FELONY" What exactly is the bar for felony fiction? As far as my "Blue State Wisdom" . Are Neo Cons responding to thier mostly red state base?

Obviously, you didn't read the links I posted--at all. If you did, you'd already know THERE IS NO STORY. There was NEVER any story written by the kid. There were notes and a plan about an armed takeover of the school. No story! No creative fiction! No "bar" necessary!

At this point, I don't think anybody is reading the posts, so I must comment on the ad. If you are buying them, don't tell anyone, or you'll never get laid.

ONE: Judging from the kid's grammar, I seriously doubt if the kid dabbles in creative writing. Usually, writers pride themselves on simple, correct sentence structure. TWO: If his GRANDPARENTS turned him in, what does that say about the kid? THREE: All you knee-jerk liberals who blame this on conservatives - start looking at your own ranks. Political correctness didn't come from us. And schools and teachers unions sure as hell aren't on our side. I had ONE conservate teacher in high school, and he was the only one who was a fan of my sometimes violent artwork. They other liberal teachers banned me from bringing my sketchbook into class for fear of offending other students.

I read the links you posted. No direct threats to his school or any persons was made. This particular case aside why would fiction (any fiction) warrant a felony? Battle plans to attack school or blow up a federal building sure. Fiction about blowing up federal building or attcking a school not at all. It would have been different if the cops involved in the investigation (as reported by LEX 18)hadn't used the word STORY.

I didn't say BUsh admistration is the one turing America into a fascist, I just said it is making the mask of democracy drop, showing its true face. But you are right at one point: there were times the the USA were closer to the ideal of their founders (like the Clinton years - boy, I miss Bill Clinton), and times it move further away from it, as nowadays. And I demand every country to live up to their standrads of democracy, not only yours or mine (in case you're wondering, I'm from Brazil, and yeas, we have lots of problems, but I swear we are trying to fix them). But the problem is, with all the power you possess, and by appointing itself as "world's police" your responsibility is that much greater. Anyways, I admit I have a tendency to overstate myself when I'm angry. Now that I have cooled down a bit, I can apologize for any personal offense. I just plea to you to heed my words, for you have a huge historical duty right now. And now I'm done with this talk back fight. Good night

Once again, read the fucking links, because you OBVIOUSLY haven't. Yup, one cop used the word story. Read the three other links, and you'll see that it CLEARLY WAS NOT A STORY.

I've read all the links and googled on my own. I get it, the Lex 18 article didn't have all the information. My point is we should all be concerned when police men start useing the word Felony when describing Fiction (as reported in the original link). So I'll ask a question to clarify (or muddy the waters further), do you belive any FICTION be classified as a FELONY?

I'll assume that was satire. I sure hope it was...

It's NOT fucking fiction! For Christ's sake. If you can really read all three of those links I've posted, and STILL think it's fiction, then you are naive beyond the telling of it. First of all, the kid for sure lied about at least one thing--there was no school assignment as he claimed. Therefore, with that in mind, why would you be believe his word (that it's fiction) over the word of the entire police force, his grandparents, a prosecutor, and a judge? WHY? You wouldn't, unless you're a fucking MORON!

I'd be the first to agree a lot of CRAP (Ward Churchill included) is spouted under the First Amendment. I guess you don't get it that some of us take issue with the possiblity of Fictional writing being considered a felony. My position is the abstract that any fictional writing can't be a felony . Yet again, as posted in the article linked to the original story.

I'm sure that none of the articles listed here give all of the pertinent facts. And I'm unlikely to believe they arrested a kid for a few fictional stories, but whatever makes you liberals feel better just keep believing it. Oh and as for the world being worried about America...well you should be, because we don't give a shit what you think or want us to do. We look out for number one, so the Euro socialists who are trying to turn the world against us can stick it.

I read your last post and noticed you didn't answer my question. Fine, the kid didn't write any thing fictional. My point is a law enforcement offical said writning make beilve about blowing up a school is a felony. So I'll ask again in the most hyopthetical sense do you belive there are any circumstances that Fiction could or should be a Felony.

Hrm... something tells me the second set of "pinko's" already had their work done for them. Nice try. Care for another attempt?

I want to echo you, I truly do. After all, this isno different than what any other country does at any time. We have no 'friends' only 'interests' that motivate us, collectively. This said, I give youthe very recent 5-to-4 supreme court ruling that cited 'international law' as edict. Granted, there was some heavy wordsmithing with regard to the 8th ammendment (which can be lambasted in light of Roe v. Wade, but I digress), but their ruling remains. Bottom line, I truly wish things were as you say -- that we don't give a shit about other countries -- but tangibleevidence suggests otherwise.

He's using AICN.COM to showcase his liberal views. How the HELL can you say ONLY conservatives would do this? Excuse me? What about some pussy liberals? What about the fucking school district who gets all chicken shit about not standing by their student and defending him? Or what about the fact that he is NOT a kid anymore, as quint so lovingly points out? He's a goddamn ADULT and conservatives have nothing to do with this. quint is a fucking idiot and a fat ass moron swollen with his own ego and fed on his own rotten ideology.

We're hot off a presidential campaign where JOhn KErry beat the drum about "our kids" in Iraq, citing ages as old as 32 as 'kids'. Hell, fatboy Moore also claims that everyone serving in Iraq are 'children' regardless of actual age. Bottom line, they are children as long as it works in their favor. So it goes unless you're charging a ticket price, as the 12 year olds are considered 'adults' in that case.

for all you idiots say let's take a closer look at the journal. It doesn't matter. The written word cannot be a felony. This law was created after columbine but in columbine not only did they find stories but they Found guns, criminal histories on both the shooters, and other "terrorists" related evidence. The police only have a fucking journal. If this is the case, I want the leader of the KKK arrested, I want every author of every fictional story involving the government being overthrown in jail. This is FUCKING STUPID...let the kid go

For the possibility of subtext to be lost upon you... then ALL of cinema is lost upon you, therefore you have no right being here. And, yes, I too wish for Robert Byrd to be unseated.

From Louisville: A gang of zombies has united and now has designs on entering the station where William Poole is presently being detained. According to the leader of this clan of undead, they will scourge the halls until they finally reach the police chief. Then they will talk him into the ground about ethical treatment policies and red state paranoia. Then they will eat his brain. Stay posted as this story unfolds.

I guess subtext is also lost upon you too, bud...!

Of course someone shouldn't go to jail for writing fiction, ever. But, it seems to be pretty conclusive that this wasn't fiction, or they had pretty damn good reason to believe it wasn't fiction.

Just got a response from Quint. He's going to continue running the misleading headline that a kid was arrested for writing a zombie story, even though we've shown repeatedly here in the talkback that this is false (check the links I've posted here to see that the kid is lying). Please let Quint know how you feel about his deliberately misleading all AICN's viewers because of his pathetic desire to make some sort of political statement. If he wants to post the story, great, but he should post the TRUE story. Please email him and demand a retraction: aicnquint@austin.rr.com

I have no idea what you're talking about, bro. I just stopped in here again and noticed that there were a lot of back-and-forths going on, so I figured I'd (try and) inject some levity into the TalkBack. Guess I failed. OH well...

Eeesh. Me too! I recognize you from other TBs. Tell me the subtext ain't REALLY lost on ye! Guess the fault is on me for poking ribs in an erstwhile heated TB. Were conditions otherwise, mebbe you'd have swallowed the subtext of the context. ;-)

You have given the keys to America to a bunch of fundamentalist rapture-wishing wackos. My question is - is there something uniqely American about the way you are so easily brainwashed? A genetic thing maybe? Or is just being fed shit for truth your whole lives until you can't help but regurgitate it yourselves? Yeah Pazuzu, get down on your knees and fellate Uncle Sam, while crowing about how there is nothing crypto-fascist about the US right now because the American media covered this story. WOOO! Go USA! They may torture and kill Muslims by the cityload, but their newspapers will carry a story about a kid getting arrested. Secondly, you seem to assume that it would not be in the interests of your Neocon Puppet-Masters Who Control You Even As You Dismiss Such An Idea As Preposterous to get the word out that they think this whole 'creativity and independent thought' business is a little dangerous and prospective creators ought to consider whether their non-vanilla stories are really worth going to jail over. And to generally ramp up the already at-breaking-point levels of fear, panic and paranoia another notch, of course.

Here's why there was such a big fuss. I present to you an unedited snippet from the zombie tale. Hopefully this will clear things up: Zombie 1: Mmmmmr! We must eat the principal

This will be cleared up locally by the jerk water red necks in the school and city council. MY GOD THE SKY IS FALLING AND AGENTS IN BIO HAZARD SUITS WILL BE BREAKING DOWN MY DOOR SOON TO QUESTION AND TORTURE ME! Idiots.

I don't even care that you spent most of that update flaming me back. I'm just happy you posted those links that show the REAL story. That way, no one else has to be misled by your biased, bullshit rant. Of course, the morons who want to believe the cops are evil will believe it no matter what, but at least now rational people won't be swayed by your poorly-reasoned, ILL-INFORMED rant. Thanks, "buddy!"

This is starting to get scary. According to the cop in the story below, "anytime you make any threat or possess matter involving a school or function it's a felony in the state of Kentucky." I wonder why they haven't sworn out a warrant and/or arrested Stephen King during any of his many Kentucky book-signings? After all, he wrote a famous story, "Rage", in which a high school student shoots several of his teachers and holds his class hostage. For that matter, why haven't they made it a crime for anyone in Kentucky to possess a copy of that story? [I myself drove through Kentucky on the way up to DC last year with that story in my car. I guess I'm a felon, huh?] Could it be the reason they haven't gone after the likes of King and other authors is that they have millions of dollars and barracuda lawyers at their disposal? On the other hand, this kid doesn't. I guess your bank account is the difference between a felony and a mere story. I mean, come on. A story about zombies gets you locked up? As an attorney and federal agent myself, I can't imagine how these laws pass 1st Amendment scrutiny as laid down by the Supreme Court, especially Tinker v. Des Moines, 393 U.S. 503 (1969) which holds that students enjoy the same rights to free speech as adults. But this Kentucky law doesn't even stop with students. It claims to hold *anyone* who writes such a story about a school criminally liable. This law goes against 200+ years of 1st Amendment jurisprudence and as such should be struck down. Here's a kid whose civil rights are in real jeopardy and a law that is in serious need of being challenged. Where's the ACLU when you really need them? Oh, right. They found a tiny cross on a city seal somewhere and are waging war against it. They're too busy to defend *real* violations of civil rights.

Wrabbit, should Quint fall on his sword for you? Just give it a rest for God sakes...

Nope. I just objected VEHEMENTLY to his misleading rant because it didn't have the additional information that would allow anyone with half a brain to realize that a kid DIDN'T get arrested for writing a zombie story. Now that he's added the links that will allow rational people to see that he's full of shit, I have ZERO problem with it.

"...OR that a stupid kid made a threatening entry in his journal and, now that he's in deep shit..." None of that really matters because for the last 200+ years in this country, citizens have enjoyed the right to say anything they damn well wanted in their private journals without fear of going to prison for it. A threatening statement can only be punished if it's coupled with the present ability and intent to carry out that threat and/or the person has taken an affirmative step toward carrying out the threat. Writing something in one's journal doesn't qualify. It doesn't matter what the actual facts of *this* case are. The Kentucky law is unconstitutional on its face. Any first year law student could tell you that. This "zero tolerance" post-Columbine hysteria has got to stop. A student was arrested in California last month for bringing scissors to school-- scissors that her mother had bought her off the official school supply list sent home to parents by the school itself. This shit is downright Orwellian. And before you say I'm just one of those people who always "blames the cops", keep in mind that I *am* a cop.

EXACTLY. That quote sums it up perfectly. I agree with Homer in the sense that we don't really KNOW what this kid's actual mindset or intention was, but certainly it freaked his own family and Grandparents. And I doubt they just turned him in over a story, I would presume BEING family they had begun to worry over other aspects of his behavior as well. Or maybe not. Maybe I'm presuming too much there. Which is why I then likewise agree with Stvnhthr that everyone here is flying off the handle emotionally WITHOUT THE FACTS. The person I do blame here is Quint, for his knee-jerk reactionary politics. He DOESN'T have all the facts either, yet he feels the need to instanty seize this story -- what little he knows of it -- to rant against Bush and the state of the country AS HE SEES IT. So for now -- ZIP IT and just wait for the facts to come out. Last I checked, that was the best course of action in any legal proceeding. And THEN make your judgment calls...

Are you kidding me? BIG FUCKING DIFFERENCE there. One is a horror MOVIE -- yes, a VISUAL experience -- where you can CLEARLY see that it's zombies who are causing the damage. But if the story -- a WRITTEN medium -- DOESN'T use the word "zombies", how the fuck do you know they are supposed to be zombies? Just because the kid -- now that he's caught -- is SAYING that? Is CLAIMING that was his "intent"? You've got to be fucking kidding me. It's one thing to stand by the kid or presume he didn't mean any harm, but to say his story was DEFINITELY about zombies when the story itself DOESN'T even call them that is a really fucking big knee jerk, self-defensivive reach.

Hey, Mr. Cop (which I don't believe for a fucking second, by the way), why don't you do a little police investigating and actually READ THOSE FUCKING LINKS Quint was nice enough to post. There was no journal. It was "notes and a plan," about an armed takeover of the school, with some kind of recruitment stuff for recruiting a gang to do so. If you're really a cop, you must be a piss-poor one if you can't spend thirty seconds reading up to see what REALLY happened before bitching about the "Orwellian" state of our country. Moron.

I just want to agree with what you said, and add that it's even more unlikely that it was actually about zombies when you take into consideration that it wasn't a story at all. It was "notes and a plan," and some kind of recruitment stuff for organizing a gang to take over the school. Plus, the school officials basically confirmed the kid was lying, because there was no school assignment as he stated. With that in mind, why would you believe the confirmed liar on the other points? You wouldn't, because he's obviously just trying to save his ass.

"Amongst this, he may have had his short stories, which, referencing schools, may also be in evidence. or, he may have outlined actual plans, disguised certain characters as "zombies", using metafor." Even if this is true, IT'S NOT A CRIME. Joss Whedon's vampires in "Buffy" were metaphors (note the spelling) for all the ills of high school also. It's ain't a felony to do that, for god's sake.

Which part of the following didn't you understand? "A threatening statement can only be punished if it's coupled with the present ability and intent to carry out that threat and/or the person has taken an affirmative step toward carrying out the threat. Writing something in one's journal doesn't qualify. It doesn't matter what the actual facts of *this* case are. The Kentucky law is unconstitutional on its face. Any first year law student could tell you that." I have a doctorate in law and have been a federal agent for six years. What are your qualifications?

BTR, once again, read the fucking articles. It wasn't a story with metaphors. There was NO story. It was plans for an armed takeover of "the high school" and stuff on recruiting people to help him. And, right or wrong, that most certainly IS illegal.

And yes, it's pretty damn scary when schools send home lists of supplies for the parents to buy the kids, then they arrest the kids for bringing those supplies to school.

I read the damn story, you little robot. It said the DA claimed the writings "resembled notes and plans". Being in law enforcement myself, I can tell you that's code for "it's something weird but we don't know exactly what". If they were actual notes and plans, the DA would have said so outright, not danced around it with the word "resemble". Wise up and read between the lines. And even if they were "notes and plans", THAT'S NOT ILLEGAL. It's protected speech under the 1st Amendment. Unless the kid took an affirmative step to implement those plans (i.e., bought a gun, made a practice run, loaded his car with supplies, etc.), then it's not a crime under the US Constitution and the Constitution trumps this pissant little Kentucky law.

Firstly, get this through your head. There was NO journal as far as anyone has said. It was "notes and a plan" and other shit. Secondly: "A threatening statement can only be punished if it's coupled with the present ability and intent to carry out that threat and/or the person has taken an affirmative step toward carrying out the threat." Jesus, you dumb bastard. If you're a cop, you must be one lousy one. What the kid did FULLY meets those requirements you listed. Which might be why they arrested and charged him. You THINK? He has the ability to commit those crimes. That's covered. Making plans and writing recruitment papers IS intent and affirmative action toward carrying it out. I don't believe for one second you're a fucking cop if you're this slow on the uptake.

"What the kid did FULLY meets those requirements you listed." Oh, really? What affirmative step did he take? Detail it here for us, please. Thrill us with your acumen, 'cause I gotta say, it hasn't been impressive to date. "He has the ability to commit those crimes." So you say. Nothing in any of the news articles has mentioned that he had the present ability to conduct an armed takeover of his school. If you have evidence that he obtained weapons somewhere and was stockpiling them in furtherance of his plan, please provide it. [And just so we're clear, you just saying so isn't evidence.]

ANYONE has the ability to attempt an armed takeover, providing they're not a fucking paraplegic. You could attempt with with a goddamn butcher knife! As for intent and affirmative action, here's some more for you (and further proof you didn't read the goddamn articles at all): "Police recovered writings in which Poole allegedly attempted to convince other students to participate in an armed takeover." Trying to convince other students, whether in person or in writing, that's INTENT and AFFIRMATIVE ACTION, you dense mother fucker. Go pretend to be a cop somewhere else.

"If you love the ACLU so much, why don't you go work for them?" Reading comprehension really isn't your strong point, is it, chief? Go back up and read what I wrote about the ACLU again, why dontcha? And this time go slow and sound out the words. You'll notice I was criticizing the ACLU, not praising them, you spectacular moron. "You keep alluding to it as an innocent "kid" doing nothing more than writing a "Zombie story" as all the evidence points in the oppostite direction." No, for the slow among us, what I have been saying all along is that IT DOESN'T MATTER if this is a zombie story or something else because the law, as quoted by the Kentucky authorities, flies in the face of established 1st Amendment jurisprudence. As for you accusing me of having a "left-wing" agenda, I have to thank you for one of the more truly amusing moments of my week. I post regularly to several Usenet groups where I'm pretty much universally known as a die-hard conservative. To have a lackbrain like you call me left-wing... well, you just can't buy irony like that. Well done. "What kind of federal agent are you, exactly?" USSS. See if you can figure it out.

"ANYONE has the ability to attempt an armed takeover" Okay, sparky, let's run with that insightful legal analysis for a moment. If anyone can be considered to have the ability to conduct an armed assault on a school at any time, then anyone who writes or possesses notes for a story on such an event (or the story itself) has committed a felony, right? So what about Stephen King and all the people in Kentucky who possess a copy of his school assault story? "But wait! Those people don't have intent carry out an assault" you say. And yes, you'd be right. Of course nowhere has anyone (grandma, cops, DA) shown that this kid did, either. Are you seeing the fly in your logic ointment yet?

"Police recovered writings in which Poole allegedly attempted to convince other students to participate in an armed takeover." Notice they said they only found writings. Until they come up with an actual student who says, "Yeah, this guy tried to get me to smash the school," it's only writing. No affirmative step taken. This story is old enough now that if there were actual kids recruited, they'd have been found by now. Once again, grow up a little and read between the lines. The cops said "writings" because that's ALL THEY HAVE.

There was no way I was going to read through the whole TalkBack, so I don't know if anyone has mentioned this, but if what the cops are saying is true, isn't it conspiracy? Quint, you seem to be portraying it like even if what the cops say is true, he didn't do anything wrong. If he was orchestrating some kind of plan, that's still a crime. This isn't the thought police cracking down on some innocent kid. Think about it this way: if you formulate a plan to kill the President (even in the abstract) and you're caught before you can execute it, that is still a crime. I would like to see all of the facts, but I don't believe that the cops didn't examine the evidence before they arrested the kid.

"if what the cops are saying is true, isn't it conspiracy?" No, you can't conspire with yourself. Conspiracy requires two or more people who commit an overt act in furtherance of a planned felony. The DA says the writings indicate Poole attempted to convince others but so far they haven't found anyone who will say he actually talked to them about it. All they have are his writings and if that's all there is, there can be no conspiracy.

Wrabbit, the bulk of your objections once you posted link consisted of attacking the character of Quint and anyone who dared to disagree with you. I can tell you from personal experience that when you spend most of your time calling people names or finding new ways to use the word f%$k in front of their name, you start to lose all credibility. I'd really suggest you try disagreeing with someone without using moron, dumbass, retard, bastard, or some of the other epithets you've enjoyed slinging about this talkback. As far as the actual subject of this talkback, I can tell all of you that I live in Louisville, KY and I've seen ZERO news coverage of this incident. I'm a firm supporter of our legal process as well as "innocent until proven guilty". Unfortunately, I've also seen with my own children that teachers will say and/or do anything to protect their jobs. With that being said, I honestly believe that there is no way employee of this youth's high school is going to help him out. It shames me to say that, especially since it could make the difference in this case. Unfortunately, I'm sure others will back me up on this too. *****This post certified insult free*****

Y'know if the red states cared about freedom they wouldn't have voted for that rat bastard boy king again. Let them suffer until those who did not vote for the boy king rise up. Oops I better shut up, it almost sounds like a plan...

Didn't John Hinkley (sp) conspire with himself to kill Reagan (barring insanity...I know he was insane) or couldn't anyone "conspire" with themselves to build a bomb if they had The Anarchist's Cookbook? I've heard the word used in the past for just one single person "conspiring" to do something. Anyway, yeah I did not yet look in a dictionary. I hope that any of this is negative at all one way or another. Personally, now that I've read some doubt about this case, I still have more of a problem with that kid that drew a picture of a dead George W. Bush and then getting busted to the authorities by her art teacher. I voted Bush in twice (wait before you start stoning me) but I believe it is everyone's God-given right if they want to use such a drawing as a screensaver or whatever (just as long as it is not an actual plan---yeah I know you and others probably wish different). Just do me a favor and don't forget that liberals and other leftists would just as soon lay the smackdown on "art" if it meant they got more votes or press if they believe in their narrow mindedness that they are actually doing good (just ask that cunt Tipper Gore about when she had a problem with Prince lyrics or Mr. Shit Head Joe Lieberman about him wanting video games like Mortal Kombat taken off the shelves because he believed it inspired real life violence (not letting adults choose what they can play---that certainly sounds facist to me). Okay, commence stoning.

I meant to say not negative for either side up there. I hope it blows over in a good way at the end of it. If the kid just wrote a story, I hope he gets let off. If they do indeed find a VERY REAL THREAT was present here then throw the book at the kid (but they better have DAMNED CONVINCING evidence to do that). If any doubt whatsoever presents himself, the kid had better walk. Now back to my stoning.

You're right, its not conspiracy. But if he did do what the cops said, isn't that making terroristic threats? And for all those that want to jump on me for using the term terroristic, I'm obviously not referring to some sort of bin Laden-esque plot. As for your 1st amendment arguments earlier in the thread, you're pretty wrong. The 1st Amendment is not ironclad (at least not according to the Supreme Court.) They have upheld laws banning hate speech, and your right to make threats is not guaranteed under the Constitution. Also, I would like to know what court case establishes privacy rights for a "journal." If I were to plan out an assassination in my journal, it would be admissable in court. Furthermore, I would bet that the courts would find that this kid had no expectation of privacy for his writings, even if they were in a journal. He lives with his grandparents and, being 17 (I'm pretty sure he's 17 but I really don't feel like going back and checking)has no privacy rights under their roof (well, I'm sure he has some, but none that extend to stop them from going through his things). No offense, but what law school did you go to? I'm in an undergraduate Constitutional Law course and I know this stuff. If you could cite the pertinent cases it would go a long way in proving your point.

I was just saying that if this kid did what the cops said he did, its most likely a crime, at least under Kentucky law. You can't make those sorts of threats, even with the 1st Amendment in effect. Rightly or wrongly, some speech isn't protected (of course it would help if the courts were more consistent in what is and isn't protected).

For those interested it can be read at http://www.lrc.state.ky.us/KRS/508-00/078.PDF FWIW, this law predates 9/11/01

Legally speaking, it's not the same thing -- the key point being that King's work was a work of fiction and was clearly and professionally PUBLISHED as such. Anyone possessing a copy of the book bought just that -- a book, which like ALL books is protected constitutionally as "entertainment" and -- more importantly -- always contains a legal indicia. You know, the small print no one ever bothers to read on one of the first few pages at the bottom, which always has the standard disclaimer: This is a work of FICTION. Any resemblence to people, places or things, present or past, is purely coincidental and not meant to...blah, blah, blah. You get the point. This kid and his case -- compared to the King story -- is a prime example of WHY such a legal disclaimer is there. It's to protect the author and publishing company by clearly showing upfront that it was created ONLY for entertainment purposes. ****** As for this kid, as much as you keep running around and talking about constitutional legalities, BRT, you fail to keep avoiding 2 core facts: namely (according to the news reports released so far), the kid claimed he wrote the story as a school assignment, which has since been proven to be a lie...and secondly he says his story is about "zombies" going about and killing people, yet magically for a kid with such a specific image in mind he never actually SAYS they're zombies in the story itself. He's only saying they're zombies AFTER the fact and AFTER he's been caught. And since you seem to take great pride in defending your opinion in your posts by stating that you're a Fed yourself, then I assume you know what it means to show some courtesy to others wearing a badge, particularly in this case those in Kentucky. As I mentioned in my earlier post, I doubt the Grandparents turned the kid into the authorities based around ONE story or notes. I have to believe there were OTHER outstanding behavioral ticks he was exhibiting that worried them which in turn forced them to finally pick up a phone and call the cops. Or maybe it is a dysfunctional family, and that will come out later. Who knows -- let's wait and see. But as a Fed yourself, I'm sure you can respect that the Kentucky badges only picked up the kid once they felt they had DUE CAUSE to do so. I'm sure they weren't looking to be made fools of or they were simply bored that day. So let's give 'em a little credit and prefer to err on their side and presume the picked up the kid for other things we've yet to hear about related to this case. In the end, I'm sure the Kentucky cops are simply trying to protect people -- particularly all the other children who go to this kid's school. Hell, you know what, even if it's an honest mistake, what's the worst that happened here? That the kid has been exposed as a liar (claiming he wrote the story as an assignment when it wasn't or it's a story about Zombies who aren't actually called zombies)? So fuck it, big deal -- the kid got detained. If that's the case, I say good. If nothing else, hopefully it taught him a lesson about the consequences of lying to authorities and how it can escalate and get you into some serious hot water. Because as far as I'm concerned, it still goes back to what HomerGator said before -- what IF the cops arrested the Columbine kids a day or two early simply because they were acting weird? Where would we be today? Would we be decrying that as an invasion of civil liberties or thanking God we'd stopped a blood bath? Personally, I'd rather the Kentucky cops sat up and took notice and they pulled this kid in and talked to him... and got some REAL answers out of him... rather than waited till it was too late and he and some cohorts pulled a murderous rampage on innocent bystanders.

Actually, JesusIsMyBitch, if you had paid attantion to my posts you would have seen that the story I was referring to was the Italian journalist getting shot at, not this. A small point to be sure, but still. And if I thought you had any idea of what "at-breaking-point levels of fear, panic and paranoia" are, I would respond. As it is, your braying isn't worth the trouble.

...A for effort Quint, but you obviously don't get it. The kid was arrested for writing about an attack on a high school and how to maximize the death toll before the police has time to get there. He also wrote about the best possible ways to enroll partners in crime for maximum efficiency.No zombies there. So no matter the outcome, your title is plain wrong and not worthy of the unbias reporter you ought to be. It should have been : "Updated! This is terribly uncool. Kid arrested as a terrorist for writing about a fictionnal plan to attack a high school inflicting maximum human damage before cops get there..."

I won't resort to childish insults and name-calling like you seem to be so fond of spewing every time you respond to each and every poster you want to correct like a grammar Nazi (a slanderous insult which is probably an apt description of your attitude). I've read the articles reported by mainstream media and still can't make sense of what happened until the truth emerges. I don't always trust the mainstream media because of its tendency to publish lies, spins, conjectures and half-truths embodying the notion of yellow journalism. I read alternative news (like What Really Happened and U.K. newspapers such as BBC and Guardian) and decide what is truthful and what's not. It's unfortunate people read the headline and jump to the conclusion by leaving angry comments when they should have read the complete articles for a fair evaluation before passing judgment. It's fine to inform the persons that they've been misled and provide links for another side of the story. The problem is, your credibility as a poster whose noble effort to inform "misguided" posters steeply drop to zero when you resort to mindless profanities, insults and personal attacks like you have personal issues with the posters. Take chill pills, get off the computer and breath the fresh air outside to relax. If you can't do that and you continue to sit down in front of the computer monitor for the purpose of insulting posters with repeat posts sledge-hammering home the point through articulating nasty attitude of yours then you have issues. The solution is you either rectify and be respectful of others - even the misled and deluded - by replying with point-of-view reason in a civil manner next time or you remain hopelessly infantile expounding the point of view expecting everyone to accept your version like gospel truth. Repetition of posting on-topic with the same post full of infantile insults towards selected posters ad nauseam is beating a dead horse repeatedly to strip flesh to break and ground bones until it disappears into the air. In a rationale summary, quit being a lunatic. You are a posterboy for future AICN talkback id banning (TB forums are free speech under the discretion of AICN moderators for everyone except hate speech, trolls and abusive posters who resort to continuous personal attacks) if you continue this tiresome bullshit tirade and drag it to fry eggs in hell. I blame Quint for posting a non movie-related news like this that have joined the club with Michael Moore and Oliver Stone AICN talkback bash-a-thon as attracting fanatically partisan flies swirling and feasting on a large coil of freshly defecated human shit. Since Quint have "conceded" (to quote John Kerry) by updating a response to your insistent rant, I hope you're elated now that your ego is stroked and gauged to inflate substantially. You have rendered this talkback absolutely uncivil regressing this talkback topic to Neanderthal championship debate owing to your domination (and a few others I won't name). Don't bother replying directly to me as this is my first and last post in this talkback or you're repeating the cycle of narcissism and misanthropy which will blow up in your face exposing your vulnerable Internet persona as a bona fide pondscum loser you are. Notwithstanding the first paragraph because I have my say in regards to your odious presence polarizing the potentially serious talkback (in spite of profanely outraged and reactionary posts) to reverse into MAD/CRACKED parody.

Who says the fat, doughnut-lovin' American pigs and their shi*tty laws aren't wrong too? Right wing d*cks.

Who says any of the above-mentioned are right-wing? By virtue of their living in Kentucky, they MUST be? How wonderful it must be to not be "ignorant."

guess that group hug's not gonna happen.

Land of the Free

Regardless of what the kid says or the police says.. what the fuck has he actually been charged with? What insane laws do you guys in the US that a kid can be arrested for writing a story? Anyone seen Elephant? Shouldnt the author of that be locked up for life on this basis?? Would have thought that the government should be asking the kid how the heck he was planning to animate the dead if he was gonna go ahead, surely the army could use some zombie troops in iraq? ONLY IN AMERICA.. land of the free... yeah.. right. Freedom of speech as long as we like what your saying!!

If you need a dictionary to understand what I'm saying, who then speakes better English? I might commit a few mistakes, but I don't have to have perfect grammar to get my opinions across. Is that what you have to say to me? How about arguing against my point? Anyway, fuck this, the kid's life is already ruined, no matter what happens next. Kuddoz, Kentucky law! (And this kid's family reunions probably will be sooo fun in the future, with grandparents tuyrning their own grandchildren to the police and all...)

Until we get the full version of what he was writing, we will have absolutely NO IDEA what its all about. OK!!! NOTHING ELSE TO SEE HERE!!!!!!!! Between Quint kicking up a shit storm here and Herc over in the Dr.Who TB hurling threats all over the place, I think Harry really needs to start moderating his moderators a bit more. Sheesh!!!!

:: Rogue lies on the floor, laughing hysterically, trying to muster the wind to beg the posters to stop stop for the luvvagawd stop ::

when stuff like this happens. i think we should all hold off judgment until this piece of fiction is released (if ever) for the general public to see... i think it's also scary that Freedom of Speech is so widely disregarded because of paranoia and ignorance... just so we can avoid offending someone. oh, and by the way, through 6 degrees of seperation, we all have links to al-quada (sp?). i think we should all be sent to guantanamo!

... but I'm sure the cops are exaggerating the claim as well. And that's the problem. And don't give me that "cops never lie" crap.

Point of law here, even assuming the kid was crafting an actual plan, if he was writing as a private journal can that be considered a 'threat'? If it was never meant to be seen by other eyes, how can it be threatening?

If it's been mentioned already, my apologies...

The writings are arguably protected speech under the 1st Amendment. Kentucky is on shaky ground here. I know everyone is scared about another school shooting but the rights granted under the 1st Amendment are too important to be tossed aside all for the sake of security. It is scary that Americans are willing to have less freedom for the sake of security. I want to prevent another Columbine or 9/11 just like any other person but the good of the whole outweighs the good of the one and are Constitutional freedoms benefit us all. This is just silly overreaction by grandstanding officials.

Vanilla Skies!

Too bad arrests like these were made during the Clinton administration. Only then they were praised for the schools finally stepping in to prevent this kind of stuff.

So if police find out someone is planning to murder people (making actual plans to go out and kill people) they can't do anything about it? And if they try to prevent it, it's Big Brother Pre-crime prevention? I hope you're never on the list of some wacked out kid. You're the same kind of person that complains after the fact about how nobody did anything to prevent this from happening. Get a life.

..ignoring the fact that this is a movie news site, the story shouldn't have been posted because it was cut and pasted to create a reaction from the anti-Bush crowd who want to propigate the idea that we're living under Big Brother. It didn't matter if other relevant facts in the case undermined that idea, just leave them out. And yes those other facts were incredibly important. And yes it is against the law to plan to murder someone, and it's not Bush's law, lots of kids were arrested for this after Columbine. To ignore those other facts, Quint, shows that you are biased. That said, we'll see what happens when all the facts come out. Maybe then there'll be a story worth posting.

Bush got reelected not because his so called "war on terror" or fearmongering. As amazing as it may seem, ultimately he got reelected because he promised he would bar gay marriage with a constitution ammendment. A demagogic empty promise, by the way. Funny, isn't it? (is my English good enough?)

...arresting and trying the child on charges of terrorism is ludicrous. Conspiracy to commit murder? Maybe. Can't possibly know without reading the writings. But the authorities are throwing that terrorism label around an awful lot nowadays. It's an ambiguous enough concept as is without trying to make it the catch all for everything we don't understand. And even if the writings in this kid's notebook constitute a well-thought-out and detailed school takeover plan, he hasn't done anything yet. Get him some counseling. Watch him close. But try and convict him so you can stick him in prison and you've stepped over a line our forefathers drew for the denziens nation centuries ago.

Debs was right, and the United States was wrong. I wish Oliver Wendell Holmes could be brought back to life so I could ass-rape him and torture him with electrodes. It's such a stupid metaphor that it's breath-taking. The only relevant issue is WHETHER OR NOT IT'S YOUR THEATRE. If it's your theatre, it is most definitely legal to shout fire in it. If it turns out you're just horsing around, or it's part of the entertainment to provide audience participation by having people flee the theatre in panic, and things get fucked up and people get hurt, you should be civilly liable to the exact extent you would be in any other circumstance where people get hurt while on your property. If it's NOT your theatre, and if there isn't actually a fire, then shouting "Fire" is disorderly conduct the same way taking a shit on the floor would be. The fucking skid row quality of the metaphor shouldn't be surprising, since it was issued in a court case that said IT WAS OK TO IMPRISON PEOPLE FOR SPEAKING OUT AGAINST THE FIRST WORLD WAR, which is a point that evades most of your fucking dopes. At least the Dred Scott decision had an actual fucking basis in the Constitution. This crap was just one more in the litany of 20th Century court decisions claiming that Bill of Rights didn't mean anything, if the government had a "compelling interest" in violating them. Despite the fact that the whole reason those amendments are there is to specify that they trump any and all governmental interest. There is also obviously no way to believe that the First Amendment doesn't also protect so-called "obscene" speech, since there is nothing anywhere in the text that even remotely puts such a limitation on the amendment. But since there's a "precedent" for it [read: some dopey cunt issued an incorrect court ruling at some time in the past, and we're letting it stand, despite its patent absurdity] so that means people get to run around saying "Well, there are exceptions to free speech." And by the way, I didn't think it was possible for anyone to be dumber than Wrabbit, but Voicebox wins the prize. You worthless pile of trash. I hope you get cancer and die.

It's possible to threaten someone without anyone actually hearing you or knowing about it. It's possible to conspire with yourself by thinking about the possibility of something. If the authorities ask you questions about something that is none of their business, they should get to fuck with you if your answers aren't truthful. Oh, and my personal favorite: there are free speech rights that published authors have that non-published writers don't. I just LOVE that one. All the literary agents in New York just got promoted: no longer mere industry professionals, they now HAND OUT CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS, a power previously reserved to Nature or Reason or a DEITY. Wow, drinks are on them now I guess. By the way, if any representative of any police agency ever attempts to question me in any way regarding anything I may or may not have written, you won't have to worry about wrabbit finding "lies" to talk about because my answer will consist of me yelling "Lick my purple cock you stupid cunt-blood drinking fucks!" over and over at the top of my lungs. I advise anyone else ever similarly questioned to do the same.

1. Spaldingreese, that was the hardest I've laughed in a long time. 2. Quint, good job. 3. People. Sometimes -- actually most of the time -- you don't get "all the facts." That's when you have to use your BRAIN to make a JUDGEMENT. Mine is that this kid got arrested unnecessarily.

Name an example that doesn't rely on a false and misleading definition of the freedom under consideration, or an absurd claim of what constitutes a "harm". And by the way, in your talkback post above you wrote quite plainly: "Just cause it isn't MEANT for other people to see doesn't mean it's legally off-limits. Threats are threats." This means that, as I wrote above, you are asserting that it's possible to threaten someone without anyone actually hearing you or knowing about it. Your claim that you made none of the statements I mocked is therefore false. By the way, if rights are not due to Man as a result of Nature or Reason [I just included a Deity as a sop to those rights theorists that include "the creator" in their formulations; naturally I don't think there is a deity] than they have no basis at all, and I guess it's open season. That's OK, I guess; I'm sure I'll do a lot better in a society organized on that basis than a lot of you mo-fo's will. // By the way, there is no requirement that says that I have to LIKE YOU for my advocacy of free speech to be effective. I merely have to not want to use the machinery of government to attach criminal liability to your statements. I'm perfectly entitled to not wish you well in life. And, unless you are a devotee of Santeria or something, you should be able to recognize that my verbal wish has no power to actually make you develop cancer. That means that comparing that idle, verbal wish to the actual, concrete, real experience of arrest and incarceration is a little specious.

Chris Beamon was the 13 year-old kid in Ponder, Texas who was arrested and jailed for writing a story about a high school shooting. The police in that case made damning statements about what the story and what it contained. The affadavit for the arrest warrant apparently contained all sorts of information that made it seem like there was an impending disaster if this kid wasn't immediately arrested. At a pre-trial hearing, the prosecutor painted the kid as the worst kind of dangerous kid who needed to be held at the juvenille detention center immediately. As it turns out, the kid wrote a story. Despite what the police and prosecutor said, there was no plan, no real threat (certainly not two threats directly to students as the prosecutor told the judge). The kid was released and no charges were brought. The judge eventually said that the case was presented in a false light that made it seem like there was something there that wasn't. I'm a Republican who has tremendous respect for our system of justice, but I also know that the police and the courts are not infallible and do not exclusively paint an accurate picture in any given case. It may well be that they were completely justified in their actions, I don't know and can't know with the information we've been given. But just like the kid shouldn't be blindly supported, neither should the police and prosectors. Just as kids shade the truth to their benefit, so often do the police and prosecutors.

But that was more of a recap of events then fiction. Seriously though I wrote all kinds of crazy shit in school. And I got my fair share of grief and bad grades over it. I could never make it through high school with that type of thing these days. Not knowing whats in this kids journal I wont comment on his guilt or innocence but it sounds as if he was just writing since I've yet to see mention of weapons or plans to make weapons. (but I could be wrong) he wanted to start a gang...uhhh what a zombie gang? or a zombie hunting gang? what the fuck does that mean? Ohhh no a gang...we've never had gangs in this country...oh my! Maybe they'd call themselves the Deadite's or The Army of Darkness. I'd be willing to bet this kid has been harassed by that School Sanctioned Date Rape Gang called "The Football Team" or perhaps thier shadow gang "The Wrestling Team" they should get this kid into a creative writing program and get him some therapy and call it a day.

This isn't Bush's fault or any of the Neo Cons. Hell, this is a local issue. His grandparents and the police thought he was a threat for whatever reason and he'll have a chance to repute that. I wrote and drew far worse fates that zombie attacks on my high school. Did that mean I would attack it? No. But some crazy mofo might and he might hurt my kid who never even knew him. Frankly, I think the grandparnest should have taken this kid to therapist or at least had a sit down with school administors. They had other solutions but choose to get him arrested. So you'd think they thought he was a big threat. Whatever the case, he should be able to get this sorted out and he can always cahnge his name and never talk to his grandparents. Of course, the worst case scenerio would be that he does have control of the living dead in which case, all this would be moot.

I almost wish we could all jump into a future where his grandparents didn't turn him in, to see if he would have carried out what authorities would later discover were plans written in a journal. I fail to see what's so horrible - by all accounts, the guy lied about the purpose of the stuff he wrote. Why would he do that? He got caught and he made up a lie that would sound convincing to his grandparents...he didn't plan on cops showing up and conducting an investigation, under which his flimsy excuse wouldn't hold up. Nevermind the fact that all of the officials involved have READ what he wrote and not a single one of US has. It was enough to worry his grandparents so much that they called the police. If they didn't have other reasons to worry about this guy, why would they go so far as to call the police on him? Come on, people...use your brains.

Wow, the US is really starting to look like "1984", or Earth under President Clark in "Babylon 5". Thank God I dont live there

I agree that there were many issues involved in the elections, but I still think that it wa the gay marriage ban that gave Bush that tiny margin he needed to win. And since we are talking about that, I really think tha "electoral college" deal is a bit undemocratic. It was design to maintain status quo. One person, one vote? Try on person, divided by said person's State voting population multiplied by said State's number of votes in electoral college. We used to have an electoral college down here in Brazil back when we were a CIA-backed, USA-funded, right-wing military dictatorship (remember the Cold War years?) with a nasty habit of torturing enemies of the State. Ring any bells? And what about this two-parties system you have, where both parties are right-wing parties (one moderate, one extremist, but both righ-wing)? Do you think that's democratic? (I'm not bashing you, I'm asking seariously) And, c'mon, my english am pretty well...

...in that this child has been arrested on terrorist-related charges and will stand trial for same. That's all we know for certain until someone publishes whatever he wrote (so we can't correctly speculate as to what he apparently did or didn't write, specifically). Even if he did concoct a detailed plan of attack against his own school in his little notebook, he has still not violated the law. In a school setting, the rights of privacy are a gray area. In a home where he is under an adult's care and supervision, even moreso. But unless he has shared this supposed plan (which we still don't know exists) with someone else and demonstrated botht he means and the intent to carry it out, he has done nothing to warrant incarceration or further punishment by the judicial system. Again... watch him. Counsel him. Expel him, even, or go through the process of having him committed. Depending on the actual writings, any of these might be a sound, acceptable and legal course of action (of course, if it is a fictional story and it's good enough to scare so many people so badly, "publish him" might be the most lucrative alternative). But in this country we do not, as a matter of policy, try, convict and put people away for what they might or might not actually do if left to the designs and dictates of their own consciences. This is what our much-beloved "freedom" is all about and I, for one, still believe in it.

Did this kid stand you up for the prom or something, wrabbit? Never mind whether the guy or the cops is lying, the hostility of your posts and the language you consistently use is way over the top even for this issue. Talk about trolling for attention, you've practically single-handidly turned this into the kind of debate you've said it doesn't deserve. Oh, and to defuse your two most ubiquitous responses to anyone who even gives the impression they disagree with you, I fully expect to be called a moron or worse, and yes, I have read the links provided with this topic plus a few more I googled outside of this site. None of the reports either prove or disprove yours or Quint's positions beyond a reasonable doubt. This only adds to my confusion over the rage you're carrying over this.

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/nation/11051719.htm Every day we are closer to "Freedom From Fear" and perfect security, thanks to the noble efforts of the Kentucky police to protect us from fiction writers and eight year olds. Imagine if these two evil forces had gotten together! We might have faced the terrible threat of an eight year old fiction writer! How would the nation have survived?

It's a Kentucky paper but a Virginia byline. Not that I [as a former Arlington resident] acknowledge a distinction between rural Virginia and Kentucky or anything. But still, this was the Virginia police so you Kentucky guys are off the hook on this one.

Did I wrong you in a past life? I think Quint opened up a debate/dialogue which is a healthy part of any democracy. Now I think someone's a little tired and needs to go to bed. It's a school night after all. Take your ridelin little man. It will keep the boogie monster away.

Unless you're very new here, you probably know that the vast preponderance of the owners/writers/authors of www.Aintitcool.com have liberal leanings. How does this resonate with you on a personal level? Oh, wait... who gives a shit! If your views aren't in line with Harry's or Quint's, et al, and you're all so FURIOUS at their liberal proselytizing, why in God's name do you shrill harpies keep coming back? Oh yeah, and while I didn't vote for Bush, I have to give him this much- I think he really did unite the country before the election. Whites, Blacks, Asians, Jews, Muslims, Protestants, Catholics, all of them- sitting at the loving table of brotherhood, they were all drawn together in their hatred of the gays. Depressing times...

Shame it took an Italian being killed by an American to bring out a state funeral... Where was all that pomp and circumstance when the boys of Rome were massacred by cut-throat murderers in masks? Shows you where their priorities really lie. I say we pull out of Old Europe and let the insects in the filthy white robes take over.

Thank you, Freejack. THAT is the sane and relevant question that ranting lunatics and mental twats like FluffyUnbound seem to miss -- or rather choose to ignore -- preferring to advocate that anyone being questioned about their questionable behavior should yell out "Suck my cock!" instead. What a bunch of Leftist maroons...

No, sounds more like a fantasy since in '08 you Blue State losers will run yet another unelectable and full of shit loser that the country will reject outright yet again. But that's ok -- at least then you can look forward to another 2 term Republican President (McCain) which gives you 8 more years of being able to come to AICN and post away like the whiny bitches you are...

"No offense, but what law school did you go to? I'm in an undergraduate Constitutional Law course and I know this stuff." You title your post "BTR1701 - You're right" then you claim I'm wrong? Schizophrenic much? I went to the University of Texas/Austin School of Law. No offense but you're the guy who thought a person could conspire with himself so I'm not putting a lot of faith in your undergraduate legal training. You also don't have any concept of what "expectation of privacy" is all about. It has nothing to do with the 1st Amendment. It's a term of art used in 4th Amendment legal analysis and has to do with a citizen's right to be free of search and seizure by the government. The fact that you used it in reference to the kid's grandparents snooping shows that you probably need to get your money back on that Con Law course. Your grandparents aren't the government so the entire concept of "expectation of privacy" has no meaning here. "They have upheld laws banning hate speech" No, they have not. In fact, the Supreme Court has held exactly the opposite. See American Nazi Party vs. City of Skokie, Illinois. The Neo-Nazis wanted to hold a march in the city of Skokie, a town predominantly populated by Holocaust survivors. The town refused to grant them a permit, claiming that the Nazis speech was hateful and inciteful. The Supreme Court overruled and said that the price of a free society is that we all must occasionally endure offensive speech. You're probably thinking of hate crimes, not hate speech. Hate crimes laws have been found constitutional but those are actual crimes, like assault and murder. Not just hateful speech. Hate speech is protected under the 1st Amendment. As for providing cites, you just got one. I also provided one further upthread. Go back to school and pay attention from now on.

"the key point being that King's work was a work of fiction and was clearly and professionally PUBLISHED as such. Anyone possessing a copy of the book bought just that -- a book, which like ALL books is protected constitutionally as "entertainment" and -- more importantly" Cite me the case which interprets the 1st Amendment as only giving protection to people who manage to get themselves published. Talk about rights only for the aristocracy... The fact is, you have the same right to write a story as Stephen King does. You enjoy the same legal protections as he does whether you publish it or not. Never has the Court held that only published authors enjoy 1st Amendment protection.

"always contains a legal indicia. You know, the small print no one ever bothers to read on one of the first few pages at the bottom, which always has the standard disclaimer: This is a work of FICTION. Any resemblence to people, places or things, present or past, is purely coincidental and not meant to...blah, blah, blah. You get the point. This kid and his case -- compared to the King story -- is a prime example of WHY such a legal disclaimer is there." Actually, that's wrong. The ONLY reason those disclaimers exist is so the author won't be sued by someone who thinks the story is about them because they share the same name as a character or the characteristics of the storyline resembles something that happened to them in real life. That's why those disclaimers are there. Not to protect the author against charges of terrorism. The concept is ludicrous. If what you said is true, all a terrorist would have to do to protect himself from prosecution is throw a little bit of legal boilerplate onto the front page of his attack plan, right?

"And since you seem to take great pride in defending your opinion in your posts by stating that you're a Fed yourself, then I assume you know what it means to show some courtesy to others wearing a badge, particularly in this case those in Kentucky." I don't grant anyone the courtesy of violating the law. If this kid made a bona fide threat and took an affirmative step in furtherance of that threat, then he should go to jail. (So far I've seen evidence of none of that.) But if the kid didn't do those things and just wrote some stuff that bothered the school officials and the cops and they arrested him for it-- for exercising his right to free speech guaranteed to him under the US Constitution-- then the cops should face the consequences of their actions, as well. I swore an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution. I didn't swear an oath to defend some poorly written law in Kentucky and I didn't swear an oath to provide courtesy to other cops. Bottom line, the state has the burden of proof and the kid is presumed innocent. So far, by all reports, the state hasn't met its burden.

"Hell, you know what, even if it's an honest mistake, what's the worst that happened here? That the kid has been exposed as a liar" Ummm... no. The worst that has happened is that this kid now has an FBI number and a felony arrest record in NCIC. Try getting a job with that hanging around your neck. That's why it's not okay to dismiss things like this as merely "erring on the side of caution". When you do that to innocent people, you ruin their lives.

"Pdid hit the nail on the head when he took you to task on your apparent disregard for the constitutional law precedents regarding free speech and its limitations." He hit something on the head but he missed the mark when it comes to Con Law. See my response to him. The guy has no idea what he's talking about.

You're correct in that journals are not privileged evidence. They can be admissible but in order for something to be a threat under the law, it has to be communicated to someone. Otherwise it's just a statement. For example, here is the Texas "terroristic threat" statute. Notice that in every instance, someone has to have heard or reacted to the threat for a crime to have occurred. Sec. 22.07. Terroristic Threat (a) A person commits an offense if he threatens to commit any offense involving violence to any person or property with intent to: (1) cause a reaction of any type to his threat by an official or volunteer agency organized to deal with emergencies; (2) place any person in fear of imminent serious bodily injury; or (3) prevent or interrupt the occupation or use of a building; room; place of assembly; place to which the public has access; place of employment or occupation; aircraft, automobile, or other form of conveyance; or other public place; or (4) cause impairment or interruption of public communications, public transportation, public water, gas, or power supply or other public service.

Do you remember when the lady yelled, "Clinton, you suck!" when he got off a plane and she was detained for a couple of days? She was pissed off because her son had been sent to the Balkans or something, and just because she said that to him she was arrested." I certainly don't remember it because it never happened. We never arrested anyone who merely said that to Clinton, nor do we detain people for that. If we did, there wouldn't be enough space in the jails for everyone. There were thousands of people at the last inauguration yelling things like that that at Bush. Every time ANY president goes anywhere there are people who yell stuff like that out. No one gets arrested for it. If you think it happened, post your proof.

"The famous example of it being illegal to yell "FIRE!" in a crowded movie theatre is used to exemplify the notion that one person's rights are not to be made so far-reaching as to cause harm to others." That's because when someone screams "fire" other people actually hear it and react. The Court clearly stated that speech of this type can only be punished if there is a "clear and present danger of IMMINENT death or serious bodily injury". Causing a stampede in a theater results in instantaneous harm. Writing something in a private journal does not. Therefore, this case fails the "clear and present danger" standard and your example is inapplicable.

"But in this country we do not, as a matter of policy, try, convict and put people away for what they might or might not actually do if left to the designs and dictates of their own consciences. This is what our much-beloved "freedom" is all about and I, for one, still believe in it." Very well said.

...and I say that as published writer and as someone who's worked in publishing for nearly 20 years. Cody's core assertion is correct: a legal indicia is put there to protect the written material itself (copyright and trademark legalities)... and, yes, you're right that it's there to protect the author from any charges of theft or slander. But nowadays, yes, as Cody asserts it's ALSO there to legally protect the writer and the book's contents -- that is, to legally assert that the work itself is a creation meant ONLY for entertainment reasons and was created for NO other purpose. Now, you may not see it that way right now, but trust me I meet with publishing lawyers all the time and have had to discuss this very matter over particular manuscripts and things. And this last reason (which you're skeptical about) is a newfound reason publishing lawyers love the indicia, particularly in today's terrorist atmosphere and Freedom Act world, because you want to assert legally upfront that the book, manuscript, or whatever you're publishing ISN'T a manual or textbook or advocation to do anyone any type harm. You wrote, "The concept is ludicrous. If what you said is true, all a terrorist would have to do to protect himself from prosecution is throw a little bit of legal boilerplate onto the front page of his attack plan, right?" Well, I hate to break this to you, buddy, but it's NOT ludicrous. If you had actually PUBLISHED a book -- that is, got it out there in print so it was now something recognized as a COMMERICAL venture for capitalist gain AND you had a disclaiming legal indicia like that -- yes, it gives you at least a preliminary legal firewall to stand behind. I'm not saying it would protect you fully or hold up (depending on the case or severity of things), but it's a legal defense you could at least stand on (and it's a leg the kid doesn't have at this point AT ALL). Case in point, do you remember when the CIA actually called in Tom Clancy for a classified meeting after HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER came out because they thought it cut too close to home and to an alleged naval incident that to this day the government denies? Or that likewise the CIA wanted to know "how" he got some of his tech background, which again they thought cut too close to home? That's an off the top of my head example of a writer putting something out there and saying "Hey, did I get too close? Sorry, it was meant for entertainment. Guess I just got LUCKY hitting so close to home." But a far better example is that if you write a book about terrorists bombing the Statue of Liberty -- and then someone actually does it, EMULATING your book -- these days you want to be legally covered from being charged as an accomplice in the crime, or even being charged with some type of subsequent lawsuits (by victims or whoever). And you do this by proclaiming upfront (in the indicia) "I have NO intention for anyone to take what they're about to read SERIOUSLY. This is FICTION, got it?" This is why, by the way, if you'll check publishing indicias more and more these days, you'll see that a "Meant purely for entertainment purposes ONLY" disclaimer is now becoming more and more a standard publishing procedure by companies to cover their asses legally. Again, you may not see it this way right now... Hell, as a Fed you may even see this as stretching things... but I've got lawyers that will tell you this is legally binding and a preemptive strike towards protecting ourselves. Now, how does that relate to the kid and the larger Constituional picture? You just said "The fact is, you have the same right to write a story as Stephen King does. You enjoy the same legal protections as he does whether you publish it or not." Well, let's be honest. That's SORT of true. First off, legally you should know that some things are NOT protected free speech. Threatening the President for exammple is NOT regarded as legally protected free speech. In fact, depending on how harsh the language you use or what particular word choices you use, it actually goes from "free speech" to "Federal Threatening Offense" pretty damn quickly. So there's always shades of gray that have to be evaluated in terms of "what" the person said and how they said it, or in what manner, and what their final intent was. Certainly it all comes together for evaluation. Look, even you as a Fed can understand this BIG difference: If you raid Stephen King's house and he's got a manuscript detailing a high school shooting on his desk, his ability to go into a police station or a court room and argue that he was just working on his latest horror book -- despite what poor taste some might find the manuscript to be in -- is probably going to carry weight and fly. BECAUSE he's a published author who HAS an established track record for publishing morbid or grisly horror stories. On the flip side, if you raid a local teenager's bedroom and find that same manuscript and (as is the case here) he claims to have written it for a school assignment which then turns out to be a LIE...coupled with his own grandparents thinking he's been acting odd of late...let's face it, he's NOT going to get the "professional" Stephen King treatment, no matter what you say about personal freedom Constitutional rights. In today's climate and today's legal system, that kid is going to be detained and have some SERIOUS explaining to do, unlike King. Now, DOES he have the Constitutional right to write his story? To be creative and express himself? Sure, he does. But law enforcement officials have the EQUAL right as well -- as voted upon by local jurisdiction or recent court decisions -- to uphold strict "no tolerance" school safety laws about what kids can and cannot do in a particular school district. Hell, I've got a neice who goes to a school and you know what they have to do? How strict they are? When the kids change classes, they are NOT allowed to talk to each other in passing in the hall (they have to remain completely silent) AND they have to walk to class with their hands either clearly hanging at their side or even held behind their backs. Otherwise hall monitors have the right to yank them to the Principal's office for detention. Personally, I'm not crazy about it -- it seems awfully harsh to me as a way to treat kids, especially since I remember being in school and just running like a wild madman between classes, goofing with friends -- but that's what my niece's school board and the local public voted on. That's what they decided they wanted. Kids changing classes unable to talk or trade notes or do anything that wasn't to a marching tune under an observant eye. Or else. So in the end, your whole argument of First Amendment Rights is a head-on collision with the rights of local municipalities and judges to establish and set laws that particular communities want to see enacted. And there's yet to be any Supreme Court ruling challenging that right or question "what" is too severe yet -- though I'm sure one will be coming along. And as this case with the kid shows, there's obviously going to be legal overlaps where the Supreme Court will have to fine tune things about who gets the final say in a matter and what takes full precedent -- the kid's rights, the local cops, securing the safety of the kids at school, maintaining the wishes of local parents or the school board, etc. Personally, I agree with the quote that Triumph Poops excerpted above from Freejack. To me the absolute bottom line is that the kid wrote a story about killing people at his high school, but when questioned "why" he did it by the authorities, he got caught LYING to them. So like others here, I have to say I'd vote to err on the side of caution, too, because once the kid starting LYING to people to cover his ass, that alone should make a few red flags go up and should certainly warrant asking this kid a few more things.

Although it WAS a criminally bad movie.

Have any of you read this book?? You all should. This case seems ripped out of it... America, the culture of fear.

I spend most of an hour-long journey yesterday reading this TB - some of the funniest shit i've read in ages. Wrabbit - you in particular have provided me with some great laughs! Thanks all of you for cheering me up!

that people have THIS much time on their hands to write such long-winded diatribes bashing each other on this debate... guys, just relax! there's a lot more to life than sitting here for countless hours fighting about this... jebus.

Guys, if you get the urge to buy one of those things, just jerk off. Everybody jerks off, but only freaks buy movie dolls. Movie dolls = clowns. Scary as hell.

Yeah, that link was extremely biased and the fact that there were other accounts of folks being even more acerbic to Clinton showed that the SS can be fickle, if nothing else. At any rate, I agree that it sounds like the kid wasn

http://www.somethingawful.com/articles.php?a=2715

See it for yourself. No zombie story here. It's a shame that there are still so many people getting misled by Quint's biased rant. Even now, people are reading the headline and jumping in to give their two cents about the death of free speech, WHEN IT'S COMPLETE BULLSHIT. http://www.wlextv.com/Global/story.asp?S=3046416

What do you know? The more that comes out, the worse the kid looks. But, still, Quint continues to mislead casual AICN viewers with his "ficional zombie story" headline, when the only thing fictional is that headline! Read the news for yourself: http://www.wtvq.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WTVQ/MGArticle/TVQ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031781458489&path=

Really, you mental fuck twats that are trying to turn this kid into a martyr and this case in (1) an anti-Bush tirade (2) an indictment on the Patriot Act or (3) a ridiculous lunatic rant about how America is so "bad" now, how "Nazi-like" it is, how "evil" the U.S. government is (fingers in the ears, blah, blah, blah) really need to read the news link that Wrabbit posted above, covering the actual legal hearing they had. You know, that actual REAL and LEGAL hearing where a judge heard the actual evidence collected by the cops and agreed with them, evidence which is pretty fucking scary because it seems not only did this kid LIE about writing his death journal as an "assignment" for school, but now it turns out he actually had pre-planned dates to off himself and the cops arrested him only 3 days before one of them. Not mention the truly fucked up revelation this kid may have been part of a 4-state network to have a simultaneous blood bath. The SANE people here have advocated that the morally and socially responsible thing to do was pull this kid aside and question him, once it was shown he WAS lying about "why" he had such a journal... "how" it was about zombies when there are NO zombies ever mentioned in the story... and "why" his own Grandparents thought he'd been acting strange. But you INSANE Liberal twits like Fluffyunbound think it's better idealogically say "Suck my cock!" to cops who are merely trying to get answers, or you're like BRT who claims to be a Fed and who brags that he'll only support the law as written, not support fellow badges just because they're badges, yet apparently must be a piss-poor agent since he apparently has NO ability to sense something is amiss and apparently NO spine to simply say, "You know, we really should question this kid. This journal is seriously fucked up." Bottom line: you Libs would rather chance another Columbine so long as you could jump on this kid's case and make it a whole anti-Bush, anti-Constitution. THAT balance is truly fucked up. You know, I had hoped you got your heads out of your asses after the last election -- where you lost the electoral vote AND the popular vote -- but I guess not. Well, maybe when we hand your butts to you all over again during the midterm elections and win the White House again in '08, maybe that will bitchslap you back into responsible thinking reality.

Ask around. But this talkback has reminded me of something important: that when I speak for liberty, I am indeed in the wrong. So I guess I have to take back most of what I posted. I once again made the mistake of thinking of my fellow human beings as creatures that deserved autonomy and dignity, and that led me to make certain political arguments which are all out of date. I temporarily forgot that I now know none of that shit is true. You motherfuckers don't deserve to be free. Not at all. Not only do you not deserve it, you don't actually want it. So fuck it. I wish that the paranoid websites out there about "Patriot Act II" and the supposed secret Bush plan to wipe out 80% of humanity were true. That would be a low number, but it would be a good start. It would be an act of mercy. I'd be on board. If I ever quailed at what was happening or if something rose in my mind to say, "No, no - this is wrong!" I would remind myself that I know better now. People worry about the light of reason flickering out as religion surges back in the modern era, but the death of reason isn't really the primary problem. The primary problem is the death of pride. You've been so conditioned to having your lives microregulated that you no longer even really perceive that there's any other way to live. It's natural to you; it makes you comfortable. So when someone steals something you've written and gives it to the cops and they want you to answer for it, you'll smile and bow your head and say "Yes sir; no sir" and it will be just another day at the DMV for you, and you won't even begin to perceive the incredible PRESUMPTION of that police act, or how it lowers your status. Nothing in you says, "Who the fuck are you to ask, asshole?" because you're such natural slaves that to you this isn't a question. Everyone has the right, as long as they aren't you, as far as you're concerned, because the most natural experience in your world is to bow down and try to ingratiate yourself to whoever gives the appearance of being in control. The people who founded this country started a revolution over government transgressions of their rights which positively pale in comparison to the instrusions that you bootlickers accept happily every day. Such is the progress of Man, I suppose. "Afer Columbine, you should be ashamed"? Frankly, no. Columbine doesn't mean a god-damn thing to me. It meant nothing when the liberals jumped up and said, "Columbine means we should finally get our way and take away everyone's guns!" and it means nothing to me when you other fuckers jump up and say, "This means that we get to use the rubber hose on anyone who acts weird!" The only thing that would make me feel shame is if I was a snivelling wretch like many of you. THAT would make me feel shame.

I especially like the part from the kid's writing that was entered as evidence by the detective: "They stood at the yard carrying bags full of weapons and tools. They yelled kill them. All of soldiers of zone two started shooting. They are dropping every one of them. After five minutes all the people were laying on the ground dead." It's easy to see that's no fiction - when has fiction ever been written in the third person? Given time, that kid would have taken over destroyed all of America (as outlined in his manifesto). What I don't get is whether wrabbit believes the kid or not. Probably because he hasn't repeated his point often enough. On a more serious note, though: WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU????!!!

That was supposed to be "when has fiction ever been written in the PAST TENSE". D'oh!

I've been to Kentucky. I've been to the state and talked with people who live there. It wouldn't surprise me if this were a municipal organization blowing shit out of proportion. Also, it wouldn't surprise me that this kid is a small-town misfit who needs some corrective measures taken so that he fits in with that society. I just finished reading Anthony Burgess' Clockwork Orange for the third time, since I saw the movie on Skinnymax not so long ago. The story serves as a good parable about such situations. Does the thought of a deed equal the deed itself? Does playing a violent video game equate to real-life violent behavior? Pre-Emptive strikes in our government have now led to a certain acceptance of a peremptory set of mores. And in Kentucky, where else would a Barney Fife "Nip it in the BUD!" justice policy fit in better? Where in the past, punishing a thought about something would be considered ludicrous; now, faced with the possibility, an alarming number of you are siding with the state de facto without the full story. I like the fact that this discussion even takes place somewhere, and civilized folks still consider the possibility that the state could be lying to them to keep them under control. To all of the naysayers, I'd like to point out that without extreme reactions to these somewhat minor shifts in the national tone, we could see a shift towards a more totalitarian state in my lifetime. Control = Security. Passive Public = Secure State. I'm happy our country cannot complain about the fairness of elections this time round. But as Patton Oswald said, "Our country is like a retarded trust fund baby with a bunch of nuclear weapons."

All I want to do is actually read for myself what he wrote. Because when or if this information comes out, someone is going to look really stupid. Whether its the cops or this kid, I don't know. But his grandparents should be fucking well ashamed of themselves either way

How quickly most people will give up their rights and liberties so quickly for the sake of a few hundred lives and the illusion of security. The funny part about this little tidbit, is that it really is nothing more than an attempt to make a big story out of a little one - an arrest. That is all. The story isn't even about Republicans, Democrats and the like - if anything, its a nice little exercise in modern media - yet the responses in this talkback are truly breathtaking. Are we that fucking scared all the time? No wonder we shoot first and don't bother with the questions at all. Like I said earlier - Kentucky is probably a pretty fucked up place and I think this kid should move out of his gradparents place - they seem really nosy.

"How quickly most people will give up their rights and liberties so quickly for the sake of a few hundred lives and the illusion of security" What rights or liberties has America given up? And don't give me Patriot Act paranoia or Bush-hating sexual sublimation. Please note what rights and liberties you have actually given up in the name of security.

But he also appears to be right, he could have gone about it in a less abrasive manner, but the more we find out about this story, it sure does seem like some kind of intervention was warrented. I despise Bush and his cronies, but I don't see what this has to do with that, it seems this troubled teenager might have been planning something, or at least fantasizing about it, and in this day and age, it really is better to err on the side of caution than to wait for the bloody truth. That being said, I don't think the kid should be imprisioned, but should be gotten help and watched carefully.

"If you had actually PUBLISHED a book -- that is, got it out there in print so it was now something recognized as a COMMERICAL venture for capitalist gain AND you had a disclaiming legal indicia like that -- yes, it gives you at least a preliminary legal firewall to stand behind." It does no such thing. I assume what you mean by "primary legal firewall" is establish a prima facie case. And if so, there is no court case or statute that gives any legal weight to some boilerplate disclaimer on the front page of a book in terms of whether it's an actionable threat or not. Bottom line, if your book is just a fictionalized story like King's, then you're protected under the 1st Amendment whether you published it or not and whether you put a disclaimer on it or not. If it *is* a threat, the disclaimer won't help you one bit. The key is to look at the elements of the crime. If the story/writing meets those elements, the crime is complete and the writer can be prosecuted no matter what disclaimers he put on it. If the elements of the crime aren't met, then it's protected free speech and no disclaimer is necessary. I have no doubt your lawyers have told you it's necessary or even helpful but since there's no basis in law for the disclaimers (except in terms of defamation), they are useless. "o you remember when the CIA actually called in Tom Clancy for a classified meeting after HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER came out because they thought it cut too close to home and to an alleged naval incident that to this day the government denies?" Sure. It was a request, not a subpoena or a prosecution. Clancy was free to decline and walk away. And even more to the point, do you think the Pentagon gave a damn whether Clancy put a disclaimer on the first page saying it was all fiction? Hell no. "But a far better example is that if you write a book about terrorists bombing the Statue of Liberty -- and then someone actually does it, EMULATING your book -- these days you want to be legally covered from being charged as an accomplice in the crime, or even being charged with some type of subsequent lawsuits (by victims or whoever). " Neither is legally tenable. It's nonsensical to think that someone who writes a fictionalized story about terrorists could be charged as an accomplice if someone subsequently did the same thing. Did they charge (or even investigate) Clancy as an accomplice on 9-11. After all, he wrote a book where a guy flies a 747 into the Capitol building. Can the 9-11 victims/families sue Clancy for writing that book? The answer to both is a resounding no. And it's not because of any disclaimer he did or didn't put on the first page of the book. "To me the absolute bottom line is that the kid wrote a story about killing people at his high school, but when questioned "why" he did it by the authorities, he got caught LYING to them." Maybe he was worried that a bunch of wacked out adults would completely overreact and charge him with terrorism if he told the truth....

"You've been so conditioned to having your lives microregulated that you no longer even really perceive that there's any other way to live." Ain't that the damn truth. It's interesting that WE'RE the ones who are accused of being commie-liberals here and the folks who love the idea of a police state are now the conservatives. What's ironic is that most cops don't like the idea of a police state. It's the politicians who do.