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So much for free speech

Freedom of speech is not absolute, and we all know there are necessary limitations to this right. You know, like slander, libel, and talking about Joe Wilson's super-duper-double-pinky-swear-top-secret-agent wife.

Well the mayor of Boston has just added another limit: t-shirts that say "Stop Snitchin."

No, I'm serious. Boston's Mayor Menino is so offended by this fashion faux pas that he's ordered the shirts banned.


For a city with a reputation as being a bastion of liberal values, Boston has an equally rich history of censorship. In the latest crackdown, Boston mayor Thomas Menino has called for city Inspectional Services Division officials to seize all t-shirts bearing the message "Stop Snitchin'."

"It's wrong," Menino said. "We are going into every retail store that sells the shirts and remove them."


All right, I know this isn't exactly a life-and-death issue, but isn't it a bit unsettling anyway? If freedom of expression applies only to expression that doesn't offend the government, then what's the point in having it?

Comments

I know everything about pop culture phrases given my young mental age, but what the F does the short mean? Am I missing something? Now I want one of them things.

Although it is really the neocons who are after all of our freedoms (the Patriot Act comes to mind) I'll give Barry credit here. Someone should take the mayor of Boston out back and beat the shit out of him.

If I lived close to Boston I would give my car a paint job that looked exactly like that shirt and drive it around all day.

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