American Republic Online

Dave Barry, a now-retired humorist, now has a new label: "patently offensive."  This is not a label your editor would have chosen.  In fact, I remember one of Barry's columns bemoaning the new standards of water-consumption in toilets.  The humor was intensified by the fact that, at the time, my grandfather had been holding out replacing his own toilet until he figured out a way to smuggle one from another country that "flushes like a man requires…"

But back to our story: it seems a graduate student posted one of Barry's quotes on his door.  The departmental administration found it "patently offensive," and it was removed.  The quote?  ARO has reprinted it here in its entirety. Warning: not for the easily offended.

“As Americans we must always remember that we all have a common enemy, an enemy that is dangerous, powerful, and relentless. I refer, of course, to the federal government.”

(Note: this was not a satire of Bush and Condoleezza Rice, nor a picture of a partial-birth abortion.  Just a quote.)  

I wonder if the same policy will be enforced when a professor posts a critique of the President in 08?