Book exchange at work: I defaced the cover of "Bush at War" by

[rainy]

writing War Criminal on the cover. I am an Art teacher and in the lounge they have a stack of books for teachers to read and return and add new books to. I saw "Bush at War" by Bob Woodard (sp) and wrote War Criminal on the cover. Do you think I could get in trouble for this? If someone says they are offended I could just say me too by Bush's face on the cover.

[elperromagico]

1. Well, it's not your book. n/t

[SmokingJacket]

3. Nevertheless...

How cool to have an art teacher who would do that!!!

[DrDebug]

2. Blame it on the students n/t

[Richardo]

4. Well, it's not your property and you defaced it.

I'm against it. Just because something offends you doesn't mean you can vandalize it.

Plus, there's the first amendment issue.

Besides, you wouldn't want someone defacing a Michael Moore or Al Franken cover, would you?

Bottom line: I'm afraid that was pretty childish.

And yes, I'd say you could get in trouble for it.

[AlCzervik]

5. imo that was childish, you're a teacher, set a good example.

[ISUGRADIA]

6. If its not your property you had no right to deface it

"If someone says they are offended I could just say me too by Bush's face on the cover."

I'd be mad as hell if someone had put graffiti on my car's Kerry abd Mark Dayton bumperstickers and came back with an excuse like that.

[Kikosexy2]

7. No horns...

and devilish mustache/goatee drawn on his face??

[NorthernSpy]

8. books are sacred

That's my gut reaction. Destroying one is my atheistic brain's idea of blasphemy.

Bad books are to be cherished forever as evidence against the people who wrote them.

[ISUGRADIA]

9. "Bad books are to be cherished forever as evidence"

Great point. I think even the most offensive book should be protected as it is evidence of the evil of its time. Conversely, we've lost untold books because of those holier than thou book burning types who find knowledge and ideas heritical or dangerous.

[yorkiemommie1]

10. bring one of yours (Economic Hit Man or ...

... John Dean's or Richard Clark' or Paul O'Neil's etc.

and borrow the Bush one.

Economic Hit Man would be my first choice to 'swap'

[rainy]

11. God, I feel awful now. Just was an impulse. It was the paper cover

not the book itself. You guys are right though. What if it was Hitler's face on a book cover? I guess it would be just as bad. I'll take the cover off of the book tomorrow if it's not too late. The books are not expected to be returned to the original owners. They are left there for anyone to take or borrow.

[Seabiscuit]

14. Therefore they are nobody's personal property until someone takes

them home to keep, they're just as much yours as anyone else's, and you haven't committed any legal offense. Words like "defacing" are legal expressions, and wouldn't apply here.

OTOH, I'd work on curbing any impulse to do it again. One of your supervisors may be some right-wing fundie and enjoy threatening you for such random and thoughtless acts of patriotism. :)

I've been tempted many times to do something like that when in bookstores. Occasionally I'll turn around some Ann Coulter books or something so they all face the wall, but that's about it. The pleasure is fleeting - they'll be staring out from the wall again by the next morning and I won't be there to lend another helping hand.

[yorkiemommie1]

16. so the books are nobody's property

are they?

[rainy]

17. no, they are put in the box and not expected to be returned to the

original owner. You can take it home and read it. Keep it, or return it to the box.

[Jara sang]

12. That is great.

Print up a bunch of leaflets of same and go to Borders and slip them inside the ones there too.

[WI_DEM]

13. on the other hand it is better than burning the book

I don't blame you wanting to do it, but I guess I would not have done it since it wasn't my property--if it's mine--I'd probably do alot worse.

[MrScorpio]

15. Bush never respected Iraq's property. That makes him a

War Criminal.

I'm sure you can see the irony here.