Secret Service visits the kids at Boulder High

If anyone was wondering if BushCo noticed those kids who protested with a sit-in to voice their concerns after the election. They did. The secret service visited Boulder High School.

What better way to squelch dialogue and civic involvement than to hound the young patriots with your goons.

Denver's NBC affiliate, Channel 9 has the story.

BOULDER - Two secret service agents paid a visit to Boulder High School Thursday to investigate rumors that a high school band had been practicing a song that contained lyrics threatening President Bush.

The band, which had planned to call itself "Tali-Banned," was set to play a cover of Bob Dylan's Masters of War at the school's "Talent Expose" Friday. The final verse of the song includes the words "Your death will come soon." During the song, the students planned to use images of President Bush and war in the background. The band has since decided to call itself "Coalition of the Willing"

The school's principal says the band never threatened President Bush. He says the students in the band were merely expressing their political views.

"Students have an opportunity to express different opinions - political and otherwise - in the talent show, and have done so for years," said Ron Cabrera, Boulder High School principal.

Two Boulder High School teachers, who had planned on playing in the band, have decided not to do so. One of the teachers also helped a group of students last week who stage an overnight sit-in in the school's library.

If there is anyone out there who has any doubts about how at-risk our basic freedoms/bill of rights have become under this regime, time to pull your head out of the sand. This administration's penchant for secrecy and intimidation to wield its corrupt power has the makings of a real repressive regime.

•  we should by the CD

  if the band in the article cuts an album, we should all buy the CD.

  by throwlikeagirl on Fri Nov 12, 2004 at 01:09:29 PM PDT

•  I saw this

  story earlier and there was more to it. The whole thin was brought on by a wingnut radio show saying this was a threat to the President.

  The Secret Service has a duty to check all of that kind of thing out. They checked, the teacher showed them the lyrics and they left with no further action. That's exactly how it should have been handeled.

  by Mike S on Fri Nov 12, 2004 at 01:18:47 PM PDT

  •  aoeu

    Some say the radio host has slipped in a few words of "death" next to Bush's name.

    by TealVeal on Fri Nov 12, 2004 at 01:20:51 PM PDT

  •  Here it is

    Rumors were rampant that during an audition and rehearsal for today's talent show, the students changed Dylan's powerful last verse at the end of the song to say that they hoped that President Bush was going to die.

    The last verse begins: "And I hope that you die; And your death'll come soon."

    Secret Service agents interviewed Cabrera on Thursday to determine what all the uproar was about and whether any threats were being made against the president's life.

    "They were following up and doing their due diligence," Cabrera said of the agents' visit. "They had been receiving calls from the community and, in the course of the talk show, felt like they had heard (the students) inciting physical harm to the president."

    Cabrera said he talked to the students and teachers who have been working with them, and he was told the group, which calls itself the Coalition of the Willing, made no reference to Bush.

    "I don't know why it surfaced," Cabrera said of the complaints. "I think they're surprised by all the allegations."

    Cabrera said he also showed the agents the lyrics of the entire song. The agents appeared to have left satisfied that no bona-fide threat was being directed at the president, he said.

    by Mike S on Fri Nov 12, 2004 at 01:24:56 PM PDT

    •  link

      link

      by Mike S on Fri Nov 12, 2004 at 01:25:44 PM PDT

  •  Since when is wishing someone is going to die

    a threat?  This is totally and completely absurd, especially considering these are high school kids, not adults.  I'm sure that impressed the whole school about their rights to protest and express their opinions.  

    by otis704 on Fri Nov 12, 2004 at 01:32:15 PM PDT

    •  It is against

      the law to make a threat against the President. A law I firmly believe in and I find no problem with them investigating it.

      by Mike S on Fri Nov 12, 2004 at 01:38:51 PM PDT

      •  But you didn't answer otis.

        "I wish you were dead" is very different from saying "I'm going to kill you."

        by upstate NY on Fri Nov 12, 2004 at 02:35:25 PM PDT

        •  They were told

          there was a threat and they investigated. They obviously agree with you, and me, that there was no threat.

          by Mike S on Fri Nov 12, 2004 at 02:48:26 PM PDT

  •  edited the title..

    to be less alarmist...
    but i can't say that your post makes it seem more benign..it seems awfully coincidental. also, what kind of strange "neighbor watch" is at play there to have such attention focused on a high school student garage band by a right wing radio show.

    by throwlikeagirl on Fri Nov 12, 2004 at 01:33:50 PM PDT

    •  I had to double

      check that it was the same incident. The articled you posted would have had the same effect on me as you.

      by Mike S on Fri Nov 12, 2004 at 01:42:17 PM PDT

•  The School

  should not have admitted the SS Agents without a warrant.

  by ben masel on Fri Nov 12, 2004 at 01:36:52 PM PDT