What do you think of 14 yr old girl who threatened President Bush online & got a visit from Secret Service?

They were right in questioning her. Where does one draw the line between a legitimate threat and a mere rant? It is one of the primary jobs of the Secret Service to investigate such things.

At first I thought they were wrong in doing it at the girl's school. But the way the girl's parents are making noise about this it was better that they did. They most likely would have stopped the agents from talking to her without a warrant or lawyer. Then it would have been a long, drawn out process. This way they were able to talk to her and close the file. (Besides she learned her ideas from someone.)

I think that because it was a "threat" towards the president, that it is justified... I don't know if I believe completely about what she was saying about how they were treating her during questioning though... And I do indeed think that her parents should have been present during the questioning. Because we are in a war time environment, the president and secret services do need to be looking out for things like that... She did remove it later, which was definatly a good idea, but she shouldn't along with anyone else have posted that on there... As for freedom of speech, which one person put on here about how republicans are trying to take that away... it is not true... especially in this case... your freedom of speech is only your right when it does not inflict on someone else's rights... Research helps...

It is good to see the Secret Service has so little to do. Personally I would think a call from the local government or police to her parents would have sufficed. Perhaps the Secret Service needs the publicity. Now I would be real concerned if the send the child to Guantanamo. She just might be a dangerous enemy combatant. Then maybe terrorists groups are outsourcing some of the job to teenage girls. The Bush people have great imagination when terror is involved and might exploit this to show the desperation of terrorists. If there is a political advantage the Bush people will find it.

Once the secret service determined that the "threat" came from a 14 year old girl, I don't think tax dollars should have been wasted on a trip to give her a stern talk. A call to her parents or the local police might have been more appropriate.

I DO think the girl should have been held accountable for her actions. Set aside your partisan preferences for a moment. Making threatening images like that is a serious matter. I wonder how she would have felt, and others on this site would react, if another student had posted a similar image about her?

It is a federal offense, and since she did it online, there was no way for the secret service to know if she was a harmless little girl, or a wacko posing as one.

I think every threat should be taken seriously until a full investigation is conducted. You never know - she could have had a home-made bomb or a gun from her parents and tried to actually harm someone. Glad the secret service took the threat seriously.

Everyone has freedom of speech, but threats and hate speech are not permitted.

That just proves Big Brother is watching. They're probably monitoring this site as well, so be careful about what you say. Its ok to criticize and poke fun at Bush (which is easy to do), but don't make threats unless you want a visit from the guys in the black coats and dark sunglasses as well.

Yep.. a federal offense... and the Secret Service is the one group that doesn't require a search-warrant to "stop by and have a chat"...

The liberals might rant and rave over these "Gestapo-tactics", but it has been the law for years and years... "Threat against a Federal Official".

They had a nice little chat with her, informed her of the seriousness of her "prank", and have SINCE ceased investigation on her and closed her file...

Yep, WHO can tell what is serious without investigation... lets remember the two attempts on President Ford, the other attempts on Jackson, BOTH Roosevelt's, Truman, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, and Clinton, and G. W Bush. As well as the successfull assassinations of Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, and Kennedy.

It just goes to show that the Secret Service DOES AND WILL take all threats seriously, minor or not! And they MEAN BUSINESS as far as the safety and well-being of the President and his family is concerned. As in the case, that will teach that 14-year-old girl a very important lesson for threatening the President's life! And that should be the same for everyone else, too! If you would do the same thing, wold you have the dark-suited agents come knocking on your door? I thought so!!! Don't let that happen to you! The Secret Service agents will be watching!

How stupid, i mean yeah what threat is a 14 year old girl, but also how stupid to threaten anyone let alone the leader of our country... juvi hall is not the answer, a better education is!

I teach kids just a bit older than her (sophomores and seniors). They don't really consider the consequences of their actions. They'll say something outrageous and then say, "I"m just playing!" I come from the Sacramento area and the girl is a good girl, just got a little carried away. Interestingly enough, the FBI called her home looking to talk to her and when her mother said she was in school and it could talk to her later, the FBI went to her school and pulled her out of class and talked to her without her parent.