Does the Banner on Mt. Rushmore Represent Freedom of Speech or Trespassing?

Greenpeace is doing us all a favor by advocating for our future. Keep it up.

Greenpeace has it right. Obama needs to get it in gear and act now to save our planet.

They have the right to speak out on the issue, but not by trespassing on Federal grounds. There are legitimate ways to communicate your message, freely and without restraint in America. Take any issue worth attention. Did advocates for breast cancer research violate trespassing laws to communicate their message? Or have they followed legitimate forums to grow their message year after year. I think “stunts” like this delegitimize Greenpeace rather than give them the true voice they need.

Rubbish – the global warming is all rubbish. Every planet in the solar system is warming!
Protesting in this way is more about exploitation of their own group than the cause.

Greepeace is doing nothing more than promoting a religion. Anyone else would be charged, so should they.

Thankfully, we have the rule of law which allows us to stop them if we can and punish them when they are caught. Sure, if the internet isn’t a good enough tool for them, then they get to pay the price when they break a Just Law.

There are other means to have exercise the right to say what Greenpeace said. They were trespassing and defacing a national treasure. They are guilty. The sentence: Take them to the top of Mt. Rushmore. Tell them that they are causing global warming by making so many Americans mad – their temper heat up. Toss them off as an example of what happens to idiots who deface our parks and monuments. Benefit: The wildlife gets a free meal.

Obama cannot save our planet, he is one man. We all have to do our part.
These people were trespassing and arrested as should have happened.

This is yet another example of bed wetting Volvo driving (40 years old living with parents) liberals. They will undoubtedly sue on the grounds of freedom of speech which is total BS. No one has the right to deface a national treasure let alone place a picture of Obama that close to the founding fathers of our nation.

Arrest all of those wacko idiots and put them to work building a border fence with Mexico.

While they have a good cause, there is a time and place for everything, and that banner is in the wrong place. They should be asked to remove it, and then fined if they do not comply.

I checked with my buddies GW TJ & TR.
We agree with Billy C

They certainly should be charged with trespassing. Defacing a neighbors or public property is not a right. When your freedom of speech infringes on my rights and freedoms your freedoms end. Also the issue of global warming is a political hot-potatoe and it has been far from scientifically proven. The actual evidence is that the earth is going into a period of global cooling caused by a decrease in solar activity. Those who wave the banner of global warming are nothing more than communists who seek to destroy the American system of economics. I don’t have a clue what makes these moonbats bark…

I agree with the message.
I respect their willingness to put themselves in danger of prosecution and injury to draw attention to their message.
I believe they should be prosecuted as all trespassers on similar federal property are.
Very simple. They knew what they are doing. They believe in it enough to take the risk. They will do the time.
In response to Billy C. – I bet the Brits thought throwing a bunch of tea in a harbor was a poor way of expressing opinion too.

Some argue that Mt Rushmore defaced the sacred Black Hills, a national treasure of the Sioux (?)… Good for Greenpeace to get their message out; the arrests for trespassing are a consequence. Evidently an effective PR stunt.

Global warming is not the problem it’s over population. Why are people unable to see this?

Green Peace = Terrorist

Highly offended. There are better ways to make a point. Greenpeace needs to grow up.

Do they have the right to their message? Yes.
Is it proper to display that message temporarily on Mt. Rushmore? Maybe.
Should they be arrested for climbing on a protected national monument that is already under intense care from the National Park Service due to cracks in the rocks? Absolutely.
Greenpeace – please do not cause irreversible environmental damage to a treasured national monument in the name of environmental protection, and then cry about free speech. People – GET A CLUE! Hanging of Capitol Building in DC – OK. Hanging off Mt. Rushmore – shame on you, because you knew (or should have known) better.

This is poor media coverage. Starting with the title. This is not an “or” discussion. This is clearly freedom of Speech “and” trespassing. However, this is not the discussion we should be having in the first place. The discussion needs to be about leadership and about challenging our own viewpoints on what is being done, or not done, to reverse the damages we have inflicted upon this world and ourselves. I personally applaud Greenpeace for taking non-violent action on a very critical issue. Sure, there different methods to get the message across, in fact, there are endless posibilities. If you disagree on the basis of how to get the message across then take action however you see fit. Greenpeace damaged nothing but your ego. I challenge anyone who doesn’t agree with Greenpeace to take action and maybe if you are good enough at getting your message across and creating positive change in this world there will be no need for Greenpeace. I would love to see that day. Until then, Greenpeace has my full support.

I would have loved to have been a tourist that day and have my pictures of the occasion muddled up by some extreme environmental whackos. I believe in free speech, but I think this was inappropriate.

100 years from now, these people will be laughed at, with this picture next to a graph of world temperature trends.
The section in the history books will be about how stupid most people were in the early 21st century because of government efforts to make people stupid via purposefully bad public schools, Hollywood brain sludge, Celebrity gossip on the evening news, etc.
There is plenty to be concerned about the environment. Why not draw attention to cleaning up the ocean? Why not support nuclear fission power to reduce coal pollution? Why not demand better internet speeds like the rest of the world has, to increase telecommuting and decrease actual commuting?
But man made global warming is just another stupid religious cult.

The flip side of the Right to Speech is the Right Not to Listen. Of the two, the second is more important: Using shock tactics denies me my right to ignore you. There are many legitimate avenues to express an opinion, resorting to shock tactics indicates a failure of the messenger.

First of all, a U.S. citizen can’t be trespassing on federally owned property since the government is of the people, by the people and for the people. Secondly, a removable banner is not graffiti and does not constitute “defacing” the monument.

Heck, I’m a freakin’ liberal, but I think Greenpeace may have gone a little too far on this one.

THERE IS SIMPLY NO FIRST AMENDMENT SPEECH ISSUE HERE!!! Even in public parks the government can regulate speech so long as the regulation is content-neutral and narrowly tailored to achieve an important interest. It’s doubtful the top of Rushmore is a “public park,” but even if it were the government certainly would have an important interest in prohibiting all persons from engaging in such a dangerous stunt as GP did today. YES, I’M A LAWYER.

Park Service sharpshooters should have taken the park defacing bandits down with head shots. No one has the right to deface our national park monuments.

So what’s the next Greenpeace action to get their word out? Defacing the hot pools and geysers at Yellowstone Park because they contribute to global warming?
What about all the people who traveled for miles to see this monument – only to have their special occasion wrecked?
Make an example of this scum.

Ken430TX Bully! We’ve got a few positions open for rough riders. You might just fit right in!

Well done Greenpeace. Sadly this is required to get peoples attention. If they hung the banner off a bridge somewhere, it would have only made the local news instead of a world wide audience like they just did.
The ignorant ones that believe scientist’s beholden to big business and believe the Planet isn’t in peril have and always will have their head in the sand. Ignorance runs rampant in this country.

Hey, Im a tree hugger to, but climbing the cliffs of Mount Rushmore National Monument an unfurling a banner next an partially cover Abe is absolutely intolerable. If your going to compose yourselves such as the actions described in the article, please green peace go back to England or where ever your based.

Greenpeace has no right to deface public property in any way but their global warming lies are their religion. If they would actually look at accurate scientific research, findings and historical records, they would see any warming is caused by solar activity and cycles. I think they should go to India and China (who are the biggest polluters) and pull their stunts.

YES!! YESSSSSSSSSS!!! this is AWESOME! go Greenpeace, now the world will be more aware of our environmental issues! :)
btw True American, ever planet in the solar system is NOT like earth, so its not warming.

Obama isn’t doing much about global warming so Greenpeace is doing the world a favor, and i really encourage Greenpeace. keep it up! you’re awesome!

How appropriate that the banner was placed next to Abraham Lincoln! I am almost certain Lincoln would probably agree that more action is urgently needed from the Obama administration to avert future environmental disasters due to human-caused climate change.
To those of you who disagree with the overwhelming majority of the scientific community, i.e. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that global warming is indeed occurring and that it will cause significant environmental problems, I propose that you may want to consider erring on the side of caution, given that the future is not ours to foresee, or ours to take away from our children. I ask, where is the harm in taking precautions, such as working on solutions to end our dependency on fossil fuels for energy, and reevaluating our wasteful life styles to see if we can have less of an impact on the planet? After all, the last time I checked, Earth is the only habitable planet in this part of the galaxy.
As far as I am concerned, we need more people like the Greenpeace volunteers to speak up for the environment and against corporate interests. President Obama needs to grow a spine and do what’s right for the people and the planet, not what’s right for the corporate bullies infesting Washington.

I’m glad they put up a banner. We’ll survive the temporary banner, but not the stupidity that leads head-in-the-sand right-wing ditto heads to shout down sane voices. The planet is warming, folks. Check the rising sea levels! It’s too late anyway for moderation – but we humans are pretty good at scrambling once damage becomes obvious and we really get the issue.

Greenpeace is a disgrace. This event is an afterthought.

also the assumption presumed in the question, “Are you offended…” I’m offended by the question. I’m offended that Obama, Congress and the Senate have so catered to established energy producers at the risk of long-term health of communities. Whether or not you believe in global warming, the detrimental affects of the weakened climate bill serves those in power, not you.

This is an example of free speech AND trespassing.
The people who did this were very consciously breaking the law to make a point, and draw attention to their just and important cause. Kind of like when a group of founding fathers dumped a bunch of tea into the Boston Harbor in 1773.
I think that if Washington was alive today, he’d be glad to see that democracy – and dissent – in this country are alive and kicking.

Well When those Most concerned and most convinced that Global Warming is due to Human activity, instead of political or profit motives I will care about it.
Anyone that researches even a little, will quickly find that Al Gore is vested in a number of companies that will profit greatly but Global Warming fears and remediation…
And the new Carbon Cap and Trade, or Carbon taxes are more about profit than about fighting global warming.

HA – yeah, Annon, Global Warming is just “political”! And we musn’t let anyone profit by SAVING the environment, mustn’t we? Profit should only be made DESTROYING the Earth, eh? What a loose/loose mentality you have!

So I am not one to ever comment on any of these stories, this is my first posting. BUT, Greenpeace has got it RIGHT! What is so wrong with standing up for what is right! So, Global Warming is one of the hottest topics in the world, and here is an independent organization who is willing to stand up for it. Why do certain individuals have issues with this? Is it because this group has survived for so many decades without a penny from governments or corporations? Is it because this group is made of a strong core of individuals who are willing to face scrutiny for being to radical ( and by radical I mean people who live by a moral obligation to non violent direct action!) ? Oh God where would the world be if smart aware non violent individuals stood up for what was obviously right????? Are we really thinking about what they did to a monument? Let us take a moment and be happy people like this exist! We should be so lucky!

This was incredibly disrespectful to the presidential busts carved into the mountain. Shame on you Green Peace. Go Back to Europe.

I think that while global warming is an important issue, there are better ways to get the attention of the President and the American people than to deface an iconic national monument. What Greenpeace has done is disregard the respect such a monument deserves, and turned it into an ad. This is unacceptable, and the organization needs to apologize to the American people for violating a very important landmark that stands for the founding, expansion, preservation, and unification of the United States. It’s simply unacceptable, what they’ve done.
Ben Wieneke
Airman First Class, USAF

Chairman O stated that the average American would not bear the brunt of this historic tax-increase, claiming instead that: “It is paid for by the polluters who currently emit dangerous carbon emissions.”
Just compare this blatant falsehood to Ronald Reagans’ timeless wisdom:
“The most dangerous myth is the demagoguery that business can be made to pay a larger share, thus relieving the individual. Politicians preaching this are either deliberately dishonest, or economically illiterate, and either one should scare us.
…Only people pay taxes, and people pay as consumers every tax that is assessed against a business.”
And after the way they rammed this stuff through the House with little debate, without legislators even reading it… and while quarantining the GOP from any meaningful input whatsoever, any foolhardy individuals who still believe Obama’s threadbare “bipartisanship” spiel ought to have their head examined.

I don’t get why everyone is saying they defaced the monument, there’s no damage to it.

These Greenpeace activists risked their lives and took a huge risk for the sake of getting an important message out to the public. Their actions are nothing but admirable.Similar risks were taken during the Civil Rights movement, and today we view those people as heroes. Global warming is REAL and Greenpeace is using genuine scientific evidence that is supported by an overwhelming majority of scientists and climatologists. The activists did not permanently damage Mt. Rushmore in any way, but instead used it as a unique and high profile stage to publicize an important issue to both citizens and politicians. The risk they took shows the utmost concern for our country, its people, and its environment. As Thomas Jefferson once said, “Dissent is the highest form of patriotism!”

President Obama needs to step it up when it comes to global warming. This is a crisis, and Americans wants leaders in times like these, not politicians. People from all around the world got this message when Greenpeace climbed Mt. Rushmore. Good for them – this is brave and not everyone could do it, but I appreciate their efforts.
Its also worth noting that many laws have been broken in the past to push for whats right. And Mt. Rushmore is a mountain on sacred Indian land with faces gouged into it. I’m not too concerned about Greenpeace finally using it for something important.