The Occasional Observer

Don't know if you caught this story:

Buss, a former president of the teacher's union, allegedly wrote that teacher salaries made him sick because they are lazy and work only five hours a day. He praised the teen gunmen who killed 12 students and a teacher before committing suicide in the April 1999 attack at Columbine High School.

"They knew how to deal with the overpaid teacher union thugs. One shot at a time!" he wrote, adding they should be remembered as heroes.

The comment disturbed at least one teacher, who called police in West Bend, 40 miles north of Milwaukee and home of the blog's administrator. Police traveled to arrest Buss at his home in Cudahy, south of Milwaukee, last week after the blogger gave them the anonymous poster's IP address.

After his arrest, Buss spent an hour in the Washington County jail before he was released on $350 bail. He did not return phone messages and e-mails seeking comment, and it was unclear whether he had a lawyer.

Washington County District Attorney Todd Martens is considering whether to charge Buss with disorderly conduct and unlawful use of computerized communication systems.

OK, first for my procedural beef here. Maybe it's just b/c I'm familiar with NY and not with WI procedure, but how can this guy be released on bail if there are no charges yet filed? Wouldn't he have to have been arraigned to be released on bail? Also, wouldn't the police need an arrest warrant (and hence the DA's cooperation) to arrest a man in his home when there were no exigent/emergency circumstances (i.e., the post didn't say, "I'm going to shoot those teachers in 2 hours")?

Now to the more substantive issue: what the heck? No one who knows me will confuse me with an anti-police lefty, but (I can't believe I'm saying this) this case almost makes me glad the ACLU is out there. OK, not really. Can't overlook all the other sins of the organization, but this is a truly disturbing arrest.