http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/24/business/24onion.html

October 24, 2005
Protecting the Presidential Seal. No Joke.
KATHARINE Q. SEELYE

You might have thought that the White House had enough on its plate late last month, what with its search for a new Supreme Court nominee, the continuing war in Iraq and the C.I.A. leak investigation. But it found time to add another item to its agenda - stopping The Onion, the satirical newspaper, from using the presidential seal.

The newspaper regularly produces a parody of President Bush's weekly radio address on its Web site (http://www.theonion.com/content/node/40121), where it has a picture of President Bush and the official insignia.

"It has come to my attention that The Onion is using the presidential seal on its Web site," Grant M. Dixton, associate counsel to the president, wrote to The Onion on Sept. 28. (At the time, Mr. Dixton's office was also helping Mr. Bush find a Supreme Court nominee; days later his boss, Harriet E. Miers, was nominated.)

Citing the United States Code, Mr. Dixton wrote that the seal "is not to be used in connection with commercial ventures or products in any way that suggests presidential support or endorsement." Exceptions may be made, he noted, but The Onion had never applied for such an exception.

The Onion was amused. "I'm surprised the president deems it wise to spend taxpayer money for his lawyer to write letters to The Onion," Scott Dikkers, editor in chief, wrote to Mr. Dixton. He suggested the money be used instead for tax breaks for satirists.

More formally, The Onion's lawyers responded that the paper's readers - it prints about 500,000 copies weekly, and three million people read it online - are well aware that The Onion is a joke.

"It is inconceivable that anyone would think that, by using the seal, The Onion intends to 'convey... sponsorship or approval' by the president," wrote Rochelle H. Klaskin, the paper's lawyer, who went on to note that a headline in the current issue made the point: "Bush to Appoint Someone to Be in Charge of Country."

Moreover, she wrote, The Onion and its Web site are free, so the seal is not being used for commercial purposes. That said, The Onion asked that its letter be considered a formal application to use the seal.

No answer yet. But Trent Duffy, a White House spokesman, said that "you can't pick and choose where you want to enforce the rules surrounding the use of official government insignia, whether it's for humor or fraud."

O.K. But just between us, Mr. Duffy, how did they find out about it?

"Despite the seriousness of the Bush White House, more than one Bush staffer reads The Onion and enjoys it thoroughly," he said. "We do have a sense of humor, believe it or not."

I will be looking forward to this week's Onion.

This gives the Onion some strange new credibility...

I the Onion. I also the fact that the president is threatened by the Onion.

My faith in democracy has been reawakened, slightly.

is this irrefutable proof that it is simply chaos in the white house and no one knows what they are doing?

I can't believe an advisor to the president wouldn't say, "the law is clear on this, but let's not go after this since it could grow to something that simply isn't worth it."

For an administration that wanted to reduce lawyers and frivilous lawsuits, they seem to be using a lot of lawyers and starting some idiotic lawsuits.

Sincerely,
Your Bipartisan friend

I think what we've been seeing for the past few months is George W. Bush driving the ship of state, something that probably has not really happened before, at least not to this extent. His two main handlers, Karl Rove and Dick Cheney are both in a world of shit, and are too busy trying to keep themselves out of jail to be staging Bush's every word and deed as they have for the past six years.

This one with The Onion though, is particularly funny. Think about this. Whose job is it to finally decide whether something like this should or should not be pursued? I'll give you a hint. She's currently a nominee for SCOTUS.

Jon Stewart's gonna have a field day with this...


PS What's with the new "message icon" gizo? I couldn't resist clicking on one.

You said something there, punkdavid. This is an example of Bush reverting to his adopted cowboy roots. You can almost hear him saying, "You're desecratin' my name, pardner." I don't know why, but I pictured Viggo Mortensen saying that.

God job, White House! I didn't even know this section of the Onion existed. Now I will be checking it weekly!

I get really annoyed by this sort of stuff. Yes it is funny, but how literally some people take it. As if the White House stopped what they were doing, read this article, raised us up a Defcon, and then mailed a threatening letter. This Dixton character, (if any of you knew who he was before the letter let me know) writes a letter, and then these reactions condemning it are as ridiculous as taking the Onion seriously in the first place. Some douche in the White House wrote a stupid letter, I doubt it goes much deeper then that. I just doubt this dude went up to Bush and said "we have a problem here" and the President after consulting with his second bitch in command ordered it done. It would be nice if people could comment on these things without stupifying them further.

Who authorized sending the letter? It was most likely not the President. This letter came from the office of the White House Counsel. Are they asserting a legitimate right? Yes, I would say they are. Is this a "good move" politically?

Good move/ Bad move, it isn't the sort of thing that people care about. It is funny, that is all. Making it into something bigger just seems off.

you people are amazing

What's wrong, father?

i just find it amazing, a website that regularly bashes the administration, does something against the law, and dont think for an instant they didnt know using the presidental seal was against the law, and they get nailed on it, and all of a sudden its boo hoo hoo, the admin has no sense of humor

I don't think anyones boo-hooing this one, everyone seems to find it pretty funny.

toe mayto

toe mato

Did you know using the presidential seal in this way was illegal before reading this thread?

Yeah, I didn't think so.

actually i did, and i didnt read the article, i read the title. so if you want to get off your smug high horse and stop being a tool, feel free