At least, that's what's on the sign that got the man in the video arrested.

The arrested man is the Reverend Orlando Bethel, and he is running for president of the United States as the Christian Reform Party candidate. He is waving his "SANTA IS SATAN" sign across the street from a school, apparently in a residential neighborhood in front of a home. (I'd love to know what strange language is being spoken in the background by an unidentified woman during the arrest.)

While Santa's satanism might be the concern in this video, his campaign platform is anti-sodomy and pro-welfare:

Today, Apostle Orlando Bethel, Minister of New Life Gospel Ministries - Repent or Burn in HELL, announced his intention, within the next week to file the official paperwork to run for our nations highest office, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. He is running as the Christian Reform Party - Remove all sodomites.

A speech will be given in Loxley, Alabama courthouse steps with all town supporters present.

Apostle Bethel stated that he plans to "restore America's moral values and ban sodomites from the country as well as divorce and remarriages." These monsterous sins are why GOD is punishing this nation.

Also, Apostle Bethel plans to strenthen the welfare state to include health insurance for all people, including the homeless and raise taxes by 23% on the upper middle class and 32% on the top 1 percent.

Lower middle class and the poor will have ALL taxes eliminated and enjoy all the welfare provided by the upper middle class and the rich.

All information is provided as of 3:25 p.m. CST and approved by Apostle Orlando Bethel.

Your Humble Servent!

Prophetess Gussie

Judge Moore of Alabama said, "we need more Christians who are not afraid of God's word and have been a humble servent of Orlando's for years and give me a first class endorsement for President."

If you really want to read his philosophy, his "Motion TO DISMISS TO WICKED LYING BASTARD JUDGE" is a classic.

While most people would consider him on the outer edge of fringy, Reverend Bethel is being taken seriously by the First Amendment Center, and I do see an interesting First Amendment issue which makes a lot of people uncomfortable.

To what extent are time, place and manner restrictions appropriate?

Is the right to wave "SANTA IS SATAN" signs in front of a school constitutionally protected? This gets into a murky area, as schools are supposed to be places where children have a right to be free from distractions. It's pretty well settled that the First Amendment is not an entitlement to demonstrate in front of private homes, but I don't know about schools.

Can or should the content matter? If it's OK to show kids the "SANTA IS SATAN" sign, how about waving giant bloody pictures of aborted fetuses?

In this video, well known anti-gay/anti-abortion activist Michael Marcavage has his signs taken away by local police in Media, PA. The reason given is that the pictures would "upset the children."

Is that not content related? Sure, the pictures are upsetting, but are they more upsetting than pictures of graphic sex? The latter would not be protected. Nor would signs advertising tobacco.

I think it's inappropriate to wave any of this stuff at children, but by what standard is one worse than the other? Are penises and breasts more upsetting than butchered fetuses? Should they be?

What is the standard, and where is the line drawn, if anywhere?

Does it depend on whether someone might freak out and go ballistic?

When I attended a demonstration in Berkeley I later blogged about, pro-Israel and pro-PLO demonstrators were kept on opposite sides of the street by officers who were understandably concerned about keeping the peace. This struck me as common sense at the time, and I've also read about anti-Bush demonstrators being kept away from the president.

I'm a strong supporter of free speech, but are there practical limitations? I knew a lot of cops, and they want to avoid inflammatory situations, and things like having a nut in a Klan uniform handing out leaflets at a black civil rights gathering tend to scare the crap out of police. So does the idea of anti-gay activists heckling gay events. Is keeping counter-protesters at a distance unconstitutional?

Can deliberately irritating speech constitute a disturbance of the peace? I'm not free to go outside and yell political slogans late into the night; and I see no reason why it would matter if I were yelling religious messages instead. Yet the same behavior would be constitutionally protected in a business district, even if people felt harassed. Do my rights change again in front of a school? What if the school is in a residential neighborhood, and the message is disturbing to children?

I'm not seeing any clearly decipherable lines under the time place and manner exception. Maybe kids just have to tolerate obnoxious nonsense as part of their education. (Considering what passes for education I guess there isn't much harm.)

UPDATE: My thanks to Clayton Cramer for the link. Good questions about the ACLU too.

UPDATE: My thanks to Glenn Reynolds for linking this post. A warm welcome to all!

Obviously, it's getting close to Santa time. And in that respect I do have a question.

Are we still allowed to say "Ho Ho Ho"?