In twice calling for a return of school prayer in the last three weeks, Flagler County School Board member John Fischer did so not from good will but out of angry resentment for “special interests” and “political correctness” that he claims are standing in the way of “our rights.” He is offensively wrong, and the school board should resist his call to prayer.
Pierre Tristam
School Security’s Buy-A-Cop Delusions
The Flagler County School board this week will debate adoption of a new security plan that includes adding armed cops in elementary schools. The approach would be costly, ineffective, and more emotional than intelligent. Smarter approaches–and far greater priorities–abound.
Union-Busting’s Tasteless Florida Flavors
Labor union membership has been in precipitous decline since 1980, along with with a decline in job security, workers’ wages and benefits, and Americans’ standard of living. It’s not a coincidence, though the vilification of labor unions continues.
The Thanks and Reverence We Owe Undocumented Immigrants
We’ve admitted that these immigrants aren’t going away. Let’s admit our co-dependence, let’s restore their dignity, and America’s, and admit that illegal immigration is as American as apple pie, if not as American as empanadas.
Arming Teachers Isn’t Enough: A Proposal of Modest Caliber
The NRA’s Wayne LaPierre is proposing having an armed guard in every school. That’s insane, because it’s not enough: teachers, principals, librarians, counselors, bus drivers should all be armed, and of course children, too, should be armed.
Showing Cops the Middle Finger
When John Swartz was arrested for flipping off a cop, he sued, and appears headed for a win–as he should: rude expression is not a crime, and the obscenity is far surpassed by that of cops exercising arbitrary authority over bruised egos.
City Thuggery: Florida Supreme Court Should Ban Red-Light Spy-and-Snap Traffic Cameras
Florida’s new law legalizing red-light cameras ensures that state coffers are on the take. But it does not address the fundamental problems with spy-and-snap cameras. There are innumerable reasons to ban them. There’s only one reason to keep them, and it’s a slimy one: money.
When Flagler’s Firefighters Are A Lot More Than First Responders
When the author’s father died at an assisted living facility in Palm Coast two years ago, paramedics had to be called in to take care of his aunt’s panic attack. What followed illustrates our first responders’ routine and largely unheralded heroism.
The Soft-Core Terrorism
Of Florida’s Gun Worship
Florida’s gun-worship is part of a lethal, juvenile romance for guns and a national disease that doesn’t hesitate to lock and load the words “gun” and “hobby” in the same chamber while vilifying those who’d imply a connection with the consequences.
Morning Sickness: From Kate Middleton To a Dead Woman on I-95
Between a nameless, homeless woman killed on I-95 Wednesday evening and Kate Middleton’s pregnancy, only one of those two items is news. Our media’s pornographic interest in royal exhibitionism ensures that it’s the wrong one every time.
Mazel Not: Israel and the United States, Married on the Wrong Side of History
Israel likes to claim that Palestinians deny Israel’s right to exist. the reality is the opposite. Israel has spent the last six decades denying Palestinians’ right to exist in fact, going as far as denying them their history and identity. The UN vote for Palestinian statehood begins to right the injustice.
Mocking the Pledge of Allegiance
A reporter is fired after only reluctantly mentioning that a city councilman refused to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance in the latest example of ignorance replacing the very values the Pledge stands for, values that apply especially for those who choose to sit it out.
The Palm Coast City Council’s Arrogance Problem
The secret, undemocratic way the Palm Coast City Council went about picking its latest unelected member is the latest disturbing example of a council’s contempt for the public, and of the maneuverings of a manager with a Donald Trump complex.
Amendment Shock: A More Tolerant Nation Is By-Passing Smug, Regressive Florida
Many of Tuesday’s 176 popular referendum that passed speak of a more tolerant, more freedom-loving nation. Except in Florida, where the Legislature’s 11 proposals put the state at odds with national trenbds–and the Florida Legislature at odds with the people it claims to represent.
Fox News and the Politics of Hurricane Obama
On Fox News, Hurricane Sandy’s aftermath was replaced with endless and largely manufactured claims of an Obama cover-up of the attack on the American consulate in benghazi. Fox’s latest Swiftboat attack on the president foundered.
Republican Presumptions Aside, Florida Is Not a One-Party State Yet
Florida is dominated by Republicans, but to argue against the election of a Democrat to the Florida House–as the GOP’s Travis Hutson is arguing in his bid against Milissa Holland–is a reflection of the arrogance of a majority party that considers minorities, if not democracy, irrelevant, and that assumes that once a majority, always a majority.
Smart Meters and the Paranoia of Fake Fears
With smart meters as with numerous other issues, some of our most basic scientific or technological advances are being held hostage to perversions of evidence no more legitimate than superstition and sham controversies.
The Orlando Sentinel Endorses Romney
Right-wingers’ elation at the Romney endorsement aside, to call the Orlando Sentinel liberal of course is to seriously misread the house organ of the Florida Chamber of Commerce, central Florida edition.
Florida Republicans’ Poll Tax Nostalgia
Hoping to minimize Democrats’ turnout, the GOP-dominated Florida Legislature is going out of its way to make voting more of a privilege than an absolute right. There are a few ways to get around the voter-suppression schemes.
Obama’s Clobbering
Mitt Romney demolished the Obama mystique in Denver while Obama surrendered: This is the Obama flincher we’ve come to know. The man of a thousand retreats. The prevaricator. The terminated.
The Palm Coast City Council’s Disturbing Synthetic Marijuana High
On synthetic pot, the Palm Coast City Council and other local governments are being had, as governments trample due process to enforce a legal shortcut against a ghost epidemic–the latest hysteria in the derelict war on drugs.
Where Obama Fear and Loathing Comes From
Charles Kesler’s new book on Barack Obama loathing is a window into the closing of the conservative mind, which Mark Lilla’s review opens a notch to let in a breath of wit–unusual for unusually dour liberals.
Editorial Notebook: September
Vagrant scratches and notes from FlaglerLive editor Pierre Tristam on issues of the day, fugitive quotes, hit-and-run readings, insurgent observations and reflections picked up from the cutting room floor.
Partisanship Works. One-Party States Don’t.
They are two of the most repeated claims you’ll hear every four years: That this is the most important election in our lifetime. And that partisanship is demolishing the country. Rubbish on both counts.
Mitt Romney’s 47 Percent Problem
In 2008 John McCain’s big challenge was to control Sarah Palin’s mouth. In 2012, Mitt Romney’s biggest challenge is to control Mitt Romney’s mouth. His characterization of 47 percent of Americans as victims and dependents, besides being demonstrably false, unravels the cynicism at the core of Romney’s campaign.
When Riots In Defense of Islam Are More Vile Than Any Parody of the Prophet
“Innocence of Muslims” is a vile movie about Islam, but its movie maker had every right to make it, and it is far less vile than the murderous riots Muslim fundamentalists have launched as a result–or Mitt Romney’s political opportunism over the crisis.
From Beirut to 9/11:
When Barbarism Follows Barbarism
Revulsion over the losses in New York and Washington aside, the attack triggered a succession of fears: That the barbarism I so gladly left behind 23 years ago is here.
We’re All Vikings Fans Today: Chris Kluwe Kicks Emmett Burns’s Gay Marriage Bigotries
Maryland lawmaker Emmett Burns wrote a bullying letter to the Baltimore Ravens owner asking him to silence Brendon Ayanbadejo’s support for gay marriage. Chris Kluwe kicked back the most winning answer of the year.
When Lies Are Elevated to a Campaign Strategy
The lies of presidents could re-carve Rushmore by audacity alone, yet the lies of the Romney-Ryan campaign have taken the art of lying to new lows, but not without the complicity of voters, who, in the golden age of fact-checking, have no excuse to be misinformed.
Editorial Notebook: August 2012
Vagrant scratches and notes from FlaglerLive editor Pierre Tristam on issues of the day, fugitive quotes, hit-and-run readings, insurgent observations and reflections picked up from the cutting room floor.
You’ll Shop for 43 Minutes a Day, But You Won’t Take 15 Minutes to Vote Every Two Years
Less than 16 percent of Florida’s eligible voters, and 20 percent of Flagler’s, cast a ballot in last Tuesday’s primary, once again reminding the world that Americans’s interest in community and citizenship is among the lowest of any democracies. Perhaps it’s time to make voting mandatory.
Two White Men Who Like to Cut Things: On Romney’s Nomination of Paul Ryan
Mitt Romney’s pick of Paul Ryan, the seven-term Wisconsin congressman, born during the first Nixon administration, is a puzzling choice, more calculated than inspiring, more cautious than bold, and in some respects, just as strategically faulty as John McCain’s pick of Sarah Palin.
When Good Lawyers Defend Bad Men
Melissa Moore Stens, a candidate for Flagler County judge, has been unfairly criticized for defending Paul Miller, the Flagler Beach man who shot and killed his neighbor over barking dogs. But Paul Miller should be on trial, not his lawyers–or the Sixth Amendment.
The Bigotry of Expediency: Michelle Bachmann and Her Local Disciples
Michelle Bachmann’s bigoted smear of Huma Abedin, the Hillary Clinton aide who happens to be a Muslim, about Abedin’s alleged Muslim Brotherhood connections, is a reflection of a pronounced reactionary-Republican rejection of evidence for ideological expediency.
Drug War Collusion: Top Cops, Lapdog Press, And the Art of Tax-Funded Campaigning
With State Attorney R.J. Larizza, Flagler Sheriff Don Fleming and Putnam Sheriff Jeff Hardy in starring roles (all three are running for re-election next month), Wednesday was the latest shameless example of local and state police using a minor drug sweep for maximum political effect, at taxpayers’ expense.
Editor’s Note: When Comments Are Swift Boats’ Docking Hooks
I’ve been asked why certain comments in the John Pollinger-Anne-Marie Shaffer case were approved, considering their lavish innuendoes and borderline slanders. The decision bears explaining in light of this year’s distinctly foul election season.
A Lifeguard’s Soul,
Outsourced to the Bottom line
Thomas Lopez was fired by Jeff Ellis and Associates, the private company to whom Hallandale Beach outsourced its lifeguard services, when Lopez tried to save a drowning man beyond his jurisdiction. It’s an example of privatization’s immoral priorities.
FlaglerLive Is Moving–Again
Just as we did a year ago, FlaglerLive is moving to a new server yet again, this time a dedicated one, because readership keeps outgrowing our old accommodations. We ask for your patience over the next 72 hours. And donations.
Lord of the Flies On a School Bus: The Bullying of Karen Klein
Karen Klein is the 68-year-old school bus monitor from Greece, N.Y., cruelly bullied by seventh graders and recorded on a YouTube video that went viral. The middle schoolers are acting out the persecuting spirit that christens their daily lives.
Gov. Scott Walker and the Pyrrhic Victories of Union-Bashing
Inspired by Ronald Reagan’s union-busting, the latest round in the war on labor is a self-inflicted wound on the American economy, where workers-union and non-union alike–have been losing ground for 30 years.
The Fear of Mormons
“Making Mormons look bad helps others feel good,” J. Spencer Fluhman, a Mormon scholar, argues, but it neither explains nor justifies the unresolved prejudices and self-serving veils that cling to Mormon dogma.
FPC Commencement 2012
My Daughter, the Graduate
I have covered an endless number of graduations in my career. Tonight, for the first time, my child–my daughter–was among the graduates. There was only one way to cover this one: in the first person.
When Elderly Is an Offensive Term
The elderly are simultaneously the country’s most powerful single demographic and its least respected. But if the elderly don’t want to be infantilized, if they don’t want to be referred to as the elderly, it may be time to means-test the term and the literal benefits it entails.
Gator Shame: Why I’m Relieved My Daughter Won’t Be Attending the University of Florida
Athletics aside, Florida doesn’t take its public universities and public schools seriously, making it difficult for top students to stay here–or for the state to depend on more than tourist ghettoes, sunbathing spreads and Medicare colonies.
Obama’s Come to Jesus Moment on Gay Marriage: More Buchanan Than Lincoln
One might be tempted to see in Barack Obama’s belated embrace of gay marriage a retraction of the infuriatingly compromising president we’ve come endure and a return to the audacious president we thought we were electing four years ago. But that would be projecting a fantasy on a cave wall.
Breastfeeding Frenzy
Time magazine’s cover featuring 26-year-old Jamie Lynne Grumet breastfeeding her nearly 4-year-old son is the latest revival of the old fervors and prejudices surrounding breastfeeding including, unfortunately, the sexualization of an asexual act.
Joe Biden Outs Himself
Joe Biden unequivocally endorsed gay marriage in a Meet the Press interview Sunday, sending the Obama administration scrambling for its latest tangle in hypocrisy.
Rick Scott’s Obsession With Other People’s Urine
Anyone other than my doctor who’d ask me to pee in a cup isn’t just out of line. He’d be out of his mind. Yet an entire industry thrives on such cup-holders, Gov. Rick Scott among them, and millions of Americans are not only complying with the docility of circus animals. They’re encouraging the indignity and asking for more.
American Soldiers Committing Atrocities: Placing the Blame Where It Belongs
From posing with corpses of insurgents to going on murderous rampages, American soldiers’ atrocities in Afghanistan are becoming routine. Without absolving the military of its responsibilities, the real isn’t the soldiers’ alone.
In Defense of Ozzie Guillen: Cuban-Americans Have Held US Policy Hostage Long Enough
The Florida Marlins’ duplicitous suspension of Ozzie Guillen aside, the real scandal is the degree to which South Florida’s Castro-era Cuban community continues to hold American foreign policy hostage to seven decades of juvenile antagonism.