Jack Cowardin, the St. Augustine novelist, has been corresponding with Harper Lee for years. His take on the controversy over the staging of the play by FPC’s Drama Club: Let it go on unmolested by political correctness.
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In Her Own Words, Please: A Friend of
The National Coalition Against Censorship’s Letter to Janet Valentine
“We urge you to encourage student creativity and civic engagement, and to teach students the skills to discuss opposing views respectfully,” the NCAC writes. “We urge you to allow the students to perform the play.”
National Coalition Against Censorship Urges Valentine To Reverse Mockingbird Decision
The strongly-worded letter from a coalition representing 50 organizations of actors, writers, educators and clerics calls on Superintendent Valentine to enrich the conversation on race and culture, not restrict it.
Mockingbird Appeals Committee’s Challenge: Loyalty to “Protocol” vs. Free Expression
Interviews with appeals committee members reveal a divide between instinctive revulsion of censorship and hesitancy over second-guessing a principal’s decision even as the facts of the case continue to be muddled by unspecified generalities.
Shapiro: In the End, It’s the Profanity of Censorship Against the Sacredness of Learning
In a column on the Mockingbird controversy at FPC, Rabbi Merill Shapiro argues that whatever the merits of administrative issues, “the profanity of censorship,” in the end, “has no place in our community.”
Before School Censors: When Mockingbird‘s Harper Lee Spoke Proudly of Flagler County
In 2002, Harper Lee addressed Flagler County proudly when her book was the centerpiece of county-wide events. The school district’s censoring of the play this month contrasts sharply with that progressive history.
Citing Vague Fears, School District Suppresses Stage Production of To Kill a Mockingbird
Students and faculty had no issues with the production’s use of the word “nigger,” as in the book and the movie. A Palm Coast city councilman and other unnamed “community members” did, leading FPC Principal and Superintendent Janet Valentine to censor the play.
How Republicans Became America’s Arabs
That’s the strength behind the Republican No, as it is behind the Arab No, the Islamist No in particular: it appeals to some mythical, mass-marketable golden age. No proof necessary.
The Live Wire, Oct. 19: Florida Apartheid, Rick Scott’s Fuzziness and an Unsavory Duke List
Arizona’s war on undocumented immigrants migrates to Florida, in a whiter worse version, Rick Scott has memory problems under oath, the “Duke Screw List” surfaces, and more.
When Courts and the Justice Department Conceal, Deceive and Lie: A Gitmo Fabrication
A U.S. District Court opinion about an Al-Qaeda suspect held at Guantanamo Bay’s Gitmo prison was removed from circulation and rewritten, revealing critical alterations and insights into the Justice Department’s elaborate deceptions, which undermine the credibility of the court system.
The City of Palm Coast’s Problem With Breast Cancer Awareness Month? Not Regulation.
Lenny Grocki, a Palm Coast utilities employee, was told to go home and take off his pink steel-toed boots. When he switched to pink laces and pink socks, he was told he’d face disciplinary action for those, too.
The Live Wire, Oct. 7: Mario Vargas Llosa, “Christian” Homophobes, Soldiers and Privacy
The Nobel Prize goes to a great writer for once: Mario Vargas Llosa; plus the Supreme Court case on homophobes at soldiers’ funerals and more on privacy, obesity and hometown democracy.
Idioting Up Over Islam, Rev. Franklin Graham Reveals America’s More Present Dangers
This time, Rev. Franklin Graham is unable to get away with his usual offenses and fallacies on Islam during a town hall with Christiane Amanpour.
Creationism Creeping Back Into a Florida Science Textbook Is Necessarily Excised
Florida Citizens for Science detect inaccuracies and flat-out misrepresentations of evolutionary science in a marine science textbook; state officials appear ready to delete the creationism-inspired passages.
Ending 33-Year Disgrace, Appeals Court Rules Florida’s Gay Adoption Ban Unconstitutional (Updated)
Updated at 2:55 p.m. The unanimous decision found no rational basis in the state’s prohibition on gay adoptions, and Gov. Crist, who’d once supported the ban, termed the decision “great.”
The Live Wire, Sept. 22: Senate Does in Gays (Again), Crist Does Disney
The Senate sticks it to gays in the military and to potential citizens, Charlie Crist’s Disney finances are murky, poverty as a conspiracy of fees, a firing at UF, and more.
Obama Condemns Gainesville Koran-Burning as FBI Warns of Possible Retaliation in Florida
As protesters burn Gainesville Pastor Terry Jones in effigy and the FBI warns of possible retaliations in Florida, Obama joins condemnations of the planned Koran-burning.
Gen. Patraeus Warns: If Gainesville “Church” Burns Korans, U.S. Troops Will Be Targeted
A Gainesville “church”‘s plan to burn Korans on to commemorate 9/11 “could endanger troops and it could endanger the overall effort,” Petraeus said. The Koran-burning preacher is unmoved.
Mosque Madness and the Shame of New York
As a model of understanding, New York City was once an American redemption. Relatively, anyway. Not anymore, as a majority of New Yorkers are joining the mob-like reaction against an Islamic center near Ground Zero.
Neo-Supremacy Chic: Glenn Beck
And Sarah Palin’s Tea-Scalding of MLK
Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin’s biggest “tea party” rally on the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s most famous speech signals the arrival of a neo-supremacist political movement in god’s clothing.
Supreme Court Still Silent on Proposal to Exclude Floridians From Federal Health Reform
Amendment 9, bumped off the November ballot by a lower court for being misleading, would ban laws that would make health insurance a requirement from taking effect in Floria.
Is Fox News a Terrorist Command Center? Stewart Asks, and Answers
A couple of clips attempt to set Rupert Murdoch and other American mullahs straight on their opposition to the so-called Ground Zero mosque.
Breaking His Silence, Obama Defends Mosque Near Ground Zero
The president’s Ramadan speech at the White House was not as soaring as Mayor Bloomberg’s defense of the Islamic center in Lower Manhattan, but it was forceful and left no doubts about the president’s stance.
“Burn the Koran Day” in Gainesville: When Crude Isn’t the Only Thing Mucking Up Florida
Terry Jones’ “Dove World Outreach Center” in Gainesville slimes Florida, but no more so than Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin are sliming American values in the name of the worst of Western civilization.
Opposition to the Mosque “At” Ground Zero Desecrates American Values
Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich and other reactionaries’ opposition to a mosque near ground zero offends liberty at the expense of the dead of 9/11.
The Judge Behind the Decision Striking Down Parts of Arizona’s Anti-Immigration Law
Judge Susan Bolton, responsible for seven suits filed against Arizona’s immigration law, was recommended for the federal bench by a Republican senator, nominated by Bill Clinton and confirmed unanimously in 2000.
More Incitement to Violence Against Florida’s Alan Grayson
A $100 reward is put out to punch Florida Congressman Alan Grayson. A death threat follows, not for the first time.
School Board: Closing Carver Gym Not an Option; How Bunnell Killed Carver Housing
The school district is adding its voice to a chorus of protest and damning history against closing Carver Gym.
From Times Square to Jacksonville:
When Terrorism Is a Double-Standard
When the target of terrorism is recognizably American, it’s a national crisis. When the target of terrorism is a mosque in Jacksonville, nobody cares. Why is that?
Why Tea Parties Are More Bunkers than Bunker Hill
The tea party’s booting out of Utah Sen. Robert Bennett from his state’s GOP primary, despite Bennett’s extreme conservative credentials, is emblematic of a movement in the grip of its own delusions.
Florida’s Abortion Follies:
When Lawmakers Are Sexual Predators
Florida’s latest anti-abortion legislation shows that sexual predators aren’t just the monsters who assault and rape. They can also be men who control women and girls by subordinating them their moral assumptions, which usually have immoral results.
Gov. George W. Bush’s Jesus Day Proclamation in Texas
In 2000, while thick in his first campaign for the presidency, then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush issued a proclamation declaring June 10 “Jesus Day.” Here’s the full text and an image of the proclamation.
“Day of Inclusivity” Answers National Day of Prayer May 6
Americans United for Separation of Church and State’s Day of inclusivity is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Heroes Park in Palm Coast, with speakers including Merrill Shapiro and the ACLU’s George Griffin.
Harry Truman’s National Day of Prayer Proclamation, 1952
Harry Truman was the first American president to declare a National Day of Prayer, in 1952–on July 4 that year.
Barack Obama’s Presidential Proclamation
National Day of Prayer
On April 30, 2010, in contravention to a federal judge’s ruling in Wisconsin, President Obama issued a proclamation designating May 6 a National Day of Prayer.
In Alabama, They Speak Ass
Alabama Republican candidate Tim James pledge to ban non-English driving tests, in a campaign video, is xenophobic mob appeal.
Arizona Boots Up Brown Immigrants’ Guantanamo
The virus that led to Arizona’s anti-immigration law has crossed Arizona’s borders into the rest of America. Its carrier is as white as a bed sheet and by far the greater threat to America’s character than anything that ever crossed the Rio Grande.
Palm Coast Joins County in (Unspoken) KKK Denunciation
The city will re-post the same statement Flagler County posted on its website last week. The statement doesn’t mention the KKK.
KKK Confirms: We’re Recruiting in Flagler
In an interview with FlaglerLive, KKK Imperial Wizard Cole Thornton says the drive will continue across the state. Dan Warren recommends vigilance.
Why Is Flagler Being Mealy-Mouthed Over KKK Fliers?
How easy to pick at an obvious target like the KKK, and easier still to do it in language that commits to nothing more than fortune-cookie bromides. How meaningless too.
Flagler County Commission Statement on KKK and Diversity
The Flagler County Commission’s April 15, 2010 statement denouncing the KKK–without mentioning it by name.
Is KKK Recruiting in Palm Coast?
A resident of Palm Coast’s U Section along Seminole Woods awoke Easter morning to a recruiting packet in his driveway from the KKK.
Unveiling Stereotypes at Stetson University
Undergraduates not used to wearing their religion on their sleeve, at least not Islam, wore one not even their own around their face–Islam’s most explosive symbol.
Taking Back America–from Tea Party Phonies
If Thomas Jefferson had heard Sarah Palin or Marco Rubio, he’d have had to ask how such a smart country would put up with such an obvious phonies and loons.
What If Tim Tebow Had Been Aborted?
By linking abortion with a life fully lived, Tebow is pretending to tell us something about the mysteries of life’s origins that nobody knows — not Tebow, not Pope Benedict, not Stephen Hawking, not my pet ferret, if I had one.
Beck Goes Lecter on Palin’s Glass Eyes
Sarah Palin’s round of Fox News foxholes landed her in Glenn Beck’s hole within obsequious distance of the Statue of Liberty (the Lady had no choice). The chat was vaguely lecherous.
Immigration’s Tale from New York’s #7 Subway Train
In New York, the story of immigration’s present and foreseeable future is on the “Immigrant Express,” the No. 7 subway line that crosses Queens, the country’s single-most diverse county (46.1 percent of its residents were born abroad).