take heed america thanks to george(you web activist you) for passing on this story.
what's going on in america? it is my hope the following story is not an example of the mindset in today's educational institutions.
a high school teacher at rio rancho high school in new mexico was fired & the poetry club he sponsored was dismantled after a teenage girl read an anti-war poem. the poem also criticized prez non-elect bush & his 'no child left behind' policy. a report out of the daytona beach news-journal reports that the principal and the school's military liaison(what?) accused the girl of being anti-american & ordered her mother(a teacher at the high school) to destroy her poetry. she refused. the faculty sponsor was suspended for not stopping censoring the poem & was later terminated. following the termination, the principal & military liaison gathered the school population together, read a patriotic poem, raised the american flag & applauded their own actions. the principal reportedly told those w/differing opinions in the crowd to 'shut your faces.'
as if this wasn't bad enough, the principal followed up his actions by ordering student artwork deemed anti-administration torn down. art teachers that refused to remove the art were not given contracts to return to the school.
obviously, there is a lawsuit coming. unfortunately, the ACLU has become the legal face of this atrocity which will ensure that public outcry at this incident will be quelled by their distaste for the ACLU. however, the public needs to look at this issue very intensely. if the school is allowed to take such actions, what's next? will all the news stations turn into fox news' brand of pro-administration news? this issue has raised my anger to a level where i cannot just read the story & let it go in disgust. if you feel the same, contact someone at the school. i'm not sure which principal was involved, but contact someone & let them know your thoughts.
here's a list of administrative contacts for the school. they haven't provided email addresses, but there are phone numbers. if phone calls are not your style or you express yourself better in writing, their address is:
Rio Rancho High School 301 Loma Colorado Rio Rancho NM, 87124 505-896-5600
this type of action is apparently not limited to high schools in new mexico. the following was included in the daytona beach news-journal.
Writers and editors who have spent years translating essays, films, poems, scientific articles and books by Iranian, North Korean and Sudanese authors have been warned not to do so by the U.S. Treasury Department under penalty of fine and imprisonment. Publishers and film producers are not allowed to edit works authored by writers in those nations. The Bush administration contends doing so has the effect of trading with the enemy, despite a 1988 law that exempts published materials from sanction under trade rules.
the current administration has cast a blanket so inclusive as to say anyone living in a country where terrorists may operate are now considered terrorists. how asinine is this paradigm? american public, do the names timothy mcveigh & terry nichols mean anything to you? they were/are terrorists & you live in the same country as they do. do you consider yourself affiliated w/them. of course not, and any logically thinking person cannot seriously believe that every single soul in a country supports everything that goes on there. it beyond stupifies me how close to half the population still support the guy in the oval office after what he has done to them. we cannot speak our minds. we cannot express ourselves w/o the fear of retaliation. in the words of an comic character from the country music stations my parents listened to while i grew up, 'WAKE UP AMERICA'.
ok, that's it. had to get it off my chest. i've veered away from the political rhetoric as of late as i sense that the majority of my readers don't really have an interest in it, but i had to address this issue.
