Will Phillips refuses to say the Pledge of Allegiance. Credit: Arkansas Times
"Liberty and justice for all?"
Will Phillips doesn't believe that describes America for its gay and lesbian citizens. He's a 10-year-old at West Fork Elementary School in Arkansas, about three hours east of Oklahoma City. Given his beliefs, he refused to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
That did not go over well with the substitute teacher in his fifth-grade classroom.
The Arkansas Times reports that he started refusing to say the pledge Mon., Oct. 5. By Thursday, the substitute was steamed. She told Will she knew his mother and grandmother and they would want him to recite the pledge.
Will told the Times the substitute got more and more upset. She raised her voice. By this point, Will told the newspaper, he started losing his cool too, adding: "After a few minutes, I said, 'With all due respect ma'am, go jump off a bridge.'"
That got him sent to the principal's office. The principal made him look up information about the flag and what it represents. Meanwhile, there was the inevitable call to his mother.
At first, mom Laura Phillips told the Times, the principal talked about Will telling a substitute to jump off a bridge. When pressed, the principal admitted the whole incident was sparked by the boy exercising his constitutional right not to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
Phillips suggested an apology was in order -- from the teacher. When the principal said that wasn't necessary, Will's mother started venting to friends via Twitter. Those friends, in turn, told the news media. And what would have been a minor classroom incident has people throughout Arkansas and beyond choosing sides.
As for Will, he continues to exercise his right to remain silent. It can be rough at times, he and his family admit. He has his share of supporters, however, his critics are louder and nastier -- especially because he took his stand to defend gay rights.
"In the lunchroom and in the hallway, they've been making comments and doing pranks, calling me gay," he told the Times. "It's always the same people, walking up and calling me a gaywad."
Nonetheless, Will told the paper, he is sticking to his convictions. A reporter for the paper asked Will -- with all this talk about patriotism and the pledge -- what he thinks it means to be an American.
"Freedom of speech," he responded. "The freedom to disagree. That's what I think pretty much being an American represents."
His mother is proud.
"He's probably more aware of the meaning of the pledge that a lot of adults," Phillips told the Times.
SOURCE: http://www.parentdish.com/2009/11/13/student-braves-controversy-refuses-to-recite-pledge/
That is similar to the problem I encountered in Miami in the early
sixties when I refused to join my classmates in the morning Christian
prayer. I objected to "In the name of Jesus Christ our savior, amen"
and I was joined by a Jewish boy and we just stood quietly while they
uttered their morning nonsense. But children can be very cruel and the
looks we got were like daggers, their disapproval was at times
overwhelming. That is one good reason we should not have prayer in
the schools.
This kid evidently knows what he is doing and the teachers should
explain to the rest what freedom of speech means.
To bow or not to bow….to be or not to be
That is the question. Would America continue to be the arrogant nation that it has been in the past and not follow traditional cultural demonstrations of respect for other country’s culture and traditions because we think we are so superior that we should not bow to anyone. That is in essence what critics are saying.
But then again, nothing Obama does would be without criticism from these assholes from the right, while previous Presidents unequivocally and unconditionally kissed the asses of the likes of the Kind of Saudi Arabia and not one dissenting American offered criticism.
President Barack Obama's deep bow to Japan's emperor this weekend symbolized a culture clash -- East versus West and Right versus Left.
Conservatives were incensed by the way the president greeted Emperor Akihito in Tokyo on Saturday. Unlike in April, when the White House insisted Obama's bow to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia wasn't a bow at all, a senior administration official told Politico the president was just observing protocol.
Conversely, If President Obama had not observed protocol and not bowed, the fucking ultra-conservative right wingnuts would have criticized him anyhow claiming that he is not cultured enough, too crass and ignorant to observe established rules of protocol.
I wish these people would get off their fucking high horse and realize that we can’t exist in this world as an arrogant nation acting as if our shit didn’t stink. That was the trademark of the Bush years and while it made some folks comfortable to think that we were superior to the rest of the world, it also hurt us more than any invasion or war could have.
President Obama is trying to govern from a point of humility, cooperation and diplomacy. Gone are the days of sable rattling and cowboy diplomacy. President Obama knows well enough that you can get a lot more out of reason and logic than from fear and arrogance.
I just want to know if conservative wing nuts were incensed when the photo of ex-President Bush was taken. Clearly he is holding hands with the King of Saudi Arabia. It is rumored that shortly after the taking of this photo the two leaders retired to private quarters and the King 
proceeded to insert his penis into Mr. Bush’s anus, therefore doing to him what the King has been doing to the American people all these years, only Mr. Bush had the luxury of using refined Arabian oil as a lubricant. No, an American President should not bow to a foreign head of state, it is ok to allow him to use us as fuck bags.
PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.sphere.com/2009/11/16/the-point-obamas-bow-enrages-critics/
http://www.evervigilant.net/uploaded_images/bush_hold_hands-785050.jpg
Keith Olberman and free clinics
He has been instrumental in organizing and setting up free clinics in those districts where senators are on the fence on the issue of Health Care reform. He has raised substantials amounts of money to facilitate these free clinics even donating $50,000 of his own.
Now the first of these clinics was held in New Orleans, where more than a thousand people came to seek medical assistance. It was clear that these people were for the most part employed but uninsured and it was discovered that some had vey serious health issues. There were four reportedly taken straight to the hospital in stretchers as their health conditions were so serious that they were deemed to have a life threatening, immediate emergency intervention.
Another one of these free clinics is to be held in Arkansas, another area where the senator is on the fence on this issue.
The clinics themselves are a worthy endeavor. However, Olbermann, used a long-
winded hour-long Oct. 7 "Special Comment" to set this up and encouraged the clinics as a tactic to circumvent "a filibuster against health care reform in the Senate."
"So I propose tonight one act with two purposes," Olbermann said. "I propose we, all of us, embrace the selfless individuals at the National Association of Free Clinics. You know them. They conducted the mass health care free clinic in Houston that served 1,500 people. I want a health care free clinic every week in principle cities of the states of the six senators key to defeating a filibuster against health care reform in the Senate."
Senator Mary Landrieu received an invitation to attend the free clinic being held in New Orleans. She declined saying that she had prior commitments. Now, I ask you, what could be more important that could be affecting her district than the issue of health care and the opportunity for her to see the real needs of her constituents?
I think she passed on that one because she is in the pockets of the insurance companies and does not want to be swayed from her present intransigent position.
PHOTO SOURCE: http://landrieu.senate.gov/2009/index.cfm
http://www.bestweekever.tv/bwe/images/2009/02/Keith_Olberman.jpg
0 comments:
Post a Comment