Florida School Turns Down Students Wanting To Form Peace Group
By Logan Murphy Friday Nov 23, 2007 4:35pm
Via Common Dreams:
Students at Cocoa Beach Jr./Sr. High School are waging a war on peace.Recently, sophomore Skylar Stains decided to hold Peace Shirt Thursdays at the school. Skylar and her friend, Lauren Lorraine, started wearing peace shirts and soon recruited more friends to wear them. Now, the “Peace Shirt Coalition” as they call themselves, has close to 30 students from all grades.
Students started approaching the group members, yelling obscene things at them, said Lauren.
Lori Masterson, assistant principal at Cocoa Beach Jr./Sr. High, said by law, the administration cannot discuss specific discipline dispositions for students but that the school works with teachers and coaches to make sure all students on campus are safe and treated fairly. “As of this writing, to my knowledge, no one has submitted a written proposal with an identified sponsor for a peace club,” Masterson said in an e-mailed statement.
But peace group members said they have submitted a written proposal and had a written sponsor, but they were recently turned down. Read on...
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Frist! The n00b wins! Oh, and in Soviet America, peace shirt wears you!
Better clamp down on those students, fast and hard.
'Peace' is treason in Bush's Amerika.
I wonder if the students yelling obscenities at the kids wearing the peace shirts
are willing to sign their asses up for the Iraq war/occupation as soon as they
graduate?
As Ava Lowery says...Peace takes Courage!
Good Idea Dana!
This is a zero sum - get rich - stand on your neighbors neck - keep your money for yourself - stay on your side of the goddamn fence - christian - kill em ... kill em all - me first, fascist country.
... and schools rejecting peace groups surprises you ... why?
Do you understand just how lost you are? Do you understand ... NOW ... the consequences of allowing fascists to spew their bile for the last 40 years unopposed? Their wacko self serving lies are now self evident truths. Say otherwise ... and you will just be seen as nuts.
Conservative == good christian values, strong, self reliant.
Liberal == tax, spend, giveaway, public dole, weak.
Peace == surrender to Islamic extremists
War == doing God's work - justice
The phrase a day late and a dime short comes to mind.
When I talk about war, I really mean peace.
-George W. Bush
There are no words. But it does make me feel a little sick to my stomach.
a friend's daughter tried to start a gay/lesbian/bisexual tolerance group at her H.S....took 2 years and board approval to get it done. Principal went ape-shit...but justice prevailed :)
kiva
in regards to the kids yelling obscenities....that is why we need to reinstitute the draft
God Hates Florida
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U make my 66 year young heart soar (UP) with the eagles
Use anything U want from below web sites...
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some R under construction, now
HELP WANTED
E-us 2 add your ideas 4 sites
OF - Earth Citizens...
BY - E.C. s
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&
Coming soon... www.StepAheadU.com
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Peace, Love & Later, Roger@RogerART.com
.
Quote of the Week:
Good for them. Good for the students who held the signs in Gonzalez's face during his speech.
During the last Gulf War, one of my son's classmates (they were in grade school) felt so strongly that he spent every recess picketing the playground with antiwar signs. My son said he heard the teachers discussing what, if anything, they should do. They finally just let him picket (which is what they should have done). Even students should have the right of free speech. We should be happy they care about something outside themselves.
So the childgren that were being threatened are the ones being punished. Makes complete sense.
Y'know, the next time a shithead Fundy pulls the "The Bible is the answer" on me, I know of a good reply.
anon @ 5:
exactly true...which is why i get pissed off when people make comments that this site and john need to stop commenting on the likes of el druggo, lufa boy and others
these people have been indoctrinating our youth
Yes, I'm sure these people who are screaming at them are just waiting for graduation so that they can join up and serve. . . the College Republicans. . .
The parents of the counter-peace kids must be so proud!
Flying the Confederate flag is supporting the Troops in Iraq? Swastika is a sign of Peace?
I think that the Peace Kids should hook up with one of the War Resisters like James Circello, Lt. Watada or Matt Howard and invite them to speak at their school. The kids that fly flags of Hate and leave tags of Genocide need a talking to. Thy are the fodder for the coming War with Iran. Poor kids, probably have some sick adults Parents.
Peace.
Bunch of Texan wannabes down in Fla. God damned stupid rednecks. Especially the idea that a Confederate flag is being displayed as a sign of support for US troops. Hey, you freekin' morons, get this: The United States of America whupped the traitorous and illegitimate Confederate States of America. It was a total ass whuppin' that resulted in unconditional surrender by the treasonous southern states on April 9, 1865. The Stars and Stripes - the flag of the United States - is the flag of our nation and our Armed Forces, flying the Confederate flag is an insult to our troops.
Geesh, I thought promoting peace would of been embraced by any school district because of the potential for violence in schools that has been prevalent in recent history....
Tragically, the violent reaction from this recent episode kind of underlines the need to address this very issue...
And the way the school district handled the whole thing just unbelievable....
It's time to give up. The experiment called "The United States of America" has filled miserably. There aren't many years left til everyone in the world see that this experiment has failed. In the article above -we see that an American school faculty leans towards the pro-war kids more than the pro-peace kids. They're just for peace. They weren't wearing anti-Bush shirts. Bush and Cheney will not leave office just because the law is two 4-year terms limit. They are staying. They don't wanna leave. They've accomplished so many of their personal goals. There is so much more to do. They're staying. Who's going to stop them?? Who ??!!! Nobody ! The patty-cake dems support the republicans with the exception of Dennis Kucinich and a few others. The public isn't going to force them out of the Whitehouse. Bush/Cheney/Rice will do what Mussharaf did in Pakistan. America will be THE Pariah nation of Earth. Only industrialized nation to not cooperate with the Kyoto protocol, used nuclear bombs against Iran and Japan. Started the GREAT MIDDLE EAST WAR OF THE 20th Century. Economic collapse is coming. Maybe Cheney will be living in Dubai or Saudi Arabia and he'll be laughing while the impoverished people march into the rich American neighborhoods rampaging and raping. The police will not be able to provide protection. I guess that's the USA's karma. A republic built on land stolen from the indigenous people and industrialized non-stop fraud and by kidnapping Africans and enslaving them. With each passing day America is more and more alone in the world.
Ronin Tetsuro @ 14:
In most of the south and many rural areas of the northit makes perfect sense.
This is so sad. Something along the same lines happened in Nazi Germany. The Nazis let the old folks go to church on Sundays while they( the Nazis) indoctinated the children against the parents. The children would laugh at their parents and taunt them for being weak and praying for peace. It literally split families down the middle. All the more poignant because the German people loved their homelife and families.
To use adults as agents for war is one thing but to use children is especially abhorrent. The anti-peace children are only aping the vile garbage shoved at them daily by our mainstream propaganda machine. It is as powerful as the message of a cult.
This points up the fact that the problem with US schools is not the students, it's the administration.
And the Florida teachers and administration have a wonderful policy:
'KEEP PEACE OUT OF SCHOOLS'!
They must be CrazyChristianEvangelicalFundamentalistBornAgainBoobRapturistWarMongeringZionists, professed followers of 'the Prince of Peace'?
Well I guess my buddies in the long forgotten Korean War
were wrong to hate where we were & prayed for peace.
Gee- I guess we were wrong back then. War is fun. :-(
klyde @ 23:
Similar to what the Saudis do to rape victims. Must be a fundamentalist religious thing.
What happened at that school seems as if it could have been influenced by Orwell's Hate Week in his novel 1984. One of the more frightening aspects of that story was when one of the students had her "Wage Peace" sign replaced, apparently in all seriousness, with a sign that read "I Love America Because America Loves War." As someone else observed, this also could have been right out of Nazi Germany as well as from an episode of The Twilight Zone. Unfortunately, perhaps this reveals how militaristic this country has become over the last fifty or so years, as evidenced by the top three democratic presidential contenders advocating that some troops should remain in Iraq by the end of 2013 while the peace candidate, Dennis Kucinich, has been overshadowed by his pro-war enthusiast colleagues.
Goebbels would have been proud. It's obvious these reich-wing NAzi youth get this type of behavior from their parents. Where is the fake outrage from the 'culture warriors' of faux and a.m hate radio?
This is not just isolated in Fla. Take a peek at what is going on at your local school and you will see miltarism is much more common than any compositions for 'peace'. It is also happending in other nations, like Japan and Korea. This propaganda, is in fact, aided and abetted by NCLB. But talk to George Miller or the AFT or the NEA about miltiarism on school campuses and you get a look like you are an irrational misfit.
But here and there, students and teachers are resisting this militarist, xenophobic brainwashing. Students need to voice their dreams, and teachers need to take control of the curriculum (from NCLB.) And unions need to get on the anti-war progressive grassroots train... 'cuz we ain't slowing down.
You wouldn't want to discipline the foul mouthed louts now would you. The educators seem to always take the easy way out.
Peace is a trouble maker, but symbols of racism, hate, and slavery is good. ....only in reich-winger world.
I moved to central Florida (45 minutes north of this high school) in 1982 from Michigan one day before school started. Walking up to the school on that first day I was surrounded by a group of rednecks who wanted to know who I was and where I was from. Not knowing any better, I told them Michigan, and promptly had the shit kicked out of me for being a "yankee". I had no idea the civil war was still being waged, but to these guys, I was the enemy.
I'm not sure, but I imagine this story could happen in any small town school in America right now. Wanting peace is viewed as weakness. If this were a group of boys they would be confronted with violence. The ignorant have a small menu to choose from when confronting something they don't understand. Bumper sticker slogans, threats and violence are the most popular choices.
Better start working toward your black belt.
We are a peaceful nation don't you know?
Scott @ 35:
We're not now. Watch out when the ignorant in this country start getting desperate.
Marcus Aurelius @ 20:
Right on. That was a God-awful ass kicking. I hope that they know that it can happen again. Charlie Daniels and Toby Keith are a couple of pussies.
Some students at a school I was at a few years back approached me about being the faculty adviser for a Peace Club they wanted to start. I was told by an administrator to be careful because peace is such a controversial subject. I ended up getting labeled a troublemaker and was not asked to come back the next year.
This reminds me of what happened to our peace group in college during the Reagan Era. They're starting younger these days, that's for sure.
Hang in there, Peace Kids, don't give an inch.
Call the school in protest. Demand an apology. Also demand that the pro-war people get suspended for their violence. We do have a no-tolerance policy towards violence don't we?
Peace?? how anti-american can you get, anyone showing any signs of having a peaceful disposition should be instantly tasered and then some more ;)
welcome to the FSA - Facist States of America. ;)
I love how these dumbass kids don't know the first damn thing about international relationship but they want to start a peace club, its the cool thing to do, way to go libs!!
Marcus Aurelius @ 20:
It's easy to say shit like this and call Florida a "bunch of wannabe Texans", but if you look at the fact that the real Republican base power in Florida is made up mostly of Castro hating Cubans and rich and/or conservative/evangelical Yankees (yes, I'm gonna use that word) and Midwesterners who move their pasty asses down to Florida, then the whole "God damned stupid rednecks" argument kinda falls away, doesn't it? If you cared to take a fucking look instead of bash against anyone with a Southern accent you might realize this. Fuck you, Yankee.
Proud Liberal as Fuck Floridian (and I'm not the only one).
chris @ 42:
In other words, they are on par with herr dubyah.
chris @ 42:
So, do you have to know something about "international relationship" [sic] to start a pro-war club?
Don't you love the pride the idiotic right-wing of this country displays because we no longer promote peace in the world. And they will still claim to be closer to Jesus. what a bunch of pigs!
Even back when John Kerry was running and people said they didn't know if they could vote for him...I always said I would take a "War Hero" over a "War Criminal" any day of the week. but this is America and we like our dirty little wars!
Preacher Boob @ 2:
It's never to early in life to learn what Amerikkka is really all about.
And it's never to early in life to say, 'Uh...no I don't play that game, homey!'
Patricio @ 43:
Not to mention that the American Civil War was not a total ass whooping! Marcus Aurelius wants everyone to believe it was just the North shutting down the South, but it was much more then that and all Americans lost in that war. As Bart Simpson says "there are no good wars, with the possible exceptions: the American Revolution, WWII and the Star Wars Trilogy."
Patricio @ 43:
Big talk! Where were you in 2000 homes?
More to the point where will you be in 2008?
Watchin' from the sidelines while the Presidency is stolen again?
A.Citizen @ 49:
Listen up, that wasn't up to me. I got outraged and did what I could, but obviously it wasn't enough, sorry. But don't put all the blame on us Floridians, put it on the Republican Party where it belongs.
What y'all need to realize is that the holier-than-you-stupid-ass-rednecks attitude of some of you Yankees is not too different than the neo-cons' attitude towards Iraqis. Winning the hearts and minds of us "stupid rednecks" aren't you?
Ronin Tetsuro @ 14:
It sounds like the U.S. is turning into a Saudi Arabia: woman raped - she speaks out against her rapists - court sentences her to jail.
chris @ 42:
What exactly is that supposed to mean, Chris?
Is someone paying you to be a troll on C & L? Sad... Whoever's paying you is not getting their money's worth, Chris.
Just for the record, any troll who trashes young people who evince the courage necessary to be activists FOR ANY REASON is the real dumbass. Oh, that would be you, wouldn't it, Chris?
Go troll somewhere else, Chris. Try a site where the average IQ matches yours. You'll likely get a bit of support there.
Patricio @ 43:
If you're not an ignorant, Floridian redneck, then I wasn't talking about you, was I? I hope it's obvious that I wasn't referring to the peace-loving students, either.
I lived in Florida for a while, and the Cubans (who haven't figured out they're not going back to Cuba) and Northern transplants (who relocate to what they mistakenly imagine will be beaches, palm trees, and margaritas) certainly don't help the mix. I moved back north after a couple of years, and, as a rule, I don't recommend it.
Yes, I am a Yankee (a Southern Yankee). I'm a Virginian, and I enjoy many facets of my Southern heritage. I just don't like rednecks, and the South - especially Florida - is full of them. I happen to believe that it is an observable fact that once you get south of Richmond, VA, you enter redneck territory. Confederate flags, Jesus billboards, Baptist churches, NASCAR, grits and boiled peanuts (I loves me some grits and boiled peanuts).
So, I apologize for casting such a broad net, and I apologize to all Southern liberals, but I stand by my comments on Florida rednecks and the state's obvious similarities to Texas (including the Bush brothers). I also reassert that the Confederate flag is a symbol of treason.
Erroll @ 28:
Same type of anti peace fascist shite happened in 1917-18 to people who advocated staying out of wwI. Americka has always been a bellicose nation of knuckle-draggers. hey, Australia just threw out there bush-light asswipe in favor of an anti-war, Kyoto treaty signing progressive government. time to apply for citizen ship, good beaches pretty girls, lotsa sun and now... The authoritarian goons thrown out of office.
Dahgrostab'ph-r-i @ 48:
I'm still classifying it as an ass-whupping followed by unconditional surrender (except those acts of kindness and wisdom dispensed by Grant at the surrender). Sherman saw to it. The South is damn lucky that Abe Linclon and US Grant were kind and forgiving men (look up your history). If it had been left to Sherman, there would have been no one left.
Nonetheless, you are correct in that the conflict was much too costly and sad.
Marcus Aurelius @ 53:
All right, all right.....I always turn into a hostile mofo'n Floridian partisan when I hear that we're nothing but a bunch of dumb ass rednecks, sorry. My problem is that I'm from a university town in FL (educated people and all) so that skews my view a bit. But no Floridian likes to be told that they're a bunch of goddamn hicks, even if it's partially true, which I'm sure it is. When I lived in Massachusetts a few years back, people definately made a point of telliing me just how bad the South got it's ass whupped, which is retarded, and how stupid people in the South supposedly are (yet they still come here every day by the thousands, wtf?????) Anyway, sorry.
I hate to sound trite but if it was easy what would be the point? Peace does take courage. It will take a lot to reconcile the world and the struggle is worth it.
Patricio @ 56:
(yet they still come here every day by the thousands, wtf?????) Anyway, sorry.
Some people just haven't heard of the Bahamas.
(I'm just joshin' ya).
authoritarian cultism is the only thing on the schedule at that school
For all you peace loving folks out there please know that I am trying to do my part to show up the Bush fascist machine for what it is and promote peace and honesty in government. See this : http://sushisweet.multiply.com/photos/album/6/Criminal_Bushies_Misc.
Actually, I can somewhat understand the principal's position. What a lot of people fail to recognize about extracurricular groups is that if one group of students requests and is granted permission by the school to create what some people would consider to be a controversial group (say, a Christian student fellowship) which is formally associated with the school and/or authorized to utilize the school facilities for activities, the school is obligated to open its doors to other groups which are similarly controversial or it runs the risk of being accused -- and rightly so -- of favoritism. I
Florida making this sort of news isn't, well, news. And to compliment Dana's comment @ 3, I hope that the war doesn't last long enough for those poor young fools fighting against peace to have to participate in. Because they would certainly not. They will follow the example set by the neocon crowd that their parents belong to who shout for war and send others off to fight. Then put a magnetic ribbon on their car right near the bumper sticker that says "Jesus Loves YOU!"
Bluestocking @ 61:
Great! Open the Fucking Doors!
Here is the way it is supposed to work in America: You get to open your mouth and i get to pen mine. You see, that is how we live by and honor the Constitution of the United States of America.
Actually, I'm curious what kind of food the bellicose kids are eating versus what kind of food the peaceful kids are eating. I'm thinking maybe too much sugar, junk food, too much meat saturated with hormones and preventive antibiotics, water from the tap instead of filtered, too much white bread -- no pun intended -- et cetera, et cetera.
It's astounding. These bellicose kids are lined up and standing in the way of resisting militaristic people with lust for authority and absolute control. Will these same kids line up cheerfully for their GPS implants when the time comes? Will they look back and remember how they contributed to their fate?
A Confederate Flag????whats that tell ya?....Floriduh.
Straight Shooter @ 65:
It is a diet of Corporate Media with a side order of hate mongering talk show hosts.
xoites defends Constitution @ 67:
Because venting anger and hatred make the weak feel powerful.
Actually, I can somewhat understand the principal’s position. What a lot of people fail to recognize about extracurricular groups is that if one group of students requests and is granted permission by the school to create what some people would consider to be a controversial group (say, a Christian student fellowship) which is formally associated with the school and/or authorized to utilize the school facilities for activities, the school is obligated to open its doors to other groups which are similarly controversial or it runs the risk of being accused — and rightly so — of favoritism. -- Bluestocking
Great! Open the Fucking Doors! -- Xoites Defends Constitution
*****************************************
So if a different group of students wanted to start a Junior KKK group, a Students For White Supremacy group, or some other form of hate group at this same school...that would be just fine with you, I take it? Conceivably, that's what you're consenting to when you talk about "opening the doors." Perhaps you would have no problem with a public school formally permitting and recognizing those groups, but my guess is that a great many of the parents whose children go to that school would have a problem with that -- and not entirely without justification, especially considering that the vast majority of the students are still minors and technically still under the authority of their parents. That's the problem with these sorts of extracurricular groups -- unless a school wants to be accused (and rightly so) of censoring free speech, the only legitimate choices are either to allow all groups of this kind or to permit none of them.
Florida, America's dick.
StirFry @ 70:
Swing Low Sweet...
Mike @ 26:
grettings fellow korean war vet , my pieces are locked and loaded ,52 to 55
Congratulation are absolutely in order for these kids. They have succeeded in raising the awareness of the concept of peace and peaceful solutions for not only their school, but their community, their state, and their country. Peace takes courage, and these kids have it in spades. It may not seem like it, but what they are doing is working. People will think about peace as an alternative where they otherwise may never have had to confront the concept. Even those screaming their disagreement will have to ponder their opinions and actions, and ask themselves if what they do and what they think are right. This is exactly what a peace movement should do, and I think these student's are an inspiration to us jaded adults.
These criminals do not want peace in this country. They want all of us to be at each other to take the spot light off of what they are doing.
i wrote an email to the principle of that fascist training center to express my distain for his cowardly failure to ensure the rights and saftey of the members of the Peace Club. i hope a lot of people do. maybe a little public scorn will get his craven ass in gear in getting the little Nazi wanna-be thugs in his school under control. he should publicly express remorse for his lack of support for the Peace Club members and wear a Peace T shirt every Thursdays as penance.
Wearing a Confederate flag t-shirt shows support for the troops? It's enough to make the baby Jesus weep and smite a kitten.
If schools allow military recruitment, then they should allow peace clubs.
Florida is chock full of ignorant rednecks......
If schools allow military recruitment, then they should allow peace clubs. -- Donna
***************************************
Actually, I'm in agreement with you there. I actually tried to discuss that in one of my earlier posts -- but apparently, only part of what I submitted made it through for some reason. If the school is currently allowing military recruiters to have access to the school and/or if the school permits ROTC or something similar, then I definitely think that the principal should in the interest of fairness consent to the formal establishment of the Peace Club. Since some parents and students across the nation have registered their opposition to over-zealous efforts by military recruiters to enlist graduating students into the military, these activities could potentially be considered just as controversial as those of the Peace Group (and I think it's safe to refer to this group as controversial since they've been the target of both criticism and verbal attacks from fellow students). However, the information provided did not indicate whether there is in fact any military presence at this school or not -- and as I said before, the trouble with giving permission to one or more potentially controversial extracurricular group (i.e., one which is based around a political or religious belief rather than an activity) is that giving permission to certain groups while refusing it to others quite rightly opens the door to accusations of favoritism and restrictions on freedom of speech. The fact that the students in the Peace Club have had their posters defaced with slogans and symbols indicative of a Neo-Nazi and/or White Supremacist faction among the student body should be taken seriously -- because freedom of speech is not something which can be done in half-measures. There is a certain amount of wisdom in not giving formal recognition to extracurricular groups within this school which could be considered controversial because there clearly are some other contingents at this school which potentially would be within their rights to petition for formal recognition yet which many parents would to say the least probably feel deeply ambivalent about. Anybody who thinks the Confederate flag has nothing to do with racism is either ignorant, in deep denial, or lying through their teeth.
The kids should put up a new slogan:
"If you're against a peace club in our school, you're in favour of a Columbine shooting."
Wouldn't that piss them off?
Plisko @ 17:
If there was a draft they would suddenly have pimples on their asses and "other priorities." The rest would have to crap in their pants for a week like the nutcase Nugent.
Dahgrostab'ph-r-i @ 48:
Except for one thing: World War II wouldn't have happened if World War I hadn't happened. The "winners" of WWI raped Germany economically, thus creating the animus that made Hitler's idiocy possible.
It's very much the same as the US and UK policy in the Middle East creating the animus toward the west which made Al Qaeda possible.
This is sick. We tell the world (and quite loudly), that we promote democracy, freedom and yes peace, then we turn around and show that we mean peace in name only. Then we (Americans) have the nerve to wonder why people around the world so distrust us. If we cannot accept the concept of peace within our own country, how can we tell others to accept it?
'Chopvac @ #81'
WW2 was essentially an extension of WW1 , and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy would be an appropriate alternate . As for the American Revolution there were other similar wars in history.So we have three ,'Star Wars', 'Lord of the Kings' and 'revolutionary wars'.
' Kevin Philips @ # 82'
You are being polite. American Foreign plicy is a bunch of crap.So was Russian foreign policy when Russia was pushing people around and so was British foreign policy when Britain 'ruled the waves'.
Jo @ 24:
Not historically correct on that first point: The Nazis USED both the Catholic and Protestant hierarchy/institutions to further their nationalistic. Unlike Stalin's Russia, religion was encouraged and Hitler was lauded as a fine Christian...doing God's will by ridding the Reich of "jewish scum."
This school sounds like a military recruiters gold mine! I'll be calling all the different recruiters Monday morning, informing them that they probably can make their '08 projections in May alone! Heck there are probably a few that can't wait for graduation to join up!
The Coco Beach Sr. High School Seniors of '08 will set the standard for all the Pro-War students in America, that will be hard to beat! Anyone care to guess what the percentage of senior boys and girls signing up will be?
Here's what to do to help:
Get a list of the seniors: then have the recruiters visit the kids and parents weekly, have recruiter sleep-overs, set up recruitment booths all around the school, after one or two kids join, all the kids will follow like sheep, not wanting want to be left out being cool, pro-war sheep, bring a Abrams tank to school on "Show and Tell Day", or have a F-18 make a few strafing runs on the school! Set up water-boarding and this is not-torture demonstrations, with hands-on participation by the students, call Fox News, demand they set up across the street, a permanent on-site camera for hourly and day by day updates ( like Fox does for Paris, Britney,or any missing white blond chick!) Make up a huge thermometer, numbered with the senior class numbers, boys on side, girls on the other, to keep track of the "The Run to 100% of the Pro-War, Racists Seniors! The propaganda possibilities for Bush and the War-Hawks is limited only by one's imagination!
Just think of the headlines following their mass joining up ceremony right after graduation; "Graduation Tonight, Boot Camp tomorrow, Iraq by Sept!"
Hannity, Rush, Boortz, John Bolton, Cheney, Coulter and the rest of the Regressive Right Wing talk-show hot air-bags, will probably be experiencing many premature ejaculations over this student bodies rush to war!
Mark late May, early June on your calendar, so you can get in touch will the school for a update, This story is too good to forget about!
It is of course very interesting to note that all of the anti-Peace shirts take a distinctly anti-American stance! Nazi fascists and confederate rebels. Why DO they hate America so much?
MargeAggedon @ 7:
Agreed, everyone should get the email address of this backward school and send them a message to counter this racist bullshit.
I think a comment on the other board summed it up nicely...
“Of course the people don’t want war. But after all, it’s the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it’s always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it’s a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger.”
– Herman Goering at the Nuremberg trials
why do you keep deleting my comments? This has been going on for months now.
Bluestocking @ 78:
Actually military recruiters go after juniors as well as seniors in high schools, and have been calling freshmen and sophomores to have them signup for the DEP (Delayed Entry Program.) They often have visitations to schools and set up tables in the cafeterias to hook kids into the military (with the Principals permission.)
Recruiters also have ancillary programs in middle schools to soften the kids up for the recruiters in high school. These are marketed to the public schools as leadership training and disicpline intervention programs but the bottom line for today's imperialist agendas by the US govt. and corporations is that they need these kids to fight wars for the continued steady flow of resources, and also because there are no jobs for the kids in the future and the truly greedy in this nation don't really care.
D to the Izzle @ 77:
Yeah, we sure are...I was just looking at a NYTimes story about racial intimidation vis-a-vis incidents of noose sightings since the Jena 6 incident and wouldn't ya know it, Florida has had three of them, what a shame.
Oh, wait, what's this? Hmmm, looks like in that same period, there's also been 2 noose incidents in New Jersey, 2 incidents in Connecticut, 5 incididents in Pennsylvania, and 9 noose incidents in NEW YORK. Well I'll be dipped in shit and candy coated! Well dag-nab my redneck Florida behind! How bout them Yankees! Looks like New York and the whole tri-state area is chock full of
rednecks, um, I mean, uhhhh, wonderful, peaceful people. Y'all are so much better than us....These kids are fighting a losing battle. It's already been determined in court cases that kids do not have any free speech rights in schools, even if they are part of the public system.
And Florida is Bush country.
Nothing says "I have sex with my Daddy" like a Confederate Flag shirt!
As found at "Orlando Local 6 News Florida," Nov 21
The Department of Defense Dependents Schools allowed students to wear "pro-life" T-shirts on a particular day, though I am not sure whether they had a sponsor or not. DoDDS said in a statement that allowing students to wear these T-shirts did not mean that DoDDS agreed with the position. I wonder if students wearing peace T-shirts would be tolerated, or pro-choice for that matter. It hasn't been put to the test.
I live in Flori Duh (if you can call this living) and this is so typical of the White Trash Church Nazis that live down here.
Frybread @ 92:
Nobody can deny that it's not, at least now. I pine for the old days when people like Lawton Chiles and Bob Graham were in office, sigh.
But then again, Ohio is Bush Country now too...imagine that, all those workers and union leaders and middle class people....gone to the dark side. What's their excuse, I wonder? Are they a "bunch of stupid rednecks" like us down here in FL? Oh no, they're Northerners, all wonderful, smart people, just by virtue of living north of the Mason-Dixon line....must be some other excuse I guess.
Someday this "bunch of stupid rednecks" argument will go the way of the dinosaur, and we'll all be better off for it. In the meantime, just remember that the more people who aren't Southerers use this line of bullshit, the more Southerners will keep flying the Confederate flag and voting Republican. We're all in this together, so cut it out, ok?
MK Ultra @ 95:
Well if you love that, try living in Orange County, in California, that is. It's even better. White trash Nazis, megachurches, goat ropers, Baptists, Confederate supporters (majority of the money raised for Davis Duke's campaign came from OC in SoCal, didja know that?), etc., etc., but they speak "normal", so I guess that's ok.....
Pee Wee @ 93:
Number of racially motivated, anti-black, hate-crime noose incidents in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina in the last 2 years: 7
Number of racially motivated, anti-black, hate-crime noose incidents in New York, New Jersey, Conneticutt, and Pennsylvania: 19
As found at "New York Times", Nov 25th, 2007.
So some people have the Confederate flag on their pickup trucks, big deal.
I rest my fuckin' case.
Having grown up right next to Cocoa Beach in Satellite Beach, I know how it goes down there. It's not so much white trash, because that area is actually pretty affluent on the beach side (Go over the river to Cocoa, Melbourne and Palm Bay and if you want to see white trash). But, they're right next to Patrick AFB and Cape Canaveral AFS and most of these kids' parents are uber conservative military old timers. My dad is/was the same way. He was in for 22 years and is about as old school as they come.
Back when I was in 6th grade, a friend of mine and I wore similar shirts to protest the first Iraq war and were not only rebuked in a voice that approached a loud yell by our teacher in front of the whole class, but were also sent to the principal's office for a lecture/civics lesson/re-education. My dad's response when he found out was to criticize me for not supporting our troops and to blame me for making myself a target for being ridiculed by others.
Patricio's right: it's not just Southern white people who are aggressively bigoted; whites everywhere contain a substantial component of aggressive bigots, and an even larger component of silently complicit people who won't speak up or act to stop the aggressive ones. Ever wonder why there aren't many Blacks in most areas of the nation outside the South? Because white mobs drove them out en masse at the end of Reconstruction, with much more effective violence than that found in the South, resulting in an almost complete absence of Blacks from non-urban areas of the North and West. This is exhaustively documented in James Loewen's book, "Sundown Towns," which compares and contrasts the kinds of violence visited on Blacks in Southern and non-Southern towns up to about the 1980s. The non-Southern regions come off looking worse than the South.
And about the young fascists harassing the peace group at Cocoa Beach High? Welcome to the future of the US. I wish I could say I'd like to see all the right-wing students and administration punished severely and ostracized or mobbed by citizens, but I'm told that's not peaceful.
‘ Kevin Philips @ # 82′
You are being polite. American Foreign policy is a bunch of crap.So was Russian foreign policy when Russia was pushing people around and so was British foreign policy when Britain ‘ruled the waves’.
I know, I believe that is what is wrong with the way the world works. The strongest nation or group bullying weaker nations. Isn't this some form of Darwinism? So when groups like these students promote the concept of peace, I think there are those who feel threatened by such ideas. Why? I feel that those threatened by peace would have to admit they are, did wrong, and cannot face that. So lashing out against people like these students is what happens. Pretty sad, in my opinion.
Since I'm a local, I'm personally proud of these young ladies.
Totally awesome, dudes! Surf and Work for Peace.
Crap, I'm sorry Schrodinger's Cat, I forgot to attribute the quote to you, again my mistake.
I don't think the school has legal standing to deny this group to form at the school. A number of years ago the Christian Coalition in Florida (either by lawsuit or legislative action -- can't remember the exact circumstance) won the right for Christian clubs to organize in Florida high schools. What they DIDN'T count on was that the change in law meant that OTHER groups could form as well. I know that Florida NOW got busy and organized a number of high school clubs.
These students need to check the law, and find out their legal rights. There is an excellent attorney in Boca that I bet would take this case pro bono. If someone knows how to get in touch with these students have them email me at BAC104 AT comcast DOT net and I will send along his name and email address.
He is a former State Senator, and would certainly be familiar with the laws.
BAC
When I was in high school years ago in FL we tried to start a Democratic club but the conservative Republican principal wouldn't let us. We too were shouted down by the teen Repubs, we too were told we were just trying to cause trouble, we too were told a line a BS about how if they allowed this, then they would have to allow Nazi clubs too and the like. Long story short, we talked to a lawyer, and found out nobody could stop us, so we went ahead ahead with it and were successful. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't do it, and like the post above suggests, talk to a lawyer if you must. Good luck! Let's reclaim Florida and make it the way it used to be, weird, quirky, and Democratic!
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