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Politics : GOPwinger Lies/Distortions/Omissions/Perversions of Truth -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: J_F_Shepard who wrote (122904)	5/12/2008 5:49:34 PM
From: one_less	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 173976

If I get the ACLU's position correctly, American flags don't require respect but Mexican flags do. 1) Students should be cheered who sit down when an American flag is displayed to show their disrespect. 2) Students should also be cheered and protected when they wave a Mexican flag in insubordination or to disrupt a class. 3) Teachers should shut up and let the kids make the rules. =============== Controversy unfurls over student's flag By Cassidy Friedman Staff writer A local radio station is encouraging Latino students to wear red, white and green and to take Mexican flags to their schools today to stand in silence with a ninth-grader at Minico High School who has accused a teacher of grabbing his Mexican flag and tossing it in a garbage can. Froylan Camelo, 16, and many other students brought Mexican flags to school Monday to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, said Randy Reddington, an assistant principal. Each year on May 5, Mexicans celebrate their heritage and Mexico's victory over the French army in 1862. Camelo told the Times-News that as he changed into his gym clothes at the beginning of his physical education class, instructor Clint Straatman told him, "Give me the flag." "I said, 'what's the problem?'" Camelo said. "He said, 'The problem is that we are in the United States and not in Mexico.' He grabbed it from me. He threw the flag in the garbage can." Straatman Tuesday night denied saying those words, and said he doubts that Camelo - an English as a Second Language student who speaks only broken English - understood what he did say. Straatman said he did take the flag after Camelo, who was waving it in the school gym and put it in a garbage can because he had no other place to keep it. He said that he feared "white kids" in the PE class might harm Camelo or take the flag if it wasn't hidden in the can. "I had to confiscate it so it wouldn't escalate any problems in class," Straatman said. "We're worried about that stuff all the time. We always have kids saying stuff to each other, and we have a lot of fights between kids." Camelo said five to seven other students observed the incident; Straatman said there were 85 students and no other adults in the gym. Camelo said that Straatman told him he would return the flag after his last period, but that when he went to get it the instructor taunted him. "I asked, 'where is my flag?'" Camelo said. "He said, 'What, the U.S. flag?' I said, 'No, the one for Mexico.' But he wouldn't give it to me." Camelo said he retrieved the flag, undamaged, from the garbage. He said he has been contacted by the American Civil Liberties Union and is contemplating suing the instructor. Straatman denied both withholding the student's flag after class, and telling him to carry an American flag instead. "They're making it sound like I grabbed the flag and slammed it into the garbage can, and that's not true." Camelo said he was called to the principal's office Tuesday to describe the incident and to sign a document, but that Straatman separately told him to "tell nobody what happened." Ben Reed of Rupert-based La Fantastica, a Spanish-language radio station, focused on the issue in his Tuesday broadcast. "I've asked all students to dress tomorrow in Mexican colors and have a silent protest at all schools as a protest of the situation … to carry a Mexican flag," Reed said Tuesday. "There's a groundswell of support for the kid." Reddington said he has not been told about protest plans. "I think it's probably been taken directly to the media," Reddington said. "We're aware of the situation. I know that (Monday) was Cinco de Mayo. I know that a number of kids had small flags which they were carrying around the school. I didn't see anybody take one. I can't say that I know for sure that any of that happened." Reddington said, however, he is barred from speaking about personnel issues, which are handled by the Minidoka County School Board and superintendent. Superintendent Scott Rogers could not be reached Tuesday. Camelo said Straatman, a former girl's basketball coach, has directed racial slurs at him and other Latino students. "That same day … he said the Mexicans don't pay taxes," Camelo said. Previously, Straatman told Latino students to "run like they were being chased by immigration agents" and he referred to his students as "wetbacks," Camelo said. "He told me, 'You need to learn English or you should go to Mexico.'" "That is not true … never," Straatman said, adding that he and the student had discussed the incident and that, "I thought we were fine. I thought we had an OK relationship." The teacher also said he has several Latino friends who speak English poorly. "If I had a problem with Hispanics, I wouldn't associate with these people," Straatman said. "Nobody ever called me a racist before." magicvalley.com

To: J_F_Shepard who wrote (122904)	5/12/2008 6:18:33 PM
From: one_less	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 173976

".... And who says we are one nation under god....." Lots of people say that like; Einstein, Spinoza, Jefferson, and millions of others. Other people don't, though. Some don't like the unifying principles set forth in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. They often end up in prison for being individualists who think others should tolerate their lack of principle, caring, and consideration. They are victims of the system, they blame the system and allege all kinds of wrong doing by others without merit, which they say has brought them to such pitiable existence. Maybe you relate. "A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, of the manifestations of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty - it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute the truly religious attitude; in this sense, and this alone, I am a deeply religious man." (Albert Einstein)