Blogs @ Augusta.comLooking for photos? Check out Spotted

Recent comments

Syndicate

Syndicate content

Not even from a high school student in a casino?

Posted by gimpel on June 20, 2006 - 5:31 AM

In “1984,” by George Orwell, Winston Smith has just been put in prison. One of his cellmates is Ampleforth, a poet. Winston asks him,

“What are you in for?”
“To tell you the truth-“ He sat down awkwardly on the bench opposite Winston. “There is only one offense, is there not?” he asked.
“And have you committed it?”
“Apparently I have.”
He put a hand to his forehead and pressed his temples for a moment, as thought trying to remember something.
“These things happen,” he began vaguely. “I have been able to recall one instance- a possible instance. It was an indiscretion, undoubtedly. We were producing a definitive edition of the poems of Kipling. I allowed the word ‘God’ to remain at the end of a line. I could not help it!” he added almost indignantly, raising his face to look at Winston. “It was impossible to change the line. The rhyme was ‘rod.’ Do you realize that there are only twelve rhymes to ‘rod’ in the entire language? For days I had racked my brains. There was no other rhyme.”

June 17, 2006
LAS VEGAS (AP) - The Clark County School District and free speech advocates are defending school officials' decision to cut short a high school valedictorian's commencement speech, saying the speech would have amounted to school-sponsored proselytizing.
Officials and a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union said Friday that administrators followed federal law when they cut the microphone on Foothill High School valedictorian Brittany McComb as she began deviating from a preapproved speech and reading from a version that mentioned God and contained biblical references.
"There should be no controversy here," ACLU lawyer Allen Lichtenstein said. "It's important for people to understand that a student was given a school-sponsored forum by a school and therefore, in essence, it was a school-sponsored speech."
Administrators who vetted an early draft of McComb's speech cut six references to God or Christ, and omitted two biblical references. They also deleted a detailed reference to the crucifixion of Christ.
McComb said she defied school authorities because she believed it was free speech issue.
"I went through four years of school at Foothill and they taught me logic and they taught me freedom of speech," McComb told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "God's the biggest part of my life. Just like other valedictorians thank their parents, I wanted to thank my lord and savior."
Administrators' decision drew jeers from the nearly 400 graduates and their families gathered for the Thursday ceremony at a Las Vegas casino.
Lichtenstein said 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decisions in 2000 and 2003 support the school's position.

The ACLU, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, God, free speech, and cut microphones…

The Ministry of Truth this way comes…

Post new comment

error
More information about formatting options