Just wanted to add that I think Power Line is an excellent site and carries great articles. BUT, I wish it had an opening page with a menu for stories. It would make your readers’ lives a whole lot easier not to have to keep scrolling down to see what’s there and to be able to access stories more quickly to read and post comments. Just a thought.
Click on the Power Line navigation link at the top of the Forum pages for the list of stories (Bookmark it):
Forum Home > Forums > Power Line > Thread > Post Reply
I think NC Stryker Mom means a list of ‘stories’ (PL posts) at the top of the PowerLineBlog.com page, maybe on the right where the authors’ names are now (just move those down). The contents could be hot links to the posts themselves.
The PL Forum list gets you to the Forum topic, not to the original post. And the Forum pages are taking forever to load (why doesn’t anyone from PL explain what the problem is and what they’re doing about it?).
The patriotic students skipped their classes and went to the Legion to entertain their honored guests.
Meanwhile, school officials are cowering in the cor, er, not commenting. Think these walking advertisments for home schooling are stupid enough to give out detentions to these students?
Will they get detentions? Ya never know!!!
It was Pete’s high school, for crying out loud, and the principal banned him from his own school. Disgraced. Tell me that wasn’t political.
The principal didn’t stand up to fight for his students today. He’s not worthy, in my opinion.
What I meant was that I would like to see an index of articles on the home page, like most other sites have (for example, Real Clear Politics, Rasmussen Reports, etc.)
And, Mr. Lynn, I’ve also noticed it takes a long time to download the “comments,” and that you have to scroll down a long way to get to them.
Here is the text to a letter I just mailed to the principal of Forest Lake High School:
Sir:
News of your decision to cancel your school’s invitation to the National Heroes Tour has made it to Missouri.
Institutions of learning are not designed to be shelters from controversy. Quite the opposite. They are places where thoughts are expressed, debated and sometimes confronted. Suppression of an idea is the hallmark of the individual whose position is too weak to support through civil discourse; such is the individual who will burn a book, shout down a speaker or threaten those who sponsor an event such as the one mentioned here. The avoidance of an idea or topic of discussion is equally troubling: It is simply an act of cowardice.
Kudos to every student who left school in order to attend the relocated event. At least for a short period of time, your campus was too small for them.
1. Those students did not get detention, they were allowed to leave.
2. It was not a “spineless” act.
3. The graduate of Forest Lake, who was in charge of the program, actually has a decent relationship with the principal.
4. The major reason it was so “political” was because the Vets For Freedom organization decided last minute to hold a press conference outside of the high school, and didn’t bother to inform the principal. He found it out instead by reading it off of their website.
5. There were many people (about 150-200) that had planned to protest outside of the school if the Vets For Freedom group had come and given their presentation.
There is a time and place for everything. A public school, during school hours is not the place to hold a press conference about how “great” the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are going. Call me crazy, but that seems just a tad political to me.
It would have been great if they had come and given their presentation, however, things got out of control. Please remember that the principal wasn’t protesting the troops, or the wars, he just doesn’t think that turing a high school into a place for a political rally during school hours is a good idea.
5. There were many people (about 150-200) that had planned to protest outside of the school if the Vets For Freedom group had come and given their presentation.
Uh huh. And you know this because, what, 150-200 parents had already gotten together? Or because 150-200 unbathed types from the Democratic Underground can’t pass up a good opportunity to spit on the troops.
hold a press conference about how “great” the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are going
Wow. We even know what was to be in some, supposed, press conference.
however, things got out of control.
That generally happens when a bunch of unemployables get together.
Call me crazy
More like fraud, pretending to be something you’re not.
I know that there were supposed to be 150-200 protesters because that is the information the principal passed along to the teachers at my high school. He sent out an email explaining why he had chosen to cancel the Vets For Freedom presentation.
I know that there were supposed to be 150-200 protesters because that is the information the principal passed along to the teachers at my high school. He sent out an email explaining why he had chosen to cancel the Vets For Freedom presentation.
...how on earth does this make me a fraud?
What stinks the most to me is that the principal apparently caved in to a threat. Do you know if these 150-200 people threatened a violent protest? Why would he need to cancel at the last minute if it was going to be a peaceful protest?
These vets were invited - supposedly with open arms - then were uninvited at the last minute. So he caved. Educating young minds includes exposing them to life experiences and personal courage, something the vets have in spades. This principal just seems to know about CYA politics. I’m sure the police would have been happy to meet them too, and you know, be there should the protesters break the law.
just to set the record straight. the vets for freedom portrayed themselves as a non-partisan group when in truth they are a “527”. this 527 has been active the lieberman campaign and has made use of such bush administration formers as one of scott mclellan’s people. a 527 is the same tax identifier as the swift boaters of the 2004 campaign were given. these people are not non-partisan. they do a disservice by misrepresenting themselves.
ms. bachmann, representative for the forest lake area, has refused to speak with her constituents, local media, and others regarding important issues facing her congressional district. it appears to many of her constituents that she dodges the real job of her political office and is always happy to be out there in a “no contact” role - she is able to dodge real questions regarding her true representation of her constituents.
as pious as she attempts to appear, she has lied about many things and has been caught in them. once again, she is doing a disservice to her people.
a “527” is a political fundraising group that is allowed greater flexibility in definition and is used by congressional candidates to make campaign money with very little regulatory oversight.
it is time for bachmann, her supporters, vets for freedom, and others to realize the truth and full disclosure are much more valuable than lies and ommissions.
forest lake high school is a public education institution and should not be expected to enable political messages being given to its students and community. all public educational institutions have an obligation to stay clear of teaching people what to think. they do have a responsibility to teach people how to be critical in their thinking. ask questions, form their own opinions. the vets for freedom were not honest about their agenda, had they been, perhaps there could have been a true debate, but as it stands, a captive pubic school audience should not be subjected to one-sided interpretations of the truth.
ms. bachmann should know better. the truth is catching up with her, as well.
I know that there were supposed to be 150-200 protesters because that is the information the principal passed along to the teachers at my high school. He sent out an email explaining why he had chosen to cancel the Vets For Freedom presentation.
So you are saying that all it takes to get a reasonable principal to cancel invited guests is to threaten a demonstration?
Sorry, this guy sounds cowardly to me.
A man who happened to be short and thin told me about an encounter with a bully on his first day at school years before. He was on one of the school swings and the bully ordered him off. My friend said, “I knew he was much bigger and could beat me up pretty bad. I also knew if I meekly got off, I would be stuck following his orders as long as I was in that school. I got off the swing and punched him in the gut. He fought back and beat me up pretty bad. I landed a few good punches myself. After that encounter, he left me alone. He didn’t want to risk getting hurt.”
That man had wisdom the principal lacks. The people who threatened the demonstration have his number now and know how to control what goes on in the school.
I’m a member of the Combat Infantrymen’s Association membership being restricted to Army infantrymen who have been awarded the Combat Infantrymen’s Badge. The criteria requires actual ground combat as an infantryman against America’s enemies from WWII through the current conflicts. Here in Lee County Florida our school system encourages vets to give lectures, make individual appearances at the various schools in the system to discuss their experiences in an effort to enlighten the students about the sacrifices that have been made on their behalf.
The Lee County school administrations also sponsor a “Pride and Patriotism” event in Ft. Myers at one of our community college auditoriums. The last event packed the house with over 2,000 attending. Individual students were accompanied by a Vet to the stage to receive awards for their presntations in art and music that reflected the good and honorable services performed by our Veterans over the decades. The support from the residents of Lee Country was outstanding and to date we have “sold out” seats for the next presentation next year.
