Broward County schools won't be showing the controversial "We are family" tolerance video (which touched off the Olbermann vs. Dobson fued earlier this year, over whether Dobson had suggested a certain untoward relationship between SpongeBob Squarepants and his little friend, Patrick the pink starfish -- Dobson said -- and I got emails insisting -- he never accused SpongeBob of being Ken Mehlm ... ahem... homosexual...) but Olbermann pounded him nightly nonetheless. Lashawn Barber's cheering the decision, picking up the story today, and linking to my old pals at NBC 6 (big ups to the one and only Ari Odzer...) A handful of bloggers on the left have picked up the story as well, and not surprisingly, they think the decision stinks.
Broward is one of five counties in the U.S. to "just say no" to the video and associated carriculum. It was voted down 10-7 in May by the county's diversity committee on the grounds that 1) the video supposedly sends mixed messages to kids about being wary of strangers (how can you be wary of them if they're part of the family), and "open the door to discussion about sexual orientation." It was then voted down again by a separate school board committee this month, killing its chances of coming up before the full board. I actually contacted the Broward School Board back in March when word of the video broke, to find out if it would be used in my childrens' school (to prepare myself for the controversy if it hit close to home). At that time, the school system was undecided, but the woman from the Board was very eager to talk to me and called me back three times... maybe she was fishing for parental feedback, but I had my poker phone voice on...
I'll be interested to see what impact the video has, if any, in the districts where it is used, i.e., Miami-Dade vs. Broward (it is being shown in one Broward school district, Wilton Manors, which is home to a large gay population). My guess is the kids who see it will pretty much forget about the video within 24 hours but annoy their parents with the theme song for the better part of the year.
<%
dim done
done = request.form("done")
if done = "" then
done = "No"
%>
Tell a friend
<%
Else
if request.form("done") = "Yes" then
'sets variables
dim email, sendmail
email = request.form("email")
Set sendmail = Server.CreateObject("CDONTS.NewMail")
'put the webmaster address here
sendmail.From = "webmaster@aspbasics.com"
'The mail is sent to the address entered in the previous page.
sendmail.To = email
'Enter the subject of your mail here
sendmail.Subject = "Check out this website"
'send a specific page or send a site url
dim url
'url = Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
url = "http://www.aspbasics.net"
'This is the content of the message.
sendmail.Body = "Site recommendation from a friend!" & _
vbCrlf & vbCrlf & "A friend has sent you this email and thought you would should check out this site." & _
vbCrlf & url & vbCrlf
'this sets mail priority.... 0=low 1=normal 2=high
sendmail.Importance = 1
sendmail.Send 'Send the email!
response.redirect Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
'Response.write ("Sent to ") & email
End if
End if
%>
"[T]he practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.' Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84, August, 1788
