FLORIDA POLITICS
Since 2002, daily Florida political news and commentary

 

UPDATE: Every morning we review and individually digest Florida political news articles, editorials and punditry. Our sister site, FLA Politics was selected by Campaigns & Elections as one of only ten state blogs in the nation
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Welcome To Florida Politics

Thanks for visiting. On a semi-daily basis we scan Florida's major daily newspapers for significant Florida political news and punditry. We also review the editorial pages and political columnists/pundits for Florida political commentary. The papers we review include: the Miami Herald, Sun-Sentinel, Palm Beach Post, Naples News, Sarasota Herald Tribune, St Pete Times, Tampa Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Tallahassee Democrat, and, occasionally, the Florida Times Union; we also review the political news blogs associated with these newspapers.

For each story, column, article or editorial we deem significant, we post at least the headline and link to the piece; the linked headline always appears in quotes. We quote the headline for two reasons: first, to allow researchers looking for the cited piece to find it (if the link has expired) by searching for the original title/headline via a commercial research service. Second, quotation of the original headline permits readers to appreciate the spin from the original piece, as opposed to our spin.

Not that we don't provide spin; we do, and plenty of it. Our perspective appears in post headlines, the subtitles within the post (in bold), and the excerpts from the linked stories we select to quote; we also occasionally provide other links and commentary about certain stories. While our bias should be immediately apparent to any reader, we nevertheless attempt to link to every article, column or editorial about Florida politics in every major online Florida newspaper.

 

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The Blog for Friday, January 21, 2005

Misleading Headline

    Reading the headline ...
    "School ban on showing 'The Passion' assailed"
    ... you would think that a school (Indian River Community College) had actually "banned" the showing of "The Passion". (That kinda stuff sends the wingnuts over the edge.) Well, it turns out that there is a pre-existing ban on "R-rated" films, which "The Passion" is, and the school was simply applying the facially neutral rule evenhandendly and without discrimination:
    A community college is drawing criticism for banning a Christian student organization from showing the controversial Mel Gibson movie, The Passion of the Christ. Indian River Community College officials defended the decision, saying they were following a longstanding practice banning student groups from airing R-rated films.
    But it isn't quite that simple:
    But the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, or FIRE, has accused the school of a double standard because it allowed other R-rated films, such as the documentary, Welcome to Sarajevo.

    FIRE president David French said the college was trampling on "legal and moral rights to free speech and freedom of conscience." He said it's part of a national problem of limiting campus religious activities.

    IRCC spokeswoman Michelle Abaldo said R-rated movies, such as Welcome to Sarajevo, have been shown as part of class lessons, but never by a student group. Recently, the school denied another group's request to show The Last Samurai.
    Expect a lawsuit.

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