Students Kicked Off Campus for Wearing American Flag Tees

More evidence of political correctness run amock on the left coast.

Freedom of expression or cultural disrespect on Cinco de Mayo?

On any other day at Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, Daniel Galli and his four friends would not even be noticed for wearing T-shirts with the American flag. But Cinco de Mayo is not any typical day especially on a campus with a large Mexican American student population.

Galli says he and his friends were sitting at a table during brunch break when the vice principal asked two of the boys to remove American flag bandannas that they wearing on their heads and for the others to turn their American flag T-shirts inside out. When they refused, the boys were ordered to go to the principal's office.

"They said we could wear it on any other day," Daniel Galli said, "but today is sensitive to Mexican-Americans because it's supposed to be their holiday so we were not allowed to wear it today."

The boys said the administrators called their T-shirts "incendiary" that would lead to fights on campus.

"They said if we tried to go back to class with our shirts not taken off, they said it was defiance and we would get suspended," Dominic Maciel, Galli's friend, said.

The boys really had no choice, and went home to avoid suspension. They say they're angry they were not allowed to express their American pride. Their parents are just as upset, calling what happened to their children, "total nonsense."

"I think it's absolutely ridiculous," Julie Fagerstrom, Maciel's mom, said. "All they were doing was displaying their patriotic nature. They're expressing their individuality."

But to many Mexican-American students at Live Oak, this was a big deal. They say they were offended by the five boys and others for wearing American colors on a Mexican holiday.

"I think they should apologize cause it is a Mexican Heritage Day," Annicia Nunez, a Live Oak High student, said. "We don't deserve to be get disrespected like that. We wouldn't do that on Fourth of July."

As for an apology, the boys and their families say, 'fat chance.'

"I'm not going to apologize. I did nothing wrong," Galli said. "I went along with my normal day. I might have worn an American flag, but I'm an American and I'm proud to be an American."

The five boys and their families met with a Morgan Hill Unified School District official Wednesday night. The district and the school do not see eye-to-eye on the incident and released the following statement:

The district does not concur with the Live Oak High School administration's interpretation of either board or district policy related to these actions.

The boys will not be suspended and were allowed to return to school Thursday. We spotted one of them when he got to campus -- and, yes, he was sporting an American flag T-shirt.

Mississippi Power seeks rehearing

The Meridian Star

MERIDIAN — Mississippi Power Co. will ask state regulators to reconsider conditions they placed on the utility building a coal-fired generating plant in Kemper County.

The Public Service Commission last week approved the plant application but with a lengthy set of conditions — conditions that Mississippi Power said after the decision would make it impossible to finance or construct the plant.

The three-member Mississippi Public Service Commission voted 2-1 in favor of the proposal, detailing its decision in a 50-page document.

Mississippi Power spokeswoman Cindy Duvall said Tuesday that the company's request for a rehearing will include a brief on why the conditions in the PSC's order would not allow the company to act in a fiscally responsible manner.

The motion will also include an update on the parameters of the project, as well as alternatives for the commission to consider.

“We respect the work of the commission on a very complicated matter in difficult economic times. We hope they will reconsider these issues and work with us to find a solution to build the Kemper Project and keep rates for our customers as low as possible,” Duvall said.

The motion will be filed this week.

Good points to remember on this National Day of Prayer

Boycott the boycotters.

Liberal organizations and governments and other entities who fear the backlash of not appearing politically correct enough are lining up to jump on the Arizona boycott bandwagon. Keep a list, and boycott the boycotters. Better yet, plan a trip to Arizona this year and show your support.

The Arizona boycott: Everybody's doing it


Calls to boycott Arizona because of its new immigration law appear to be gaining deep traction and could end up costing the state millions of dollars.

Here are just a few of the confirmed boycotts, as reported by the Service Employees International Union:

• At least six conventions have pulled out of the Phoenix area, according to Fox's Phoenix affiliate. Those include college fraternities, the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators and the National Black Caucus of State Legislators.

• St. Paul, Minn., Mineapolis and San Francisco city governments are trying to ban city officials from traveling to Arizona on official business.

• The Denver public school system is banning work-related travel to Arizona.

• There have been pickets at Arizona Diamondbacks games and there's a brewing movement to boycott the baseball team. Today we also got an email about a drive to get Major League Baseball to hold its All-Star game outside the state next year.

This is just a snapshot of the boycott movement - there's actually a lot more going on than this. For imormation, check out this NPR article.

Update: 19 groups totaling 15,000 room nights have canceled events in Arizona, according to the Arizona Hotel and Lodging Association.

Madison approves smoking ban

Mississippi Business Journal

MADISON — Madison has adopted a smoke-free-air ordinance, switching from a voluntary ban on tobacco that all city businesses followed.

The change passed unanimously on Tuesday.

Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler is expected to sign the ordinance Wednesday or Thursday. The law will go into effect 30 days after she signs it.

Butler tells The Clarion-Ledger the reason for moving from voluntary to mandatory is because of the growth of the city.

Madison joins more than 30 cities in the state that have smoking restrictions. In the metro area, Brandon, Clinton, Flora and Ridgeland have banned smoking in public places.