OUR KIND OF ATTORNEY GENERAL

The current Attorney General for the State of Florida is Bill McCollum.  After being a Congressman representing Florida's 5^th District for 20 years, he ran for Senate in 2004 only to be screwed by Karl Rove, who wanted Bush's buddy Mel Martinez.

Thus we have the pro-illegal alien Martinez in the Senate – but at least Florida lucked out to have McCollum bounce back to be elected its AG last year.  How lucky can be seen by a letter McCollum wrote this week (12/03) in his official capacity to the president of the University of Florida.

American universities are today dominated by professors and administrators who viciously attack any attempt at giving their students a pro-America education.    Finally, here is one state attorney general who has the guts to legally prosecute such viciousness.  America needs more Bill McCollums.

Here is his letter:

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December 3, 2007

Dr. James Bernard Machen, President
The University of Florida
Office of the President
Post Office Box 113150
Gainesville, FL 32611

Dear Dr. Machen:

It has come to my attention that Dr. Patricia Telles-Irvin, the University of Florida Vice President for Student Affairs, sent a letter November 26 to all university students entitled "official response" highly critical of an ad for the showing of the movie "Obsession" which was posted around the campus.  A copy of this letter is attached for your reference. 

Dr. Telles-Irvin's letter may have violated the free speech rights of the students and organizations who posted this ad and sponsored the movie.  At the very least it has created a chilling effect on the free speech rights of students enrolled at the University of Florida. 

As the Attorney General of Florida, it is my duty to protect the constitutional rights of all Floridians including civil rights and free speech rights.  Consequently, I have asked attorneys in my office to review this matter and advise me what if any action this office should pursue. 

I am writing to request that you review this matter with your staff, legal counsel and the University of Florida Board of Trustees and, if they concur with my concerns, formulate and take some appropriate remedial action.

No doubt Dr. Telles-Irvin was responding in her letter to the sensitivities of the Muslim students on campus.  While the Muslin faith should be honored and respected and most practicing Muslims are not radical and not terrorists, the United States has been at war with radical Islamic terrorists since September 11, 2001. 

The movie "Obsession," which I have seen, describes the nature of our enemy and this war.  The headline on the ad for the movie reading "RADICAL ISLAM WANTS YOU DEAD" is one of the messages in this movie and is a true statement of the intent of these radical Islamic terrorists. 

In her letter Dr. Telles-Irvin says, "regardless of its original intent, the language reinforced a negative stereotype, created unnecessary divisiveness and contributed to a generalization that only furthers the misunderstanding of the religion of Islam." 

This may be the view of Dr. Telles-Irvin, but a great many Americans would disagree and argue that it is essential to the discussion and understanding of this war that the terrorists be properly and correctly labeled as radical Islamists who by their very actions clearly want us dead.  Students and student organizations who hold this latter view should not be stifled in their free expression of it. 

By not only criticizing the ad, but also calling on the groups that posted the ad to apologize, Dr. Telles-Irvin, intentionally or not, has chilled free speech on the UF campus. 

It may be that her intent with this letter was simply to encourage students when speaking of radical Islamists to put them in context by also making a statement that most practitioners of the Islamic faith are not terrorists and not radical Islamists. 

But that is not the effect of her letter.  And I would submit that when one posts an ad for a movie it isn't practical to expect a "clarification," as perhaps Dr. Telles-Irvin thinks is needed when speaking of radical Islamists. 

It has also come to my attention that students and/or faculty tore down most of the posted flyers advertising this movie and that some of those doing so wore hoods.  It seems to me that the university should investigate this behavior and prosecute or discipline those who engaged in such conduct. 

To permit this kind of conduct without an appropriate response has an even more chilling effect on free speech on the campus than Dr. Telles-Irvin's letter. 

Your early attention to this matter is most appreciated. 

Sincerely,

Bill McCollum

cc:  Mr. Manny Fernandez, Chairman, Board of Trustees, University of Florida
      Ms. Carolyn Roberts, Chairman, The Florida Board of Governors