Posted on 08/20/2010 7:30:35 AM PDT by jessduntno
America... the land of the free and the home of the brave. At least that's what we hear when we sing the National Anthem.
Wait... are we still allowed to sing that song and express our patriotism? I know we are still the home of the brave, but it's become clearer that we are no longer the land of the free. Just ask "former" middle school football coach Bryan Glover, who wrote a song about Barack Obama and sent it to people on his e-mail list. Where did this expression of free speech land him?
The unemployment line, that's where.
As reported by OneNewsNow.com, Glover, a 26-year-old Christian, co-wrote the song "When You're Holding a Hammer, Everything Looks Like a Nail." The song "takes a dig at the current administration and what he believes to be the wrong moves for the U.S." According to the report, Glover sent the song to everyone in his personal e-mail list, "which included parents from Grassland Middle School, where he coached football."
That's when the trouble began. Within 90 minutes of sending out the song, Glover heard from his head coach that parents were asking that Glover be fired.
"When the coach first called me, he said his phone was blown up with parents saying that I was being politically incorrect -- quote, unquote -- if you will, and that some of them were even reading into racial overtones in the song," Glover explains.
Listen to the song for yourself and see if there is ANY reference to race in it at all. Why do people have to knee-jerk and claim racism just because someone doesn't like Obama? It's because they are so enamored with him and his socialist programs that they think anyone who doesn't like him must be a racist.
(Excerpt) Read more at gopusa.com ...
“Agreed, and if it were a leftwing screed, we would be vocally supportive of having him fired.”
I wouldn’t. Nothing there to fire a man over. If it was about Sarah Palin and it was this inoffensive (and by the way do you think there isn’t anything out there that matches that description when it comes to schools and SP?) I would say, take it up at the next school staff meeting, agree on what the policy should be, if it wasn’t clear enough ... and move on.
“Most importantly there is no constitutional right to a job.”
REALLY? Let’s fire one of the SCOTUS. Or almost any tenured professor.
Exactly!!
It would be nice to know WHERE the school is. I would have to get out of a town where parents are THAT sensitive. Surprised they’d let their kids do anything so dangerous as playing football.
It’s only an assistant coaching position at a middle school. What does that pay, couple hundred dollars for the season? Thanks to his firing and the story’s coverage, Glover is likely to make more $$$ from the song.
The sad thing is that the players probably got a lot of their relationship with Glover, and now have been deprived of that.
You: “The constitutional right to free speech only prevents legal repercussions against a person from the government, not to repercussions from private individuals or employees.”
Me: Is this school not a government sponsored instituion?
You: Crickets.
Me: Don’t you think firing a guy from his government paid position without hearings or cause given (which I still don’t understand and neither do you) constitutes “legal repercussions against a person from the government?”
Just wondering why you didn’t answer that. It’s a public school.
Tough lesson. It did not occur at school.
What he needs is a swell support for his freedom of speech.
FRANKLIN, Tenn. - Music City is full of songwriters, hoping to land that big break. But a now former Middle school football coach in Williamson County said writing a politically-charged country song got him fired, after it rubbed a few parents the wrong way.
26 year old Bryan Glover is not shy about his political opinions. He is proud tea party Republican and felt compelled to voice his disappointment in the current administration through his music. But he never thought sharing his new song would leave him unemployed.
The song is called, “When You’re Holding A Hammer, Everything Looks Like A Nail.” It is a reference to Glover’s frustrations with the current administration and President Obama. Glover co-wrote the tune with a parent on the Grassland Middle School football team. He never thought sending it out to friends, family and player’s parents could put the hammer on the nail of his job with the school.
“Here we are a week before the season starts and they call and say I am no longer with the staff. It’s devastating for me,” said Glover.
It all stems from an email Glover sent through his personal Yahoo account.
“I sent it 99 percent of the people in my inbox— all the way from my mom to people I haven’t spoken to in years,” said Glover.
But the email, with a link to his new song, went out to a hand full of parents of kids on the Grassland Football Team.
Whether it's the mantra of the left or not, I do not see benefit in doing what this guy did. He probably thought it was harmless and funny - and I think it was - but he has to understand before he clicks send to parents in his school district that not all of them will. In society the way it is today, those kinds of things have and will continue to get people fired because of the perceived polarizing effect they have. It sucks but that's what it is.
Is it too late to go after the original mmmm mmmm mmmm Obama perpe-traitors?
That is a great question. IMO, they should be held to the same standard.
I agree with alot of that.
1 - You don’t have the right to not be offended.
2 - Deleting it and asking to be removed from the list is what a mature, normal adult should do.
He did still mess up though because the outcry (such as it is) was completely predictable which he had to know would put his school in a very bad position. His lack of foresight is why I think he has some punishment coming his way.
The standard we have (as I infer from other situations like this) is that you get in hot water / fired for things like this. As another poster mentioned, the teachers who were shown teaching the “Mmmm..mmm...mmm...Barack Obama” song should be held to the same standard.
I’m for the standard to be the same - whatever it is - regardless of who it is that it’s being applied to. That’s the only fair way I can see of judging these kinds of things. In my experience seeing these things, people get fired for it. It sucks in this case but that’s what it is.
Maybe he was fired for unauthorized use of the school’s computer to send out a private email. If he used school property to draft and send the email, then he should get fired regardless of the content of the message.
It’s a damn shame he’s been fired for being stupid.
But sometimes, there can be a positive outcome to a negative event.
Yes, the standards/rules should be applied equally.
It’ll be interesting to see how this turns out.
“Maybe he was fired for unauthorized use of the school’s computer to send out a private email.”
I know we don’t all have time to read the articles, but no, he did not use school resources and only a handful of the parents were included.
My letter to the Super and Principal;
Dr. Curtis,
I have read extensively and heard about, the recent firing of your football coach for sending out a song that he wrote that is critical of the current administration. If this was done on his own time, sent from his own computer to his personal email list and did not use any school resources, how could his summary dismissal be a positive example for the children?
If personal and private expression of political thought and expression is met with this type of immmediate summary dismissal, do we not teach that you should never “question authority” or “speak truth to power?”
I have seen the lyrics and there is nothing in them to raise concern about racism or any personal attack or threat. I simply do not understand the stance you have taken.
Sincerely,
And that is the temptation we must resist. Remember how loudly we cried for the removal of Churchill and Ayers.”
Yeah, well, let’s see on one side we have an acknowledged communist who tried to MURDER people and on the other side a cowboy with a tune that contains nothing even remotely objectionable ... hmmmmmm ...Yeah, good point, they are pretty much the same...good grief...this is why we need to flush the Grand Old Potty. We can NOT cringe in a corner every time some liberal DOOFUS screams racism. What don’t you get about this issue?
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