Friday, October 31, 2014

Ed's Epistle to the Episcopalians (re: Obelisk Art 450 and the Michelle O'Connell Case)


-----Original Message-----
From: easlavin
To: StCypriansTed
Sent: Fri, Oct 31, 2014 10:18 am
Subject: "To sin by silence, when we should protest, makes cowards of men." Ella Wheeler Wilcox


Dear Ted:

1. "Boundaries?" You've crossed several. I've lost count. What does Caren mean by "OUR values? What are those, exactly? Please list, describe and explain. "Demands?" Your e-mail is full of them.

2. You operate an IRS-regulated 501c3 non-profit corporation. OA 450 "demands" government support -- property, permits, staff time, tax exemption, public relations, resolutions -- for what Caren calls "[Y]OUR values."

3. Yet OA 450 eschews accountability, logic and scrutiny. Why?

4. OA 450, after "years" of "work," excluded GLBTQ people, scholarly research and meaningful public participation from your OA 450 scheme. Why? This is invidiously discriminatory. It shows no "compassion." It does not promote "healing." The Founder of Our Nation's Oldest City, Adelantado Pedro Menendez de Aviles, ordered the first anti-Gay hate crime in North American history, the garroting of a Gay French interpreter of the Guale Indian language in 1566 -- he called him a "Sodomite and a Lutheran" and his brother-in-law wrote it down. The unnamed victim was garroted in secret -- murdered on orders of Florida's First Spanish Governor. There was no trial. This event was in the record before the federal court in ordering Rainbow flags on our Bridge of Lions. Jensen v. City of St. Augustine, Florida, 3:2005cv00504 (M.D.Fla., June 7, 2005). When I tried to tell you about this yesterday on the telephone, you hung up on me. You seem to have a lot of hangups and prejudices, Ted.

5. Please send me the minutes of all of your meetings; kindly share any evidence or indicia of inviting scholarly research or GLBTQ and other public participation.

6. These are our streets and our governments and our properties where you wish to erect "Compassionate St. Augustine" obelisks -- totemic phallic symbols that resemble stylized KKK hoods, in the opinion of Warren Celli, artist, blogger and former publisher of the St. Aug Dog, who won a jury verdict against the City of St. Augustine for First Amendment violations. Celli v. City of St. Augustine, 214 F. Supp. 2d 1255 (M.D. Fla. 2000); see my letter to our City officials, below. I reckon we'll have to resolve the First Amendment and anti-Gay bigotry issues before City Commission and possibly a federal judge.

7. Yesterday afternoon, you repeatedly interrupted me, hurled insults and hung up the telephone. In response, I "turned the other cheek." In fact, believing in your mission of a "Compassionate St. Augustine," I kept my promise. I telephoned the National Park Service and helped open the grounds of the Castillo de San Marco National Monument to one of your obelisks, calling Superintendent Gordon Wilson for you. You claimed the Castillo (which you repeatedly mispronounced "Castillio") was unavailable for legal reasons because it is "federal property," which was entirely untrue. You did not thank me for helping you. Why? Have you called the Chief Ranger yet?

8. King Henry VIII founded your church (Church of England) in 1534. King Henry VIII executed Saint Thomas More in 1535 by beheading him at the Tower of London. The gruesome decapitation execution was the English King's retaliation for Catholic lawyer Thomas More's unwillingness to support state creation of your church. Saint Thomas More had been Lord Chancellor of England and a respected lawyer, judge and Catholic laymen. All of England was silent, as you clergymen here are on Michelle O'Connell's case. Saint Thomas More is the patron Saint of Roman Catholic lawyers (and whistleblowers everywhere). Those who love justice will not be bullied. As Thomas More said at his show trial, the ancient equitable maxim says: "Silence gives consent."

9. Do you think that Michelle O'Connell committed suicide? Your inculpatory silence on the Michelle O'Connell case is a disgrace to the human race. Your "silence gives consent." Will you and your fellow clergymen show some courage and compassion? Healing? It starts here. Kindly speak out on the Michelle O'Connell case or be known as a poltroon and a phony. Stop acting like an anti-literate energumen, a cognitive miser and an authoritarian, insensitive to our community, our history and our values. You will find that you learn more when you stop preaching and start listening. For more on the O'Connell case watch "Andrew Young Presents on ABC-25 at 5 PM on December 6th and watch "Dr. Phil" on Fox-30 at 3:30 pm on Monday, November 3, 2014 and read and view The New York Times investigation and the PBS Frontline and NBC Dateline investigations at:
http://www.nytimes.com/projects/2013/two-gunshots/ "Two Gunshots on a Summer Night," by Walt Bogdanich and Glenn Silber
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/death-in-st-augustine/ PBS Frontline documentary, "A Death in St. Augustine"
http://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/full-episode-two-shots-fired-n84816 NBC News Dateline documentary, "Two Shots Fired"
For more on your "Compassionate Saint Augustine" publicity "partner," Sheriff DAVID BERNARD SHOAR and his record of violating citizens' constitutional rights, please consult the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals decision in the Gennusa v. Canova case: and read about it here
As Senator Robert F. Kennedy once wrote (inscribing a book) to segregationist Senator James O. Eastland (D-Miss.): "Repent now, there's still time."

10. But As Pope Francis said, "Who am I to judge?"

Cordially,

Ed



Art by Warren Celli, prevailing plaintiff in Celli v. City of St. Augustine, 214 F. Supp. 2d 1255 (M.D. Fla. 2000)

Art by Warren Celli

6 comments:

Clara Waldhari said...

NO Gay/Lesbian inclusion?

Exclusionary. No healing.

NO witness for domestic violence? The homeless?

Exclusionary. No healing.

Please explain how this group is "compassionate"?

I was one of the first to join, but not only was I never listed as a member, my queries were never answered. This was back in the very beginning -- I was a charter member!

Now, upon seeing this lack of diversity and lack of understanding of our history and our present, I am relieved I wasn't sucked into this vortex of questionable taste, self-righteousness, grandiosity, egoism, and lack of historical comprehension.

That the obelisk is a phallic symbol should have occurred to someone, before the choice of cultural representation was made. In fact, how many people MADE that decision? You could do better.

IMO, our cultural landscape is way too cluttered as it is. We need to be selective about what we allow to invade our senses and why and where. Our sense of place is constantly degraded by the next, "best" idea.

This "art project" is one of Compassionate SA's contrived and exclusionary CONCEPTS that flaunts an obvious lack of diversity, accuracy, and lack of understanding of our town.

Back to the drawing board, please. Or crap it altogether. Show us your financial records. Just how much do you HAVE in hand to continue this charade?

Just because there is a bandwagon is no reason to jump on it.

Compassion does NOT marginalize.

Clara Waldhari said...

"Or crap it altogether" should be

"Or SCRAP it altogether."

Warren Celli said...

This would be a wonderful post for all of you folks who still believe in voting and working within the system to forward to your candidates for review and PUBLIC comment. Does Joe Boles support this KKK hood look alike phallic nonsense? How about Nancy Shaver? It would be nice to know if you are voting for a ringer? Better to ask than be sorry.

Sin by silence, outside of the religious realm and in the secular world, is known as Lies of Omission. It is important to recognize this distinction here because this phony compassion scam that wants to scatter these stylized KKK hood symbols all over the community is an integral part of many similar scams used to port over, or adapt, the tried and tested religious indoctrination and control mechanisms into the secular world. Yes the transition is well under way and there is much deception in the air. Understanding this deception conceptually is key to understanding the menticide that has so drastically changed our cultural values in the past fifty plus years. Oh for the good old days...

Excerpt;

"The 'Greed And Evil Are Good' snow job — an intentionally orchestrated sea change in the viewpoint of the global psyche — we have been culture shaped and culture raped!... It is Xtrēvilism that is responsible for the sea change in our post WWII global culture and morality. That culture of the time, joyous with righteous victory at the end of the war, was a family oriented culture of good strong moral values. It is Xtrēvilism that has intentionally and incrementally worked to shift those once dominant good and strong family oriented moral values — values of fairness, love, respect, opportunity, togetherness, hope, desire, etc. — to elite Xtrēvilism corporate values that instead instill and normalize; preemptive war, fear, divisiveness, hate, racism, torture, greed is good, homelessness, extra judicial assassinations, wealth adoration, etc."

More here;

http://www.boxthefox.com/articles/premiere%20article.html

Deception (baloney) is the strongest political force on the planet.

Ed, great post as usual. FYI — you have a dead link on the Gennusa v. Canova case.

Ed Slavin said...

Thanks, Warren! Posted new GPO link to replace dead 11th Circuit link. Also added commentary in laymen's language on Gennusa case holding.

Ed Slavin said...

Thanks, Warren! Posted new GPO link to replace dead 11th Circuit link. Also added commentary in laymen's language on Gennusa case holding.

c said...

Warren,
YOUR art is spot on! I hooted when I saw the democracy obelisk as a KKK hood. Good art PROVOKES emotion AND thought, something which yours certainly does.