"Father, Forgive Them, For They Know Not What They Do"

The strange case of the November 20, 2008 St. Augustine Wreckord column by Cultural Council President PHIL McDANIEL (a/k/a PHIL THE SHILL) -- hwo the sycophants of the School Superintendent JOSEPH JOYNER who contrived to get cartoonist Ed Hall fired by the St. Augustine Wreckord is a perplexing one indeed. PHIL belongs in a Banana Republic.

Nasty retired Republican advertising millionaires have no more business dictating artistic merit than a hog has of directing Shakespeare plays or Mozart operas.

As to the School Superintendent and other officious school marms blowing their stacks about a cartoon that didn't even refer to St. Johns County, "Character counts" needs to be in their hearts and minds, not just the curriculum.

The School Board's counsel needs to teach them about the First Amendment, which he never has.

Saw PHIL McDANIEL night at First Friday Arts Walk. He blushed crimson, said hello, brushed by me and ran away, refusing to ask a single question.

In the immortal words of William F. Buckley, Jr., "why does baloney reject the grinder?"

As to Philistine PHIL McDANIEL, a/k/a "PHIL THE SHILL" a/k/a "CATO THE CENSOR," in the words of "Mr T," let me say about PHILISTINE PHIL, "I pity the fool." Now go away and quit the Cultural Council, or no respectable foundation, donor or government will ever want to give the Cultural Council one thin dime as long as you have your dirty fingers in its fisc.