Colorado's at it again - free speech? HUH?

I really hate my state sometimes. Here's the latest atrocity - a high school teacher who was suspended after a student taped about 20 minutes of class discussion in a world geography class:

AURORA, Colo. - About 150 high school students walked out of class to protest a decision to put a teacher [Bennish] on leave while they investigate remarks he made about President Bush in class, including that some people compare Bush to Adolf Hitler.

You can read the transcript of the class complete with comments from the right wing blogger who picked it up. Here's a selection::


Bennish [teacher]... So, if we can be for peace and for war, well, why can't the Palestinians be for peace and for war?!

*Student Sean Allen, who is taping Bennish's rant, speaks up:*

Allen: Isn't there a difference of, of, having Hamas being like, we wanna attack Israelis because they're Israelis, and having us say we want to attack people who are known terrorists? Isn't there a difference between saying we're going to attack innocents and we're going to attack people who are not innocent?

Bennish: I think that's a good point. But you have to remember who's doing the defining of a terrorist. And what is a terrorist?

Allen: Well, when people attack us on our own soil and are actually attempting to take American lives and want to take American lives, whereas, Israelies in this situation, aren't saying we want to blow up Palestine...

Bennish: How did Israel and the modern Israeli state even come into existence in the first place?

Allen: We gave it to them.

Bennish: Sort of. Why? After the Israel-Zionist movement conducted what? Terrorist acts. They assassinated the British prime minster in Palestine. They blew up buildings. They stole military equipment. Assassinated hundreds of people. Car bombings, you name it. That's how the modern state of Israel was made. Was through violence and terrorism. Eventually we did allow them to have the land. Why? Not because we really care, but because we wanted a strategic ally. We saw a way to us to get a hook into the Middle East.
If we create a modern nation of Israel, then, and we make them dependent on us for military aid and financial aid, then we can control a part of the Middle East. We will have a country in the Middle East that will be indebted to us.

Allen: But is it ok to say it's just to attack Israel? If it's ok to attack known terrorists, it's ok to attack Israel? ...

Granted, this guy definately is on the liberal side of the spectrum, but he allows debate and is polite to the student who opposes him. To me the class sounds like one where I would have at least stayed awake and actually thought about the points the instructer brings up, whether I agreed or not. For this the teacher got suspended? Give me a break!

[xoxoxoBruce]

Alright, and so this becomes very, very muddled. And I'm not in any way implying that you should agree with me. I don't even know if I'm necessarily taking a position. But what I'm trying to get you to do is to think, right, about these issues more in-depth, you know, and not just take things from the surface. And I'm glad you asked all your questions, because they're very good, legitimate questions. And hopefully that allows other people to begin to think about some of those things, too.

Doesn't sound like he's brainwashing anyone to me.