{"id":1148,"date":"2002-06-26T18:27:00","date_gmt":"2002-06-26T23:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/robandjen.com\/jen\/2002\/06\/26\/i-pledge-allegiance\/"},"modified":"2002-06-26T18:27:00","modified_gmt":"2002-06-26T23:27:00","slug":"i-pledge-allegiance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robandjen.com\/jen\/2002\/06\/26\/i-pledge-allegiance\/","title":{"rendered":"I pledge allegiance…"},"content":{"rendered":"

So I run a discussion list called NoRules<\/a>. I don't really “own” the list – no one does. It just is. But I provide the list serve for it because I got sick of reply-to-all hassles. I lurk, mostly, but sometimes feel moved to post. All that is pretty much irrelevant right now though.<\/p>\n

Anyhow, a post came through that I felt I needed to answer. Here's my response:<\/p>\n

\n
\n>> I received from a member of another group, \"The very next message\n\n>> after yours in my In box, a CNN news alert, was:\n>>    >-- Federal appeals court rules Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional\n>>    >because of words 'under God,' according to The Associated Press.\"\n>>\n>> Anyone out there got that?\n>\n>Heard it, and am thoroughly disgusted, outraged, and ready to scream.  There\n>is no Constitutional right that guarantees protection against personal\n>offense.  Fuck them.  I'll say The Pledge as I wish and so will my children.\n\nI'm not.  I'm quite pleased.  The original pledge, written in 1892 by\nFrancis Bellamy was a patriotic oath, not a prayer.  It had no mention\nof God:  \"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it\nstands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.\"\n\nIn 1954, Congress after a campaign by the Knights of Columbus, added the\nwords, \"under God,\" to the Pledge.\n\nWhat I didn't know however, is what Ike said in 1954 - that  millions of\nAmerican schoolchildren would now be proclaiming their dedication to\n\"the Almighty.\"\n\n*That* is wrong, unconstitutional, and contrary to the whole bloody\nreason this country was founded.\n\nWhat I find mind-boggling is how Congress is up in arms about it.  It\ntells me that they care nothing for the Constitution or for the very\nprincipals that this nation was founded upon.  It makes me sick.\n\n\"Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law.\" -\nThomas Jefferson, letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10, 1814\n\n\"The government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the\nChristian religion.\" - Treaty of Tripoli (June 7, 1797)\n\n\n\"...an amendment was proposed by inserting the words, 'Jesus\nChrist...the holy author of our religion,' which was rejected 'By a\ngreat majority in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle\nof its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and the\nMohammedan, the Hindoo and the Infidel of every denomination.'\" - Thomas\nJefferson<\/i><\/pre>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So I run a discussion list called NoRules. I don't really “own” the list – no one does. It just is. But I provide the list serve for it because I got sick of reply-to-all hassles. I lurk, mostly, but sometimes feel moved to post. All that is pretty much irrelevant right now though. Anyhow, a post came through that I felt I needed to answer. Here's my response: >> I received from a member of another group, “The very next message >> after yours in my In box, a CNN news alert, was: >> >– Federal appeals court rules Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional >> >because of words 'under God,' according to The Associated Press.” >> >> Anyone out there got that? > >Heard it, and am thoroughly disgusted, outraged, and ready to scream. There >is no Constitutional right that guarantees protection against personal >offense. Fuck them. I'll say The Pledge as I wish and so will my children. I'm not. I'm quite pleased. The original pledge, written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy was a patriotic oath, not a prayer. It had no mention of God: “I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” In 1954, Congress after a campaign by the Knights of Columbus, added the words, “under God,” to the Pledge. What I didn't know however, is what Ike said in 1954 – that millions of American schoolchildren would now be proclaiming their dedication to “the Almighty.” *That* is wrong, unconstitutional, and contrary to the whole bloody reason this country was founded. What I find mind-boggling is how Congress is up in arms about it. It tells me that they care nothing for the Constitution or for the very principals that this nation was founded upon. It makes me sick. “Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law.” – Thomas Jefferson, letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10, 1814 “The government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion.” – Treaty of Tripoli (June 7, 1797) “…an amendment was proposed by inserting the words, 'Jesus Christ…the holy author of our religion,' which was rejected 'By a great majority in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and the Mohammedan, the Hindoo and the Infidel of every denomination.'” – Thomas Jefferson<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robandjen.com\/jen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robandjen.com\/jen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robandjen.com\/jen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robandjen.com\/jen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robandjen.com\/jen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/robandjen.com\/jen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1148\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robandjen.com\/jen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robandjen.com\/jen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robandjen.com\/jen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}