A Blog Version Of The Inside Of My Head. The place where politics, film, the media, music, pop culture, and random topics collide in an orgy of neo-philisophical randomness that would make your mother scream.
So now conservatives are for educators forcing their children to act a certain way?
A controversy over the Pledge of Allegiance at an elementary school has divided a small New York town and resulted in the resignation of a school board member.
Rosemarie Troidl told Fox News Radio she resigned as a member of the North Collins School Board after her fellow board members refused to order students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance together.
“We were raised to respect the flag,” Troidl said, suggesting it was an issue of patriotism. “There’s no excuse for the board to have allowed this.”
She said around 250 people have signed a petition asking the school board to change the policy and direct children at North Collins Elementary School to recite the Pledge in unison.
Troidl "pulled a Palin" so she is obviously qualified to be the next President I suppose.
This is yet another example of how conservatives are more than willing to turn anything in to a controversy and make it seem like public schools are destroying our children.
As I'm sure that this will gain traction on Fox"News" - likely during Hannity or O'Reilly's hour; perhaps Beck if he isn't too busy insisting that George Soros is offering assassins millions to kill him and his family - I think I should address this in conjunction with conservatives new found interpretation of the First Amendment.
Ed Morrissey over at Hot Air points out that this is a rather old clip ( nearly 10 years old mind you ) so obviously there are conservatives scouring the CSPAN archives in an attempt to dig up "dirt" on Democrats.
Desperation much?
So is this the primary metric by which all politicians are judged by the modern conservative movement - whether they believe in an invisible man living in the sky?
The Fox"News" sister hate site Fox"Nation" highlights this bit of commentary to apparently further the narrative that all Democrats are godless heathens bent on destroying our nation through secular speech, or something.
A sad display of disrespect by a United States Congresswoman from Minnesota, Democrat Betty McCollum. It is a video that Betty does not want her voters to see, but it's too late Betty, you have been exposed.
After watching this video you will see how obvious it is that she she intentionally omitted the words, "Under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance. At the time, her staffers claimed she took a breath, but with the video now out, the lie has been exposed.
Disrespect?
One would think that a member of Congress - regardless of who they are and where they are from - would know about the separation of church and state and be standing within the House of Representatives as one that represents ALL of her district, not just the ones that sit in the "amen pew" on Sunday mornings and then go off to Cracker Barrel and berate the server making minimum wage who didn't bring their coffee refill in time while talking trash about the couple sitting in front of them just hours before.
Hate to tell all those reactionary conservatives, but not everyone is a Christian, and Congress doesn't legislate under theocratic terms.
But as a First Amendment issue, isn't it the Congresswoman's right to say the pledge as she did? Granted, many will argue that she is in the "People's House", and that removes her freedom to recite as she sees fit, but considering the drivel that has come from conservatives within those same "hallowed halls", are they really wanting to make this argument right now?
This sort of story from a Fox"News" personality is to be expected.
A Maryland public school teacher was punished after she ordered a student to stand during the Pledge of Allegiance.
The incident occurred at Robert Clemente Middle School in Montgomery County, MD. As students rose to recite the Pledge the teacher noticed one child still seated. She asked her to stand and the student refused. Still defiant, the teacher sent her to the office. The following morning, the girl once again refused to stand. This time, the teacher called two school police officers to escort the girl to the office.
Well – that sparked outrage from the girl, her family and the Maryland chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. According to the ACLU, the girl was “so traumatized by her teacher’s humiliating and inappropriate reaction that she has not felt comfortable returning to school until the situation is addressed.”
And right on cue, the fine, upstanding population over at Fox"Nation" are clutching their pearls and falling onto the fainting couches.
Here's the problem with this story - a teacher cannot force a student to recite the pledge. But this doesn't stop conservatives from using this as a ham-fisted descriptor that the ACLU, liberal media, and progressivism is destroying America.
The bottom line is that teachers cannot be forced to recite the pledge.
Did you know that the "Pledge of Allegiance" was written by a "socialist"?
The Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy (1855-1931), a Baptist minister, a Christian socialist, and the cousin of socialist utopian novelist Edward Bellamy (1850-1898). Bellamy's original "Pledge of Allegiance" was published in the September 8th issue of the popular children's magazine The Youth's Companion as part of the National Public-School Celebration of Columbus Day, a celebration of the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's discovery of America, conceived by James B. Upham.
Bellamy's original Pledge read, "I Pledge Allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all."
Here's the "Bellamy Salute" that was intended to be used when reciting the pledge.
Isn't it interesting what happens when you know the history behind many of the things in America.
