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I just found out late last night that my local public high school is not saying the Pledge of Allegiance at any point during the school day. Is this the norm?? This information came to me via a foreign exchange student we are hosting who is in her senior year of high school at our local public institution. We were talking about her first week of school which commenced 8/27 and she said they have not done the pledge even once yet! She knew what it was, she knows the words - she learned them before coming here. But her...

BEREA, Ohio (AP) -- A man who wore press credentials and took photographs from a platform interrupted Barack Obama's town-hall meeting Tuesday by shouting complaints that the Democratic presidential candidate had not called for the audience to say the Pledge of Allegiance. Obama invited the heckler to lead the audience in the pledge, and he did.

Barack Obama had an awkward moment today at a Town Hall Meeting he was holding, as you see in this video. As he was ready to get underway in his remarks, a person in the crowd began to heckle him, asking that the Pledge of Allegiance be said. Obama induldged the young man, and eventually thanked him publicly for reminding them all that they had not yet said the Pledge. Interesting moment. . . . (see video)

<p>BEREA, Ohio (AP) - A man who wore press credentials and took photographs from a platform interrupted Barack Obama's town-hall meeting Tuesday by shouting complaints that the Democratic presidential candidate had not called for the audience to say the Pledge of Allegiance. Obama invited the heckler to lead the audience in the pledge, and he did.</p>

One dhimmi elementary school principal in Oregon has banned the Pledge of Allegiance, so as not to offend Muslims. Slowly they chip away at life as we know it. If this does not stop. Eventually Bibles and all non-Islamic religious symbols will be banned. All for a group of people who have never heard the expression "respect is a two-way street". When will this madness end? http://islaminaction08.blogspot.com/2008/06/oregon-school-bans-pledge-of-allegiance.html

PORTLAND, Ore. - The exclusion of the Pledge of Allegiance from a southwest Portland elementary school's ceremony has proved upsetting for a local mom. Departing fifth-graders at Capitol Hill Elementary usually open their promotion ceremony with the Pledge of Allegiance - but not this year. "I was sad," said parent Briana Reese. "The flag was sitting up there, you know. Two of the kids went up and they said 'Everybody rise,' and we rose, and I thought for just a second 'Oh yeah, we're going to put our hands on our hearts and we're going to salute the flag' -...

Three Minnesota Junior High Students Suspended for Not Standing During Pledge Saturday , May 10, 2008 AP DILWORTH, Minn. — Fourteen-year-old Bishop Edens was suspended from school Friday because he wouldn't stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, but he was quickly invited back once his principal learned that rule might be unconstitutional. The back-and-forth came on the second day of controversy at Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton Junior High over the school's policy of requiring students to stand — but not necessarily recite — during the pledge. Edens saw three of his classmates get disciplined by Principal Colleen Houglum on Thursday, so he decided...

Did school officials react properly to students who did not stand for the Pledge of Allegiance?

Three small-town eighth-graders were suspended for not standing at the start of the school day Thursday for the Pledge of Allegiance. "My son wasn't being defiant against America," said Kim Dahl, mother of one of the students, Brandt, who attends Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton Junior High School in western Minnesota. Brandt told the Fargo Forum that Thursday's one-day in-school suspension, "was kind of dumb because I didn't do anything wrong. It should be the people's choice." Kim Dahl said the "punishment didn't fit the crime. If they wanted to know why he didn't stand, they should've made him write a paper." She said...

It is a tribute to Hillary Clinton that even though, rationally, political soothsayers think she can no longer win, irrationally, they wonder how she will pull it off. It's impossible to imagine The Terminator, as a former aide calls her, giving up. Unless every circuit is out, she'll regenerate enough to claw her way out of the grave, crawl through the Rezko Memorial Lawn and up Obama's wall, hurl her torso into the house and brutally haunt his dreams. "It's like one of those movies where you think you know the end, but then you watch with your fingers over...

WASHINGTON -It is already easy to imagine the Republican attack ads against Barack Obama. They open with video of his wife, Michelle, saying she was proud of America "for the first time in my adult lifetime" because of her husband's presidential candidacy. Cut to the Illinois Senator explaining that he doesn't wear an American flag lapel pin because it is a "substitute for true patriotism." Then flash a clip of Obama explaining that his Caucasian grandmother was a "typical white person" because she uttered racial epithets and was afraid of black people. Finally, the coup de grace, pictures of Obama's...

Some 50 delegates were reportedly poised to unite behind Barack Obama if he had won by even 1 point in Texas. He lost the popular vote by 100,000 ballots, and now we learn that 100,000 Republicans voted for Hillary Clinton, probably not because of some change in party allegiance but because they thought she would be the easier candidate to beat. This kind of strategic voting often backfires (think Ralph Nader). The Texas crossovers are winners. By helping to prolong the Democratic race, they can claim credit for weakening the eventual nominee, whoever it turns out to be. Obama has...

The Early Show did its best this morning to help Barack Obama climb out of the hole he's dug for himself with his close association with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. In a set-up segment, CBS's Dean Reynolds rhetorically asked: "the question is whether the rhetoric is so remarkable, because in African-American churches pastors often seek to rouse their congregants to self-reliance by speaking harshly about the country's troubled racial past and the need to overcome it." Nice try, but how does accusing the US government of introducing AIDS and giving black people drugs equate to a call for self-reliance? Reynolds...

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright thinks that, given their treatment by white America, black Americans have no reason to sing "God Bless America." "The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, God damn America," he told his congregation. "God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human." I'm not a believer in guilt by association, or the campaign vaudeville of rival politicians insisting this or that candidate dissociate himself from remarks by some fellow he had a 30-second grip'n'greet with a decade...

He's a Muslim. He was sworn into office on the Koran. He doesn't say the Pledge of Allegiance. His pastor is an anti-Semite. He's a tool of Louis Farrakhan. He's anti-Israel. His advisers are anti-Israel. He's friends with terrorists. The terrorists want him to win. He's the Antichrist. By now you've probably seen at least some of these e-mails and articles about Barack Obama bouncing around the Internet. They distort Obama's religious faith, question his support for Israel, warp the identity and positions of his campaign advisers and defame his friends and allies from Chicago. The purpose of the smear...

John McCain's remarks about the Pledge of Allegiance! In light of the recent appeals court ruling in California, with respect to the Pledge of Allegiance, the following recollection from Senator John McCain is very appropriate: "The Pledge of Allegiance" - by Senator John McCain As you may know, I spent five and one half years as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. In the early years of our imprisonment, the NVA kept us in solitary confinement, two or three to a cell. In 1971 the NVA moved us from these conditions of isolation into large rooms with as...

The anti-religionists, represented by well-known atheist Michael Newdow and others, have filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire to challenge the inclusion of the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. You remember Mr. Newdow. He's the same one who sued Congress and the Elk Grove Unified School District in California, demanding the removal of "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance to our nation's flag. In 2005, he sued President Bush to prohibit a minister from delivering an invocation at the President's inaugural ceremony. FFRF is also no stranger to the spotlight....

Two blockbuster religious liberty cases - involving the constitutionality of the Pledge of Allegiance in schools and "In God We Trust" on our money - will be heard this week by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. PJI Chief Counsel Kevin Snider will be arguing alongside lawyers for the Department of Justice in defense of the national motto, "In God We Trust." Both lawsuits were filed by atheist Michael Newdow, who claims that the Pledge of Allegiance and national motto are unconstitutional "establishments" of religion. Ninth Circuit judges have previously heard and agreed with Newdow's position that...

Turns out that not wearing a flag lapel pin isn't the only way Barack Obama chooses to show that he's a different kind of Democrat. Have a look at the photo from the October 1, 2007 edition of "Time." It shows Obama, Hillary and Bill Richardson at the Steak Fry of Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) on September 17 in Indianola, IA, apparently reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Richardson and Clinton have their hands on their heart. But not Obama. Does he perhaps believe that, like wearing the flag pin, the hand on the heart isn't "true patriotism"? "Time" ran the...

On thursday morning a group of seven Patriots gathered in front of the Boulder High School to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

I have a friend who is organizing a peaceful protest to the students at Boulder High who want to change the wording of the Pledge of Allegiance. He is asking for any conservative activists who would like to attend to join him this thursday morning in front of Boulder High School at 8:30. Please bring US Flags and be prepared to simply (and as Freepers, Loudly) say the Pledge of Allegiance. Here is what he wrote in his email: I am planning a PEACEFUL recital of the current pledge of allegiance outside Boulder High School on Thursday, October 4th at...

Both the students at Boulder, Colo., High School who are protesting the traditional "Pledge of Allegiance" because of its inclusion of "God," as well as school officials who are praising them for democratically expressing their views, need to be educated, charges a national advocacy group. "The organized student boycott of the Pledge of Allegiance at Boulder High School yesterday was a ridiculous display of immaturity, ignorance and intolerance that should punished by the school," said the Right Rev. Council Nedd, the national chairman of In God We Trust USA. "In no way is hearing the words 'under God' offensive as...

Boulder High School students are planning a protest against the Pledge of Allegiance in the courtyard of their school tomorrow morning. Students with the activist club "Student Worker" organized the protest for 8:30 a.m., when the pledge is recited over the intercom. They're concerned that it takes away from school time and that the phrase "one nation, under God" violates the separation of church and state, club President Emma Martens wrote in an e-mail. "Boulder High has a highly diverse population, not all of whom believe in God, or One God," she wrote. She said the group would rather the...

Boulder High School students are planning a protest against the Pledge of Allegiance in the courtyard of their school Thursday morning.

Texas students will have four more words to remember when they head back to class this month and begin reciting the state's pledge of allegiance. This year's Legislature added the phrase "one state under God" to the pledge, which is part of a required morning ritual in Texas public schools along with the pledge to the U.S. flag and a moment of silence. State Rep. Debbie Riddle, who sponsored the bill, said it had always bothered her that God was omitted in the state's pledge. "Personally, I felt like the Texas pledge had a big old hole in it, and...

Bainbridge Council Still Unpledged to Saying the Pledge By Rachel Pritchett rpritchett@kitsapsun.com BAINBRIDGE ISLAND After being handed a decision on whether the Bainbridge Island City Council would precede meetings by saying the Pledge of Allegiance, the council exercised a bit of freedom — and sent the decision back to Mayor Darlene Kordonowy. Not that the issue is settled just yet. The mayor, in face of e-mail criticism that followed her order to council members to make the call, said she will make a statement at a Wednesday meeting in response. Kordonowy said she'll announce that if the members want...

The morning rush comes to a halt at the bustling Chick and Ruth's Delly on Main Street each day when owner Ted Levitt picks up a microphone and takes his place behind the cash register and below the American flag. Patrons and workers in the tightly packed eatery remove their hats, place their hands over their hearts and take part in a ritual that most left behind in grade school: They recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Every morning since 1988 — at 8:30 a.m. on weekdays and 9:30 a.m. on weekends — Mr. Levitt has led his employees and customers...

AUSTIN — The Texas House voted early today to inject a little religion into the Texas pledge. House lawmakers voted 124-5 to put the words "under God" in the Texas pledge of allegiance recited by thousands of school children every day. The change mirrors the national pledge, which has included "under God" since 1954. Under the bill, the Texas pledge would be: "Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God and indivisible." The bill still needs a final vote later Friday before it is sent to the Senate. Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, argued...

Excerpt - In what police describe as a "probable" suicide leap, a prominent Monterey Bay Area attorney fell at least nine floors to his death at the Embassy Suites Hotel Monterey Bay in Seaside the morning before Christmas. Shortly before 9:30 a.m. Sunday, officers found the body of Aptos attorney Paul Sanford in the west end of the hotel lobby, where he had landed on a large ventilation grate. Police Capt. Steve Cercone said horrified guests were eating breakfast in the atrium at the time, and a number of witnesses saw Sanford fall from somewhere between the 9th and 12th...

LOS ANGELES (Nov. 11) - Student leaders at a California college have touched off a furor by banning the Pledge of Allegiance at their meetings, saying they see no reason to publicly swear loyalty to God and the U.S. government. The move by Orange Coast College student trustees, the latest clash over patriotism and religion in American schools, has infuriated some of their classmates -- prompting one young woman to loudly recite the pledge in front of the board on Wednesday night in defiance of the rule. "America is the one thing I'm passionate about and I can't let them...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Student leaders at a California college have touched off a furor by banning the Pledge of Allegiance at their meetings, saying they see no reason to publicly swear loyalty to God and the U.S. government. The move by Orange Coast College student trustees, the latest clash over patriotism and religion in American schools, has infuriated some of their classmates -- prompting one young woman to loudly recite the pledge in front of the board on Wednesday night in defiance of the rule. "America is the one thing I'm passionate about and I can't let them take...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Student leaders at a California college have touched off a furor by banning the Pledge of Allegiance at their meetings, saying they see no reason to publicly swear loyalty to God and the U.S. government. The move by Orange Coast College student trustees, the latest clash over patriotism and religion in American schools, has infuriated some of their classmates -- prompting one young woman to loudly recite the pledge in front of the board on Wednesday night in defiance of the rule. "America is the one thing I'm passionate about and I can't let them take...

Murtha votes against protecting the Pledge of Allegiance The U.S. House of Representatives voted yesterday to protect the phrase "one nation, under God' in the Pledge of Allegiance. But the vote was not unanimous. A final tally showed 260 'ayes' to 167 'nays.' Included in the 'nay' group: Pennsylvania's Rep. John Murtha. [Roll Call final vote results: click] [EXCERPT:] The U.S. House voted to bar most federal courts from hearing cases challenging the constitutionality of the pledge of allegiance, a measure supporters said was needed to prevent judges from scrapping the pledge's reference to God. The chamber voted 260...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The House, citing the nation's religious origins, voted Wednesday to protect the Pledge of Allegiance from federal judges who might try to stop schoolchildren and others from reciting it because of the phrase "under God." The legislation, a priority of social conservatives, passed 260-167. It now goes to the Senate where its future is uncertain. "We should not and cannot rewrite history to ignore our spiritual heritage," said Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn. "It surrounds us. It cries out for our country to honor God."

WASHINGTON — The House, citing the nation's religious origins, voted Wednesday to protect the Pledge of Allegiance from federal judges who might try to stop schoolchildren and others from reciting it because of the phrase "under God." The legislation, a priority of social conservatives, passed 260-167. It now goes to the Senate where its future is uncertain. "We should not and cannot rewrite history to ignore our spiritual heritage," said Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn. "It surrounds us. It cries out for our country to honor God."

“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” Reciting the Pledge of Allegiance was almost a thing just for children to do at the beginning of the school day for the 50 years prior to June 22, 1942, when Congress approved the pledge as part of the U.S. Flag Code (Title 36). A year later the Supreme Court ruled no child could be forced to recite the Pledge. But it was on Flag Day, June 14, 1954,...

For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary June 6, 2006 Flag Day and National Flag Week, 2006 A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America From our Nation's earliest days, Old Glory has stood for America's strength, unity, and liberty. During Flag Day and National Flag Week, we honor this enduring American symbol and celebrate the hope and ideals that it embodies. In 1777, the Second Continental Congress established the flag of a young Nation, whose 13 original states were represented in the flag's 13 stars and 13 alternating red and white stripes. Today, the...

A federal judge has declared a state law requiring students to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Kenneth Ryskamp also declared students do not need a parent's permission to be excused from reciting the pledge, citing previous federal cases. ''It is a long-standing rule of constitutional law that a student may remain quietly seated during the pledge on grounds of personal or political belief,'' Ryskamp stated in his ruling based on a lawsuit filed by a Boynton Beach High School student who had refused to stand for the pledge. Cameron Frazier, then a 17-year-old junior,...

SENECA FALLS NY--Former Seneca County lawmaker Richard Ricci said Thursday "that's a bunch of baloney" to criticism that he was grandstanding when he led the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance at a public hearing Wednesday night. At the close of his prepared remarks, Ricci called on the crowd of about 300 at the New York Chiropractic College to stand with him and recite the pledge. Many in the crowd stood on cue, but a scattering of people didn't. They included Clint Halftown, the New York Cayuga Indians' federally recognized representative, and Syracuse lawyer Daniel French, a former U.S. Attorney...

Cameron Frazier won't stand for having to participate in the Pledge of Allegiance. Literally. Now the 11th-grader at Boynton Beach High School has sued a teacher, an assistant principal and the school board to make sure he doesn't have to stand for, or recite, the pledge. Frazier, 17, contends that on Dec. 8, his math teacher, Cynthia Alexandre, berated him in front of his classmates when he refused to stand for the pledge. He says he informed her that he hadn't done so since he was in sixth grade. "See your desk? Now look at mine. Big desk, little desk....

"On the first day of school this fall, when all the students around her stood to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, an 11th-grade girl at Chesapeake High School in Essex stayed seated and silent. But her teacher ordered her to stand, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, which is waging a campaign to draw attention to students' First Amendment rights. ACLU officials wrote Maryland school Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick yesterday to alert her to what they say are a growing number of complaints they are receiving from students who are being harassed by teachers when they refuse to stand...

Residents will get a chance to make their views known about the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance during a demonstration and counter-demonstration in Milford Nov. 5. The two demonstrations will offer residents a perfect opportunity to hear both sides of this controversy. The Pledge of Allegiance has been under attack because it contains the phrase "One nation under God." Certain groups charge that this phrase violates the constitutional separation of church and state. A recent California Court ruling stated that the phrase is unconstitutional. The case likely will reach the U.S. Supreme Court. The Knights of Columbus...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A man who is fighting to get the words "under God" out of the Pledge of Allegiance was back in federal court Wednesday, making some surprising comments about the case. Although the hearing was a procedural matter with no key rulings, Michael Newdow said that if he is successful in having the words removed from the pledge at the U.S. Supreme Court level, it still wouldn't be enough. Newdow believes that it is time to get rid of the old Pledge of Allegiance altogether. He said that it's impractical to just change the pledge because children will...

Minority Rules! Who Will Protect The Majority From The Minority? According to most encyclopedias, a Republic is a "state or country having a government whose political power depends solely on the consent of the people governed." The Constitution, if interpreted with common horse sense, dictates that the majority of the people should have at least some input into how the United States is governed. Liberal manipulation, however, has effectively dissolved the influence and vote of the majority and has displaced Majority Rules with Minority Rules. An overwhelming majority of Americans do no not approve of Partial Birth Abortion in which...

Earlier this year, Steve Adams, president of the Colorado AFL-CIO, complained that Coloradans were sick and tired of "Republicans bashing gays, toting guns and worrying about the Pledge of Allegiance." You could debate the merits and truth of his screed, but it's difficult to understand how the Pledge of Allegiance could be lumped in with these critical issues. As for his question: Why do so many Republicans worry about the Pledge? That's easy. While Democrats contend that the whole brouhaha is a "wedge" issue, it's far less complicated than that. (By the way, a wedge issue is any issue a...

New Haven, Sep. 16, 2005 (CNA) - The national office of the Knights of Columbus has announced that the group plans to immediately appeal a decision, given earlier this week by a California judge, that the words “under God” render the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional.The Knights were among the defendants in the case of Newdow vs. Congress of the United States, et al--the decision of which has angered religious groups nationwide.District Judge Lawrence Karlton said in his Wednesday decision that the phrase violates a student’s right to be ``free from a coercive requirement to affirm God.'' The ruling effects three...

A basic rule of physics is that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. So, too, in the fight over the Pledge of Allegiance. Sandy Banning, mother of the 11-year-old Elk Grove student whose father is atheist Michael Newdow, has become an activist for keeping the pledge intact - with the phrase "under God" - while Newdow battles against its constitutionality. Banning showed up in Washington, D.C., on Thursday to buttonhole members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and to lobby for the confirmation of John Roberts, President Bush's nominee for U.S. Supreme Court chief justice. Her appearance...

For Release: Wednesday, September 14, 2005 Website: www.jerrykilgore.com Statement of Jerry Kilgore - Regarding California Judge’s Ruling that the Pledge of Allegiance is Unconstitutional - RICHMOND – Former Attorney General and Republican nominee for Governor Jerry Kilgore today issued the following statement regarding a ruling by a San Francisco judge that the Pledge of Allegiance is Unconstitutional: "I find it offensive, particularly while we have brave men and women overseas risking their lives to protect our freedoms, that a court would rule the pledge of allegiance unconstitutional. "Especially considering that the United States Supreme Court and the U.S. Congress begin...

Newdow: Pledge Forces God On Atheists NewsMax.com Wires Thursday, Sept. 15, 2005 An atheist seeking to strike the words "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools has won a major battle in his quest to force the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the issue again. U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton sided with atheist Michael Newdow in ruling Wednesday that the pledge's reference to God violates the rights of children in three school districts to be "free from a coercive requirement to affirm God." Karlton said he was bound by precedent of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court...

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge ruled Wednesday that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance (search) in public schools was unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton (search) ruled that the pledge's reference to one nation "under God" violates school children's right to be "free from a coercive requirement to affirm God."