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Fifty-five years ago young children all across America walked into their respective schoolrooms and with pride bursting in their young chests they recited the Pledge of Allegiance. There was a new and deeper meaning reflected in the addition to this pledge — the words "under God" were inserted to read, in full, "one nation under God." Since that momentous year elementary school students all across America have recited this pledge — some hoping that their teacher will select them to stand in front of the classroom to proudly lead the recitation. Yet deep within the hardened hearts of some in...

A federal court in New Hampshire has tossed a lawsuit against school districts in that state alleging that they improperly coerced children to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, a decision that the American Center for Law and Justice, which represented members of Congress in an amicus brief, praised. "We’re extremely pleased with the sound and well reasoned decision issued by the court – a decision that rejects another attempt to rewrite history by targeting the Pledge and the phrase 'under God,'" said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the ACLJ, yesterday. Michael Newdow

SPRING HILL, FL -- While showing off her JROTC uniform, 16-year-old Heather Lawrence told us joining the Army is her next big goal, to follow in the footsteps of her father and grandfather. "Our flag represents everything that our country is," she said. The teen says an issue over the American flag is why she was written up and handed a five-day suspension from Springstead High School this week for criticizing a Muslim student. Heather says the other girl was sitting down during the Pledge of Allegiance. "You know, I made a not-so-kind remark, and I do sincerely apologize for...

The nation's largest group of atheists and agnostics filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to block an architect from engraving "In God We Trust" and the Pledge of Allegiance at the Capitol Visitor Center in Washington. The Madison-based Freedom From Religion Foundation's lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in western Wisconsin, claims the taxpayer-funded engravings would be an unconstitutional endorsement of religion. The House and Senate passed identical resolutions this month directing the Architect of the Capitol to engrave "In God We Trust" and the pledge in prominent places at the entrance for 3 million tourists who visit the Capitol each...

MADISON, Wis. - A Wisconsin-based anti-religion group is seeking to block an architect from engraving "In God We Trust" and the Pledge of Allegiance at the Capitol Visitor Center in Washington. The House and Senate passed resolutions this month directing the Architect of the Capitol to engrave the national motto and the pledge in prominent places at the center, which is the entrance for tourists visiting the Capitol.

See the video Democrats refusing to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance! In this case, though, the context actually improves the story. This takes place in Albany, where the New York state Senate remains locked in a power struggle in an evenly divided chamber. Rather than an insult to American patriotism, the Democrats here engaged in an insult to the intelligence of New Yorkers:

Forty years ago, when there two professional football leagues - the AFL and NFL - arguably the most famous Super Bowl was played in Miami, Florida.Super Bowl III matched the NFL's Baltimore Colts and the AFL's New York Jets.I thought it would be interesting to take a look back at how different the game was presented back then - both in content and , obviously, in technological terms.First, from the original NBC broadcast of January 12, 1969, here is something that has LONG since been eliminated from the pregame festivities .... the Pledge of Allegiance.It was conducted by three of...

A parent in the Clark County School District of Las Vegas, Henderson area reported today that his son, who is in 1st grade, came home yesterday saying that he didn't want to go back to school anymore. When asked why, the boy said that during the Pledge of Allegiance the teacher put up a large image of Obama next to the flag. Thinking that the boy might be exaggerating, the man asked his son if he was sure, and suggested that by "large" he might mean an 8x10 photo of the president. The boy apparently said "No, it is a...

<p>ALEXANDRIA, Pa. (AP) - The Rev. George M. Docherty, credited with helping to push Congress to insert the phrase "under God" into the Pledge of Allegiance, has died at 97.</p> <p>Docherty died on Thanksgiving at his home in central Pennsylvania, according to his wife, Sue Docherty.</p>

ALEXANDRIA, Pa. — A church official says the clergyman credited with helping to push Congress to insert the phrase "under God" into the Pledge of Allegiance has died in Alexandria, Pa. The Rev. George M. Docherty was 97. -snip-

It seems that the Commies in Vermont don’t want to embarrass kids who don’t want to say the Pledge, so they make the ones who do, leave the room. More . . .

Vermont Schools Sends Students Out OF Classroom to Say Pledge of Allegiance

There is a passionate debate going on in the small Vermont town of Woodbury, regarding the Pledge of Allegiance – but it isn't what you may think. No, this isn’t your garden-variety, everyday, atheistic attempt to remove the “offensive recitation” from school, as we’ve seen on numerous occasions before.This debate has a new twist.It isn’t a “what” issue … it’s a “where” issue.Specifically, it concerns whether or not the Pledge of Allegiance can be said in the classrooms of the school or if it needs to be done in a different place within the school, like the gymnasium.It is a...

If we cannot get Drudge or FoxNews to ask any of the important questions swirling around the chosen one, then we all need to get ready for a new Pledge of Dependence: The Pledge of Dependence: Obama, Please Help Us False Idol “I pledge my dependence, to Obama, and the United Nations in Gotham. And to the chamber pot, for which they stand, secular multinational cultures, divisible by race, gender, sexual orientation and income brackets, with reparations, free housing, motorized shopping carts, food and healthcare for all. For Obama is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Omen”...

An Alaska mayor writes to a California newspaper: “Dear Editor,” Palin wrote in 2002. “San Francisco judges forbidding our Pledge of Allegiance? They will take the phrase ‘under God’ away from me when my cold, dead lips can no longer utter those words.”

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."