what the hell for?
And they criticized CNS! Sickening!
But, if he was "destroyed" by anything, wouldn't you agree that it would have been the exposure of his own inappropriate [and illegal] activities?
First, it was San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom greenlighting gay marriage and Ralph Nader announcing that he's running again for president that were being touted as election-year wedgies.
And now it's self-professed atheist Rev. Dr. Mike Newdow's arguments for deleting "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance that are being viewed as the next potential election-year bombshell--at least that's the tip from Santa Cruz-based law professor Paul Sanford, who'll be holding Newdow's hand, so to speak, on March 24, when Newdow will appear before the U.S. Supreme Court to argue that his daughter should be able to attend school "free from daily theistic indoctrination, as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution."
As Sanford points out, the way the pledge is currently worded, by the time kids graduate from high school, they'll have recited "under God" an amazing 2,350 times. All of which, Sanford says, adds up to a walloping dose of indoctrination--or humiliation, embarrassment and ostracization, depending on what a kid decides to do about the pledge.
"What choice does a third-grader whose parents believe that a monotheistic approach has devalued humanity--and as such is morally abhorrent to them--have when faced with the extraordinary pressure within elementary school to conform?" Sanford asks. "Especially given that their teacher is required by law to lead the class in the pledge, which includes the words, 'under God.' Expecting young school kids to leave the room, sit down or simply not say these words puts them in a horrible position, while denying them a way to express their patriotism."
Nüz could also argue that asking people who aren't old enough to vote to make daily expressions of patriotism is also indoctrination, but that would be just silly, now wouldn't it?
Anyway, Sanford believes that "if four justices, or more, agree with Mr. Newdow's position, then the next day the president will stand in front of the American flag and ask for another constitutional amendment, to put God back in the Pledge."
But can Newdow win? That question certainly got a little more interesting when Justice Antonin Scalia, in a delicious case of duck hunters getting their just deserts, had to recuse himself from the case after he criticized the U.S. 9th District Court of Appeals for ruling in Newdow's favor--criticisms he made at a Religious Freedom Day event sponsored by the Knights of Columbus. The Knights are of course the very same organization that led the campaign to add "under God" to the pledge in 1954, at the height of McCarthyism.
Fifty years later, the number of adult Americans who are godless has grown to 14.1 percent, according to the latest American Religious Identification Survey, which assumedly means that the other 85.9 percent are under one god or another, though which one is a can of worms the conservatives don't want to get into.
All of which leads Sanford to believe that if Newdow prevails, "a substantial number of people in every community across America, including Santa Cruz, will be outraged and polarized in the same way they are around gay marriage and abortion--while topics like world hunger, poverty and war on Iraq won't be being discussed."
bttt
Would you care to make any corrections to the initial article on this thread. The story was picked up from a blogger who claims to have met you at the White House.
But I'm sure that French reporter for NBC, monsieur David Gregory, will speak up, yeah.