Posted on 06/26/2002 11:48:43 PM PDT by Jim Robinson
This is your wake-up call
My friends, I've been taking a lot of flak lately because of my stand on President Bush and the Republicans. Well, my thinking is that the coming elections are so critical that the very continuation of America as we know it may be at stake.All of our institutions are controlled by liberals. Both houses of Congress are awash in liberals and socialists and moderates and very few conservatives. The Courts are infested with liberal activist judges. Our media and entertainment industries are overrun by liberals. Our universities are overrun by liberals. Our public education systems are overrun by liberals. The liberals control public opinion through their controlled nightly news programs and their daily liberal newspapers. My God, the whole damn country is run by hordes of mushy headed liberals and socialists in biblical proportions! And now they even have the audacity to openly attack patriotism and even God Almighty Himself!
A United States Federal Appeals Court in California has declared the
Pledge of Allegiance to be unconstitutional! And this simply because it contains the phrase, "Under God." I'm speechless! I just sit here and shake my head. Don't even know what to say.
Wake up America! We've been saying that for years. The far right-wingers have been shouting it for decades. Wake up America! Wake up America, the socialists are coming!
And now it's here. The Republic is in grave danger. The liberal activist judiciary has tested the waters. If America does not wake up and not only say no, but hell no to this abomination, then what will the emboldened court take next? Well, I don't know about you, but I'm not gonna sit around on my butt doing nothing while we find out.
Call to action: Get off your Butts! Call or write your reps! Voice your opinion. Demand that they do something about this. Tell them that America will not allow this outrage to stand! Demand of your Senators that they move President Bush's judiciary appointments through the Senate! The Democrat controlled Senate is holding up his appointments, hoping to delay as many as they possibly can until Bush appoints judges more to their liking, or possibly even until they can get Gore or Hillary elected in 2004. God forbid!
And, I'm convinced more than ever, that we must have a complete turnover of the judiciary in the next decade. This is critical. The liberal activist judiciary is getting more and more aggressive. If we do not get some conservative judges in there pretty soon, this game is going to be over.
How do we get conservative judges? Well, I can guarantee you that we will not get them as long as the Senate is controlled by Democrats. We must have a Republican President to appoint conservative judges and we must have a Republican majority so they will be moved through the Senate. This is one of the primary reasons why I want to push so hard to help elect Republicans to the Congress and especially to the Senate. And this is why I want to push so hard to help re-elect President Bush in 2004.
Wake up America! And wake up right-wingers! Vote out the Democrats. Vote in a huge Republican majority so we can retake America from the liberals!
We cannot afford a loss or even a squeaker in the next couple of elections. We must have Reaganesque landslides! Send them to Washington with a mandate from the American people! We want a complete turnover and makeover of the judiciary and all of the government. Give is back our Liberty!
This is not the time for sending a negative message. It does us no good for conservatives to sit on their hands or to vote third party. The only message that sends is to say you don't care if we have wall-to-wall liberals forever. The Democrats will love you. The liberal activist judiciary will love you.
The message you should send is one by pen and ink, or by phone calls and personal meetings. Send a message now to your congressmen and to the Republican Party. Now is the time to send the message. Tell them what we want them to run on and what we want them to do when they get in there. Send them a positive message filled with patriotism and love for God and Country. Tell them that we are fed up with the liberals and we want our country back and we want our rights back. Tell your relatives and your friends and neighbors. Tell them to write and call and visit. And tell them to vote for the Republican in their districts. We must do this if we want it back. We cannot afford to fail.
God bless you all and thank you for bearing with me. I love my country and I love my freedom more than life itself. I don't care what anyone says about me, or what labels they pin on me. From this day forward I am a Bush-bot and proud of it! I am going to help turn this thing around or I'm going down in flames trying.
FReegards,
Jim Robinson
Refusing the right of students to acknowledge the existence of a God in school and the honor of pledging their loyalty to God and country, would be a prime example of government being an adversary of religion and religious expression.
By the way, you forget to mention the Free Exercise Clause in your quote.
Sincere thanks for your service.
Naw; that just makes you look sloppy. ;^)
I did send a couple of notes to their comment email, so it will be interesting to see what they reply, if anything.
Yes, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion..."
WADR, what religion is being established by the word "God" in the Pledge?
Careful, this is a trick question.
I think the Civil War settled that argument, didn't it?
Hardly. According to the original document agreed to, any state (or collection of states) had every right to withdraw their assocation. The resentment against an overbearing, power-grabbing federal gummint is still very much a reality.
I understood what I was saying. I've also tried to explain it to my classes.
Cognizance/comprehension was not the thrust of my question. How often did you actually think about those words, that affirmation, as you were saying them? How often was it actually a positive affirmation as opposed to rote recitation?
Careful, this is a trick question.
Which I have answered previously; it does not 'establish' any religion, but it most certainly 'respects' (or favors) a particular flavor of religion.
Again - which one?
Caution - still a trick question.
Apparently you agree with the 9th Circuit that students should not say the Pledge of Allegiance in school. I think they should.
I think it's good for students to be reminded, if only for a few seconds each day, that they live in the greatest nation on Earth, that the nation was founded on principles of God-given rights to all people, and that all people in the United States have the same rights of liberty and justice.
I'll grant you that all of our national documents - including the Pledge of Allegiance - are somewhat idealistic, and sometimes we and our government don't live up to the standards set by our Founding Fathers. But I still think it's good for students to be reminded daily of those ideals.
I also agree with JimRob that, while we aren't likely to immediately return our nation to a Perfect Constitutional state, the next election is very important, and we need to vote for the best possible choice - meaning the best choice who has a likely chance of winning.
There are a few maxims that could be quoted for this situation; some will choose "the lesser of two evils is still evil", but I think in this case a more appropriate one would be "all it takes for evil to prosper is for good men to do nothing".
If we don't vote, or if we vote for third party choices who have no chance of winning, we'll have in effect done nothing, and the liberals WILL win. Right now, keeping them from winning is the important thing.
Amen. (Can I still say that?!) Well said!
What about Islam? Same God.
Then again, what about any of the innumerable Indian culture religious beliefs that accepted monotheistic thinking. They accept a supreme being - a god.
Believe your notion is on shaky ground, but you are entitled to your opinion.
I don't share it.
Apparently you agree with the 9th Circuit that students should not say the Pledge of Allegiance in school.
Apparently you have a problem with reading comprehension -- neither myself or the 9th Circuit Court have said any such thing.for students to be reminded daily of those ideals
How will that happen if they see minority beliefs/rights being trumped/trampled by the majority? Such a thing is completely contrary to Constitutional ideals.all it takes for evil to prosper is for good men to do nothing
Such as, when being offered a choice of two evils, to continue to allow others to dictate the rules of the game? Continuing to send the message that, 'stripping the flesh from my bones and pouring alcohol in the wounds is acceptable...so long as it is done slowly, and with the illusion that I might eventually, someday, have some say in whether it ever stops'? Ya mean, that kind of 'doing nothing'?
On the first point - I am not going into that trap. I have far more faith in our children's ability to understand nuances than you apparently are willing to ascribe, but I guess that is a difference between us. (BTW - yes, I have kids.) The notion on the table for debate is does the word "God" in the Pledge establish a religion. The mere fact that the word God is specifically the province of three monotheistic religions (though, yes, one does use the word Allah, Arabic for "God") on its face shows that no religion is being established. In fact, by your own admission, you say "Judeo/Christian" already conceding thtat there are two religions that ascribe to "God," so how can we be "establishing"? Of course, we are not.
On the second point, if some person wanted to publicly lead a prayer dedicated to Lucifer, that is their right of free speech. I would simply ignore it, though I would probably find it a little wierd. In short, that is a free speech question, not an establishment question. (Which is why the Supreme Court is wrong on the whole prayer by the football team thing awhile back - but that's another whole debate I'm not going into now.)
What about Islam? Same God.
Boy, would I love to have more of the bush-bot fundies see that post! Also, does that mean that you wouldn't personally have a cow, or a case of the vapors, were someone to substitute 'allah', or little bo peep, in the Pledge? After all, if it's all the same 'god', what does it matter at all what someone calls it? Right? You and I know that it ultimately all refers to the same 'Creator', but there's a whole lot of folks (the majority of this country, evidently) who would take up arms tomorrow were the official phrase 'under Allah'...now, wouldn't they?
The notion on the table for debate is does the word "God" in the Pledge establish a religion.
But that is not the question that matters. The question is one of intent - does a state-mandated, state-run institution requiring a pledge which includes the phrase 'under God' constitute a violation of the principle expressed by the phrase 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.' IOW, does it respect an establishment of religion, and, if it does, does it fall under the jurisdiction of that phrase?
In both instances, the answer is 'yes', unless you want to play Monty Python, and wink & nod, wink & nod, say no more, eh? as long as it fits with your own personal philosophy/belief system.
Again, this would all be a moot point if we managed to completely divorce the state (euphemism for fed-gov) from any involvement in education.
Btw, I will commend you for your views on the hypothetical prayer, and for recognizing that, at its most fundamental (carefule with that word, there), the concept of 'god' encompasses all the various names by which people have come to describe it.
Originally the word liberal meant social conservatives who advocated growth and progress---mostly technological(knowledge being absolute/unchanging)based on law--reality--UNDER GOD...the nature of man/govt. does not change. These were the Classical liberals...founding fathers-PRINCIPLES---stable/SANE scientific reality/society---industrial progress...moral/social character-values GROWTH!
Then came the post-modern age of switch-flip-spin-DEFORMITY-cancer---UNDER STATE/SATAN...Atheist secular materialists through evolution CHANGED-REMOVED the foundations(separation of state/religion)--TRUTH-GOD...made these absolutes relative and calling all the residuals---technology/science === evolution to substantiate/justify their efforts--claims...social engineering--PC--atheism...anti-God/Truth RELIGION--crusade!
Liberals/Evolution BELIEVE they are the conservatives--guardians too...
the shield between state and religion(evolution/atheism) is gone---this is chernobyl---radiation poisoning!!
Hypnotism--witchcraft ideology--politics--religion--BRAINWASHING--superstition--BIAS---EVOLUTION
ps...evolutionism is the essence of liberalism/socialism!
Basically...to summarize we have an established religion---ATHEISM...a monopoly forbidding the freedom of speech-thought(pc brainwashing)-religion!
Again, that is not what we are talking about. We are talking about whether there is state establishment of a religion with the word "God" in the Pledge. There is not for the reasons I stated.
Your argument is not on point.
But just to amuse you, what someone says regarding the Pledge, or doesn't say, has already been addressed by the Supreme Court. Someone could simply stay silent - the court said so in 1943.
Presumably, someone could also insert whatever the heck they wanted to during the exercise. That is an issue of SPEECH, not religion or establishment.
Would I have a cow, no. If someone wants to avoid being simply thought of a fool by opening their mouth and removing all doubt, that is their perogative.
Similary, it is the perogative of the majority, through their elected officials, to create a Pledge of Allegance for our flag and Nation that seeks to acknowledge the existence of some higher power - call it what you will, but "God" seems a good choice, however. Since there is no establishment, it becomes a political decision of a non-judicial branch of government, the legislature - something even the Ninth Circuit in their decision said they were not empowered to enter.
But it didn't stop them. And that is the problem.
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