Free Republic

<p>New Yorkers are on the side of the angels when it comes to putting God and the Ten Commandments in the pledge, on coins and in public buildings, a statewide poll yesterday showed.</p> <p>The Siena College survey found a 81 percent of New Yorkers approve keeping "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, the politically explosive issue that - because of a California federal court's decision - is now before the U.S. Supreme Court.</p>

Playing the Right Like a Piano by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. Why does the right seem so much stupider than the left? Maybe it's just because I pay closer attention to the right, and know this movement so much better, but it's forever falling for political gimmicks. By comparison, the left seems generally more serious about politics and not as easily sidetracked by battles over symbols of nothing. The latest baloney distracting the right from serious engagement in public affairs is the prospect that the Supreme Court may rule negatively on the phrase "under God" in the pledge. For my...

Samuel Thompson wrote: I don't believe in Santa Claus, but I'm not going to sue somebody for singing a Ho-Ho-Ho song in December. I don't agree with Darwin, but I didn't go out and hire a lawyer when my high school teacher taught his theory of evolution. Life, liberty or your pursuit of happiness will not be endangered because someone says a 30-second prayer before a football game. So what's the big deal? It's not like somebody is up there reading the entire book of Acts. They're just talking to a God they believe in and asking him to...

'In God We Trust' Posters Finding Way Into Schools ACLU: Posters Violate Separation Of Church And State POSTED: 1:49 p.m. CDT August 19, 2003 UPDATED: 1:52 p.m. CDT August 19, 2003 GUTHRIE, Okla. -- A patriotic group has placed posters in several Oklahoma schools that show the words "In God We Trust" superimposed over a U.S. flag, causing some civil libertarians to claim a violation of the First Amendment clause guaranteeing separation of church and state. Oklahomans for Patriotic Values already have placed posters in classrooms in Jenks, Bixby and Broken Arrow and are planning to put them in...

The Board of Freeholder in Warren County, N.J., have voted to post the national motto, "In God We Trust," in every county-owned building, prompting complaints from church-state separation activists, reports the Newark Star-Ledger. The resolution, passed unanimously last month, calls for a wood-framed poster with the motto to hang in 30 public buildings throughout the county. "Clearly, the founding fathers had a belief in God," Freeholder Mike Doherty, the resolution's author, told the paper. "We have a unique form of government where we recognize our rights do not come from a king or a ruler but from God." While the...

We Were Born on the Fourth of July  Happy Birthday THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA   1620–2003 ...The BeginningWithin the short span of a hundred years, starting in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, a grand tide of emigration, one of the greatest population movements in all of the recorded history of mankind, swept from the European continent to new lands of America. This motivation to take the chance in a strange new world, was impelled by powerful and diverse forces, the natural tendency to seek escape from oppression and to crave freedom. Those few but hardy pioneers built a...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Daron Norwood's song, "In God We Trust," made it to some mainstream country playlists and briefly enjoyed status as the most requested song before radio executives started dropping the song because it contains the name of Jesus. "WSM [in Nashville] played the song for two days when it first came out and said it was their most requested song," said Mike Borchetta, president of Lofton Creek Records, the label that signed Norwood. "Then they stopped playing it and said it was too long. I said, 'Too long?' and they said, 'Well, it's got too much Jesus in it.'"...

Take out a one dollar bill. The one dollar bill you're looking at first came off the presses in 1957 in its present design. This so-called paper money is in fact a cotton and linen blend, with red and blue minute silk fibers running through it. It is actually material. We've all washed it without it falling apart. A special blend of ink is used, the contents we will never know. It is overprinted with symbols and then it is starched to make it water resistant and pressed to give it that nice crisp look. If you look on the...

"Oh, thus be it ever when free men shall stand, between their loved homes, and the war's desolation! Blest with victr'y and peace may the heav'n rescued land praise the pow'r that hath made and preserved us a nation! Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just, And this be our motto,"In God is our trust" And the Star Spangled Banner In Triumph shall wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!"

A federal judge in Alexandria has upheld the constitutionality of Virginia laws that require daily recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance and the posting of the motto "In God We Trust" in state schools, weighing in on the fierce national debate over the role of religion in schools. The ruling by U.S. District Judge James C. Cacheris is a sign that a controversial appeals court ruling in California that banned teacher-led recitation of the pledge in schools has had little impact nationally and that the issue is probably headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Spread the word... www.wepledge.com is sponsering a petition to save the Pledge of Allegiance and our national motto, please check it out and help spread the word.

Patriotism and the Pledge of Allegiance in School This informational letter has been sent to all U.S. State School Superintendents and to the District of Columbia urging them to allow displays like "God Bless America," and urging them to permit students to say the Pledge of Allegiance in all public schools and provides a legal foundation for these requests.Dear School Superintendent: In response to the September 11 terrorist attacks on our country, a number of public school districts have instituted a campaign to strengthen and encourage patriotism among our citizens, especially our youth. Various public schools have put up "God...

<p>SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court on Friday rejected the Bush administration's request to reconsider its decision that the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional because of the phrase "under God."</p> <p>The ruling means the Department of Justice's only remaining recourse is to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.</p>

'In God We Trust' Passes Panel Scrutiny By David Robinson LITTLE ROCK — After a testy exchange between lawmakers, a House panel narrowly recommended a measure Thursday that would change a law so that schools “shall” allow the posting of “in God we trust.” Under existing law, schools “may” allow such postings, which means they also may not, said Sen. Denny Altes, R-Fort Smith. His Senate Bill 57 would change the law to say schools “shall” allow that and other postings. The bill was pitched by Altes as a patriotic measure because it allows teachers and principals to pick slogans...

What is good for the U.S. Mint is evidently not acceptable to the U.S. Postal Service. A post office in Montgomery north of Houston recently learned that it had to remove a framed poster of the national motto "In God We Trust" because it violates postal regulations. The donated 16-by-20-inch poster, which is matted and secured in a gold frame, displays "In God We Trust" in large white letters over the American flag colors. It states at the bottom that the "national motto was approved by Congress and President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956." Retired chemical engineer Frank P. Williamson...

Memo to Li'l Tommy Daschle, "You're Busted." To: Li'l Tommy Daschle, Majority (for now) Leader of the Senate (and to other interested folks) From: J. Armor, Esq., AA to Congressman Billybob Re: You're Busted Dear Tommy (may I call you Tommy?), The last time I sent you a thoughtful memo, it had to do with your status as Majority Leader of the Senate. Turns out you were more right than I was on that one. You thought Senator Bob ("the Jersey Cur-Dog") Torricelli would escape indictment for bribery and hang on until a Democrat oiled his way back into the...

Louisiana State Representative A.G. Crowe, R-Slidell, introduced House Bill 3, which creates the "In God we Trust" specialty license plate. The bill has been signed by the Governor. The establishment of the plate requires that there is a minimum of one thousand applicants for the plate. The plate will be restricted to passenger vehicles. The Dept. of Public Safety, who would issue the plate, would collect an annual fee of $25 and disburse the money received equally to area Boy Scouts of America councils, area Girl Scoouts of America councils, and to the ARC (Association for Retarded Citizens) of Louisiana....

As I watched Oklahoma Congressman J.C. Watts fight back tears when he announced he would not seek re-election next term, I was saddened. Watts, the only black Republican serving in Congress says he wants to spend more time with his family. That may be true, however, every politician who leaves Congress uses that same standard line. Another good man leaving disillusioned. No, he didn't say he was disillusioned, however, I have talked to enough senators and congressman to know that they are frustrated to no end. Senator Fred Thompson (TN), who also announced that this is his last term, told...

Last night I attended Calvary Chapel in Fountain Valley, home of Pastor Chuck Smith, founder of the original Calvary Chapel. He told us that Michael Newdow's daughter is a born again Christian and attends a Calvary Christian school. Mr. Newdow was the atheist who brought the Pledge of Allegiance ban lawsuit to court claiming his daughter's rights were violated because of a reference to God in the pledge. Chuck Smith was told of this through a sister Calvary Chapel and got a hold of his contacts in the media. The daughter will now appear on the Today show later this...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ Stunning politicians on both the left and right, a federal appeals court declared for the first time Wednesday that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools is unconstitutional because of the words "under God" inserted by Congress in 1954. The ruling, if allowed to stand, would mean schoolchildren could no longer recite the pledge, at least in the nine Western states covered by the court. Critics of the decision were flabbergasted and warned that it calls into question the use of "In God We Trust" on the nation's currency, the public singing of patriotic songs...