A Very Powerful Cartoon- Powerfully Stupid, That Is

Just spit in the nice soldier's face, why doncha, Kevin? Then pee on their graves when you're done with that!

The above is part of an email I was forwarded.

First of all, there are very acceptable reasons not to stand for the Pledge in American schools. Little Kevin there is clearly depicted as a douchebag tween, not standing because he's comfortable with his feet up and fuck America, anyway. Is there any teacher anywhere who would allow a student to sit with his feet up like that? No. I've only come across one exception to reciting the Pledge: religion. Certain religious groups, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses, do not allow standing for the National Anthem or reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. That's the level your refusal has to rise to: deeply held religious beliefs. "I don't feel like it" is not an acceptable reason.

Secondly, yes, okay, that soldier joined the Armed Forces to protect American freedoms.* Including the freedom to not stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. So why is it insulting to use the freedom said soldier so valiantly defended? That's the Mobius strip of logic. Really, this cartoon should have a second panel in which the soldier calls the teacher to task for (a) not understanding constitutionally guaranteed freedoms, and (b) using his disability as a shaming device on Kevin.

Anyway, here's the rest of the email, in all it's bold 36 pt sans serif font** glory:

Only 31 words -- Think about it!

I . . . what? I checked the email again. That's what comes directly after the cartoon. I have no idea.

Isn't life strange? I never met one Veteran who enlisted to fight for Socialism!

How many veterans (not capitalized) have you met, anyway? Also, "veteran" refers to any former soldier anywhere, so there are many veterans in countries other than the US who did enlist to fight for socialism. (Yes, there are countries other than ours.)

86% will send this on.

86% of what? I . . . did the intertubes eat half of this email? Were there originally sentences, now tragically missing, that enable one to understand this?

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!

Oh, those 31 words. (I pasted it into Word for a word count.)

If Muslims can pray on Madison Avenue, why are Christians banned from praying in public and from erecting religious displays on their holy days?

They're not. Christians pray in public all the damn time, and I swear my neighborhood can be seen from space for two months of the year. What are you talking about?

What happened to our National Day of Prayer? Muslims are allowed to block off Madison Ave., in N.Y.C., and pray in the middle of the street! And, it's a monthly ritual!

I literally have no idea what this person is talking about . . . oh, once a year (so easy to confuse once with twelve times) during the Muslim Day Parade activities. Mind you, I get to New York City every so often and every time I have been there, I have seen a parade. One time, I saw Sean Connery in full Scottish regalia! He was 20' away from me- wearing a kilt! And a shirt covered in lace! And a velvet coat! I swear, he looked right at me.

My point is, parades and such are normal occurrences in NYC, why shouldn't Muslims get one, too? This is America, if you can fill out a permit, you can have a parade. You know, liberty and justice for all? It's part of the 31 words.

Tell me, again, whose country is this? Ours or the Muslims?

That's not an either/or question, and I will again refer you to those 31 words you claim to love so much. Liberty and justice for all. FOR ALL. All includes you and Muslims, atheists and Christians, pagans and Jews, heterosexuals, homosexuals, everyone in between- ALL! What is so hard about ALL?!

I was asked to send this on if I agree, or delete if I don't.

It is said that 86% of Americans believe in God.

Yes, of course, Muslims would be counted in the 86% who believe in god. Also. Too.

Therefore, I have a very hard time understanding why there is such a problem in having 'In God! We Trust' on our money and having 'God' in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Um . . . well, if 86% believe in God, 14% do not. ALL, motherfuckers! Never mind that those are additions from the Cold War era when we were all freaked out about the Russians and their nukes. (Remember that? Good times.)

Also, why the fuck is this aimed at Muslims? This should be aimed at atheists. Muslims believe in god. In fact, Muslims believe in the Abrahamic god of Christianity and Judaism.

I believe it's time we stand up for what we believe!

If you agree, pass this on; if not, delete.

Thank you

Or, you know, option no. 3, post it on your blog and mock me ruthlessly. Hee!

*I'm not saying the USAF have been used to defend freedom lately, but I'll not impugn individual soldiers' honor.

**I despise sans serif fonts. The Empire will have three fonts, all of them replete with serifs. In fact, the official font of Empire notices and mailings will be designed with 30% more serifs than Times New Roman.

The Vietnam War Is Not the Example I Would Use

I'm beginning to think that pontificating on history should be like performing surgery: legal only with a great deal of training from accredited institutions. I say this because I am dumbfounded that anyone would use the Vietnam War as an example of virtue.

Dr. Tony Beam (Doctor of Ministry from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky) did just that.

General Omar Bradley, a hero of World War II once said, “America today is running on the momentum of a godly ancestry, and when that momentum runs down, God help America.” We were given an incredible gift by our Founding Fathers. They established this county on sound biblical principles while recognizing that all reasonable religious expressions should be allowed. They gave us a Constitutional Republic as our form of government. They inserted checks and balances to protect the rights of the minority and to curtail the power of the majority. It is a form of government that has experienced hundreds of peaceful transitions of power without violence.

Well, yes, slavery is a biblical principle. I will grant you that. Democracy, not so much. Um, you know, if you've actually read the Bible. Is there some special fundy version of the Bible in which Jesus preaches at length about the House of Representatives and the Executive Branch? Does it come right after he says to cut off food stamps for poor children and declares universal health care a tool of Satan?

I was going to snark on General Bradley because that quote sounds an awful lot like that momentum is all very white, but it sounds like he was a nice guy. Wow. He was literally born in a log cabin, which is so American, I have broken out in a flag-shaped rash. Although, given the time period, he could have been a nice, patriotic guy and totally racist. My grandfather was quite the progressive for his day and was still fairly racist. Anyway . . .

When the pilgrims came to America it took them twenty-three years to pay for their own passage. They were blown five hundred miles off course, missing Virginia and landing in Massachusetts. But when they finally stood on that rocky coast, they fell down to their knees, kissed the earth and wrote “We establish this state to the glory of God and the spread of the Christian religion.” Still, there are those who question the role of Christianity in the founding of this great country.

Ah, the Pilgrims. Yes, fleeing the religious tolerance of Holland, they were. Trust me on this one. No Pilgrim would consider Dr. Beam to be a Christian, nor would they have thought the group of Deists and Theists that actually founded the United States were Christian. Pilgrims =/= Founding Fathers.

The Constitution is a call to personal and collective responsibility. John Adams said, “Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other.” The ability to protect our freedom does not lie in the might of the military but in the minds and morals of the American people. It is moral character based on the teaching of God’s Word that led Washington to endure the horror of Valley Forge and to cross the Delaware in the dead of night to attack an army far superior to his. That same character has led United States troops across the beach at Normandy, through the jungles of Southeast Asia, and across the sands of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan.

I wonder what Mr. Adams thought about his colleague, Mr. Jefferson, who removed all reference to Jesus from his Bible. The "moral character" of the US led to the hopeless mess that was the Vietnam Conflict? (And don't get me started on Afghanistan and its lovely mountains. Perhaps you've heard of them? The Himalayas?) Blessed are the peacemakers, someone once said, and then half the world did war in his name. How perfectly odd.

The great leaders of our past were men of character whose belief in God bound them to ideals they were ready and willing to defend to the death.

Like slavery!

Our country is suffering from a host of problems

.

Damn religious right.

We find ourselves in a mysterious malaise not unlike that described during the Carter years.

LIBERALS! Seriously, the way these people talk about Carter, you'd think he was Stalin in disguise, deliberately sabotaging American . . . Americanness.

Extracting ourselves from this wilderness of uncertainly and doubt about the American dream will require the rediscovery of character…the kind of character that was present in the soldiers we honored on Memorial Day.

Okay, if you're not American, referencing the American Dream and soldiers and Memorial Day in the same sentence is criticism kryptonite for other Americans. As an American, I am legally required to start waving a flag around and sing our National Anthem and I cannot in any way evaluate any statement made from this point on.

Fuck it. France sounds tasty.

We need leaders who will give us something other than government to believe in. We can retake our ship of state and get it back on course for safer waters but only if we realize that the freedom we seek is not freedom from moral restraint. It is the freedom to pursue what is right.

Belief sucks! Wait, that's my line. Now I'm confused. And what part of feeding the poor and equal rights are morally unrestrained?

Character comes from morality, which flows out of our right relationship with God.

Actually, I would say that morality comes from character. I'm moral. Plenty more moral than every Christian who defended slavery and fought against interracial marriage, and maybe they did have a "right relationship" with your imaginary friend. Is it possible to have a wrong relationship with a fantasy?

Restoring America to a place that rightly defines and vigorously defends what is right means returning to the personal righteousness that comes from a personal relationship with God through Christ. Only as we are made holy by repenting of our sins and returning to God can we be made whole again.

Whole slaveowners invading countries for no good reason. Yay!

Amazing, Just . . . Amazing

patriotism, pledge, allegiance, arkansas,

The controversy: A 10-year-old in Arkansas decides that he doesn't want to say the Pledge of Allegiance, because liberty and justice are not truly for all in this country. The teacher completely loses her shit, boy gets a little disrespectful, principal gets involved, mom gets called, media gets informed, and here we are.

The Supreme Court decided 40 years ago that children have the right to refuse to say the Pledge of Allegiance on moral or religious grounds. (Jehovah's Witnesses won't say the Pledge, for example.) So the teacher's insistance that the boy say the Pledge was totally inappropriate.

As are the comments to the article.

Proving that the First Amendment is not for everyone:

The words coming out of this childs mouth are his parents......for what ever reason....they are teaching him disrespect and I hope that he is removed from the school and his parents are ran out of the country. What a disgusting example of parenting. They can take their brat child, their gay rights, their disrespect for our country and leave, give up their citizenship as they must do and rot in another country. Be gone with you and your disrespect for our country.

Using your freedoms is attention-seeking:

He said it the whole school year up until now. Of course his mother put him up to this for the attention.Everyone is going around exercising their rights, getting on the news and in papers and internet. Another bunch of attention seekers. His mom should be kicking him in the a$$ to be an American.

GAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!!!

America is a free country, but we are taking so much for granted in this free country. Yes, we have rights, but why would we want to not pledge the awesome red, white and blue, that so many have laid down their lives for. Even the gay ones that don't ask don't tell in our armed services. I am sure there have been gays killed in our wars, so why wouldn't they want to pledge the flag? This child has been led to believe more about the rights of gays, then the gays that have lost their life for that flag too. I do not support the gay life style, God forbids it in the Bible. But, sadly there are gays in our military, and that flag stands for our free American that all have fouhgt for. That kid is being led astay and his mom just likes the publicity she is getting through all of this. Which is so sad.

A child shall lead us- to hell!

It is completely awesome thats some little sh1t thats still sucking snot can down grade everything that our forefathers fought and died for and whats better yet is the fact that his parents support him...
America as I once knew it is GONE !!!

Constitution be damned- support our troops!

CONSTITUTIONAL OR NOT, MAYBE HIS PARENTS SHOULD TAKE A TRIP TO IRAQ TO SEE WHY IT IS IMPORTANT AND WHAT IT REALLY MEANS TO BE AN AMERICAN.

The Pledge has won wars! Lots of them! Read books, you'll see!

This has got to be one of the saddest stories I have ever read. Not only did this child disrespect his teacher, it is being condoned by his parent. The news anchor laughed at the child for using such disrespect to his teacher. One thing that might be helpful to both the father and the child is to go back and read some history books....if it were not for American soldiers who not only pledged allegience to their flag, but actually walked the walk, this country would be very different today...we would probably be living in a country with very few if any rights. America is the greatest country in the world. For those who do not understand just how great this country is, perhaps it would be a valuable learning experience to travel to some other countries where people really don't have any rights...why do you think so many people want citizenship here?until one is well traveled and well read, it is difficult to understand what a great country we live in. It is easy to sit in your den and believe everything that is being reported on television rather than seeing for yourself and to take for granted what our soldiers have sacrificed to keep our country great.

Oh noez, someday he'll be voting for Democrats!

The little prick needs to move to some third world communist nation if he thinks its so bad here. Its rif raf like this thats grows up to be liberal trash polititions that want to CHANGE everything. F'ing sickining!

We'll end with questioning the sexuality of a 10-year-old:

c'mon people either his dad is gay "notice his mom not with them" or the little boy is gay its a given you can totally tell....

When Chuck Norris Jumps into a Lake

flag, obama. chuck norris, 912 project, patriotism, US, america, socialism,

Chuck Norris, the famous guy with a house not in foreclosure, a big bank account and health care, would like you to stop treading on him.

What I loved about the 9/12 idea is that it was a nonpolitical, nonpartisan movement. The 9-12 Project was designed to bring Americans back to the place where we were Sept. 12, 2001 -- the day after America was attacked by terrorists. We were not concerned then with red states, blue states or political parties. We were united as Americans, standing together to protect our nation.

That's completely absurd. The 9/12 thing is nonpolitical and nonpartisan? On what planet? I would also like to reiterate that I, like most people, felt sad, sick and scared on 9/12. The man who wants you to stay sad, sick and scared the rest of your life does not have your best interests at heart.

On Sept. 12, 2001, we sought to protect our nation against terrorists from without. Beginning on Sept. 12, 2009, we are seeking to protect our nation against enemies of our republic from within. Many of us are protesting the present political direction of Washington. Outrageous borrowing, excessive bailouts, massive spending, speedball stimulus plans, universal hell care and swings toward socialism are just a few of the things that were protested that day. Of course, economics is far from America's only problem, as large as it appears to loom.

McCarthyism; borrowing, bailouts, spending and stimulus that started under Bush (didn't hear you complaining about that, did I, Chuck?); universal hell care- he's so clever!; and, of course, socialism. Teh Oolitmat Evul.

I want to emphasize: This revolutionary movement is not solely an independent, Republican or Democratic fight. It represents patriots who are fed up against modernists who seek to overturn almost every principle and tenet laid down by our country's Founding Fathers at the inception of our republic. From the East Coast to the "Left Coast," America seems to be moving farther and farther from its Founders' vision and government.

I can't decide what is more absurd in the above paragraph: referring to the 9/12 thing as possibly being a Democratic fight, or insisting that the 9/12 thing is nonpartisan and then refusing to use the geographically correct term "West Coast" in favor of the you're-all-evil-socialists term "Left Coast".

John Adams declared, "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people." Yet we've bastardized the First Amendment, reinterpreted America's religious history, denied our Christian heritage, and secularized our society, and now we ooze skepticism and circumvent religion on every level of public and private life.

Atheism: It's oozy!

Chuck has a solution to all the socialists and oozing atheists: a new flag. Well, actually an old flag.

As 9/12 concluded, we all heard many ways to keep this revolutionary movement going. But I was sitting back thinking there's one way we can take a daily stand and declare that as for me and my house, we will serve God and the republic as the Founders did.

If that describes you, then I suggest you fly some revolutionary flag in lieu of your 50-star flag over the next year. Post the 13-star Betsy Ross flag, Navy Jack or Gadsden flag ("Don't Tread on Me") or any representation that tells the story of Old Glory and makes a stand for our Founders' vision of America.

Of course, patriots know that the 50-star flag truly represents one nation under God and our Founders' republic, but modernists simply don't get it. So what do you say we make a statement by flying a different flag and educate our neighbors when they ask us, "Why are you flying that flag instead of the contemporary Stars and Stripes?" (If you insist on posting a modern USA flag, too, then get one that is tea-stained to show your solidarity with our Founders.)

I don't get what the flag means? Because I've never been through elementary school, you jackass? Honestly. And if you're going to insist on using the flag that actually represents our country, defile it with stains. According to the Flag Code, one is not to allow the flag to be stained or dirtied, nor is one allowed to change the colors of the flag. Mutilation of a flag is a crime. And Chuck? "Under God" was added to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954, in response to McCarthyism.

Oh, and not related to Chuck's post, but remember the brouhaha at the beginning of the election over the fact that McCain for a flag lapel pin and Obama did not? Turns out, Obama was correct. According to the Flag Code §901(b)

Individuals Entitled To Display Service Lapel Button.— A service lapel button approved by the Secretary may be worn by members of the immediate family of an individual serving in the Armed Forces of the United States during any period of war or hostilities in which the Armed Forces of the United States are engaged.

Anyway.