I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America!
Link to article.
Students at Calif college ban Pledge of Allegiance
By Dan Whitcomb Fri Nov 10, 1:53 PM ET
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 that away from me," 18-year-old political science major Christine Zoldos told Reuters.
"The fact that they have enough power to ban one of the most valued traditions in America is just horrible," Zoldos said, adding she would attend every board meeting to salute the flag.
The move was led by three recently elected student trustees, who ran for office wearing revolutionary-style berets and said they do not believe in publicly swearing an oath to the American flag and government at their school. One student trustee voted against the measure, which does not apply to other student groups or campus meetings.
The ban follows a 2002 ruling by a federal appeals court in San Francisco that said forcing school children to recite the pledge was unconstitutional because of the phrase "under God."
U.S. Supreme Court struck down the ruling on procedural grounds but left the door open for another challenge.
"That ('under God') part is sort of offensive to me," student trustee Jason Ball, who proposed the ban, told Reuters. "I am an atheist and a socialist, and if you know your history, you know that 'under God' was inserted during the McCarthy era and was directly designed to destroy my ideology."
Ball said the ban largely came about because the trustees didn't want to publicly vow loyalty to the American government before their meetings. "Loyalty ought to be something the government earns through performance, not through reciting a pledge," he said.
Martha Parham, a spokeswoman for the Coast Community College District, said her office had no standing on the student board and took no position on the flag salute ban.
"If their personal belief is that they don't want to say the Pledge of Allegiance, the district certainly isn't going to dictate what they do," she said.
More than 28,000 students attend the community college, located in conservative Orange County, California, south of Los Angeles.
When I read something like this, it makes me want to break out my pointy stick and beat these sodding kids to a pulp. Then I remember that in this country they are guaranteed the freedom to say stupid shit like this, and restrain myself to menacingly waving my stick in their direction and hoping that they stay in the socialist hell that they have turned California in to. They deserve no better.
In elementary school, we would say the Pledge of Allegiance before class everyday, and sing the star spangled banner on Mondays. It seems that some don’t really remember the words, or the meaning anymore as we don’t say it as often as we used to. Anyway, in case you forgot the words here they are:
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.
I am sorry but no where in there do I see that I am swearing my “loyalty to God and the U.S. government”. I am swearing allegiance to the flag of United States of America, and the Republic for which it stands, not the current government, or even god. When I recite the Pledge of Allegiance, I am swearing loyalty to the concept of America, one which I believe strongly in and one that many people have made the ultimate sacrifice for. Many people wave flags, and consider themselves patriotic, but few of these people would give their lives to protect this concept.
Now here is what pisses me off to no end… If you don’t want to swear loyalty to it fine, that is a choice and sentiment that is guaranteed and protected under the concept you don’t want to swear allegiance to. Americans like me will die fighting to protect you, so you can make statements like that, this is what makes America great. Now you don’t have to pledge allegiance, but the second you ban others from doing so, you should be thrown to the dogs in Mexico; you no longer are worthy of living in this great country. May the god you don’t respect see to it that I never meet you, because you might get to see if there really is a god firsthand if we do.