Leave it to the Almighty President Bush to declare in finest Al Qaeda style that we need judges on the bench that know we get our rights from God. "How dare those liberal, non believers declare the Pledge unconstitutional!!!" I thought we wanted impartial judges that didn't consider religion in their decisions...but maybe I'm wrong. Isn't this how the Taliban started, by pushing religion in their government until it became so abusive and religiously wacky that we felt that they were a threat to their own people? I guess if they had had a Christian regime instead of Muslim, that would have been ok. Only Muslims can be overly zealous and radical....forget those little things like the Inquisition or the Crusades...just mere blips in the history of things when you consider the recent suicide bombings. He speaks in his address like every American is Christian or even believes in a monotheistic religion. Isn't this what the fucking lawsuit was about in the first place? Yet he continues to put his presidential foot in his mouth and continues to isolate those of us who might not buy the dogmatic religious right's ideas. (silly me, I thought the Constitution was for EVERYONE, not just those lucky Christians)

I agree with the ruling, maybe not on all points, but in theory. I especially like the plaintiffs statement of "ritual proclaiming" that our nation is under God by a state paid teacher and classmates, and how that could confuse a child who is being taught differently. I say put the pledge back to the pre-1954 version and let our children pledge allegiance to our COUNTRY in schools and they can pledge their allegiance to God at church. I think with all the recent talks of "axis of evil" and "We'll win this war against terrorism because God is on our side", the President is isolating some of the people of his own nation. It makes those of us who are not religiously minded feel isolated from politics and that we're in the minority and therefore what we think doesn't count.

I keep seeing that the "forefathers" would be rolling in their graves...yet it wasn't the forefathers who put that particular line of speech in the Pledge, it was Eisenhower, admittedly in a time when we were fighting "atheistic Communism". We continue to isolate every ally we have in the world with our Big Stick foreign policy, and now the administration is even turning on its own citizens. How long before the Patriot Act becomes God's Patriot Act and those of you non-believers lose citizenship in God's Country? We are living in scary times. The most patriotic thing you can do is disagree with your government (1st amendment anyone?) and yet if you were one of the few that wanted to at Ohio State University's graduation ceremony, you would be expelled and arrested for doing just that. Isn't THAT cause for our forefathers to roll in their graves? Yet, it's barely mentioned in the media. Anyone remember any protesters at Hitler's speeches? Wanna' know why you didn't see any? They were in jail, where anyone who would contest the government's ideas would go.

I guess it's time for all those people screaming "If you don't like it, move out of the US!!" to offer me a ticket. Stick a fork in me...I'm done (or at least scared shitless)