Author: ghostdancers way

I don’t know how much time I will be spending blogging or on the Internet, but I am here now and wanted to share with you a letter that I submitted to my local paper.  I hope that it is indeed published by them, I am also submitting it to many other papers in Kansas to spread the word about what the rule of law is for our preznit.

Without further ado, here is my editorial.

The President of the United States recently acknowledged that under our System of Laws, a person is INNOCENT until proven GUILTY.  For whom does this rule of law apply?  Does it only apply to those who are indicted in this administration?  I ask this question because currently there is a US Citizen held by the Pentagon under an order by the President of the United States, who for three plus years has been held without charge, due process or the right to talk to a lawyer or his family.  That person’s name is Mr. Jose Padilla.

There will be those who will state, well he is a criminal, a terrorist.  That well may be true, yet he is a Citizen of the United States of America.  Under our Constitution he is entitled to due process, access to an attorney and a trial.  Why is it then that our President states that a member of his Administration is entitled to be deemed INNOCENT until proven GUILTY, but an ordinary member of our society is deemed to have no such right?

“There is no question more important in American constitutional law than the power of the executive branch to subject citizens to indefinite military detention without criminal trial,” Padilla’s lawyers said in court papers filed in Washington.

This is the substance of this letter to the Editor.

Mr. Padilla was arrested at a Chicago airport on May 8, 2002, on suspicion of plotting to carry out acts of terrorism.  Our Constitutional procedure under the Bill of Rights, the procedure that has functioned in the United States since the beginning of our nation’s origin, provides Mr. Padilla with a right to be accused with the crime of terrorism.  Indicting him, bring about a trial before a jury and providing there is a conviction, sentencing him under accordance with the Law.  That is the system; the way the Constitutionally guaranteed criminal justice structure has worked for more than 200 years.  These procedures upheld innumerable times by the Unites States Supreme court to insure every American the protections guaranteed by our Constitution.

Mr. Padilla being held by the Pentagon under an Executive order is something so wholly foreign, something so unfamiliar to the American way of justice and life, that it should send shivers of revulsion throughout America.  Something that appears to be a replica of the actions engaged in by many of the most repressive regimes of the 20th century.  Holding citizens in custody indefinitely without Due Process or access to the court system.  It appears that securing a decree from President Bush that Jose Padilla is an “enemy combatant” in the “war on terrorism,” the Pentagon takes the posture that it can thwart the entire federal criminal justice system set up by the US Constitution.  Abolishing rights and guarantees that extend back in history including common law and The Magna Carta of 1215.  The exclusion of habeas corpus, due process, trial by jury, and right to counsel, are very specific rights engendered into our Constitution by our founding fathers and clearly violates the intent and spirit of our country’s rule of law..

My consideration of the reason that Mr. Padilla’s plight is of such critical importance to the American people is, if Mr. Padilla’s rights to Due Process are not upheld, this authoritarian doctrine will be relevant not just to Mr. Padilla but to all of America’s citizens.  I believe the only reason that the President and the Pentagon have restricted the effects of such power to only one American arrested here in the US is understandable on its face: it creates much less awareness from John Q. Public and appears to provide a less viable threat to the American people.

I ask that every American, have no illusions about this unprecedented authoritarian power grab by the President and the Military command structure.  If the President’s and Pentagon’s power to arrest Americans for terrorism and detain them indefinitely without federal court interference is upheld by the courts, then the Executive and Military power in America will freely flow into that vacuum created by the loss of our most valuable right, Due Process.  Our American way of life will be changed for the worse, perhaps forever.  Our lives will be distorted by such power in ways inconceivable by most of us.  Not one American will be protected from capricious arrest, including editorial writers, broadcast journalists, government detractors, protestors and nonconformists.  Even run of the mill criminals will find themselves held without charge as “enemy combatants”.  Any and all Americans, yes I stated all Americans can be deemed an “enemy combatant” and placed into non law enforcement custody by Executive order and will have no remedy through Due Process.  Only the pledge “we won’t abuse this power” stated by the Executive branch and the Pentagon, the governmental agencies that are culpable for sinking our people into one of the most disgraceful allegations of torture, sex abuse, and war scandals in our history, but also the resulting suppression of reality based facts.

It has become obvious that we can no longer rely on Congress to stand up for the Constitution and to protect us from this unprecedented impugning of our rights by the President and Pentagon.  Congress has acquiesced its Constitutional abilities, its equality to the Executive branch and has remained silent and submissive in its condemnation in regards to the Padilla doctrine and our growing loss of civil liberties, since that tragic day on 9/11.  What for me is even more appalling, the relentless submission of Congressional power yielded to the President and the Pentagon, that is perilous to our Liberty.  We can hope and pray that the federal judiciary stands up decisively in the protection of our Constitution, our Bill of Rights, and the judicial system that has illustriously made our nation the benchmark for others in the world to achieve, resolutely stands up in conviction to the protection of our freedoms.

Most importantly, we must clearly elevate the conscious awareness of the American people to the credible threat that the Padilla policy poses to our way of life.  Especially given the high probability that the President and the Pentagon will convince our Congress to grant the Executive branch and Military absolute power over the American people that it has so determinedly avowed in the Padilla case.  We must firmly state that America will never allow itself to become a military state, the right of Due Process, is undeniable, that the Constitution is inviolate in its protections to all Americans.  Our Constitution has served us ably for these many years, let us not now allow it to become just a quaint notion of what once was, I want my children and grandchildren to live in the Land of the Free.

While the “rule of law” is defined as “the collective safeguard of everyone equally under the law”, President Bush’s “rule of law” appears to denote, “I rule, so I get to decide who gets protection under what laws.”  Those protections are denied people whom President Bush deems “terrorists/enemy combatants” or “threats to our national security.”  President Bush’s slip of the lip concerning the presumption of innocence, for example, truly must have been bitter consolation to Mr. Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen held without the presumption of Innocence and without the benefits of Due Process since May 2002.  I urge everyone who reads this to write to their Senators and Representatives to demand that Mr. Padilla, a US citizen, be granted his Constitutionally guaranteed rights without further delay.  It is after all a right that each of us as US citizens is entitled to by one of the worlds greatest living Documents, granting freedom for every American.

But I do know that I won’t go through the pain I experienced in 1972 and 1973, when those boys came home broken and damaged.  I will not allow anyone the chance to call them baby killers, murderers and the like, not again.  Yes they chose to serve, yes they were forced to go into a war that is illegal and immoral.  I am sure there will be those who enjoy killing as in all wars, whether American soldiers or any other soldiers in the world.  But to place the derisive term killer on every soldier, marine, airmen or sailor is wrong in my humble estimation.

Brenda was there, as were some others who post on this site,  working on those broken men and boys, so was I and it profoundly changed me as a human being.  Yes Brinn I am over the top and this is the reason why I have gone over the top.  Until such time as you have seen a man physically mutilated from a war that was not of his choice to participate in and to watch him slowly die before your eyes, none of you will know the horrors these men have faced and will continue to face when they return.  

I harbor no ill will to those who choose to demonize those who serve.  I will not be a part of that demonizing, nor will I allow it to go without me saying something about it.  Everyone of us has the right to express our views, yet when people use broad generalizations that indict a whole class of people that is wrong and I will have no part in it.

I was stationed at the old Balboa Naval Hospital for my corpsman training and so many of those men and boys came back destroyed as human beings.  I knew then that I would fight against any government that would attempt to repeat that insanity in my lifetime.  I watched in horror as men who could have had some kind of life, even without an arm, leg or eyesight, just give up and die because they gave up on wanting to live.  Many returning vets were called horrendous names, that little to do with the reality of who they were as human beings.

I was discharged from the US Navy because I was unable to cope with the death and destruction that surrounded me every day, so I found solace in drugs and it brought me many years of grief.  I was discharged not only for possession of illegal substances, I struck an officer in a fit of rage because he was chastising a young marine who was sobbing uncontrollably because he would never run again, climb his favorite mountain or be able to have children.  I struck that officer so hard in the face that I broke four of his teeth and his jaw in three places.  I would do it again for what he did to that Marine.

So if I am over the top then so be it.  I have no idea what I will be do with these memories.  I thought I had dealt with them and they would no longer haunt me.  Yet here they are again.  Here comes the rushing in of horrors so incomprehensible to most of you that I would never wish anything like this upon any one of you.

I know there are several members who suffer from PTSD, my own started many years before I was a corpsman, yet it was exacerbated by what I experienced in working with so many of these wounded men.

I lost several family members during that war, three of my cousins were wounded there and my step brother god bless him was a Marine’s Marine, he was wounded three times in three different tours.  We all have shared together what happened to each of us.  Even though I was the only one who did not serve in country.  They knew and understood that too was a part of the horrors of war.  

I have set up my prayer wheel, my sweat lodge and will do what I need to do to cleanse myself of this insidious monster that has resurfaced within me.  I will love my children and my wife, I will seek to feed the good wolf for the joys that my family brings into me as a man and human being.

For whatever reason those of you who choose to demonize those that serve, I wish you peace and I hope that you never will have to experience the horrors these men and women have had to experience.  

Wado

Update:

This constant bashing of the military and america is evil and americans are evil is way to much for me right now. See you later.

I need to get away from here before I cross that line of becoming a prick.
This constant bashing of the military and America and particularly this every American is evil is to much for me.

I simply refuse to allow myself to become a prick and if I keep reading this horseshit I will cross that line and destroy something I respect.

see you all around the campus sometime in the near future.

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I will admit that I have aggressively defended my family, my friends and my country in some of the diaries I posted comments within over the last few days.  I am not an apologist for my nation, I am will not be labeled as an American purist or a Bushco sympathizer.  My country is in the throes of a fascist takeover, perpetuated by the PNACers, which want nothing more than to make the rest of the world subservient to the US and its policies.  I despise these fascists and have fought within every legal means I know to prevent and mitigate their destruction of my nation and its constitution.  I am going to offer you a little background as to why I am so vehemently opposed to blanket statements that paint all people with the same broad strokes as being lazy, stupid, ignorant, criminal or willfully negligent.

Having had the dishonor of growing up in a home that espoused a distinctly KKK aroma of hatred and disrespect for anyone who was not an WASP, who hated jews, blacks, hispanics, catholics, indians and all the other sub human species of the human race, I was quickly indoctrinated that I was unworthy because my mother was part native american.

As I grew up and became more acquainted with drugs and alcohol, I also became an equal opportunity bigot; I hated everyone equally and used racial slanders as a mighty weapon.  I willfully went out of my way to start fights with anyone whom I felt was less than me and that was everyone because I had such a fever to prove that I was one of the superior humans on this planet.  

More below the fold

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When I found recovery, I quickly was made aware that, I am just a member of the greater human race and like every other member of the human race, I have value.  I have worked diligently to promote that agenda, that every single member of the human race is valuable, regardless of ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, race, creed or color.  I have spent most of my adult life in recovery working to bring about social justice for all members of my country and the greater membership of the rest of the world.  My country is many things and has caused as much good in the world as it has caused harm.  It will only change its policies when those of us who actually believe that the greater good is a far nobler arena than the good of only the United States.

To have someone repeatedly claim over and over again in broad general statements that America and Americans are the worst form of life sucking death dealing scum who have infected the world with their Imperialism and hegemony, does little to encourage change and even less to promote a civil discourse in how to create solutions to the many problems facing not just America but the rest of the world.

I am by no means perfect nor do I offer that I have all the answers.  What I strive to achieve in my life is some impact in any place that I have access to, to create solutions to problems that are present within my community.  I give of myself in as many ways as possible to enhance my community and my life.  I have given not only my money, but also my time to facilitate changes within my society.  I was a volunteer at a children’s hospital for more than two years every Friday night walking crack, heroin and cocaine addicted babies because the nursing staff was so overwhelmed by the numbers being brought to the hospital.  I worked with HIV positive male prostitutes, some as young as 13 years old, to help them find homes and someone to care about them.  I have spoken to power to address the issue of syringe exchange only to be told that if I tried to do that I would arrested, so we started giving our packages with bleach to addicts, so they might mitigate their chances of infection from HIV.

I worked with gang members to help find ways to alleviate the amount of violence in so many neighborhoods where I lived.  I finally could no longer watch the death and destruction of so many wonderful youthful human beings.  So I returned to a more national focus, to try to impact our government and its policies.  I don’t know if I have made any changes, I don’t know if my continued writing to members of congress, the president, the governor, members of state congressional delegations has created any change. What I do know is that I have not stopped, I have not abandoned my core principles that all human beings are valuable.  That each and every human life on this planet should have the same opportunities to have clean water, food, shelter, clothing and security of their persons.

I find it hurtful and non-productive when someone chooses to brush me with the same strokes as the criminal enterprise that currently controls my nation.  It does little to help me formulate solutions to the overwhelming issues that face my country.  If you want to alienate those of us who believe that we can change our nation, then by all means brush us with the strokes of war criminal, hatemonger, despot nation, and Imperialist warmonger.  I am sure you will soon find that you have far fewer Americans willing to work toward changing our national policies and far more willing to simply state, what the hell, I am damned if I do and damned if I don’t, I quit.

As for this human being, I want a better life for my children than the one I currently live within.  The only way that is going to occur is by building coalitions and gaining power in the same way the Neo Con fascists have gained power.  I don’t know if we can change anything, what I do know is if I don’t try, then it will never change and I will have to face my children one day and explain to them why they live in a theocratic/fascistic state.  Or worse, I will never have an opportunity to talk to them again because the world blew up around us.

I will not apologize for defending honorable men and women who in fact did choose to serve in the US Armed forces.  They are many decent law abiding people who have stood up for those who are less fortunate than them.  As I stated before, I have two cousins in the Marines who have been punished for making a stance against an illegal order and they will continue to do so until such time as they are discharged or arrested.  If you have a problem with the US, then by all means let us know, if you don’t have something constructive to help us facilitate change, then be prepared to have someone challenge you.  Constant denigrating, harping about how evil we are, how despicable our culture is, truly is counter productive to helping us facilitate change.  I have no problem in addressing real problems with my country, in its current state; I have great fear that we have in fact crossed the line of demarcation.  I hope we have not, I hope that together those of us in the US that truly believe that we are viable and valuable members of the world community can bring about structural change in the US and its policies.

I was recently accused of the dreaded phase STFU, if that person can clearly and definitively show me where in any place in my comments to anyone that I made that premise, you will publicly receive an apology from me.  I may vehemently disagree with many here, but I respect their right to be heard and as far as I can tell, I have not stated that anyone should STFU about their views.  I come here to disassociate myself from my comfort zone, there are those who make me truly uncomfortable and those who help me see the weaknesses in my arguments.  Then there are those who give me valued assistance in formulating solutions to problems.  This community has made me a better human being and a better member of the human race and its worldwide community.  I wish to thank you all for that great privilege.

I put LTE in the title, but this actually is a Community Viewpoint offered by a local High School student.  Her letter is at the bottom of the fold.  Help yourself to reading if first and any comments to help make this a better response letter will be kindly accepted.

As a believer in God, I deem it necessary to respond to this community viewpoint and Ms. McAdoo’s statements concerning the use of God as a national motto and the insertion of “under God” into the Pledge of Allegiance.

The author asks why did not anyone complain when these two clearly religious phrases were inserted into our secular governmental lives.  Senator Joseph McCarthy comes to mind as the first and foremost reason that many failed to ask the question of why insert a religious framework as the motto of our nation.  There was also the great communist scare of the fifties along with McCarthy’s great witch-hunts for communists that stifled so much free speech in that era.

Then she asks why have American’s become so selfish in denying God?  I don’t believe we as a nation have, though there are many who profess God who are in fact turning God into a business venture for personal gain.  They manipulate, lie and twist the Bible to enrich and empower themselves to the detriment of the very people they profess to want to help find salvation.  

I know many wonderful people for whom God is the center of their lives and in no way resemble these self important and egregiously vile individuals.  As for acknowledging God, why must we do so in a way that denigrates the rights of others who do not have the same beliefs as those of us who do believe in God?

A little history concerning the Pledge would be in order to address the writers concerns about “some people in this country trying to remove the phrase “under God” from the Pledge”.  Does the author know that the man who originally wrote the pledge was a Baptist Minister?  Here is some information about him.  

Reverend Francis Bellamy (1855 – 1931) When Bellamy wrote the Pledge in August 1892, he never considered placing the word, “under God,” in his original version of the Pledge of Allegiance. In 1954 David Bellamy, his son, sent a message to Congress in 1954 politely stating that his father would not like this addition by Congress. His granddaughter and great-granddaughter have made similar statements.

Bellamy wrote the draft of the Columbus Day Proclamation for President Benjamin Harrison in July 1892. He used the words, “Divine Providence” and “Divine care” in this statement: “Let the National Flag float over every school house in the country, and the exercises be such as shall impress upon our youth the patriotic duties of American citizenship. In the churches and in the other places of assembly of the people, let there be expressions of gratitude to Divine Providence for the devout faith of the Discoverer, and the Divine care and guidance which has directed our history and so abundantly blessed our people.”

Why did Bellamy not include the word, “God,” in his new flag salute when he had used this concept in writing the presidential proclamation?  Bellamy was a northern Baptist and a Freemason; both groups promoted the separation of church and state and opposed tax supported parochial schools.  The northern Baptists believe in freedom of religion, freedom for religion and freedom from religions. They believe that the separation of church and state is healthy both for the church and the state. They believe in the priesthood of all believers and the freedom of every person to relate directly to God without the imposition of any creed by the government.

The myth this author perpetuates concerning who is opposed to the pledge continues to be a divisive crucible to skewer the rights of those who do not agree with the theocrats who want to impose religion upon all Americans.  I find it reprehensible that many so called Christian organizations have stated publicly, that no one who is not a Christian should be able to hold public office.  This abhorrent violation of the first amendment clearly gives me reason to believe that those who chose a secular life have much to be concerned with, when God is pushed into the government of the US.  

She then goes on to endorse free will as a beautiful thing, and it is the greatest gift bestowed upon man by a loving God.  So why should secular individuals be forced to choose between pledging allegiance to our nation and including within that pledge that they accept something which they do not believe.  Mr. Bellamy understood this and took great pains to insure that all members of our country would have the pledge as a means to acknowledge the greatness of our nation.

The author goes on to declare that a majority of Americans feel the phase should remain.  The greatness of the founding fathers in creating our Constitution for me is that the Majority must insure that the minority is protected.  That clearly is demonstrated by the inclusion of the First Ten Amendments to the Constitution, our beloved Bill of Rights.  Here is a brief history concerning the Father of our Constitution Mr. James Madison.

James Madison (1751 – 1836), the “Father of the US Constitution” and the first ten amendments, was on the style committee that wrote the final draft of the Constitution There was no mention of “God” in the wording of the Constitution. The Constitutional Convention of 1787, where Madison was the intellectual leader, did not have formal prayers or religious sermons at its sessions. Yet. Madison was well trained in Christian theology. As a young man, he had trained for the Presbyterian ministry.  Why did Madison oppose any reference to the official use of “God” in the Constitution and its Bill of Rights?

Madison believed strongly in the principle of separation of church and state. Madison had a long history of fighting for separation of church and state. He opposed the laws in colonial Virginia, which authorized governmental officials to arrest Baptist ministers for the “crime of heresy.”

This author states that the First amendment “has been majorly distorted”:  I disagree, I believe it has fulfilled it design by the author.  In so much of Madison’s writings, he is critical of the religious zealotry of the time.  He feared that our leaders would become swayed to begin to believe in their divine right to rule, such as the Imperialist King George of England.  He fervently fought for and ultimately won the inclusion of our Bill of Rights insuring that American’s would not have to endure Theocratic despotism.  If the author would do her homework, she would clearly see in the writings of Madison, Washington, Jefferson and Adams, these founding fathers did not see America as a religious nation, but a nation blessed by God, a Deity who bestowed greatness upon our Nation.

I find it rather humorous that this author uses the Northwest Ordinance to instill the notion that our founders wanted religion to permeate our governance.  Article III, then in my estimation is a farce and cruel joke upon the Native peoples of the United States.  The Northwest Ordinance was used to displace and steal the Native’s lands with impunity.  So where was religion, at the forefront, insuring that it was going to gain its piece of the great American pie.  Where was the morality, lost amongst the flames of burning Native villages, the introduction of white man’s diseases in the native cultures, the wholesale stealing of Native lands for the enrichment of a landed class.  The wholesale destruction of an entire race and culture due to the lack of religion and morality, called Manifest Destiny.

Our author goes on to say that because 99 US Senators voted in support of the Pledge it must be allowed to remain as is, not returning to its original as written by its author.  She further states that  
“The pledge is a statement of national principle promoting the post-Civil War ideas of the strength of the American union and its people. The majority of those people were – and still are – generally monotheistic, or worshipping of one god. The pledge appeals to more than one religion, not just Christianity, because Jews worship God for example, and many other world religions hail to one god, which may simply just have another name.”

What of the Buddhists, Taoists, Native Americans, Wiccans, or those who do not believe in a Deity?  What about their rights to not have a generally monotheistic God shoved down their throats.   My relationship with my God is a personal one, one in which I hold dearly too, for this relationship saved my life, returning me from a place so horrendous that only God could bring me back from that Abyss.

I would no more think of forcing my beliefs on another than I would think of forcing another human being to accept my culture because they are different from myself.  This author continues to spout off use your freedom, don’t recite the words, yet fails to acknowledge that many belittle, ridicule and some outright threaten others who fail to recite this pledge.  She continues to state we should look more toward the tradition side of the issue.  Well slavery was a tradition, women not having the right to vote was a tradition, equal but separate was a tradition, should we not have addressed these issues about basic freedoms because they traditionally were allowed in our country.  I don’t mean to equate the magnitude of this issue with the same magnitude the aforementioned traditions carries, but in and of itself, forcing others to accept God in any way shape or form, clearly violates the 1st and 9th amendments to our Constitution.

Here is where I have great issue and see the author as promoting jingoism/nationalism, which to me fosters the inclination to begin the march toward fascism.  This statement clearly says to me that the author has little respect for dissent and therefore those of us who foster dissent must not be True Americans.
“If someone has a problem with the current Pledge of Allegiance, as far as I’m concerned, they can either sit down and respect others rights, or they could leave the country – go experience some other governments and maybe realize some freedoms they may have taken for granted, here in America.”

I love my country and yes Ms. McAdoo, I have lived in other countries and I have never taken my rights as an American for granted.  I will always protest against any government that wishes to install a National Religion, that wants to take away my rights as guaranteed under the Constitution of the United States of America.  I will support any and all that are willing to stand up and tell our governments, local, state and national that what you are doing is not okay.  Not all traditions and values are accepted the same Ms. McAdoo, simply because you hold the majority gives you no right to force your traditions and values upon me and others who do not hold the same traditions and values as your self.  If you indeed feel that you do have the right to force those upon others, I highly recommend that you reread the Constitution and the many writings of our founding fathers, whose one great goal was to insure the rights of the minority in our nation.  

I believe if our nation wants to continue using the Pledge of Allegiance, then it should by all means return it to the original form as written by its author.  Then I will have no problem with it being recited by my children, until such time as this occurs, I will offer my children this pledge as a means of honestly showing a love of our nation.

I pledge allegiance to my nation, the republic that has given me great freedom, a nation that strives to achieve liberty and justice for all.

We live in a time of flux and it is these times that clearly demonstrate the strength, integrity and fortitude of our founding fathers when they wrote our Constitution.  It is a living breathing document that will see us through these times and my hope is that those who would try and force a theocracy upon our nation will clearly and succinctly be defeated in their desire to strip away our freedom of choice, our free will and our rights to live our lives in the manner with which we choose to live our lives as long as we harm no one.  My God, who saved my life, shows me a way of living that strives to help others, give back to those that are less fortunate than myself and love others as I love myself.  I do not want anyone to come between me and my God, because they believe they have the only way to reach salvation.  If taking the words “under God” is going to inhibit a theocrat, then by all means I say take it out.  Personally I liked the original version so much better, it really was all-inclusive, the original intent of its author.

Ottawa Herald Sept, 15, 2005

McADOO:’Under God’ should remain in the Pledge of Allegiance

By Sarah McAdoo, Community Viewpoint

Did you know that “In God we trust” is our nation’s motto? I sure didn’t. I didn’t even know we had a national motto. Congress adopted this phrase in 1955. Why is it that back then, no one complained about that motto, or the reference to God (with a capital G) in our Pledge of Allegiance? Have Americans really gotten that selfish, that they don’t even think they need God, or even acknowledge Him?

Did you know that some people in this country are trying to remove the phrase “under God” from our national pledge? They argue that it conflicts with the First Amendment which states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof Š etc.” People opposing the pledge tend to be atheists or agnostics, and say that the phrase is an unnecessary reference to God and endorses a Biblical nation.

What opposition tends to overlook though, is the fact that no one is forced to recite the pledge. Free will is a beautiful thing. They should acknowledge it.
In a recent Newsweek survey, 9 out of 10 Americans feel that the phrase “under God” should remain, and most even believe that it is acceptable for the government to promote religious expression, as long as it is not one specific religion.

In 1954, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower approved adding the words to the pledge, he stated: “In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America’s heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country’s most powerful resource in peace and war.”

Well, I honestly don’t think Mr. Eisenhower would be to pleased if he could see or hear our fellow Americans today. We have turned into a selfish, greedy nation that is way too caught up in “political correctness” and ignores tradition. Oh yes, I totally agree that times have changed since the 1950s, but God still remains, and the general faith the American people have, though weakening, is still strong.
Our founding fathers stressed the need for religion as the basis of morality.

The First Amendment has been majorly distorted. They built the American nation on the assumption that religion would be the foundation for the success of their democratic experiment.

Article III of the Northwest Ordinance states that “Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary in good government, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.”

Though it is a thin line to try to draw between the separation of church and state, one must draw that line somewhere. Senators have done that, when they voted 99-0 in support of the Pledge of Allegiance and its reference to “one nation under God” recently.
The pledge is a statement of national principle promoting the post-Civil War ideas of the strength of the American union and its people. The majority of those people were – and still are – generally monotheistic, or worshipping of one god. The pledge appeals to more than one religion, not just Christianity, because Jews worship God for example, and many other world religions hail to one god, which may simply just have another name.

For opponents who argue that the reference to God in our pledge is inappropriate, they should look around, and they will find for one; that there are many, many more inappropriate things out in the world to deal with; and two, that ‘inappropriate’ is only in the eye of the beholder. They should look more toward the tradition side of the issue, and the opposition should recognize and utilize the freedom they have to simply not recite the pledge if they feel it not necessary.

I feel though, that if one does recite the pledge, they should recite it wholly, not deleting words or phrases they deem inappropriate.  That’s just not how things work. Either do it fully, or not at all.
If someone has a problem with the current Pledge of Allegiance, as far as I’m concerned, they can either sit down and respect others rights, or they could leave the country – go experience some other governments and maybe realize some freedoms they may have taken for granted, here in America.

As the journalist James Piereson wrote, “Can the Supreme Court now strike down “under God” without at the same time striking at the very foundations of our national existence?”

Next time you see a court case news story or an online petition – for example, concerning removing of the controversial phrase – think twice about how you react. It is an issue endangering our traditions and values as a country.  

I can honestly and sincerely say that I pledge allegiance to the flag, of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, with liberty and justice for all.

Sarah McAdoo is a junior at Ottawa High School.

I have felt desperation and despair for many days now as I have watched the incompetence and immorality of the current administration.

It’s callous disregard for the American citizens that have died and suffered due only to the fact that they were poor and for the most part black, for the first time caused me great shame and heartache for my country.

I have ranted in at least one diary, insulted someone I respect and made an effort to apologize for that hurt.

I wrote what you will read below to help others understand what I feel and what I see will happen for our once great nation.

If I have caused anyone else pain or anguish because of my anger and anguish over the destruction I feel of my once great nation, I extend to you my deepest and sincerest apologies for that pain.

Mitakuye Oyasin!–We are all related!

Wado

Ghostdancers_way

More below the fold
My country once was a place,
America land of the free
And beauty once had a face
Freedom like the living tree
Life once had a meaning
Honesty, integrity, truth
And once I was safe within it’s gleaming.
Once there was freedom not uncouth
And once I felt that I could laugh.
Happiness once was alive
And once I felt we were not divided in half
I was part of a country that was alive
I believed I was a part inside
Once I felt I fit in this great place
So quickly it feels like it has died
Her grace so great and full of grace
Her beauty seemingly so vast
All I ever wanted was a safe place to stay
Now it appears that it will not last
It appears to be going away
Fate maybe had another plan
And I was not privy to its sway
Shall we really lose our land?
It feels like it’s all died away
Happiness, joy, love all seem lost
Now I walk alone in this dark, darkness
With little light to guide me in this frost
Yet out of this darkness
I perceive a soft glow of hope
Knowing that even as the darkness glistens
There will be hearts that will cope
And finally the people will listen
The truth shall win through this night
Wiping away the destroyers of our freedom
Seek not the ways of those who deny right
America I believe will once again gain it’s freedom
Those that seek to destroy her will soon see our might
That real American’s are ready to stand up against wrong
To help our fellow man in all ways has been remiss
Soon the battle shall be joined by many in the throng
We shall never allow our country to fall into the abyss.

No matter how one frames their vote on this list, it simply continues to boil down to one indisputable assertion that these people are Racist, Classist, Asshats.  If the majority of those affected on the Gulf Coast had been similar in economic, social and racial status as those of the 9-11 disaster, not one of these asshats would have voted against the bill to provide aid to the American citizens in this disaster.  

That these people are despicable non human beings, with not an ounce of compassion for those who have suffered this devastation, clearly is evident.  That most profess to be Christian, spews forth such bile and contempt upon their so called spirituality that it reeks of putrid hatred and vile contempt for anyone who is not like themselves.

Each of these contemptible non human piles of vermin dung, I hope will soundly be defeated next year in the mid terms to be replaced with compassionate, giving and caring humans who understand that America can still become  a nation that cares for all of its citizens.

Joe Barton (R- TX)  White Male

Jeff Flake -(R- AZ) White Male

Virginia Foxx (R-NC) White Female

Scott Garrett(R- NJ) White Male

John Hostettler (R-IN) White Male

Steve King (R-IA) White Male

Butch Otter (R-ID) White Male

Ron Paul (R-TX) White Male

James Sensenbrenner (R- WI) White Male

Tom Tancredo (R-CO) White Male

Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA) White Male

I nominate Sensebrenner for King of the Asshats, with Tom Tancedo as his Queen.  These despicable false Christians who care only for money, power and ability to control the rights of other American citizens are the lowest form of life on the planet.  These criminals against humanity are nothing more than fascist scum sucking shit for brains vermin that must be removed from any semblance of authority.

If it is not apparent from my rant, I hold nothing but contempt and disdain for each and everyone of these less than human pieces of wreckage that hold such sway upon our very lives.

For the record, this is my own rant and if you have issue with it, (any of the Asshats that I listed) bring it on, in the words of the Illustrious non leader of our nation.  In my humble estimation the 11 of you combined still could not muster an ounce of empathy of anything other than the all mighty dollar.  So go fuck yourselves and please stop procreating for you have polluted the Gene pool enough with your insidious, vile and contemptuous hatred of true FREEDOM loving Americans.  

Ruling Comes in the Case of ‘Enemy Combatant’ Jose Padilla

By Jerry Markon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 9, 2005; 12:27 PM

A federal appeals court ruled today that the president can indefinitely detain a U.S. citizen captured on U.S. soil in the absence of criminal charges, holding that such authority is vital to protect the nation from terrorist attacks.

4th Amendment gone
It appears that the Bushco’s fascists have acheived the complete utter destruction of the 4th Amendement to the Constitition of the United States of America.

From what I have read so far, the Asshat who lead this charge is currently on the short list for Bushco Fascists Supreme Court nomination number 2.  

The decision by a three-judge panel was written by Judge J. Michael Luttig, who is one of a number of people under consideration by President Bush for nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I came close to doing something I vowed I would never do in this lifetime.  I have been very ill for the last 7 days as the destruction of life I am witnessing and the destruction of my country has taken a profound toll upon my soul.  My wife was able to mitigate my decision to perform a skinwalker ritual that probably would have destroyed me as a human being.  That I despise and have such putrid hate for these non human animals who are systematically  destroying my country brings me no honor or happiness.  I am, as Infidelpig suggested, trying to feed the good wolf.

On 17 August 1969, Hurricane Camille crossed the Mississippi coast with winds of 201 miles per hour and a storm surge some 24 feet above sea level.  In its path, steel and concrete buildings, venerable homes, and deep-rooted oaks were simply obliterated.  As the storm passed, engineers swung into action.  The New Orleans District did superb work south of the city and also assisted the Mobile District that was responsible for most of the work along the Gulf coast and inland.  Mobile District officials sent civilian contractors into the devastated areas to clear roads.  Engineer troops from Fort Benning, Navy Seabees, and Airmen from Keesler Air Force Base joined in.  Aided by these forces, the District removed rubble, recovered bodies, cleared trees, freed 14,000 residential lots of debris for rebuilding, and dredged 12 million cubic yards of shoaling from Gulf harbors.

This happened 33 years before we had a Dept of Homeland Security, lead by the worlds most inept and excuse making asshat to ever enter public service.  Actually, Chertoff is just one of a running stream of political hacks who have benefitted from the largesse of the Current Fascist regime.

More below the fold:
I have been dazed and confused for the last 6 days, wondering what happened to my government, realizing that I already had the answers to that question.

The NeoCon fascists that have infiltrated and corrupted the Government of the United States of America, have one simple goal to achieve.  To completely and totally annihilate all social welfare aspects of the government and strengthen and completely take control of the military/industrial complex as the leading governmental agency in the US.

Why does the Pentagon receive 30% of the United States Budget?  What do we have to show for this massive influx in monetary supply to a throughly corrupt and unresponsive organ of our government.  Before anyone goes off on me, I am talking about the countless undocumented contracts that are initiated by current Pentagon hacks, who later become the employees of the Defense contractors.  How many thousands of former Colonels and above work in these Defense contractor companies and how much influence are they going to continue to be allowed, in the raping of our Nation.

When a country spends as much on defense as it does on social programs their is a coorelation between the quality of those programs and their ability to provide those same programs.  The NeoCon agenda is to completely strip our Nation of its long standing ability to provide a safety net for our most vulnerable citizens.  Their concern is not for those who have not, their only concern is to insure that the haves, continue to have more and as the ranks of the impoverished continue to rise, blame the victims.

The NeoCons have long been infiltrating our government to insure their agenda of starving the beast will succeed in its most viscious and cunning ways.  They see anyone who is not left of Attila the Hun as a communist/liberal/hippie who hates America and should leave if they don’t love the America they are striving to achieve.

My disgust for the current unelected President of the United States is complete and my disgust for the the past two Presidents is beginning to move more solidly toward complete also.  That our Congress has so little concern for the Constitution that it swore an Oath to protect is becoming frightening, as they methodically strip away our rights.

I have family who lived in Biloxi, they were fortunate in they had resources to leave the area on Sunday before Katrina hit.  However they have lost everything that they owned with the exception of the few things they were able to take with them when they evacuated.  I am struggling to maintain myself as I watch in horror the despicable photo ops made possible by our incompetent and inept commander in chief.  I am mortified that so many American citizens have been left to die in the aftermath of this horrific devastation.  

Yet the political hacks continue to spew forth lies and deceit as if they were water and food to those who so deperately need it.  The despicable and wanton disregard for human life by the current administration clearly shows the American people the nature and attitude of the NeoCon Fascists who currently control our country.  The continued spinning and blaming local authorities for the mismanagement of this crisis again shows us that the President is a person of low moral character, insensitive to human suffering and incapable of leading our once great nation.

I call upon all Americans to support the impeachment of the entire psuedo leadership of the United States of America, the Executive branch in total, the current majority leadership in both houses and any democrat who has continued to support these NeoCon fascists.

I urge every American to contact their representatives in Congress and demand the repeal of the Bankruptcy bill, the Patriot Act and the Energy bill as they now stand.

The Fascists believe they are invulnerable and will prevail, I say they shall not, I say they shall reap the whirlwind and soon, my fellow Americans, very soon, I see the criminal actions of these fascist leading them to a long and uncomfortable stint in a federal prison cell for their crimes against the American people and the world.

I am emailing this letter to every one of the Kansas Senators and Representatives that supposedly represent me as members of the Kansas delegation to the US Senate and House of Representatives.  I urge all of you to take this letter and email, mail or fax it to your supposed representatives to somehow mitigate the financial burden that so many who have suffered devastation in this catastrophe on the Gulf Coast will undoubtedly feel.

Dear Senator

I am asking you to relieve some of the financial burden of the American citizens that have been so devastated by Hurricane Katrina.  I am imploring you to allow those individuals who have suffered catastrophic losses to be able to file for bankruptcy under the old rules in force before this hurricane wiped out their lives.

I am simply asking you to make sure that any money these people receive for their losses. is not allocated to their creditors who will receive first allocation of any funds these people may receive.  I ask this for the simple fact that so many of these people will have nothing if they do have to file bankruptcy.  

I remember when our great country prided itself on helping those who were less fortunate, a country that diligently offered assistance to those who were down and offered a hand up, not a hand out.  These American citizens have been devastated by a natural disaster that they had no control over and the current bankruptcy law as passed by Congress would in effect strip them of any assets they might have remaining, including any aid offered by our government.

This, it seems to me, would help those who’s lives have been completely annihilated by this disaster and allow them an opportunity to recover and rebuild their lives.  We as a nation have been, and my hope is that we shall always be, a nation that never forgets those people who through no fault of their own have had their lives shattered by such devastation.

Our nation will be stronger for this commitment to rendering help where it is needed and bringing much needed relief from the worries of whether or not they will have the ability to feed, clothe and provide shelter for themselves and their families.

I again ask that Congress initiate a bill to offer this much needed assistance to those millions of Americans who’s lives and ability to provide for themselves has been completely obliterated by this horrendous natural disaster.

Sincerely

I recently wrote a LTE to my local paper concerning the disparaging comments of a LTE concerning the war in Iraq and what it is costing the American people.  I also just read the diary by ePluribus Media and the freepers responses concerning Cindy Sheehan.  It appears that anyone who deviates from the talking points of the Administration, who heaven forbid, disagrees with the logic that moved us into this war, is well in a word, a Traitor.  

I have been called many things over the course of my life, SOB, MF asshole, stupid f##k, ignorant d##khead and many others too numerous to state in this diary.  I have also done some incredibly stupid things, like jumping off the back of a moving pick up, trying to jump over a moving car, jumping into a river from a bridge and many other stupid things that I will not press into the light of day.  

I am many things, I have done many things and I will continue to do many more things in this life, for as long as I draw breath.  I will not, nor shall I allow anyone to place the moniker of Traitor upon me, simply because I demand to exercise my rights under the Constitution of the United States of America.  

I am thoroughly disgusted that so called Republicans, the champions of freedom, small government and no government interference in our personal lives have deemed it necessary to denigrate, slander, disparage and defame other Americans simply because they are left of Attila the Hun.  

I have heard the word Liberal used like a curse word, that being progressive makes me a communist and that I Hate America, because I believe in the living breathing Document that is our Constitution.  I believe that challenging my government to tell the truth, to clearly have a vision and to carry that vision out in a way that enhances the lives all Americans is my profound right and one that I strive to keep in the forefront of my political life.  

I am sickened by the Extreme Right’s call that anyone who does not agree with the President is guilty of Treason, we are endangering the lives of our military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan and we Hate America.  I love my country, even when it is lead by a group of individuals who hate my freedoms to challenge them when they violate our own Constitution and International Laws.  I love my Country because it is my country and its Constitution guarantees me the right of Free Assembly, Free Speech and the right to petition my Government when I deem they are wrong.

I have strived to not call those who are right of center, fascists or Nazi’s, I do however have no qualms of giving that label to anyone who wants to take away my Freedoms.  The Extremists on the right, have little regard for Free Speech unless it is their own, little regard for Free Assembly unless it is in support of their talking points, and for heaven sakes shut up and stop bothering the President while he is trying to get on with his life.  The Freepers who call for the elimination of our rights as Citizens of the United States, would do well to look inward and ask themselves, what would I do if the shoe was on the other foot and they were calling for the elimination of My right of dissent.  I doubt seriously if that could happen, but one can wish can’t they.

I have watched over the last 15 years, the slow disintegration of the Bill of Rights and in the last 4 years, I have watched that same Bill of Rights dissipate at an alarming rate.  The Real ID Bill signed by the President, a bill in the House that would make it a felony to not report a drug crime, seems to me that the US is losing its way.  I am fearful for my country, my fellow countrymen and my children, that our government has succumbed to the extremist’s viewpoint, that dissent is unwelcome and not to be tolerated, frightens me to no end.  The Freepers attack those who disagree with them with such vitriolic hatred and outright animalistic vengeance, in order to suppress dissent and keep the home front safe from the liberal commie hippie progressive leftists.

I am sick and tired of being vilified because I am left of Attila the Hun.  I have decided that I will continue to voice my concerns, that I will address the attacks against me without utilizing my first line of defense, I will not slap them down with angry words, disparaging comments about their heredity or their parents marital status.

I will engage in constructive dialog designed to open the door of communication and hopefully to open the minds of those who despise me because I am a Progressive.  I know many of you will say what an exercise in futility, yet I must do this as I continue to hear disparaging language and out right hatred concerning those of us who don’t walk lock step with the current administration.  I place the responsibility of so much of this hatred and contempt for us that are progressive, squarely upon the shoulders of many in the Republican party, who have made it their mission in life to splinter our country, simply so their own fortunes will improve.  I will tirelessly work to address these issues, to open the doors of communication between moderate republicans and progressives, who are seeking to return our government to some sense of sanity.

I offer to all of you this challenge, seek out those moderates, who don’t lock step with the freepers, let them know what your values, principles and spiritual values are, let them know that you are not some communist infiltrator who wants to destroy their way of life.  I have been amazed and profoundly pleased that some of my neighbors whom I had assumed were freepers, are indeed wondering what has happened to their country.  I hope that others in communities all over the US will reach out and talk to those who are indeed moderates, show them that progressives are not out to destroy America, but to restore America to sanity, to bring back that America that cared for all of its Citizens, not just those who have lots of money.  Share with them that you too are concerned for the well being of your children, your school system, and your community.  It will be amazing, that you and that republican moderate, have a lot more in common than you thought.  They have less in common with the freeper and the current Administration and a lot more in common with those of us who truly do love our country and want to preserve our Constitutional rights..