House OKs bill guarding Pledge from courts

[rodeodance]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060719/ap_on_go_co/pledge_protection;_ylt=AsHvS1XewL0Bg7wr_FdsON6s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3OTB1amhuBHNlYwNtdHM-
House OKs bill guarding Pledge from courts

By JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press Writer 44 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The House, citing the nation's religious origins, voted Wednesday to protect the Pledge of Allegiance from federal judges who might try to stop schoolchildren and others from reciting it because of the phrase "under God."
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The legislation, a priority of social conservatives, passed 260-167. It now goes to the Senate where its future is uncertain.

"We should not and cannot rewrite history to ignore our spiritual heritage," said Rep. Zach Wamp (news, bio, voting record), R-Tenn. "It surrounds us. It cries out for our country to honor God."

Opponents said the legislation, which would bar federal courts from ruling on the constitutional validity of the pledge, would undercut judicial independence and would deny access to federal courts to religious minorities seeking to defend their rights.

[DRoseDARs]

1. "We should not and cannot rewrite history..." My what poor memory we have

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pledge_of_Allegiance

[DoyBoy]

6. Will they be reinstating the "Bellamy Salute" as well?

With things as they are in this country, I wouldn't be surprised.

[ngant17]

18. the original Pledge

I don't know any thing about the "salute", but personally I wouldn't mind the original Pledge as it was constructed by the Christian Fabian-Socialist Francis Bellamy, whose brother wrote "Looking Backward". Francis believed the Bible clearly promoted the principles of socialism.

I doubt it if this "Bellamy salute" would have shared any traits from the fascists. It was probably something rather innocent at the time.

[DoyBoy]

21. I know that it was totally innocent at the time...

It was due to Hitler's salute they changed it in 1942 to the hand over the heart.

I was just being a smart ass :evilgrin:

[geomon666]

2. Citing the nation's religious origins?

...You filthy bastards.

[Sam Odom]

4. They "saved" the cross today too n/t

n/t

[KamaAina]

3. So, all those benches have to stay scuffed and old-looking?

Oh, right, that'd be "House OKs bill guarding courts from Pledge". But it'd make just as much sense (i.e. zero). What part of "separation of powers" don't these weenies understand?

[Prophet 451]

5. Very, very dangerous

Not in itself. The Pledge issue is pretty small beans but it's a nice wedge issue for what the Bushistas really want, the ability to remove judicial oversight entirely. If this passes, why not stop the courts from ruling on marriage (there's already a Bill in the works trying to do that)? If they can't rule on marriage, why should they be able to rule on church's violating their tax-exemption rules? And so on, and so on until the courts can only rule on the most trifling of matters and the legislature is freed from judicial oversight entirely.

[Eric J in MN]

19. Exactly. If Congress can stop courts from ruling on this,

...it can stop courts from ruling on anything, and the Bill of Rights becomes meaningless.

[Prophet 451]

20. The BoR is already meaningless

The problem with any constitution or Bill of Rights is that it only works until the people in power want to break it. If it's the people in power violating it, then the courts can declare them wrong but there's nothing the courts can do to enforce that decision and since the Bushistas seem to be making up election results out of whole cloth, no way to remove them.

[Eric J in MN]

22. The people in prison for burning the flag were set free

..after the Supreme Court ruling that the Bill of Rights lets people burn the flag.

[Ian David]

7. Oh, fuck them. I'm sick of this Triumphalist fundie crap. n/t

[I_Make_Mistakes]

8. Actually, we are not fighting the RW appropriately. The Bible

states paraphrasing, that one cannot swear (meaning at the time, take an oath to anything but GOD), as a Christian, that means the Pledge is taking an oath to a country and not following the Bibles commandment not too!

The RW'ers use the swear to mean a curse word, but at the time of it's writing, it meant to take an oath to anything other than God. This is why, I no longer say the Pledge of Allegiance, my Bible commands me not too!

[bemildred]

9. I'm certainly glad they have time for this important stuff. nt

[Taverner]

10. There should be a constitutional ammendment!

Protecting God in the Pledge!

They should also have an ammendment protecting the letter G, pet ownership and apple pies!

:sarcasm:

[Ian David]

12. It needs to be in The Constitution that "God" must always be capitalized..

and that the internet is a series of tubes.

[Taverner]

16. Exactly!

And we should have an ammendment protecting God Bless America, Hot Dogs and Baseball.

[Ian David]

11. So, when Dems take back the house...

Unitary Executive Nancy Pellosi will legalize Gay Marriage, and add a provision stripping the Federal courts of jurisdiction to review that law.

And some day, Unitary Executive Hillary Clinton will enjoy all these new powers that the Republicans have handed him.

[The_Casual_Observer]

13. They can't force me to pledge allegiance so I don't care what they

put in the stupid thing.

[HockeyMom]

17. 8th Grade Wiccan Boy

I was a TA in his class. As soon as the kids stood up to say the pledge, he walked out the door. He said to me when I asked him why, "I don't pledge to any scrap of cloth or some mythical god."

Yes, his parents echoed his sentiments. No, the other kids did not harasses him. They actually thought he was "cool".

[HuffleClaw]

14. the supreme court would shoot this down with joy

they aren't gonna let the legislative branch intrude on their balliwick. not a chance.

[tritsofme]

23. They claim to derive their power from Article III Section 2

which states:

In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.

If Congress removes jurisdiction from the courts, the law is supposed to be beyond review. Its shakey ground and mostly untested waters.

[Robb]

15. The House, proving they never read a goddamn history book in their LIVES

A degree does not an education make. They should be fucking embarrassed.

Oh, and Rep. Wamp, go fuck yourself. :)

[SensibleAmerican]

24. Well, I'm glad they got that taken care of

n/t

[radfringe]

25. Let's introduce a few more bills

-- A bill to recognize the Bald Eagle as our national bird. Makes it illegal to hunt, harm the Bald Eagle and would include banning development/logging etc on lands which the Bald Eagle inhabits. Land Development destroys the natural habitat of the the Bald Eagle and thereby harms the Bald Eagle. (take it a bit further and recognize/protect other things like the national tree, national flower etc.)

-- A bill extending child deductions on income taxes for frozen embryos and the "pre-conceived" eggs which all women carry from puberty through menopause.
(1 egg a month - 12 child deductions a year). We can even take it further and allow men the same deductions based on sperm count. And allow child deductions from the time of CONCEPTION, as opposed to the current timeline of taking the deduction from the time of actual birth.

feel free to add to the list