School drops Pledge of Allegiance during ceremony

[krispos42]

He he he, look at this...

PORTLAND, Ore. - The exclusion of the Pledge of Allegiance from a southwest Portland elementary school's ceremony has proved upsetting for a local mom.

Departing fifth-graders at Capitol Hill Elementary usually open their promotion ceremony with the Pledge of Allegiance - but not this year.

"I was sad," said parent Briana Reese. "The flag was sitting up there, you know. Two of the kids went up and they said 'Everybody rise,' and we rose, and I thought for just a second 'Oh yeah, we're going to put our hands on our hearts and we're going to salute the flag' - but no."

<snip>

The pledge was instead replaced with a singing version of the preamble to the Constitution.

<more>

http://www.katu.com/news/19748774.html

Now that is a damn good idea, and this parent is getting her knickers in a bunch about it!



Here's the Preamble, just in case you're wondering...

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.


Guess the conservatives worried we might actually remember what the Constitution means in stead of simply swearing blind allegience.

[ClassWarrior]

1. "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."

Ralph Waldo Emerson.

NGU.

[underpants]

8. The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed

... by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
--HL Mencken

[Glorfindel]

2. The pledge of allegiance is worth a bucket of warm spit

and needs to be ignored. When I CAN'T avoid the damn thing, I usually just move my lips, and I'd never dream of adding "under God" to what I mumble. All that's asked of any of us is "to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." The flag is a piece of cloth.

[patriotvoice]

7. When I proudly say our pledge, I am affirming my belief in its intent:

The Pledge of Allegiance -- for me -- is not about mindless jingoistic adherence to a military order or political party, but a solemn affirmation that I stand firmly with the principles and ideals laid forth for our country. From the words of the author, Francis Bellamy:

"It began as an intensive communing with salient points of our national history, from the Declaration of Independence onwards; with the makings of the Constitution...with the meaning of the Civil War; with the aspiration of the people...

The true reason for allegiance to the Flag is the 'republic for which it stands.' ...And what does that vast thing, the Republic mean? It is the concise political word for the Nation - the One Nation which the Civil War was fought to prove. To make that One Nation idea clear, we must specify that it is indivisible, as Webster and Lincoln used to repeat in their great speeches. And its future?"

Dr. Baer has captured the history well, available here:
http://history.vineyard.net/pledge.htm

And in more detail here:
http://history.vineyard.net/pdgech0.htm

[roody]

23. I used to say "under dog."

Now I stand quietly.

[Bucky]

27. And why is our Republic for "Richard Stans"? I don't even know who Richard Stans is!

When I lead my students in the Pledge, I say "invisible".

[cherokeeprogressive]

3. Yay! Now we can TRULY say the world is a better place.

Next thing we need to do is get sporting events to stop playing the National Anthem! Are you with me!!?? Let's take care of the most important shit first!

Let's.... GOOOOOOOO! (Picture John Belushi running out of the dorm by himself)

[reggie the dog]

19. personally I never stand for the anthem

of either of my two countries.

[Hydra]

4. Mindless nationalism is what our nation was supposed to be fighting

Instead, we hold it up as the highest good.

Pfff.

[patriotvoice]

10. Which is why I am for compulsory civil service:

either military or civilian, for a short period before retirement. Meaning derives from experience and reflection, and it is the meaning -- not the chant -- that remains important. Without experience, meaning evaporates and leaves nothing but mindless conformity. We all should see we are part of a social fabric, connected to our neighbors next door, next state, and across the country. We have homeless to shelter, and we have starved to feed. We should be putting those first, not just with tax dollars, but with the sweat of our brows.

[Hydra]

12. Never happen here

"Success" is our God- and a great god he is. He tells us that those who do not succeed are unworthy...regardless of how that success is gained.

[patriotvoice]

13. With a dilligent reshaping of our values, I hope we will achieve a change.

Success should be defined as reaching my, and our, goals, both small and large. I believe that long-term change begins with our children, thus I believe we should teach them to have a strong sense of self- and community- respect and responsibility. That is, to show them that we succeed as individuals, when we succeed together as a community.

Shorter-term change could begin with college-age students: open the board to Federal college loan repayment with civil service. It's already partially implemented for military and national security service, so we could reasonably extend it in a few years' time.

[Joe Chi Minh]

14. The trouble is that the significance of national flags is routinely subverted

by the conservatives (increasingly of course, anarchically crypto-fascist, in fact).

I would like one or two of the most telling paragraphs from General Smedley Butler's tract, War Is a Racket, to be read in front of the class, at the beginning of each term, in every class-room in the land. An unlikely occurence, of course.

As the author, G K Chesterton once wrote, most people who have rejected Christianity have done so, not because it has been tried and found wanting, but because it has been found hard, and left untried. Well, it's an over-simplification, but everyone who reads it immediately knows what he meant. No-one but respectable hypocrites have ever found fault with Christ, and they're not letting on. Indeed, the best form of defence is attack.

However, even the imperfect residue that has been passed down to us, has proved to be priceless. There has never been a left-wing movement anywhere in the world, nor ever could be, whose best principles were not based on Judaeo-Christian teachings, notably the First and Second Commandments, but so much more.

As for the so-called Evangelical "fundies" who believe that wealth is a mark of God's favour, what does that tell us about Christ, who had nowhere to lay his head (yet is our ultimate model), repeatedly and unequivocally reviled money, and about his Apostles, who were told not carry even a spare set of clothing or a few coins... and the widow who gave her last mite to Temple treasury? Did Jesus not consider her the most blessed of all, more so than those who had given from their wealth.

But to get back to the point, Christianity is the best unifying force between human beings, of all. The rot set in, in the 80s, the Reagan-Thatchher years. Now, every day when we open the newspapers, we read of young people performing acts of violence and depravity - and just for FUN! - which people, including agnostics and atheists, could not even have imagined back then. And the reason for that was that the over-arching, basic Christian ethos permeated the whole of society.

In the UK we have a very senior minister who is, as he and his right-wing cronies in our society, like to remind us, "a son of the manse". Well that's just the problem. It was precisely his brand of Christianity, in name only, that drove our society towards atheism. In tandem now with those who overtly wish to propagate formal atheism.

The very word, "religion" means "to bind", but anyone with a grain of common sense knows that genuine, human freedom implies responsibilities, some kind of moral order that we ourselves, can't change to suit our wishes. Otherwise, our freedom becomes licence, and can only lead to moral degeneracy, chaos and violence. Which it has - in spades (hearts, diamonds and clubs).

Christ's teachings are still our best protection. Ask Hugo. Or Fidel. In one of his articles, Joe Bageant mentions the enormous role played by Charismatic Catholics in the ongoing liberation of the peoples of South America. Charismatic worship is not something that appeals to me personally at all, temperamentally. But it evidently appeals to many and indeed has already worked marvels in those countries concerned.

[sinkingfeeling]

5. So, this mother is upset by the preamble to the Constitution?

[krispos42]

16. He he he...

...good way to put it!

[gratuitous]

6. Channel 2 is Portland's ABC affiliate

They don't seem to have a coherent editorial baseline. One day they're ranting and raving about how the politicians are wasting "your money" on something they don't approve of, or taking "your money" for all those taxes. The next day they're complaining about how local governments aren't providing any services to people, or gangs are running amok, or some program had to shut down for lack of funding.

I'm guessing that Briana Reese will find herself with about eight people sympathetic to her "plight," about 2.5 million wholly indifferent, and about three dozen wondering how tough her life must be if this is the worst thing she has to whine about.

You want your kid to recite the pledge of allegiance? Do it in the morning at home.

[Solly Mack]

9. I love singing the Preamble

Schoolhouse Rock version...

The "mom" can get the fuck over it

[JHB]

21. To whit...

http://www.youtube.com/v/Q_TXJRZ4CFc&hl=en

(Can't make it show up here)

[John Kerry VonErich]

11. This spells danger....

to the school. Sometimes I wish people just swallow their pride and live with it. Everytime a little decission like this comes along and then brings about national coverage (which this is actually their local business), it brings out the looneys with their death and bomb threats. The woman should've kept quiet for the safety of others who have families too.

[SergeyDovlatov]

15. Good idea.

Even in Soviet Russia, kids did not have to recite the pledge of obedience in their schools.

It was quite surprising to discover that America the land of the free practices this kind of totalitarian brainwashing.

[Selatius]

17. They practiced it in Nazi Germany, and the US more closely resembles fascism than communism. nt

[trusty elf]

18. Remember though, the Constitution's just a "goddamned piece of paper".

[Echo In Light]

25. Oh yes, it's "quaint" and irrelevant in the "post 9/11 world." {By design}

[many a good man]

20. I like the "liberty and justice for all" part

I wonder how many other countries have to pledge allegiance to flags?

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

22. Kudos to the school!!!!! The Preamble! Brilliant!!!!!!

[Echo In Light]

24. Good. We've told our daughter she needn't bother with the daily indoctrination either

I've commented on this before, but out of the few different schools she's attended for AK through 2nd grade, I've not been able to get one clear, accurate response from any teacher or admin personnel as to WHY children are more or less forced to recite a pledge of "allegiance" when they haven't any concept as to the words or the meaning. I find that very interesting, if not revealing.

[Bucky]

26. Fucking communists!

Why can't I find any intelligent, single fucking communists in my community?

[John Kerry VonErich]

28. Looks like a poll needs DUed

same link, and then hit the link next to the hand on heart pic.

What do you think about a Portland principal's decision to exclude the Pledge of Allegiance from a school's promotion ceremony?
Read more about it here

I agree with the decision
15%
I disagree with the decision
85%