Rants of a Fuzzy Curmudgeon

We were sitting in meetings all day yesterday so the news that the Pledge had suddenly become unconstitutional came as somewhat of a surprise when I pulled up InstaPundit, et al., around 6PM. Amongst my techie colleagues this was a brief topic of conversation at lunchtime, and I was somewhat surprised again at what came out of my own mouth.
I am not certain that the words “under God” belong in the Pledge. But at the same time, I’m fully aware that the nation was indeed created by religious men — and I don’t care about the crap about them being Deists or Theists, they wrote plainly that they believed in the help of Almighty God, and they wrote it consistently; just because Jefferson didn’t believe in the Trinity did not make him less of a Christian (and this coming from a Jew…oh well. You’re invited to dispute Jefferson’s level of Christianity, but not here. BWAHAHAHAH!).
But the Pledge was written in 1898 and it apparently served quite well until 1956, when Congress made the undoubtedly-good-at-the-time decision to add the words “under God” into it. Why? What was the rationale? To prove to the peepul back home that they were doing the Lord’s work?
I’m sure I can find this out easily enough, but I haven’t got the resources handy (he said, while sitting 10 miles east of the Library of Congress…but have you ever tried to get into DC at rush hour?).
Anyway, this is something people really ought to think hard about, even though the Ninth Circuit seems to have semi-reversed itself, apparently shocked by the negativity shown toward their decision, and even though the decision isn’t likely to pass muster with the Supremes. Do we really need “under God” in the Pledge? We are pledging allegiance to the flag (and thus to our country — remember, that’s what “the flag” meant to people in 1898), not to the Divine Providence Who came to the aid of the Founders. If you want to pledge allegiance to Him, perhaps you need to be directed to your local church, synagogue, or mosque.
And I was in favor of prayer in school not too long ago. Am I getting old and crotchety?
Stay tuned. Who knows what evil lurks in the minds of men?

to note that Bush isn’t being wobbly anymore.

I’m in DC this week on business and probably won’t have time to blog or even to read the newspapers. All day tech meetings…arghh.

When the going gets tough, the tough fall back to previously-prepared positions.*
*For those of you in Rio Linda — sorry Rush — that means “retreat”.

Let’s review the bidding. First, she said she discovered the fire. Then, she said she accidentally set the fire. Now, apparently the bitch started the damn fire on purpose. I’d keep her locked up, too. If they don’t I’ll bet dollars to doughnuts she doesn’t survive to stand trial.

…but this is pretty funny. What’s even funnier is that someone will end up paying more than I make in two or three years to buy it.

if they don’t let us have what we want, f*ck ’em. We’ll bring our peacekeepers home.

What on earth does Fox expect to gain from running uninterrupted coverage of a car chase in Los Angeles? Don’t those happen every other day anyway?
What really is the bloody point here? Must be a slow news day. Just 19 people killed by homicide bombers in Jerusalem, C-130 crashes fighting fires in Colorado, Ridge presents new Homeland Security bill to Congress…Nope, nothing much going on, I guess.

this woman. Tell it like it is, Dawn!
In particular this is exactly what I was thinking when I read the paper this morning and saw who’d confessed to starting that fire in Colorado. Except I used language a bit more profane.

I was sick Friday afternoon…spent all day doing volunteer work Saturday…took Mom to visit Dad at the cemetery for Father’s Day. So no blogging. Oh well.