Texas "pledge law" personal update

[Sundog]

My son brought up the new Texas law FORCING kids to say the Pledge of Alliegiance the other day. His feelings on the subject have evolved from "How stupid" to "I ain't gonna do it, this is outrageous".

He tells me that a group of about 20 of his friends simply refuse to say the Pledge every day, and so far no one has said anything about it. He can get excused from doing so if I write a note, but he doesn't want a note; he wants it to be an act of civil disobedience.

I am terribly proud of him.

[Dancing David]

Way to go Sunpuppy!

I leave out the 'under god' when I am cub scouts meetings and the like.

[c0rbin]

Right. Until a person is 18 years old, they aren;t aloud to decide for themselves the nature of theism.

Texas blows my mind sometimes.

[Sundog]

Originally posted by c0rbin
Right. Until a person is 18 years old, they aren;t aloud to decide for themselves the nature of theism.

Texas blows my mind sometimes.

You too? :rolleyes:

It's worse than that. They are forcing children to recite an oath of alliegance to America. Anyone whose irony meter doesn't explode at this doesn't understand America at all.

[c0rbin]

I personally can't wait to see the reaction to the up-and-coming movie "The Alamo".

We all know the story, how a couple hundred brave white men staved off the swelling hordes of Mexicans.

Should go over very well here in Houston, San Antonio, El Paso, Laredo...

[Tony]

Now you know why forced public education is a bad idea.

[Sundog]

Well, not really, but if you started a thread about that, explaining why you think so, I think it would be very interesting.

I take it we agree on the pledge thing too. See, it's all good, we can all get along. ;)

[c0rbin]

Now you know why forced public education is a bad idea.

Yeah...religion in politics is bad. Providing education is not...especially when it is not forced.

[Ladewig]

WTF! The U.S. Supreme Court already held, in 1943, that a compulsory pledge requirement is unconstitutional. West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (before the words "under God" were even added to the pledge).

What's even more f'ed up about it is that the kids have to recite a pledge to Texas as well :"Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one and indivisible."

:mad:

[arcticpenguin]

You must be proud of your son. Back him up all the way on this one.

[BrianT]

I've been wondering: a child can have a parent write a note so they can opt out of this nonsense. What does a teacher who is against this garbage do?

[UnrepentantSinner]

Originally posted by c0rbin
I personally can't wait to see the reaction to the up-and-coming movie "The Alamo".

We all know the story, how a couple hundred brave white men staved off the swelling hordes of Mexicans.

Should go over very well here in Houston, San Antonio, El Paso, Laredo...

Hey, there were Mexicans and blacks in the Alamo too. And don't underestimate it's appeal to Mexicans... they won.. remember?

Good for your boy Sundog, and bully for you for letting it be his decision to make.

[RCNelson]

In related news: Judge Rules Against Pledge of Allegiance (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,95165,00.html)
Fox News:
DENVER — A federal judge has issued a restraining order preventing Colorado school officials from requiring students to say the Pledge of Allegiance (search) at the beginning of each school day.

Last Friday, a federal judge issued a temporary injunction against a Colorado law that required public school students and their teachers to recite the 31-word Pledge, first adopted in 1892, in school.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Babcock said the law discriminates against teachers by allowing students to opt out with a note from their parents. Teachers cannot opt out.

Babcock also said the law pits students who choose to say the Pledge against those who do not, and students against teachers.

"What is instructional about that?" Babcock asked. "You can't compel a citizen of the United States to recite the Pledge of Allegiance."

Civil liberties groups and those leading a lawsuit against the Pledge requirement said it violates students' and teachers' First Amendment (search) rights.

"By forcing an individual to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, it violates the ideals of justice and liberty that the flag is meant to represent," said Mark Silverstein of the American Civil Liberties Union (search).
It continues here ... (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,95165,00.html)

[Zep]

I'm surprised that you would need to force any citizens to pledge allegiance to the USA. They have already made the decision to be US citizens, by birth or choice, and don't seem to be expressing the desire to belong to somewhere else...

Patriotism is one fine thing, but this looks like just jingoism.

Oh, one must "divide" Texas if it is not to be indivisible, so that part seems to be fairly Captain Obvious...

[UnrepentantSinner]

As an aside, I was getting a haircut this morning and the guy in the chair heard something on the TV about Roy Moore fiasco. He commented on that he'd had jury duty recently and when asked to say the Pledge of Aliegence the judge had commented "If any of you don't want to say the God part, don't we're not trying to offend," and went on to carp about "When's this all going to end."

Since I wanted a good haircut, and not a Mohawk/Mullet combination I held my tongue about restoring the Pledge to it's 1898 original version and about how I value a demonstration of loyalty to be of more value than a pledge of loyalty.

I personally will refuse to say the Pledge for precisely that reason. I demonstrate my loyalty to my nation... I don't speak empty words to that effect.