We The People of the United States

[jgleason]

I kind of like this version which arrived via email the other day...

"We the sensible people of the United States, in an attempt to help everyone get along, restore some semblance of justice, avoid more riots, keep our nation safe, promote positive behavior, and secure the blessings of debt free liberty to ourselves and our great-great-great-grandchildren, hereby try one more time to ordain and establish some common sense guidelines for the terminally whiny, guilt ridden, delusional, and other liberal bed-wetters. We hold these truths to be self evident: that a whole lot of people are confused by the Bill of Rights and are so dim they require a Bill of NON-Rights."

ARTICLE I: You do not have the right to a new car, big screen TV, or any other form of wealth. More power to you if you can legally acquire them, but no one is guaranteeing anything.

ARTICLE II: You do not have the right to never be offended. This country is based on freedom, and that means freedom for everyone -- not just you! You may leave the room, turn the channel, express a different opinion, etc.; but the world is full of idiots, and probably always will be.

ARTICLE III: You do not have the right to be free from harm. If you stick a screwdriver in your eye, learn to be more careful, do not expect the tool manufacturer to make you and all your relatives independently wealthy.

ARTICLE IV: You do not have the right to free food and housing. Americans are the most charitable people to be found and will gladly help anyone in need, but we are quickly growing weary of subsidizing generation after generation of professional couch potatoes who achieve nothing more than the creation of another generation of professional couch potatoes.

ARTICLE V: You do not have the right to free health care. That would be nice, but from the looks of public housing, we're just not interested in public health care.

ARTICLE VI: You do not have the right to physically harm other people.
If you kidnap, rape, intentionally maim, or kill someone, don't be surprised if the rest of us want to see you fry in the electric chair.

ARTICLE VII: You do not have the right to the possessions of others. If you rob, cheat, or coerce away the goods or services of other citizens, don't be surprised if the rest of us get together and lock you away in a place where you still won't have the right to a big screen color TV or a life of leisure.

ARTICLE VIII: You do not have the right to a job. All of us sure want you to have a job, and will gladly help you along in hard times, but we expect you to take advantage of the opportunities of education and vocational training laid before you to make yourself useful.

ARTICLE IX: You do not have the right to happiness. Being an American means that you have the right to PURSUE happiness which, by the way, is a lot easier if you are unencumbered by an over abundance of idiotic laws created by those of you who were confused by the Bill of Rights.

ARTICLE X: This is an English speaking country. We don't care where you are from, English is our language. Learn it or go back to wherever you came from!

ARTICLE XI: You do not have the right to change our country's history or heritage. This country was founded on the belief in one true God. And yet, you are given the freedom to believe in any religion, any faith, or no faith at all; with no fear of persecution. The phrase IN GOD WE TRUST is part of our heritage and history and if you are uncomfortable with it, TOUGH!!!!

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[Airborne]

Hear, Hear! I'll raise a cold one to that.

[jd77]

Good one Joe :)

[cx]

Well, Joe, y'all were doing pretty good there until you got to number eleven.

This country was founded on the belief in one true God.

This country was most demonstrably not founded on any such belief. The Constitution, upon which the country was founded, contains not a single reference that I can find to any such belief. Not all of the founders were even deists of any stripe. And damn few of the citizens at that time were even members of a church or organized religion. This country was founded on the belief in individual liberty. :shades:


The phrase IN GOD WE TRUST is part of our heritage and history and if you are uncomfortable with it, TOUGH!!!! As I recall from history lessons learned long after the government school system, it was not a part of any such heritage and was not ever even part of our history until after the Civil War. It was not on any of our money until the early 1900s (guessing a little here), and I know for a fact it was not on our paper money until I was part of the country. Such use is clearly unconstitutional, but how long has it been since we cared a whit about that? :mad:

[jgleason]

Kelly, I pasted it as I found it in my email. You bring up some valid points but don't shoot the messenger. I posted it because, in general, I agree with most of what it stated.

I think I could do without Article XI entirely. The others more or less work pretty well for me.

:D

[flatfloor]

Article VII misses the boat too Joe. Most jails have big screen TVs and cable to. :)

[jvcstone]

I'm probably wrong about this, but I seem to remember the "under god" phrase being added to the pledge sometime in the 50's.
I stand ready to be corrected. :rolleyes:
JVC

[jgleason]

I know that Jim, they shouldn't though and that's the point. You do something wrong and get convicted, pay the price. Prisons shouldn't have TV at all. :smash:

[jgleason]

In God We Trust is an official motto as adopted by Congress in 1956. It was used on a 2 cent coin back in 1864. read up on it here...
In_God_We_TrustWikipedia In God We Trust (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_God_We_Trust)

[cx]

OK, Joe, no messenger shootin'. :)

It was definately in the fifties, John, and I think it was around the same time as the equally unconstitutional message on the paper money. I know I was a young kid, but I disremember how young.

When it comes to CRS, I was rather precocious. :D

[Mike2]

Mr Google seems to remember when it was.

1952
The Hearst Newspapers begin a campaign to add "under God" to the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance.

1953
Federal legislators are lobbied by religious leaders from the Knights of Columbus, as well as the Hearst Newspapers and the American Legion. A bill to add "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance is introduced in the House by Rep. Louis Rabaut (D-MI), and in the Senate from Sen. Homer Ferguson (R-MI).

June 14, 1954
Congress considers three variations of the "under God" phrase:

1. "One Nation under God,"
2. "One Nation, under God," and
3. "One Nation indivisible under God."

Congress accepts variation #1 based on a recommendation from the Library of Congress. The legislation is supported by President Dwight D. Eisenhower who signs the bill. The words "under God" are inserted into the Pledge.

[Bri]

terminally whiny, guilt ridden, delusional, and other liberal bed-wetters.

Why are you getting email from Fox News? :rolleyes:

[cx]

Mmmm. That pewts me only inna third grade, Mike. I don't usually remember nothin' that far back. But I can remember conversation in my home about it, and I know there was controversy about it in the schools (not sure I understood the concept of controversy, but.....) and I know we had to recite it every morning and I think I remember when it changed.

Not like them godless communists makin' their kids recite their dogma and........wait a minute, here..........:rolleyes:

[Mike2]

I can remember it too Kelly. As a matter of fact I remember one kid in the class was told by his parents not to say those "new words." He got into big trouble, initially having to sit in the corner and later, having to stand in the hall outside the classroom. I also distinctly remember of day dreaming I would become Mighty Mouse and fly right into the classroom crashing through those brick walls and rescue that poor kid from that mean ol bitty of a teacher we had. :D

[Shaughnn]

Oh, thank you Gods of the Internet and random trivia mining!! For anyone who wants a slightly different view of the Pledge of Alliegence than we were all taught in school, check out this website. :eek:
http://rexcurry.net/pledgesalute.html
I found it by trying to re-locate a photo I'd seen years ago that was taken at a Missouri school house in 1936. About 40 pleasant middle-America children all gathered around the flagpole in the front of their one-room school house and each one of them with their right arm rigidly held out in an eerie salute. I'd seen the photo in an ephemora shop here in Oakland, CA that speciailized in images of America's slave history and it's ties to Nazi Germany prior to the Pearl Harbor attack. The proprietor had some really nifty lapel pins from 1938 (?) also that had the American and the Nazi German flags crossed together. When I asked him about them, he showed me some documentation about how they had been commissioned and minted by the United States Government as a good-will gesture between ourselves and our "like-minded" European cousins, socialist Germany.
Anywho, I liked the Bill of Non-Rights up to the god-stuff too. :)
Shaughnn

[jgleason]

Wow Shaughnn, I don't know what to say. I have a healthy dose of skepticism I carry around with me at all times. While Rex's website promotes several interesting ideas about "the pledge", I am not prepared to accept them without corroboration from other, shall we say, more legitimate sources.

[Shaughnn]

Joe,
I agree whole-heartedly that Rex is "just a little" obsessed by this. I also found numerous web-sites/discussions where he had interjected and been told in many ways to "calm the "F" down". :D But, he's also collected quite a bit of historical documentation to support his claims, even if he does skew them to fit his interpretations. After all, we did nearly have a Socialist President (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_V._Debs) in the early-1900's. Without the comparrison to Communist Russia, who knows how we might be viewing socialism these days??
I just thought the parallels between the implementation of the Pledge of Alliegeince here in the United States and the straight-arm salute of Nazi-era Germany were interesting enough to bring to this discussion. With Henry Ford (motor car man), Charles Lindburg, and Prescott Bush (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prescott_Bush) all having been influential supporters of Adolf Hitler's Germany and the practice of eugenics.
What an interesting history we have. :D
Shaughnn, who just learned how to add hyperlinks to his posts :)

[jgleason]

Hmmm...nearly elected?

1904 - 3% of the popular vote
1908 - 2.8% of the popular vote
1912 - 2.8% of the popular vote
1920 - 3.4% (pretty good considring he was in prison at the time)

Source here (http://www.multied.com/elections/)

[Shaughnn]

It's all in your perspective, Joe. :D When a 2% electoral advantage can be called a "mandate" and "political capital" words like "nearly" and "almost" become much more elastic. :D
Shaughnn

[Steven Hauser]

y'all are funny.

:tongue:

[jgleason]

Elastic is right! Must mean I darn near carried NH because I got at least one write-in vote for President in the last election. :king:

[bbcamp]

That does it! We gotta pull out of New Hampshire, too!

[LadyGodiva]

Would you guys consider sending the tile troops to Oklahoma instead? :)