Flag Day

Happy Flag Day to everyone. Did you know, Flag Day was established by President Truman (a Democrat) on August 3rd, 1949. Can you believe it? A treacherous Democrat signed the act of congress that declared June 14th National Flag Day.

I was interested to see today that the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed case 02-1624, Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow. For those few who do not keep up on judicial case numbering or the Elk Grove Unified School District, this case concerned the language "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. If you've had a pulse in the last two years and are reading this blog, you must know something about the issue.

Anyway, the Court did not take a position on the First Amendment (free religion) implications of any other constitutional issues with their decision. The dismissed the case on grounds that:

Atheist Michael Newdow could not sue to ban the pledge from his daughter’s school and others because he did not have legal authority to speak for her.

Newdow is in a protracted custody fight with the girl’s mother.
He does not have sufficient custody of the child to qualify as her legal representative, the court said. Eight justices voted to reverse a lower court ruling in Newdow’s favor.

Justice Antonin Scalia removed himself from participation in the case, presumably because of remarks he had made that seemed to telegraph his view that the pledge is constitutional.
MSNBC.com

Shocking everyone, "Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist wrote separately to say that the pledge as recited by schoolchildren does not violate the Constitution. Justice Clarence Thomas agreed with him."

I think the Supreme Court ducked the issue today, and for that, I'm disappointed. I am, however, confident that this issue will be brought up again, and I', optimistic about it's outcome.

Now, what you've all been waiting for, some neat Pledge of Allegiance info:

Congress adopted the pledge as a national patriotic tribute in 1942, at the height of World War II. Congress added the phrase “under God” more than a decade later, in 1954, when the world had moved from hot war to cold.

Supporters of the new wording said it would set the United States apart from godless communism.
MSNBC.com

Thank "God" they did. The best way to show our liberty and freedom to a repressed and forced society is to force our citizens to do something repressive. It's called "leading by words, not by actions” and is the American Way.

God Bless America (and the godless communists too).