I Love Mass

[scottw]

kinda like our own little San Francisco sometimes...

Mass. School Requires Permission Slips to Recite Pledge of Allegiance
Posted on December 22, 2010

A public school in Brookline, Massachusetts is bringing back the Pledge of Allegiance. Except now, in a move that suggests the recitation and its words are controversial, the school is requiring parents to sign a permission slip so their kids can participate.

“It’s uncomfortable. The pledge is a promise, and I’ve always taught my kids to think very carefully before making any promise. It’s not a decision I want to make for them,” parent Judi Puritz Cook, who has two sons at Devotion School, told the Brookline Tab.

According to a letter sent to parents last week by Principal Gerardo Martinez, the school is implementing the Pledge in order to comply with state law.

“In order to meet the state legal mandate for public schools and to support our learning expectations, I will, once a week, as part of my morning announcements, recite the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag,” he wrote in the letter. “Under our Constitution, neither teachers nor students can be mandated to participate in this exercise.”

“I urge you to have a conversation as a family to help your children understand why I will be reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and to support them in feeling comfortable and confident in the decision on whether or not to participate,” Martinez added.

http://www.wickedlocal.com/brookline...-of-Allegiance

[JohnR]

We're doomed.

[scottw]

“In order to meet the (ridiculous) state legal mandate for public schools , I will, once a week, as part of my morning announcements, (grudgingly) recite the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag,” he wrote (angrily) in the letter. “Under our (outdated) Constitution, neither teachers nor students can be mandated to participate in this (abhorant) exercise.”

[fishbones]

Judi Puritz Cook is a douche. Why can't her kids promise to be loyal to their country? I feel bad that her kids are gonna grow up to be a-holes because their mom is instilling these crackpot values in them.

[PaulS]

HA HA, you guys from MA have to put up with this crap.

[scottw]

Originally Posted by fishbones

Judi Puritz Cook is a douche. Why can't her kids promise to be loyal to their country? I feel bad that her kids are gonna grow up to be a-holes because their mom is instilling these crackpot values in them.

According to the Tab, it seems many parents aren’t upset that the school is requiring special permission to recite the Pledge, but rather they are concerned the slips could mean parents are imposing their beliefs on their children.

Superintendent Bill Lupini said that won’t be the case: no student will be compelled to participate or not participate simply based on how a parent filled out a permission slip.

“We’re celebrating diversity and including people… and then to be the one sitting there, waiting for the pledge to finish, [that] doesn’t feel inclusive,” said one parent who checked “No” on the slip. “Yeah, it’s weird. That’s the right word for it.”



this must be from and alternate universe....no?...or just "progressive thinking"

[JohnR]

Gee, you think this is a good example why a sizeable portion of the country hates Mass?

[likwid]

Originally Posted by JohnR

Gee, you think this is a good example why a sizeable portion of the country hates Mass?

Which portion is that?

Other than the ones that pay nearly twice what we do in taxes...
Or the ones with twice the jobless rate
Or the ones with completely destroyed state government

[RIJIMMY]

very simple solution
All students who will not say pledge
- receive no school lunch $ assistance
- receive no tuiton assistace or college grants

If you wont pledge allegiance you should receive no benefits that I fund.

[JohnnyD]

Originally Posted by RIJIMMY

very simple solution
All students who will not say pledge
- receive no school lunch $ assistance
- receive no tuiton assistace or college grants

If you wont pledge allegiance you should receive no benefits that I fund.

Wait a minute... you want the students who benefit from a program to pledge their allegiance to the government which provides the assistance?

I don't think you understand RIJIMMY, those people are entitled to free school lunch and a free ride to college just by being in this country - legally or not.

[spence]

I wonder what some people think the definition of the word "patriotism" is?

-spence

[scottw]

well, according to John Kerry misquoting/misattributing Thomas Jefferson..."dissent"



by Mark Steyn

“This is not the first time in American history when patriotism has been distorted to deflect criticism and mislead the nation,” warned Sen. Kerry, placing his courage in the broader historical context. “No wonder Thomas Jefferson himself said: ‘Dissent is the greatest form of patriotism.’ “

Close enough. According to the Jefferson Library: “There are a number of quotes that we do not find in Thomas Jefferson’s correspondence or other writings; in such cases, Jefferson should not be cited as the source. Among the most common of these spurious Jefferson quotes are: ‘Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.’ “

[...]

It’s truer to say that these days patriotism is the highest form of dissent — against a culture where the media award each other Pulitzers for damaging national security, and the only way a soldier’s mom can become a household name is if she’s a Bush-is-the-real-terrorist kook like Cindy Sheehan, and our grade schools’ claims to teach our children about America, “warts and all,” has dwindled down into teaching them all the warts and nothing else. Or as the Capital Times of Madison, Wis., concluded its ringing editorial on the subject:”Thomas Jefferson got it right: ‘Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.’ And teaching children how to be thoughtful and effective dissenters is the highest form of education.”

Teaching them authentic Jefferson quotes would be a better approach.

[likwid]

Francis Bellamy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

socialist.

[scottw]

Originally Posted by likwid

Francis Bellamy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

socialist.

Christian Socialist

and a confused Christian Socialist at that...is JD a Christain Socialist?

Bellamy was a Christian Socialist[2] who "championed 'the rights of working people and the equal distribution of economic resources, which he believed was inherent in the teachings of Jesus.'"[3]

Bellamy's views on immigration were somewhat less egalitarian. He wrote that "[a] democracy like ours cannot afford to throw itself open to the world where every man is a lawmaker, every dull-witted or fanatical immigrant admitted to our citizenship is a bane to the commonwealth; where all classes of society merge insensibly into one another.”[3]

[JohnR]

Originally Posted by likwid

Which portion is that?

Other than the ones that pay nearly twice what we do in taxes...
Or the ones with twice the jobless rate
Or the ones with completely destroyed state government

Who pays - by state - nearly twice that of mass?
Jobless rate? RI
Completely Destroyed Guvmint? RI? MA? NJ? CA? IL? - All, of course, the bastions of Fiscal Responsibility.

How many have been voting with their feet and leaving Mass?

I've had it and I'm dissenting from the dissenters.

The Ivy League and Ivy League wannabes who declare that they practice the ultimate forms of patriotism, then sneak around after school and smoke a bowl and affirm with each other they are practicing the greatest forms of patriotism. If you tell yourself often enough, especially when stoned, you will believe it

I am dissenting from those that want to take my money to reward someone not here legally with college while I decide how many extra hours per week I need to work to save for my son's college education.

I am dissenting from those that choose not enforce our borders and laws.

I am dissenting from the people that gleam with admiration and a Hope Chest for Bill Ayers and Che Guevara.

I am dissenting from the dissenters that feel that patriotism is NOT saying the Pledge of Allegiance

I am dissenting from the legislatures that accelerate the public debt and then underfund our long term liability.

I am dissenting from Judi Puritz Cook. If she won't make decisions for her kids, who will? “It’s uncomfortable. The pledge is a promise, and I’ve always taught my kids to think very carefully before making any promise. It’s not a decision I want to make for them" YGTBSM!

I am dissenting the "community organization" I know that does good work for other people BUT of the 50 some flages celebrating diversity in their foyer, the American Flag is missing.

I am dissenting from those passive-aggressive uber peaceniks that will blow up what or the other in the name of "patriotism" and yet call for our disarmament.

I am dissenting from the PORK - We are EFFING BROKE. Yet we continue to accelerate spending and mismanagement.

I am dissenting from the people that once taught me about tolerance, yet now are intolerant of others. Those that practice religion are bad, those that serve in the military are bad, those that have differing views are bad.

I am dissenting from current successors of the very people that decades ago did so much monumental, good, and important work for our country regarding race. When will we finally get to where the content of one's character is what counts?

I want a return of the Old School Democrat, the one that supported the people, tolerance, fiscal responsibility, and a strong USofA.

5 years ago I was starting to strongly consider becoming "progressive" - shifting my political leanings and I self evaluated, and I watched, and I read, and I nearly got sick to myself.

[buckman]

I think it goes "Dissent is the greatest form of racisim"

[likwid]

The pledge also wasn't written until 1892. How ever did we survive without it?!
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[scottw]

Originally Posted by JohnR

Who pays - by state - nearly twice that of mass?
Jobless rate? RI
Completely Destroyed Guvmint? RI? MA? NJ? CA? IL? - All, of course, the bastions of Fiscal Responsibility. (and liberalism)

grreeeeeat post JR !(the whole thing, not just what I quoted)...

[likwid]

Quite long winded, but meaningless without action. Sick of how your taxes are used? Stop paying. Sick of the state government? Vote or leave. Sick of the president? Canada is right around the corner. Label yourself part of a group of past true patriots fighting true tyrants? Go out and do something other than playing mockingbird to a bunch of media talking heads.

And have a merry christmas.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[JohnR]

Originally Posted by likwid

Quite long winded, but meaningless without action. Sick of how your taxes are used? Stop paying. Sick of the state government? Vote or leave. Sick of the president? Canada is right around the corner. Label yourself part of a group of past true patriots fighting true tyrants? Go out and do something other than playing mockingbird to a bunch of media talking heads.

And have a merry christmas.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Ahhh, the militant left hath spoke. Actually, I may want to move back to Mass since you moved out

Though about moving down south more than once.

Merry Christmas Ted

[likwid]

Originally Posted by JohnR

Ahhh, the militant left hath spoke. Actually, I may want to move back to Mass since you moved out

Though about moving down south more than once.

Merry Christmas Ted

Who said I ever left?

I sure as hell ain't paying the retarded taxes in stoopit overrated fishing island.

[TheSpecialist]

Originally Posted by scottw

kinda like our own little San Francisco sometimes...

Mass. School Requires Permission Slips to Recite Pledge of Allegiance
Posted on December 22, 2010

A public school in Brookline, Massachusetts is bringing back the Pledge of Allegiance. Except now, in a move that suggests the recitation and its words are controversial, the school is requiring parents to sign a permission slip so their kids can participate.

“It’s uncomfortable. The pledge is a promise, and I’ve always taught my kids to think very carefully before making any promise. It’s not a decision I want to make for them,” parent Judi Puritz Cook, who has two sons at Devotion School, told the Brookline Tab.

According to a letter sent to parents last week by Principal Gerardo Martinez, the school is implementing the Pledge in order to comply with state law.

“In order to meet the state legal mandate for public schools and to support our learning expectations, I will, once a week, as part of my morning announcements, recite the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag,” he wrote in the letter. “Under our Constitution, neither teachers nor students can be mandated to participate in this exercise.”

“I urge you to have a conversation as a family to help your children understand why I will be reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and to support them in feeling comfortable and confident in the decision on whether or not to participate,” Martinez added.

Brookline public school issues permission slips for students to say Pledge of Allegiance - Brookline, Massachusetts - Brookline TAB

Let's see a promise to always support the country that made it a right for you to go to school and get an education, one that supports the unemployed, aged, and sick. Move to another country then see how you like it.

[likwid]

"If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein."

— Justice Robert Jackson in West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette (1943)

[scottw]

Originally Posted by likwid

"If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein."

— Justice Robert Jackson in West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette (1943)

you forgot some....


"The very purpose of a Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials and to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the Courts. One's right to life, liberty, and property, to free speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly, and other fundamental rights may not be submitted to vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections."

Justice Jackson's most lasting influence is his delineation of the scope of presidential power....wonder what he would think of OBAMACARE?

[RIJIMMY]

Originally Posted by likwid

Quite long winded, but meaningless without action. Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

ahhh, you want action? I guess you didnt see the last election results. more to come. and if not, more will go.

[likwid]

Originally Posted by RIJIMMY

ahhh, you want action? I guess you didnt see the last election results. more to come. and if not, more will go.

And you elected who? Oh right, more of the same.

[RIJIMMY]

Originally Posted by likwid

And you elected who? Oh right, more of the same.

votes count even if they dont elect the winner.