Massachusetts groups seeks school Pledge of Allegiance ban

[Teh One Who Knocks]

The Associated Press


BROOKLINE, Mass. (AP) — A group in one Massachusetts town wants to ban students from reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in the public schools, saying it has no educational value and is reminiscent of totalitarian regimes.

Brookline Political Action for Peace will ask town meeting voters in November to pass a nonbinding resolution on the idea. The pledge is already optional in the Boston suburb's schools.

Marty Rosenthal, a lawyer and co-chairman of the group, tells the Boston Herald the pledge is "at odds with America's most important traditions." He says he is not being unpatriotic.

Supporters say a pledge ban would prevent bullying by protecting students who do not wish to pledge.

Veterans, family members of 9/11 victims and the father of a soldier killed in Afghanistan are critical of the idea.

[PorkChopSandwiches]

Fuck them, fuck that, fucking terrorists

[PorkChopSandwiches]

and these pussies dont even have a website...wtf

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Here's the full story from the Boston Herald:



Brookline group: Wave bye to Pledge of Allegiance in school
By John Zaremba and Joe Dwinell - The Boston Herald


http://i.imgur.com/IeKpQ.png

Peaceniks in leafy, lefty Brookline are trying to ban the Pledge of Allegiance from town schools, insisting the iconic verse has anti-patriotic overtones and even shades of McCarthyism — a claim seen as an insulting absurdity by families of fallen soldiers and 9/11 victims as the 10th anniversary of that horrific day approaches.

“That’s nuts. This is just really stupid,” said Jack Steele of Duxbury, whose son, 1st Lt. Timothy Steele, was killed in action in Kandahar, Afghanistan, last month. “I just find it so disrespectful when I look at the number of men who have given their lives so we could live the way we want.”

Brookline Political Action for Peace — also known as Brookline PAX — will push Town Meeting voters in November to urge the School Committee to end the requirement that principals allow a weekly recitation of the Pledge during morning announcements. The town lets students choose whether to participate.

The activist group argues the pledge has no educational value and is “literally and psychologically a loyalty oath, reminiscent of McCarthyism or some horrific totalitarian regimes.”

The petition is chiefly the work of Marty Rosenthal, the Brookline group’s co-chairman, who also led a successful bid in the 1980s to eliminate the pledge from Town Meeting’s official proceedings, making it a voluntary part of the prelude.

“I’ve spent 40 years in civic involvement. I yield to nobody in patriotism,” said Rosenthal, an attorney. “The pledge is at odds with America’s most important traditions.”

Rep. Frank I. Smizik (D-Brookline), a co-signer, calls the resolution an exercise of First Amendment rights and an anti-bullying measure, saying it would protect students who do not wish to pledge.

“We’ve had so many problems with bullying. . . . One kid gets mad at another kid because he’s something that he doesn’t like or does something that he doesn’t like,” Smizik said. “That kind of stuff happens.”

Christie Coombs, an Abington mom whose husband, Jeff, died on American Airlines [AMR] Flight 11, said the idea of striking the pledge “makes me sick to my stomach.”

“America has been through a lot with the bad economy and soldiers dying in Afghanistan on a weekly basis, but we’ve pulled back together. A majority of Americans are proud to pay tribute to the flag,” she said. “I hope the town of Brookline looks at this and says it’s nonsense and can’t be done.”

Rosenthal insisted, “I have the highest gratitude for people who have given the ultimate sacrifice. But what are they doing it for? Is it for the flag of the United States, or the principles that we stand for? I believe that what we’re doing with this is in the highest traditions of what we stand for.”

To which Joe Colantoni, a Korean War veteran, responded: “Tell him he’s full of (expletive).”

“We’ve been doing it since I was a kid. It’s just part of my life. I believe in it,” said Colantoni, the veterans agent in Abington. “This is our country, and if you can’t pledge to the flag, then forget it.”

The group’s resolution would have no binding authority over the Brookline School Committee, which instituted the pledge policy last year. School Committee members and the town’s veteran agent could not be reached last night.

“It’s very selfish,” Steele said. “What kind of selfish people would want to do that? You’re a citizen of the United States. Why would you not want to pledge your allegiance to it?”

“But do you know what? It’s a free country.” Steele said. “And that’s what my son died for. So they could be free to pull that kind of crap.”

[Joebob034]

move out of America if you don't like it then

[Acid Trip]

Stories like this just piss me off.

[FBD]

they dont call 'em massholes for nothin :roll:

[Muddy]

Martin Rosenthal needs to be punched in his fucking face...

[Hal-9000]

the Pledge isn't religious in any form, correct?

It's to pledge allegiance to your country? (I'm not from around here, I have to ask...sorry)

So WTF is so wrong with instilling a sense of national pride into the young' uns?

[Teh One Who Knocks]

the Pledge isn't religious in any form, correct?

It's to pledge allegiance to your country? (I'm not from around here, I have to ask...sorry)

So WTF is so wrong with instilling a sense of national pride into the young' uns?

Nope, it's all about country and nothing about religion, although some numpties argue because of one phrase that it is religious, but I digress :rolleyes:


"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

[PorkChopSandwiches]

Nope, it's all about country and nothing about religion, although some numpties argue because of one phrase that it is religious, but I digress :rolleyes:

I'm not a fan of that line, mainly because I'm anti religion, but also since it was never in the original, some bible thumpers added it in the 70s

[Southern Belle]

no words

[deebakes]

:rip: