WAKEUP CALL

I just finished re-modeling a store at the Military Circle mall for a man, he was told that he couldn't have the American flag painted on his sign because is could be offensive to some people. What the Funny thing, this man was Arabic, and the Mall manage that told him he couldn't do this is American. I know, this has nothing to do with Christmas, just something I wanted to share with y'all.

Hey is that thing about hanging the tree upside-down a joke - I saw one in our Rona and wondered what was going on - is this something new/weird? What's that about?

PS: Maybe we should all celebrate "Festivus" with a metal pole? (Seinfeld joke)

This is not about Christmas but it hit home the same was as i sat reading it the I got to the bottom of the page and just got mad you will see what I mean...

Subject: Pledge



John McCain's remarks about the Pledge of Allegiance!

In light of the recent appeals court ruling in California , with respect to the Pledge of Allegiance, the following recollection from Senator John McCain is very appropriate:

The Pledge of Allegiance" - by Senator John McCain


As you may know, I spent five and one half years as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. In the early years of our imprisonment, the NVA kept us in solitary confinement or two or three to a cell. In 1971 the NVA moved us from these conditions of isolation into large rooms with as many as 30 to 40 men to a room.

This was, as you can imagine, a wonderful change and was a direct result of the efforts of millions of Americans on behalf of a few hundred POWs 10,000 miles from home.

One of the men who moved into my room was a young man named Mike Christian.

Mike came from a small town near Selma , Alabama . He didn't wear a pair of shoes until he was 13 years old. At 17, he enlisted in the US Navy. He later earned a commission by going to Officer Training School Then he became a Naval Flight Officer and was shot down and captured in 1967. Mike had a keen and deep appreciation of the opportunities this country and our military provide for people who want to work and want to succeed.

As part of the change in treatment, the Vietnamese allowed some prisoners to receive packages from home. In some of these packages were handkerchiefs, scarves and other items of clothing.

Mike got himself a bamboo needle. Over a period of a couple of months, he created an American flag and sewed on the inside of his shirt.

Every afternoon, before we had a bowl of soup, we would hang Mike's shirt on the wall of the cell and say th e Pledge of Allegiance.

I know the Pledge of Allegiance may not seem the most important part of our day now, but I can assure you that in that stark cell it was indeed the most important and meaningful event.

One day the Vietnamese searched our cell, as they did periodically, and discovered Mike's shirt with the flag sewn inside, and removed it.

That evening they returned, opened the door
of the cell, and for the benefit of all of us, beat Mike Christian severely for the next couple of hours. Then, they opened the door of the cell and threw him in. We cleaned him up as well as we could.

The cell in which we lived had a concrete slab in the middle on which we slept Four naked light bulbs hung in each corner of the room.

As I said, we tried to clean up Mike as well as we could. After the excitement died down, I looked in the corner of the room, and sitting there beneath that dim light bulb with a piece of red cloth, another shirt and his bamboo needle, was my friend, Mike Christian. He was sitting there with his eyes almost shut from the beating he had received, making another American flag. He was not making the flag because it made Mike Christian feel better. He was making that flag because he knew how important it was to us to be able to Pledge our allegiance to our flag and country.

So the next time you say the Pledge of Allegiance, you must never forget the sacrifice and courage that thousands of Americans have made to build our nation and promote freedom around the world.

You must remember our duty, our honor, and our country

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

What happened to [glow=red,2,300]UNDER GOD![/glow]
Steph

OW!

A little off subject, but Earthdog and I watched a real interesting show on either the Discovery or National Geographic channel. This man, who is a "mummy detective" did some scientific research about when Jesus was really born. First of all, the person who came up with the "new calendar" to replace the Roman calendar was not very good at his math. When he was coming up with BC and AD calendar, he used the reigns of the Roman emperors, and he left off 4 years (one of the emperors used his given name instead of the name he became to be known as) AND he skipped the year "0" (example 1999, 2000, 2001; he went 99 BC to 1 AD) so in actuality, our mellinnium acutally happened in 1995! Anyway, he decided to research through astronomy and see what the Wise Men were following. They were able to place the planets at the time and what would have guided them to Bethelem. It actually was not a star, it was the planet Jupitar. And the one that most people don't know or don't want to believe is that by the time the Wise Men found Jesus, he was 8 mos. old already. Jesus was probably born in April. December 25th was the birthdate of someone else that the Pagans worshipped. The church "took" it over because too many people were starting to worship him or the event (winter solstice) and the Church turned it into a "holy day". I know it's controversial, but if you do research on the subject, there seems to be alot of fact behind it. Now don't get me wrong, I'm a Christian and I do believe, but you have to remember, most of what you learn in church, etc. is man's interpretation. The show was not anti-Jesus. In fact, the Wise Men's possible skulls are in a Shrine in Germany, and what research he did on it, he tends to believe that they are really theirs. It was just a really interesting show.

Anyway, it is very SAD that saying or celebrating Christmas is now considered offensive. Does anyone ever think about it in the reverse?? I can be UN-Christian and say that it offends me when other religions celebrate their holy days. But because I AM Christian, and try not to judge others, I don't say anything. In the end, the true god or true religion will reign. And if we are right or if we are wrong, we'll be the first to know!

Merry Christmas!

Well I'm all for leaving out "under god". It was social engineering that put it in in the 1st place. The pledge has gone through several changes. The last change in the Pledge of Allegiance occurred on June 14 (Flag Day), 1954 when President Dwight D. Eisenhower approved adding the words "under God". That's right, it was not there for the 1st century century and a half of our nation.

National pride, and duty to country does not really have anything to do with god - of any faith - but some folks who wanted to control the thinking and behavior of others, shoved the words in there.

So why not take it out. Why not redress the wrong that was done in 1954.

And I don't think the real problem is that folks want Christ taken out of Christmas, at lease I don't. I want Christians to stop acting like it is ONLY about Christ, and that people who have other traditions and reasons for celebrating the season, somehow need to sit down, shut up, and mutter something about Christ instead of their own traditions.

Mid-winter was a special, even sacred, time of year long before Christ. As others have mentioned, Christ was likely born in April. I think many Christians are being bullies. Some unintentionally because they don't know history or don't know better (like an ignorant southern bigot who swears Christ was white, and sees red if anyone suggests otherwise) - others I think more intentionally bully.

Lets say Happy Holidays. Lets celebrate all traditions. Lets tell our Christian friends Merry Christmas, lets not assume our friends are Christian. If we are a public facility like an airport, school, or civic building, lets put up signs of the season - maybe not every single wacky new-fangled symbol, but a plurality of the major world traditions. The supreme court has made good law on this point. The highest court of our great nation has carefully deliberated and found that Christian symbols are OK when part of a panoply of symbols. And that seems about right to me.

I am sad to hear anyone say that the minority should just sit down and shut up. If you ask me that is un-Americian, and no matter how many times you say the pledge or whether you put god in it or not, you are doing more to undermine the American principles than any minority voice who wants change or plurality.

I stopped praying in the Catholic church I was raised in because the devout faithful would go out into the parking lot and fight to get out first, or would screw over their neighbors by mid-week. I stopped saying the pledge out loud when those saying it the loudest were harboring some of the most un-Americian fascist ideas all wrapped up in the American flag. I stopped going to weddings because not all citizens are allowed to marry.

Now I am afraid I need to stay away from this section of the board because people I like and respect otherwise say some pretty ill thought out and scary things ... and that's a lot sadder than anyone saying Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas ... or an athiest who wants to pledge their alegience to their country.

I am not trying to push any buttons I just want to live my life the way I want to without everyone telling me what to do and say! As for the Catholic church I have a father who drinks all week and gets forgiven for it each Sunday I just can't believe that was the plan..
Sorry if I upset anyone with my ignorant southern bigot ways and lack of history I will keep my mouth shut now as not to offend anyone further.
Stephanie