Video: Democrats refuse to stand for Pledge of Allegiance
posted at 1:35 pm on June 30, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
Via the Weasel Zippers and Say Anything, behold the latest in blogospheric outrage: Democrats refusing to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance! In this case, though, the context actually improves the story. This takes place in Albany, where the New York state Senate remains locked in a power struggle in an evenly divided chamber. Rather than an insult to American patriotism, the Democrats here engaged in an insult to the intelligence of New Yorkers:
Is petulance the highest form of patriotism? After all, according to the Democratic leader of the California assembly, dissent is apparently now terrorism. Maybe the Democrats on the other coast want to make tantrums and sandbox tactics into democracy.
In this case, the refusal to stand comes as the culmination of a series of childish gestures. One member plays exies no erasies with the podium, while her colleagues try to make the chamber into the Democratic Club playhouse (no Republican cooties allowed!). When Republicans try to start the session on their own terms, the Democrats refuse to acknowledge their authority to do so — which is why they remained seated, except for one Democrat, who got pulled back down by his desk partner.
Maybe it’s time for New Yorkers to send blankies to their state Senate and insist that their elected representatives take nap time, followed by lessons on sharing. Everything these people know, they learned in kindergarten — or maybe pre-school.
Blowback
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Don’t let schooling interfere with your education.
- Mark Twain
MB4 on June 30, 2009 at 4:11 PM
FlyoverJ-HawkFan on June 30, 2009 at 4:01 PM
Well if that is what you meant it means nothing. It was a superfluous statement.
LevStrauss on June 30, 2009 at 4:14 PM
Are you for real?
Good grief.
Atheism really has become self-parody.
MadisonConservative on June 30, 2009 at 4:15 PM
MadisonConservative on June 30, 2009 at 4:05 PM
Go back to the tape my friend.
LevStrauss on June 30, 2009 at 4:15 PM
Okay.
You’re truly a hateful, self-absorbed little runt.
And once again, I’m not religious. No ax to grind. I just hate fundamentalists of all stripes.
MadisonConservative on June 30, 2009 at 4:18 PM
As an atheist, anyone who calls a person of faith stupid or gullible is completely ignorant of human history. Like I have said three times in this post,”we are outcasts, not people of faith”. You or anyone else cannot argue with probably 10,000 years of human evolution and interaction with a superior being. I have always told people who have tried to change me that if Jesus himself suddenly appeared next to me in the front seat of my car in traffic, I would immediately drop to my knees and beg for forgiveness. That would be my last need for proof and would make my faith everlasting.
FlyoverJ-HawkFan on June 30, 2009 at 4:18 PM
right2bright on June 30, 2009 at 4:04 PM
I am just using your words. But the word does fit. You never even provided the context you were operating on to show me where I strayed.
LevStrauss on June 30, 2009 at 4:18 PM
FlyoverJ-HawkFan on June 30, 2009 at 4:18 PM
People can be gullible over long periods of time. That changes nothing if the idea is wrong. Years of bad precedent doesn’t give it any more credence.
LevStrauss on June 30, 2009 at 4:20 PM
Then you’re not really an atheist. Atheism requires your belief that there is no higher power. Agnosticism is being open to the idea of a higher power, but not yet having gained faith.
MadisonConservative on June 30, 2009 at 4:21 PM
MadisonConservative on June 30, 2009 at 4:18 PM
Actually “original sin” was committed here.
OhEssYouCowboys on June 30, 2009 at 1:53 PM
LevStrauss on June 30, 2009 at 4:22 PM
Who’s the one that believes that “Thriller” can happen in real life? Who thinks people can waive their hands to turn water into wine? et cetera, et cetera
LevStrauss on June 30, 2009 at 4:24 PM
Sure, some people need to be hit over the head with something that others can use their eyes to discern. What does that have to do with Lev complaining about something he obviously doesn’t care about?
You’re better when you stick to words other people wrote.
Esthier on June 30, 2009 at 4:25 PM
It’s also full of examples of it helping the process. Aside from being the most charitable group in the world, Christians have been responsible for a majority of inventions and discoveries people like you take for granted.
Copernicus, Bacon, Galileo, Newton, Descartes, Keppler, Mendel, Farady, Boyle, Kelvin, Plank, and Einstein all achieved great strides in math and science, and each of them revolutionized how people think and view the world. Each of them were Christian. So were most of the men who founded this land, and wrote our Constitution.
Yeah. That’s every bit as foolish as some Christophobic atheist discounting the contributions of Christians to civilized society.
ynot4tony2 on June 30, 2009 at 4:25 PM
Says the neo-Bircher who believes in the NAU and the Illuminati.
MadisonConservative on June 30, 2009 at 4:25 PM
To me semantics. I don’t believe in a higher spiritual power and never will unless it was proven to me. I just believe that my beliefs are in the minority based on human history that renders my thought process inconsequential.
FlyoverJ-HawkFan on June 30, 2009 at 4:25 PM
So you can’t even answer a question without an insult? You’re only making Madison’s case.
Esthier on June 30, 2009 at 4:26 PM
See my previous post for a long list of people far more intelligent and educated than you who believe that Christ did rise from the dead.
If you measure someone’s intelligence on the basis of their faith of lack thereof, then you’ve told me all I need to know about your lackluster intelligence.
ynot4tony2 on June 30, 2009 at 4:27 PM
There is a distinct difference between holding a belief that there is no higher power or intelligence, and not holding a belief either way. The former is a faith.
MadisonConservative on June 30, 2009 at 4:28 PM
No case to be made. Go into any religious-related post, or headline comments section, and look at his responses. He makes Hitchens seem friendly to religion by comparison.
MadisonConservative on June 30, 2009 at 4:29 PM
Oh, I remember him well. As I mentioned above, there was one thread here that mentioned something about a cease in hostilities between Christians and atheists. Everyone in the thread was all happy and whatnot, except for Lev. He still wanted to throw water on the celebration.
It’s almost comical really.
Esthier on June 30, 2009 at 4:34 PM
MadCon: I just respect humanity and their thousands of years approach to spirituality. I am not spiritual and do not believe in god. Jesus was a prophet not the son of man. ( trust me, the only time I will agree with islam). I do not believe in ghosts or UFO’s. BUT, the difference is that I would never say that my beliefs are truths and completely ignore thousands of years of human evolutionary spiritual beliefs. I AM THE OUTCAST, NOT THE BELEIVERS!!!!!!!! And I’m okay with that.
FlyoverJ-HawkFan on June 30, 2009 at 4:35 PM
I saw we lock him and right4life in a room filled with bottles of whiskey with PCP mixed in.
MadisonConservative on June 30, 2009 at 4:36 PM
Wrong.
Shy Guy on June 30, 2009 at 4:36 PM
Great go to lies and insults. At least I stick with truth and insults. Aren’t Birchers uber-religious?
Integration and the intent of further integration of government functions between the three North American Countries is not a theory. There are meetings, working groups, and policy papers. Go to that “Bircher” site Judicial Watch and do some reading.
LevStrauss on June 30, 2009 at 4:37 PM
Okay, okay, you’re an outcast!
As long as you’re just like us.
MadisonConservative on June 30, 2009 at 4:37 PM
Hence why I said neo-Bircher.
The SPP died, and none of your ilk said a word about it.
But hey…keep the faith.
MadisonConservative on June 30, 2009 at 4:38 PM
No smart people can believe in stupid things. Its just these items usually have an effect on their worldview, which can be very troublesome.
LevStrauss on June 30, 2009 at 4:39 PM
Theme developing here.
FireBlogger on June 30, 2009 at 4:41 PM
…you said that.
You actually said that, and you don’t see it.
*shakes head*
MadisonConservative on June 30, 2009 at 4:41 PM
Guess its open and shut then? Like when ACORN changes their name. Wait until the next amnesty bill, we’ll see what kind of tidbits they put in. Obama also said he wanted to restructure NAFTA during the debates, with no particular details. This is not over. The EU had plenty of different organizations in their incrementalist approach.
LevStrauss on June 30, 2009 at 4:42 PM
…so you’re working entirely on faith that it will resurrect in some form, because you believe it was extraordinary?
Huh.
MadisonConservative on June 30, 2009 at 4:44 PM
STFU. How do you know they are stupid? Believers have us non-beleivers beat by 10,000 plus years. We have a theory, they have a theory. Sorry, their theory trumps us by a long way. DaVinci was a believer, but maintained a healthy skepticism. As well as the founders of this republic.
FlyoverJ-HawkFan on June 30, 2009 at 4:45 PM
No, save the whiskey for the spectators. That would be too brilliant to miss.
My money would be on Lev though.
Esthier on June 30, 2009 at 4:46 PM
But you do pretend to know the answer.
I find most athiests to be bitter clingers to some long ago loss of faith. God disappointed them at some point and they swore to carry a grudge against faith for the rest of their lives…but they grow bored with simply rejecting it themselves and going on with their lives…no one pays them any attention, so they gradually evolve it into complicated ideologies and revisionist crap history so they can stomp and whine and point fingers and blubber. Very childish imo.
If you actually just didn’t believe in God or the value of having faith, you would most likely just shrug your shoulders at those who do, and go about your life not wanting to be distracted from the wonderfulness of what an atheists life brings.
Its like this.
I don’t believe that people are being abducted by aliens and implanted with transponders of some sort or are being anally probed because advanced being who can travel thru time and space, just don’t quite have a handle on that “ass” thing yet and need to check it out one more time. Because I actually don’t believe in such things, it never occurs to me to think about it one way or the other…nor does it make me want to present myself at “UFO” gatherings and pull signs out of people hands or just generally disrupt other peoples beliefs.
Atheists, on the other hand, seem to really like doing things like that.
Why do you suppose that is?
* Attention* Overblown out of context revisionist history may be approaching.
Itchee Dryback on June 30, 2009 at 4:49 PM
As an atheist, I agree with you 100%.
FlyoverJ-HawkFan on June 30, 2009 at 4:51 PM
Ideas don’t necessarily need groups, CFR was one of the main ones pushing it, and they have membership that includes most of the decision makers. SPP was one working group, not the beginning and end all, its not where everything originated from. Economic integration has already started, it started years ago, that’s why I hate terms like NAU, because we aren’t going to wake up some day and have a NAU bill. Relaxation of immigration has already started. Incrementalism is how these things happen, the EU is good precedent of that.
LevStrauss on June 30, 2009 at 4:53 PM
I don’t know. Being called fat and ugly might knock Lev for a loop.
MadisonConservative on June 30, 2009 at 4:53 PM
Well said. He will now have another tantrum.
Geochelone on June 30, 2009 at 4:55 PM
Muhammad journeyed to Bethlehem, so as to visit the birthplace of Jesus and honor him as a “prophet.” What I never understood is, if, in fact, he believed Jesus to be a prophet of Islam, why didn’t he believe the words of the prophet, to wit:
John 4:25 – The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ … [26] Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.
John 9:35 – Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? … [37] And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee.
John 11:27 – She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, …
Mark 14:61 – … Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? [62] And Jesus said, I am: …
Had Muhammad actually believed that Jesus was a prophet of Islam, there would’ve been no basis for Muhammad to deny that Jesus was the Messiah, or the Christ. Yet, Muhammad denied the person that he proclaimed to be a “prophet.” I guess that Muhammad’s “beliefs” got in the way of his “beliefs.”
OhEssYouCowboys on June 30, 2009 at 4:56 PM
Care to name names? Or would that be too hard. It’s okay…I’ll do the footwork for you.
Copernicus: Became a Canon of the Catholic Church
Bacon: claimed “a little philosophy” would lead one to atheism, but “depth in philosophy” can only conclude in the “Providence and Diety”
Galileo: claimed the Bible cannot err, and that his views were alternate explanations of Biblical texts
Netwon: studied numerology in the Bible, and claimed the beauty of the universe could only be created by an intelligent and powerful Being
Descartes: was a devout Catholic his entire life
Kepler: A Lutheran who wrote about how the heavenly bodies represented the holy trinity
Mendel: did most of his studies in a monastery garden, and was named Abbot of the monastery
Farady: was a Sandemanian, a group that rejected state churches and embraced the New Testament
Boyle: a devout Protestant who gave sermons “for proving the Christian religion against notorious infidels”
Kelvin: an old earth creationist who, like his peers Stokes and Maxwell, were devout Christians
Plank: a church warden until his death, and emphatically believed God “is everywhere” in science
Einstein: discounted atheism, and believed a non-created universe was an impossibility
ynot4tony2 on June 30, 2009 at 4:56 PM
Decision maker? WTF is a decision maker? The bottom line is whether you believe on not believe. To me their is no proof either way. I am just in the minority and go against evolutionary history.
FlyoverJ-HawkFan on June 30, 2009 at 4:57 PM
I don’t imagine he’s vain enough to care. I personally thought it was funny, but that’s because I grew up with people thinking I was anorexic (guess they never saw my chocolate obsession).
Esthier on June 30, 2009 at 5:00 PM
True. But the quaran believes that when their so-called rapture occurs (sorry, hard to take Islam seriously since it was based on a person that said either you submit or lose your head, and that it was okay for me to fuck a 9 year old girl)that Jesus would walk hand in hand with Mo. In real Muslim cultures (like Persian) Jesus is really revered.
FlyoverJ-HawkFan on June 30, 2009 at 5:01 PM
I don’t mean to be presumptuous, but I have a feeling that you’re a non-believer who wants to believe.
That is the first and finest step to faith.
Paul was all over that one.
OhEssYouCowboys on June 30, 2009 at 5:04 PM
wwwwaaiitt…. should i be surprised? i thought they were trying to remove it or edit parts the didn’t like anyway…
thedude on June 30, 2009 at 5:05 PM
“I am a Jew and glad to belong to the Jewish people.” – Albert Einstein, 1920.
Shy Guy on June 30, 2009 at 5:05 PM
He would, therefore, believe in the Creation of Genesis. ynot didn’t say Einstein was a Christian, he said he discounted atheism.
OhEssYouCowboys on June 30, 2009 at 5:07 PM
Yes and that answer is I don’t know. You can’t say anything else and believe that you are right with any level of credibility. Knowing what you don’t know and pretending to know what you can’t know are two different things no matter how much people try to make them the same.
LevStrauss on June 30, 2009 at 5:08 PM
ynot4tony2 on June 30, 2009 at 5:09 PM
You don’t seem anorexic now. Just short.
Shrimp.
MadisonConservative on June 30, 2009 at 5:10 PM
Read his original post again. I quoted him verbatim.
And I fully agree that Einstein was not an atheist.
Shy Guy on June 30, 2009 at 5:10 PM
No, your answer is “What you believe is wrong”.
If you don’t know, then you are in no position to call anyone stupid for proposing a theory.
MadisonConservative on June 30, 2009 at 5:11 PM
You quoted him verbatim, as such:
Nothing in the post that you highlighted, suggested any Christian orientation. It appears that ynot did, in fact, state that he misspoke.
I, however, was relying on your highlighted and verbatim quote.
OhEssYouCowboys on June 30, 2009 at 5:14 PM
ugh…these threads keep getting hijacked. wtf are you people talking about?! (that’s a rhetorical question)
bridgetown on June 30, 2009 at 5:14 PM
Judaism states that once you’re a Jew, you’re always a Jew until you last breath. Here, too, no disagreement about him not being an observant Jew. Yet he was no Christian. He neither converted nor accepted the religion, in spite of his admiration for Jesus the person.
Shy Guy on June 30, 2009 at 5:14 PM
Yes, Christianity is man made. Just as I don’t know, you don’t know, and neither does anyone else. To say anything other than that is wild speculation. Why should wild speculation be given any credence, especially when it goes against laws of physics, basic reasoning, and common sense?
LevStrauss on June 30, 2009 at 5:16 PM
The words I quoted from Ynot were “Each of them were Christian.”
To which I had a 1 word reply: “wrong.”
That is all.
Shy Guy on June 30, 2009 at 5:16 PM
Yeah people ask me questions, I respond, others respond to my response, I respond to their response and voila. I originally just wanted to talk about the words “republic” and “liberty” in the Pledge.
LevStrauss on June 30, 2009 at 5:18 PM
Once again, I was relying on his post that you highlighted. The purpose of a highlight is to bring attention to the quote being highlighted.
Thus, my response to you.
OhEssYouCowboys on June 30, 2009 at 5:18 PM
On this we are agreed.
Still, instead of the brief “wrong” comment, you could have just said something along the lines of “Einstein wasn’t actually Christian, even if he did believe in a creator.” Would have saved a lot of time.
ynot4tony2 on June 30, 2009 at 5:19 PM
Back to the Pledge of Allegiance….
LevStrauss on June 30, 2009 at 5:20 PM
I agree with that, too!
See? I’m a pretty agreeable fella! ;)
Shy Guy on June 30, 2009 at 5:21 PM
New York state Senate = Banana Spit w/Nutz
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RalphyBoy on June 30, 2009 at 5:21 PM
As an Englishman, who is going for American citizenship this year, and looking forward to it I might add, I find this display an embarrassmentto this country.
I’m not citizen yet, but I’m a better American than any of these ungrateful, pig-ignorant bastards. They don’t know how blessed they are to be here and none of the Dems seem to as far as I can tell.
Dino64 on June 30, 2009 at 5:21 PM
That’s what keeps me riveted to my seat!
Shy Guy on June 30, 2009 at 5:22 PM
Man, I’m so sorry about the typos…I got mad and let it get to my spelling and spacing!
Dino64 on June 30, 2009 at 5:22 PM
Like I tell everyone close to me, all I need is the proof. What I do know is that I have faith in my unconditional love for my three children and the fact that the sun is going to rise in the east.
FlyoverJ-HawkFan on June 30, 2009 at 5:23 PM
So you’re insulting anyone who is philosophical?
Cute.
MadisonConservative on June 30, 2009 at 5:23 PM
They see me trollin’
No free man pledges his allegiance to anyone or anything. The Pledge of Allegiance is nothing more than socialist claptrap.
Blarg the Destroyer on June 30, 2009 at 5:23 PM
Well if you knew the reason I asked you would not have quoted that…
Don’t let quoting be a substitute for thinking – right2bright
right2bright on June 30, 2009 at 5:23 PM
Define philosophical, term looks rather ambiguous to me.
LevStrauss on June 30, 2009 at 5:24 PM
Dino64 on June 30, 2009 at 5:21 PM
;)
Welcome Home!
bridgetown on June 30, 2009 at 5:25 PM
Welcome to America. There are millions of true patriots here that will still fight for freedom and what is right and good. Glad you are on our side.
Geochelone on June 30, 2009 at 5:26 PM
So you can’t answer my question?
Too difficult?
right2bright on June 30, 2009 at 5:26 PM
right2bright on June 30, 2009 at 5:26 PM
Do you want my social security number as well?
LevStrauss on June 30, 2009 at 5:27 PM
OhEssYouCowboys on June 30, 2009 at 5:28 PM
That’s pretty funny…more accurate then funny, but still funny.
right2bright on June 30, 2009 at 5:28 PM
Dodge all you want. You just derided anyone seeking answers to meaning.
MadisonConservative on June 30, 2009 at 5:29 PM
No, I just want to see how honest you are…apparently you have a problem with divulging anything except insults.
Just a simple question, nothing very personal, just something to see if you are up to being honest or forthright.
right2bright on June 30, 2009 at 5:30 PM
Lev, do you know what goes against the laws of physics. Why, the very laws of physics do! Study Schrodinger’s equation and the theory behind it and tell me if that follows “basic reasoning” and “common sense” (a particle exists, simultaneously, in multiple possible positions, until you actually observe it, which according to Heisenberg, changes everything you thought you knew about the particle in the first place).
Physics isn’t so straightforward, Lev. Be careful throwing around terms like “laws of physics” and “basic reasoning” until you actually have a good grasp on them.
ynot4tony2 on June 30, 2009 at 5:30 PM
“anyone seeking answers to meaning”
No just those who arrive at the wrong answers.
LevStrauss on June 30, 2009 at 5:31 PM
Since you don’t know the right nor the wrong answers, again, you have no place to insult anyone else for proposing answers.
MadisonConservative on June 30, 2009 at 5:33 PM
“Utter nonsense,” says the free man who is married.
ynot4tony2 on June 30, 2009 at 5:33 PM
right2bright on June 30, 2009 at 5:30 PM
Ok, what does “well educated” mean to you? A person could be a Phd but poorly educated, and a person could never have been to any organized school and be educated well in my opinion, so I have to know what it means to you.
LevStrauss on June 30, 2009 at 5:34 PM
Some will argue this to be an oxymoron. :)
Shy Guy on June 30, 2009 at 5:35 PM
Who’s the one that believes that “Thriller” can happen in real life? Who thinks people can waive their hands to turn water into wine? et cetera, et cetera
LevStrauss on June 30, 2009 at 4:24 PM
FlyoverJ-HawkFan on June 30, 2009 at 5:35 PM
e.g. The Law of Conservation of Mass/Matter. Physics would hold that mass/matter can neither be created, nor destroyed.
How then, at the sub-atomic, or sub-sub-atomic, etc., level, was mass/matter created?
OhEssYouCowboys on June 30, 2009 at 5:35 PM
I’ve gained some weight. I’m now within the healthy range. In high school, I was about ten pounds below it, just not from not eating.
I’m OK with that. My husband’s over 6 feet. He does all the tall people stuff for me.
Welcome. I’ll be glad to be able to call you a fellow citizen.
Esthier on June 30, 2009 at 5:35 PM
This is rich, coming from someone who gets his theology from Jack Black.
Joe Pyne on June 30, 2009 at 5:36 PM
Touche! But, at least I was free when I made the pledge to my wife…thereby nullifying the claim that no free man makes a pledge to anyone or anything.
ynot4tony2 on June 30, 2009 at 5:36 PM
LevStrauss on June 30, 2009 at 5:34 PM
FlyoverJ-HawkFan on June 30, 2009 at 5:38 PM
What I said originally, was a formal education, which usually means, advanced beyond high school, college would be specific.
You are reading way to much into the question relax, it is a harmless question…you are looking under the bed where there is no boogeyman.
right2bright on June 30, 2009 at 5:38 PM
You’re very relative when it comes to language, I see.
MadisonConservative on June 30, 2009 at 5:38 PM
-
Can I play?
“I know a lot of idiots with a piece of paper that says they know something”… RalphyBoy
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RalphyBoy on June 30, 2009 at 5:38 PM
Come visit some time on your own. I’ll buy you a drink. You have have it if you can reach it.
MadisonConservative on June 30, 2009 at 5:39 PM
*can have
MadisonConservative on June 30, 2009 at 5:39 PM
You’re missing a piece of the puzzle, and that is the ever so famous E=mc^2 equations. Energy can be converted to mass, or mass into energy (otherwise, WWII would have had a different ending, albeit still a victorious one for the Allied Powers…just not the game-ender on August 6 & 9).
ynot4tony2 on June 30, 2009 at 5:40 PM
Officially, welcome to the United States of America. Unoffically, you are a Yankee and you must renounce soccer (aka) football.
FlyoverJ-HawkFan on June 30, 2009 at 5:40 PM
Who’s on first, What’s on second, and I Don’t Know is on third.
The answer for all of us is on third.
Not knowing the right answer doesn’t mean I can’t tell a wrong answer.
LevStrauss on June 30, 2009 at 5:40 PM
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