ION, English Motherfucker, How to Speak It

Also, there's something almost poetic about the pledge being this Big Thing when it was originally an effort to sell more flags, like the almighty buck gets institutionalized as loyal "good citizen" behavior.

Also, making kids stand and recite a loyalty oath every morning is like, Hello Red China!

This, pretty much. I know most teachers don't have a problem with kids who abstain, but the idea that kids should have to prove their patriotism before they can start learning is...creepy. Moreso now that I live in a neighborhood where most of the kids are immigrants or children of immigrants.

Dylan was riding his tricycle on the sidewalk outside our building the other day and a 10 year-old kid on his scooter came up to play with him. The first thing he asked me is "So, where is he from?" I said, "Oh, we live here" and pointed to my building. "No, but like, where are you from" this kid kept asking. And it dawned on me that this kid really couldn't process the idea of a family having been in America more than two generations - it wasn't part of his experience. He turned out to be from Yemen.

I do sing the national anthem though.

I love the national anthem because it's so bloodthirsty. I don't sing it, though, because I am a crap singer with a vocal range of less than an octave and I am not even kidding.

Steph, me too! But even with crap singers, get 3000 of them together and it's still beautiful!

Well, I can't say much of the contents of the Pledge itself because I don't know it very well (or almost at all). But if, to my understanding, it states the ideals and the guidelines of a state, then it should be taught thoroughly - not recited daily without giving it a second thought. I agree that it's a bit of scary, due to the same reasons mentioned above, too. Ideals shouldn't be blank words.

the idea that kids should have to prove their patriotism before they can start learning is...creepy.

Em's class does it during their big "group time" in the morning. It's also when they do their calendar and ... weather and story and also money.

And here I thought that in order work, generally speaking, you need to be healthy. So that work can be done. Strange.

I have seen suggestions that the current administration should have pushed this more strongly, i.e. the economic benefits of ensuring a healthy workforce (which are not inconsiderable), during the recent fights over health care legislation.

I prefer "This Land Is Your Land," but that's the hippie commie in me.

I prefer "This Land Is Your Land," but that's the hippie commie in me.

Yes! Especially this verse:

As I was walkin' - I saw a sign there
And that sign said - no tress passin'
But on the other side .... it didn't say nothin!
Now that side was made for you and me!