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Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Important Government Business Afoot

posted by on April 15 at 15:05 PM

Yes, the economy is in the toilet, and yes, there’s that whole Iraq War business, but before we get to all that we need to do something really, really important:

A freshman Georgia Republican wanted to stress the importance of divine oversight of the US as he saw it portrayed in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Leading the pledge on the House floor Monday, Rep. Paul Broun lectured others in the chamber about the “correct way” of saying the pledge.

“There should not be a comma between ‘one nation’ and ‘under God,’” Broun told his colleagues before beginning his rendition of a pause-free pledge.

RSS icon Comments

1

Whenever I need a break from what truly matters on this planet, I just google "freshman," "Georgia" and "Republican" together.

Posted by kk | April 15, 2008 3:13 PM
2

One Nation, under God, with Liberty and Justice for Oil!

Posted by NapoleonXIV | April 15, 2008 3:16 PM
3

I haven't said the Pledge of Allegiance in 40 years. I doubt I could still remember any of it.

Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty | April 15, 2008 3:19 PM
4

I like the comma- "under God" by itself seems much more ominous.

Posted by UNPAID BLOGGER | April 15, 2008 3:20 PM
5

@3 - And you call yourself a gun lobbyist!

Posted by Hernandez | April 15, 2008 3:22 PM
6

He's clearly clinging to religion.

Posted by MvB | April 15, 2008 3:22 PM
7

My junior high band director was a fucking dinosaur (LDS or Jehova's Witness, I think)and made us say the pledge without the comma and made us do it over again if we paused.

He was such an asshole that he had to go part-time the next year because no one would take band with him. So remember, conservative christians: you're only hurting yerselves.

Posted by kazuo | April 15, 2008 3:22 PM
8

Military service: None
NRA member: Indeed.

Go figure.

Posted by elenchos | April 15, 2008 3:23 PM
9

kazuo,

Wasn't a Jehovah's Witness, they won't say the pledge.

Posted by Andrew | April 15, 2008 3:24 PM
10

Not much call for reciting the pledge out there, Hernandez, even for gun lobbyists.

Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty | April 15, 2008 3:25 PM
11

Sigh, I remember being lectured about this in Cub Scouts.

Posted by w7ngman | April 15, 2008 3:37 PM
12

I don't think this is a religious-nazi thing...I think it's a grammar-nazi thing.

...and to the country for which it stands, one nation[,] under god, with...

So, include the comma, and "under god" becomes a modifier clause for "country", when it's clearly intended to modify "nation". Grammatically and lyrically, it's awkward to put a comma there.

Now, if we just changed it to "by golly", it would be folksy, and the comma would be correct.

Posted by A Non Imus | April 15, 2008 3:37 PM
13

A true patriot knows that there should be no pauses anywhere anytime in the pledge ever.

Posted by a true patriot | April 15, 2008 3:39 PM
14

Modifier clause for country? I never thought so, with or without the comma.

I guess I always thought of the punctuation more like this...

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.

in which case the 'under God' parenthetical phrase is most certainly describing 'Nation'.

Posted by w7ngman | April 15, 2008 3:46 PM
15

We should just replace the "under God" part with "fuck Georgia." And change the two commas to em dashes or parentheses for grammatical correctness, of course.

Posted by Greg | April 15, 2008 3:54 PM
16

the phrase "under god" wasn't added until 1954. http://www.homeofheroes.com/hallofheroes/1st_floor/flag/1bfc_pledge.html

President Eisenhower added it because

"In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America's heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country's most powerful resource in peace and war."

I say we should remove it.

Posted by apres_moi | April 15, 2008 3:56 PM
17

the phrase "under god" wasn't added until 1954. http://www.homeofheroes.com/hallofheroes/1st_floor/flag/1bfc_pledge.html

President Eisenhower added it because

"In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America's heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country's most powerful resource in peace and war."

I say we should remove it.

Posted by apres_moi | April 15, 2008 3:57 PM
18

Punctuation is for people who weren't home-schooled.

Posted by Mahtli69 | April 15, 2008 4:11 PM
19

After reading what I posted, I realized something. For the last 54 year, two words , "under god", have fucked us up as a nation and forced us to not advance and maintain our Puritanical mindset while Europe and our neighbor's to the North have advanced their societies. Interestingly enough, those two words have out shadowed and made the conservatives forget the rest of the pledge - For Liberty and Justice for all

Posted by apres_moi | April 15, 2008 4:14 PM
20

Replace the comma with farting noises.

Posted by Fnarf | April 15, 2008 4:23 PM
21

What #12 and #17 said. Also...he's under the impression that a comma always indicates a pause in speech? Jesus.

Posted by Dougsf | April 15, 2008 4:30 PM
22

This moron has clearly never said a collective prayer out out loud in church (or possibly ever recited the pledge in a group setting). All through these collective readings, the group pauses so that everyone can catch up to each other even when there's not a comma. I pledge allegiance . . . to the flag . . . of the United States of America. . . . and so forth. Sheesh. What a dolt. And an elitist, grammar-snobbish dolt at that. How much do we pay this jackass?

Posted by churchgoer | April 15, 2008 5:02 PM
23

Why didn't we let the south seceede?

Posted by catalina vel-duray | April 15, 2008 5:10 PM
24

Paul Broun, Fuck You!, oh shit, wait, Paul Broun Fuck You. There, thats more like it.

Posted by MadDog | April 15, 2008 6:32 PM
25

I heard about that comma thing at Vacation Bible School forty plus years ago. VBS was a Southern Baptist invention (I think) wherein for two or three weeks during summer vacation you learned Bible stories and songs about the Bible in trade for arts and crafts and cookies with Kool-Aid. Brainwashing, of course. But we said the Pledge every morning before breaking up into our age groups and that's where I heard the kvetching about that goddamn comma.

Posted by Bauhaus | April 15, 2008 7:09 PM
26

Exactly @16/17, it's not the fucking comma that's out of place in the pledge, it's that fucking inserted reference to Big Sky Grandpa that's fucking things up - remove it, and the comma makes perfect sense.

Posted by COMTE | April 15, 2008 7:32 PM
27

You know, in the 43rd Dems, we don't do any of that.

Seriously.

More time for speeches.

Like the one from Iraq Vets Against the War ivaw.org tonight.

Posted by Will in Seattle | April 15, 2008 11:29 PM
28

@26: Ceiling cat.

Posted by Greg | April 16, 2008 9:03 AM

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