No Faux News, The Pledge of Allegiance should not be Mandatory

Conservatives, as naked Authoritarians, demand absolute adherence to their principles of Bigotry, Subjugation, Oppression and prostration to the 1%.

Anyone who varies from that ideology must be destroyed.

Faux News Megyn Kelly, Trace Gallagher, and Gretchen Carlson have run multiple stories alleging Sioux Falls South Dakota School Board voted to remove the Pledge and time at the beginning of school day set aside to recite the Pledge.

First of all here is the original pledge from 1892, not 1776 or 1789;

I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Under god was inserted by rabid conservative bigots in the 1950s because commies were godless whereas America was the special child of jesus.

I've worked in a junior high school in Illinois, the Pledge was said everyday. I support anyone's decision not to recite the pledge. But, that's because, unlike conservatives and Faux News, I believe in freedom.

Of course, any disagreement about the Pledge could be turned into an awesome US history project about it's origins, changes and the nature of patriotism but conservatives fanatics demand unthinking allegiance to their principles, which I earlier enumerated.

So, predictably, the School Board is alleging they have received multiple death threats via phone and email. From Crooks and Liars;

"It wasn't dropped. That wasn't true at all," School Board member Kent Alberty said. "And that is  what people were reacting to was the headline - not what we actually did. And then Fox picked that story up -- and again -- it was the headline they used, not the actual facts of what we did at the School Board meeting. The one that I guess got my attention the most was that this person feels that all five of us should be lined up and shot."

Okay, besides the shocking revelation that Faux News lies, I don't care if a veterans group made the request, Veterans aren't infallible. For instance in 2006, the Illinois Veterans of Foreign Wars supported never-served-a-day Peter Roskam, a Republican who has taken multiple gifts from the Government of the Republic of China, over Tammy Duckworth, an actual Veteran of a Foreign War who lost both legs in George W(orst President Ever) Bush's phony war on the phantom Iraqi WMD.

In 2006, while debating Duckworth, Peter Roskam repeatedly said the military needed to "finish well" in Iraq, going so far to declare the DuPage congressional region wasn't a "cut-and-run district".

Roskam won that election and we here in Illinois are still plagued by his presence and his totally ethical and above board gift-taking from the Government of the Republic of China. 

But, IOKIYAR always holds sway. And the conservative outrage machine must be furnished with new logs of lies to stoke the fires of right-wing fanaticism. So, that's why it's okay that Faux News is lying about the Sioux Falls School Board and the Pledge.

It's Okay unethical Congressman Peter Roskam You're a Republican

Republican Congressman Peter Roskam is under investigation for an Eight-Day $750,000+ Dollars* trip paid for by agents of the Taiwanese Government taken in 2011. Ostensibly, Roskam and his wife were there to visit his daughter.

Jesse Jackson Jr. just received a 30 month prison sentence.  Now, to be fair, there are differences between Peter Roskam and Jesse Jackson Jr.

See, Jesse is a Democrat and he's black, while Roskam is a Republican and white. 

Additionally, Roskam votes the Republican Party line of stealing from the Poor to give to the Rich, eliminating the Post Office and Federal Unions, destroying regulations which restrain the criminal behavior of Banks, and fervently supports the efforts of BP to befoul Lake Michigan with massive amounts of heavy metals and petrochemicals so don't expect right-wingers, Faux Morons and duped Conservatives to demand Roskam's removal from office and imprisonment. 

But, being unethical is nothing new for Peter Roskam.

In 2005, Roskam, ran afoul of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) for failing to report his fundraising expenditures ($103,880) for the third quarter of 2005. Roskam's Campaign claimed it was an accounting error.

Roskam also received thousands of dollars from Convicted Criminal Tom DeLay's money laundering schemes. As Tom DeLay faced his charges Roskam voiced his support for the Convicted Criminal,

"These old accusations that are two and three and four years old is a little bit tiresome. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt." 04/22/05

"Knowing what I know now about what Tom DeLay's been accused of, my attitude would be to support him."

So, it's no surprise that Roskam is accepting dirty tainted money the only questions are How Much? and From Whom?

 The House Ethics Committee is set to rule on or about 09/11/13.

*- In an effort to emmunlate Right-Wing Duplicity I used the Taiwanese New Dollar amount (which is currently trading at 30-to-1 with the U.S. Dollar).

Peter Roskam called me the other day about the job-killing EPA

While relaxing at home one evening, my antiquated landline rang. Why whomever could it be calling me on this line? I wondered. It was Republican Illinois House member Peter Roskam conducting a Telephone Town Hall Meeting

Roskam does these phone call "town halls" where the listener can listen to Roskam speak to people or, if they are so inclined, press the pound key to be transferred to a staffer to screen a question for Representative Roskam. I did so and told the nameless staffer I'd like to ask Representative Roskam a question about his yes vote for HR 2018, A Republican House bill in which 223 of 236 (94.5%) of Republicans voted to eliminate the Clean Water Act of 1972.

Representative Roskam took my question. I told him in light of the egregious and on-going dumping problem by the BP plant at Whiting Indiana how did he feel it was a responsible position to vote to eliminate the Federal Government's power to regulate and stop Corporations from polluting and put that power in the hands of the States, when his constituents' drinking water was directly affected by another State Government's decision.

For reference, the Indiana State Government voted to allow BP to ignore the EPA and the Clean Water Act on the amount of Mercury it dumps into Lake Michigan. Mercury is toxic substance to humans that once it enters the human body can not be gotten rid of and leads to heavy metal poisioning*. The reason we Chicagoans can not eat Lake Michigan fish? Too much Mercury. The BP Whiting Indiana plant also dumps a dozen toxic byproducts of oil refining, including benzene, toluene and suspended solids containing mercury, lead, nickel and vanadium

The BP Whiting Indiana plant has a history of flouting EPA regulations and dumping huge amounts of toxic pollutants into our air and drinking water. And while in 2007 the Indiana Government was paid off to state BP would self-regulate and was working within Federal guidelines, the truth is BP was blatantly polluting the Lake.

In 2009, BP acknowledged that for the last six years its Whiting refinery violated federal pollution limits on benzene, a highly toxic chemical linked to leukemia and other health problems.

BP reported that it had processed too much benzene at the refinery's sewage treatment plant, about 15 miles southeast of Chicago.

Last year alone (2008), the company processed more than 95 tons of benzene waste -- about 16 times the amount allowed. BP also violated the 6-ton limit from 2003 to 2007.

Whiting Refinery was cited who violations of U.S. and Indiana EPA regulations in October 2008,

Federal regulators say BP PLC violated the Clean Air Act by beginning to make modifications at its Indiana oil refinery along Lake Michigan to process Canadian crude without the proper permit.

So, faced with the fact that his vote would allow a Corporation based in one state, in this case Indiana, to flout laws and regulations and directly harm the citizens of other states, Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan all draw water from Lake Michigan, how could he justify it?

Well, here's how all Republicans justify their actions, by anecdotal analogy. Peter Roskam related to me a story about how some nice small business in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois was hampered in their mechanical engineering designs by the over regulation of the EPA, which demanded they produce an engine type which they could not possibly produce thus causing the small business to fail. If there is one thing the Republicans do well it's stay on message.

The Republicans have been proclaiming the EPA kills jobs, and obviously Roskam's folksy aw shucks small business anecdote was unassailable and proved the Republican message. Plus this being a telephone conference, I was not allowed to ask a follow-up about his vote about the Clean Water bill, but that is to be expected.

Now, Representative Roskam seems like a nice moderate conservative, but it's his type and his willingness to go along with the Michele Bachmann's of the Party and their crazy, fringe, plutocratically controlled views, in this case "The Job-Killing EPA" and vote overwhelmingly for bills which are clearly harming the American people.

* - Sir Isaac Newton most likely suffered from mercury toxicity due to his early alchemical work.