today's news, a hodgepodge

[mamajoan]

A rundown of today's mixed-bag news for ya:

Federal judge declares reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in school unconstitutional

U.S. Senate votes down a proposal to establish an independent panel to investigate Hurricane Katrina response. The vote was 54-44. See how your senators voted.

Report: FEMA outsources handling of Katrina victims' corpses to a company that has been accused of illegally dumping and desecrating corpses.

Massachusetts legislature rejects gay-marriage ban The vote was 157-39. This means that same-sex marriage will remain legal in Massachusetts for at least another three years, as the earliest another amendment can get onto the state ballot is 2008. Yay!

Comments

[mishaslair.livejournal.com]

Interesting how that vote on the Katrina independent commission was exactly down party lines. :P

[hawkeye7.livejournal.com]

Is that unusual? Every vote in the Senate here looks like that.

Also, will someone please explain to me how compelling children to affirm that a nation is "under God" is an act of "enforced patriotism" and not enforced religion? Inquiring minds want to know.

[mishaslair.livejournal.com]

Is that unusual? Every vote in the Senate here looks like that.

The ":P" emoticon was intended to denote sarcasm. :-) I guess it's not universal.

Also, will someone please explain to me how compelling children to affirm that a nation is "under God" is an act of "enforced patriotism" and not enforced religion? Inquiring minds want to know.

Dude, you've got me. I think saying the pledge as a whole is an act of enforced patriotism and I always resisted it as a child. I thought saying the pledge of allegiance by rote every morning rendered it ordinary and meaningless. But I was an odd child. But if we're talking specifically about the "under God" part, that strikes me as a big honkin' example of endorsing religion.

[lbmango.livejournal.com]

My thoughts exactly