www.AngelFire.com/Rebellion/NoFlag

Whatever one's ethnicity or political persuasion, the events of September 11, 2001, terrified and enraged, thousands of pain centers caught in the act of eating flaming death.

Amid economic hardships, a jury-rigged Presidency and environmental nightmares, the resultant groundswell of patriotic fervor now seems as inevitable as looting in Oakland or bonfires in Waco.

Perhaps chief among the nation's obsessions and fetishes is its fondness for Old Glory.

Dewey-eyed infatuation with this particular yard of tricolor fabric is nothing new, of course. We've flown it from our Explorers like the insignia of a favorite football team, plastered it to our bumpers like pissing Calvins and No Fear, sung choruses in its honor, and looked upon its rapid oxidation as a crime ranking somewhere between drunken driving, sale of narcotics and rape of thy neighbor's grandmother.

Is it just me, or does debate over the phrase "One nation, under God" seem somehow beside the point?

My problem's not with God, but the Pledge itself. In swearing our blind and undivided loyalties to the interests of one nation at the expense of the rest of humanity aren't we guilty of committing the very sin of which we accuse others?

Kamekazi baptists are scary as Nips when you see one in the clouds.

Blind loyalties not only exclude and damn others based upon geography and association, but fly in the face of some of Jesus' best parables.

"Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, word of God." - Romans 12:2

Concurring Opinion

• "Little children, keep yourselves from idols." - 1 John 5:21

• "When the body's intelligence declines, cleverness and knowledge emerge. When there is no peace in the family, sons and daughters seek piety. When the country falls into chaos, patriotism is born." - Tao Te Ching 18

• "We know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one." - 1 Corinthians 8:4

• "When goodness is lost, there is morality. When morality is lost, there is ritual. Ritual is the husk of true faith, the beginning of chaos." - Tao Te Ching 38

• "They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrficed thereunto." - Exodus 32:8
  

• "When rich speculators prosper while farmers lose their land; when government officials spend money on weapons instead of cures; when the upper class is extravagant and irresponsible while the poor have nowhere to turn - all this is robbery and chaos." - Tao Te Ching 53

• "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." - Matthew 6:24

• "When they lose their sense of awe, people turn to religion. When they no longer trust themselves, they begin to depend upon authority." - Tao Te Ching 72

• "Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thy oaths; but I say unto you, swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne: nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But Let your communication be Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil." - Matthew 6:33-37

*** Stationery Thoughts ***

*** Buggy Bumpers ***

*** LefTees ***

"God Bless Afghanistan"

[To the tune of "Our Country 'Tis of Thee"]

God bless Afghanistan,

Korea, Pakistan,

Iraq, Iran.

* * * * *

We call them terrorists,

We ball and bare our fists,

All you Europen pacifists,

You are on our list.

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