April 23, 2005

The Pledge...Rewritten

Hat tip: Michelle Malkin

Middle schoolers in Colorado got an interesting taste of PC sensibilities in a place they didn't expect it...the morning Pledge. The Washington Times reports it:

The students in Vincent Pulciani's seventh-grade class were reciting the Pledge of Allegiance this week when they heard the voice over the intercom say something they'd never heard before, at least not during the Pledge. Instead of "one nation, under God," the voice said, "one nation, under your belief system."

The bewildered students at Everitt Middle School in Wheat Ridge never even got to "indivisible," according to Vincent's mother, Christina Pulciani-Johnson.

It turns out that guidance counselor Margo Lucero, who was filling in on the Pledge recitation for the absent principal, was apparently

spurred by the date, April 20, the sixth anniversary of the Columbine High School slayings. Both Columbine and Everitt are within the Jefferson County school district.

"The day was the sixth anniversary of Columbine, and she felt she should be all-inclusive, so she replaced the word 'God,'" he [Jefferson County School District spokesman Rick Kaufman] said.

School officials assert that Lucero acted on her own and that her actions weren't cleared beforehand. Of course, Lucero was not available for comment!

If kids don't want to say God while saying the Pledge, they aren't forced to. They can simply skip it. Lucero could have done the same thing and probably no one would have noticed. Or, if she found saying the Pledge "as is" so offensive, why didn't she beg off the assignment?

For fun, Billy Jones over at View From the Foothills, has rewritten the Pledge to conform to PC standards:

I pledge [allegiance] some occasional recognition

to the [Flag] symbols of oppression

of the [United States] diverse indigenous peoples of [America] the landmass referred to by oppressive European conquistadors as "America"

and to the [Republic] totalitarian theocracy for which it stands,

[one nation,] a Balkanized patchwork of cultures,

[under God,] under each individuals' personal belief system

[indivisible,] divided into innumerable unique communities of culture,

[with liberty and justice for all.] where some are more equal than others.

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