MSNBC, NBC News To Use The Phrase 'Civil War' To Describe Iraq

"MSNBC and NBC News have decided to begin referring to the civil war raging in Iraq as a 'civil war,' despite White House objections. ThinkProgress has the video."

@Matrix Prime has it right. We go in under false pretenses, and lying to the American People. (facts are too numerous to list here) We basically create civil unrest using P2OG doctrines and add to the already tension filled atmosphere. (lets remember that these people have been fighting for centuries) A full-on civil war ensues, and we don't take responsibility for it. Instead we stick our heads in the sand and "stay the course".

What America needs to do, or perhaps the White House (as the leaders), is to fess-up and come clean to the American People. We are paying the bills for goodness sakes. We made a horrible mistake (and keep making them I might add) so we need get ourselves out of there and hope that history will be kind on this administration's tenure.

American foreign policy needs to get a complete face lift, and corporate lobby needs to be removed from Washington. Unfortunately, our large corporate lobby groups are ONLY in Washington to make money, and they don't care a split pea about anything else. Which is strange, because a lot of these lobbyists are American citizens also. We are just screwing the whole system when we lie and work off a sole profit motive for war.

If you work at the following companies, please investigate your own company and find out what they do. You may be really surprised. [The Carlyle Group, Halliburton, Raytheon, CACI, Titan, Bechtel , Aegis, General Dynamics, MITRE, Chevron, Dutch Royal Shell, Exxon and Blackwater]. There are many more.

http://iraqforsale.org/ is only one of many movies talking about this stuff.

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Police kill groom leaving bachelor party, give no reason for slaying

"Police haven't given a reason why they shot three men leaving a strip club attending a bachelor party. The men were unarmed and employees of the strip club said the men were well behaved. Reports say 4 shots were fired initially and then another 12 shots followed. One of the other victims is in critical condition, the other is listed as stable."

They were UNMARKED. The only reason the cars got rammed is because they probably blocked the escape of the vehicle with the four guys in it. If this were me, I would have thought I was being carjacked or worse. The cops should have taken our their flashing lights and put them up on the top of the car. Somebody should have yelled "police" or something. No shooting should have occurred.

I find nothing wrong with the police getting behind the vehicles and drawing weapons. They should have protected themselves, yelled to the guys in the car and waited for them to surrender. If they didn't, then there would have been a car chase through NY city, which is what radios are for.

It seems to me that in all the stories I read. cops are taking the "lets make provocative actions first" approach and then see what happens. This is a military style operation in where you create a situation and make the enemy fall for it in order to wipe them out.

People, this isn't some war field. Our cops need to stay cops, and our military needs to stay military, the two should not meet. Things will lead to very bad consequences if the two start using each others domain.

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NPR Obtains U.S. Military Tapes - First Glimpse of Secret Gitmo Tribunals

"Audio recordings obtained by NPR provide the outside world with its first window into the secret world of military tribunals at the U.S. prison camp for terrorism. Lawyers for six of the detainees obtained the tapes of their tribunals under the Freedom of Information Act and provided NPR with copies of the recordings."

Heh, @pabster we stay here because this is out country. My family has lived here for at least 6 generations with various parts immigrating from other countries. This is America, you are supposed to fight for it, and keep it free.

The notion of "What makes a good American" seems to be fleeting for a lot of people, perhaps even yourself. If you question the government, ride their ass on all the asinine issues they pass as law, make them EXPLAIN why they do things, and make it totally unacceptable for them to make laws and do government business in secret, then you are upholding the Constitution and making our founding fathers proud.

Those citizens who don't question government, who just simply allow them to do whatever they want, don't vote and do research, and who allow governments to go through time un-checked and believe they are doing the best they can, are delusional and will eventually get dictatorship and tyranny.

You can only have it one way or another. Either the people run the government, or the government runs you, that's it.

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U.S. to require passports for nearly all air travelers, including Americans

"Nearly all air travelers entering the U.S. will be required to show passports beginning January 23, 2007 including returning Americans and people from Canada and other nations in the Western Hemisphere."

What people are not really reporting is that the new passports are the RFID version. They are "standardized" among all passport and visa bearing countries now. They call it the E-passport initiative.

http://www.dhs.gov/xtrvlsec/programs/content_multi_image_0021.shtm

What I have a problem with is how our passports are getting updated with this RFID technology, and our Real-ID state ID/drivers licenses are getting updated as well. Alcohol, and Tobacco purchases are now requiring that you "swipe" your ID in order to pull up information relating to a "fake" ID or not. This innocent swipe can also alert authorities of improper usage, warrants or other information.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REAL_ID_Act

You may think this is benign. I mean, I don't have anything to hide and why should I care if they know everything I purchase, where I go, what I do, and who I am with?

The US government has already stated that they are not going to use the passports for just getting back "into" the country but for authorization to leave as well. If you are somehow flagged by DHS you may actually be required to stay in the country.

http://papersplease.org/wp/2006/10/12/mother-may-i/
http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/inspections_carriers_facilities/apis/

As security initiatives go, they happen slowly. However, one day we will be required to swipe our Real-ID card when we purchase goods and services. When that day happens, and I am required to swipe my card to buy stuff at the store we have entered the Orwellian nightmare society of scifi legends.

The government does NOT need to collect this much information on us. The sub-contractors who have access to this data do not need this much information on us. We need to be left alone and allow the most advanced forms of society and social networks to take place. Government only hinders social development, NOT encourage it.

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Top 10 reasons why gay marriage should be illegal.

"About time someone made a list."

This story got me thinking. I personally do not believe the gay lifestyle should be a normal part of our society, however, we are a free country. I believe 100% in the freedom of the individual. I also believe in the founding documents of this country, and in the way America was supposed to be run as a country.

I don't believe gay marriage is against the constitution. Since religion in this country is protected, and a single nationwide religion should not be constructed, my personal views and that of the various religions should not outweigh the rights of the individual or state/federal laws.

In this country, as with many others, we take religion very seriously, kind of like football. Don't mess with God, or your favorite team, eh?

I am not going to take a stand right now, in this digg article on gay marriage, but everyone out there should think really hard about what made this country great, and where we are heading now. I don't think a few queer people are going to change the stability of the nation. That also means that if you are gay, don't ever intrude in my right to free speech, or religion. Please keep in mind that we are granted the freedom OF religion and not the freedom FROM it. thanks for listening.

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Woman charged under UK terrorism act [data possession]

"A 22-year-old woman has been charged with a series of offences after British police found terrorist handbooks and weapons manuals on a computer hard drive."

Reuters and others posted these news articles, but left out the part of WTF!

Everyone needs to read the UK's Terrorism Act of 2000. It is located at the Crown publishing website: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/Acts/acts2000/20000011.htm

Then read section 58: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/Acts/acts2000/00011--g.htm#58

"58. - (1) A person commits an offence if- (a) he collects or makes a record of information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, or (b) he possesses a document or record containing information of that kind. (2) In this section "record" includes a photographic or electronic record. (3) It is a defence for a person charged with an offence under this section to prove that he had a reasonable excuse for his action or possession."

OK, so you can always "hope" to prove a case for "I just had the manuals because I was reading them", or "wow, how did those get on my hard drive?", or "doesn't everyone have a copy of the Al-Queda manual around?".

Thought Crime is something to be very concerned about. If you don't think these laws will make it to the United States, you are grossly underestimating history.

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10-Year Old Disciplined for Visiting 9/11 Website

"A fifth grader named Mark reported that he had been sent home with a disciplinary report for visiting 9/11 Truth websites such as InfoWars.com. The student was sent to the Principal's office to face disciplinary measures. Steiner Ranch Elementary Assistant Principal Amy Moore was reportedly surprised that the school's filters hadn't blocked this."

This is totally unacceptable. I hope the dad presses forward with this, and makes sure these educators understand what learning is about. Researching whitehouse.gov/kids is one thing, but it only gives one propaganda view of the world. If Mark was not following the instruction lesson, then he should have been written up for not following instructions. He was actually told that these websites were inappropriate.

School website: http://steiner.leanderisd.org/

LEANDER INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT
Steiner Ranch Elementary
4001 Quinlan Park Rd.
Austin, TX 78732
(512) 434-7100
Fax (512) 434-7105
Gabriela Caceres

This 5th grader Mark is more informed than most adults in this country. His curiosity should be exploited not muted.

Aaron Dykes & Alex Jones/ Jones Report November 8, 2006

A fifth grader named 'Mark' reported to Alex Jones' Infowars TV show by phone that he had been sent home with a disciplinary report for visiting 9/11 Truth websites such as Infowars.com.

The 10 year-old Steiner Ranch Elementary student-- in Leander I.S.D. near Austin, Texas-- says that he was browsing such sites during his Computer Lab class period when a fellow student informed on him-- as though he were doing something wrong.

"He just ran up to my teacher in front of the whole class, saying 'he's searching terrorist stuff about 9/11'.

His teacher was "all shocked" and said, according to the student, "Mark, you shouldn't have been looking at conspiracy theory websites."

Alex Jones has confirmed the student's story

Mark said, "I was just searching the government websites which tell the truth-- which they think is a conspiracy-- and I get in trouble for it."

The student was sent to the Principal's office to face disciplinary measures. Steiner Ranch Elementary Assistant Principal Amy Moore was reportedly surprised that the school's IP filters hadn't blocked the sites.

"They should have," the Principal said to Mark while at the office.

He says that his principal checked the web history in his school web account, and was 'surprised.'

"I was going to websites that tell the truth about 9/11. She thought it was all a conspiracy; I confronted her," Mark said. "'No, it's all the truth,' you know. Bush-- and its not just him, a lot of other people-- and they're just trying to cover it up."

The assistant principal then told the 10 year-old, "Don't talk back to me" before sending him to sit in the hall and later back to class.

"He came home, and I couldn't really be mad at him," his father, who also spoke to Jones during the television program, admitted. "I just told him he should stay on task."

According to the Steiner Ranch Elementary Student & Parent Handbook, students are restricted from accessing websites considered to be abusive, obscene, sexually oriented, threatening, harassing, damaging to another's reputation, or illegal. It is also against the rules to 'attempt to circumvent content filtered according to the Child Internet Protection Act (CIPA).'

However, the school regulations call for no attempt to stifle political content, news media or public information on government activities-- which would violate American rights to free speech.

So, by that yardstick, this student did absolutely nothing wrong, yet was subjected to scolding and accused before his peers.

This is part of a chilling pattern, not only in regards to free speech, but in the inherit allowance to pursue alternative views and research information.

Has society exposed its guilty, underlying psyche at even the lowest levels when a principal cannot tolerate dicussion of 9/11 Truth?

Our schools have built up walls that make prisons-- mindset of tyrranny has fallen down into a hypertense scene of paranoid suspicion. Its handbooks go on for paragraphs and pages, laying out definitions of criminal activities-- including specific weapons, instances of 'murder', 'gangs', 'sexual harrassment', 'hit lists', 'Title 5 Felony Offenses' and even 'terroristic threats.'

A 'Terroristic Threat' is defined in the Leadner I.S.D. Elementary Handbook as:

Threats to commit any offense involving violence to any person or property with intent to: (1) cause a reaction by an official or volunteer agency organized to deal with emergencies; (2) place any person in fear of imminent serious bodily injury; (3) prevent or interrupt the occupation or use of a building, room, place of assembly, place to which the public has access, place of employment or occupation, aircraft, automobile, or other form of conveyance, or other public place; (4) cause impairment or interruption of public communications, public transportation, public water, gas, or power supply or other public service; (5) place the public or a substantial group of the public in fear of serious bodily injury; or (6) influence the conduct or activities of a branch or agency of the federal government, the state, or a political subdivision of the state (including the District).

This school, and far too many others-- HAVE descended into a point where children ARE the criminals. A War -- like any war on drugs, terror, poverty, the mind-- has been twisted to be waged against those it presupposes to protect.

Mark's father mentioned this school has also approached him, recommending a psych test for behavior such as "running" and "making farting noises." Meanwhile, schools like Lee Middle School in Wyoming, Michigan conduct drills where police officers pointing guns at children's heads-- all without informing the students or school beforehand. "Some parents," the AP reported, "were upset."

"Some kids were so scared," said Marge Bradshw, the mother of one of the students, "they wet their pants."

There are even cases such as Jerseyville, Illinois where a teenager "carrying a bible" is shot twice-- and fatally-- by a police stun gun. This incident did not happen on campus, but still shows how the community regards its youth.


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America's Slide to Totalitarianism

"If the last-minute polling trends showing a powerful Republican comeback carry through the Nov. 7 elections, the end of America as we have known it for more than two centuries will be at hand. Election 2006 will have been the ratification of George W. Bush
’s grim vision of endless war and the end of a constitutional Republic."

Preach it PowerCow, go! The stats are pretty remarkable that you will have a higher chance of getting killed by police than a terrorist. It is all together incredible that we continue to take this crap from our government. We need to replace this government with people who want to actually look out for us.

Please vote for the Ron Paul's of this country in local and state elections. Keep the second amendment, don't allow ANY torture bills, and lets gets the government to a more manageable size. Yes, that's right, WE THE PEOPLE need to manage our government, not the other way around.

My dad tells me he doesn't want to know everything the government is doing. Heh, that's fine for some people, but there are organizations and watch dog groups out there who do. We need to have complete government transparency. There are many of us who actually do read bills and "acts of Congress" to know what is happening out there. We need to move into open source intelligence anyway. Who needs the CIA when you have feet on the street?

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Google refuses to tackle Neo-Nazi blogs

"Google has ignored requests to remove two sites called the "Patriot Alliance Downunder" and "Red Watch NZ"."

Free speech should be protected, all of it. People can ignore or read what they want. "If you can be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you can be told what to say or think." Personally, I don't want to live in an Orwellian society. Power to free speech.

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Taliban attacks up 300% - War on Terror is a Complete Failure

"U.S. military officials tell ABC News cross-border attacks by the Taliban are up "300 percent" since President Musharraf declared a "truce" with tribal leaders in the troubled Northern Waziristan region that borders Afghanistan. U.S. military officials say militants are openly ignoring the truce's requirement that they lay down down their weapons."

The "war on terror" in the Middle East is nothing more than a chance for the United States to destabilize the region for takeover. Remember what happened to Russia when they went into Afghanistan the first time? Guess who provocoteered the war there? It was the United States and Britain. The Afghan rebellion the Mujaheddin, which are now loosely formed into what people call Al-Queda were aided by our countries CIA to make Russia get a version of the Vietnam war. The mission was an outstanding "success" since we brought an eventual end to the old Russia as we knew it.

Is this what our government plans for the Middle East? Just like there is blossoming democracy in Russia, and everyone loves the United States maybe that will happen in Iraq too. (ok, that was a joke) Wow, and while at it, North Vietnam is the luxurious democratic state we fought for and all our men died for.

Hurray to our Military, hooray to the fact that our wars over the last 50 years have been so helpful. Get a clue. We are not fighting for freedom, we are not fighting for the "American Dream". We are sending all our money directly into the war profiteers piggy banks.

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9/11: 2,973 Dead - Pearl Harbor: 2,403 Dead

"On September 11, 2001 2,973 unsuspecting civilians were killed by 19 militant muslim hijackers adhering to a radical form of Islam working under the moniker of Al-Qaeda. On December 7, 1942 2,403 military personnel were killed by the surprise attack put forth by the Japanese. The response by the American government to these attacks differed greatly"

umm "the current government is showing appropriate restraint and respecting civil liberties". Are you kidding me? Our liberties have suffered greatly. In the most recent example, the H.R. 6166 Military Commissions bill. In combination with the Patriot Act and provisions of the Patriot Act II, which have been passed, American citizens are affected. Just read the many main stream news, and law reviews of this bill. For goodness sakes, the ABA, and many law professors have chimed in on this one.

Right after 9/11 the Patriot act was signed, late at night, with hardly any senator even reading the whole legislation. From that time on thousands of cases involving American citizens and "terrorism" have been invoked.

People we have CRIME in this nation, not terrorism. However, since 9/11 everything has turned to terror related crime, not just crime itself.

We need to understand that governments throughout history use Terrorism, i.e. FEAR, to control its people. Without fear governments would only be able to do what they should be doing, which is manage our government.

The United States throughout history has used fear and fear-tactics to control now most of the world. We have made many government fall, and replaced them with pro-US governments. Not all of them have turned out the way we wanted.

I simply wonder what the world would be like if we acted like a nation of peace-loving people, and not war mongers. Our governmental elite should be replaced, and we should take our country back.

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15-Year-Old Boy Gets Six Years In State Prison For Thoughtcrime

"A 15-year-old boy who prosecutors said was the mastermind of a failed plot to go on a shooting spree in a suburban school was sentenced Friday to six years in state prison. It sounds like he deserved it, right? Read on..."

Thought crime will become the new thing. Law enforcement says it is for our protection, but it is simply there to throw many more people into corporate controlled jail systems. You will see more and more prison systems getting outsourced to large corporations. It will then become a necessity to get criminals, in order to stay in business and make a profit.

There are legitimate reasons for arresting people for "conspiracy to commit" crimes, but it should be standard arrest and then goes to trial, bail, etc. A judge needs to decide what the circumstances are. We need our real justice system back.

In the case of this 15 year old, he needs serious re-education and figure out why he wanted to do these things. Just as a few other people said here teenagers dream up some pretty horrible things sometimes, think of suicide, maybe even killing people. It doesn't mean they are criminals. It simply means they are kids learning about morals, and life. Parental control foremost should decide what is going on with kids. A police and judicial system should only get involved if the social system breaks down and the kid actually becomes a criminal, by plotting something and has the where-with-all to pull something off.

I am a big proponent of second chances, especially for kids. I HATE zero-tolerance laws. We need to teach our kids that making mistakes is ok. This is how you learn.

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Bush Urges Grocers To Turn Over Members' Club Card Records To NSA

""Honest, law-abiding shoppers have nothing to fear," says Bush. Yeah, right."

Heh, I have a better idea. Lets just use the new Real-ID card being issued by all our states (by 2008) in coordination with Homeland Security. This will ensure that we can go to all supermarkets and get the same discounts. With the government tracking all our purchases it makes it really easy to not only keep an exhasustive database of our habits, but give us those deep discounts and free Starbucks drink after every $100 purchase.

Wow, and better yet, the credit card companies can simply sponsor Visa and Mastercard logos on all our ID cards, help pay and offset the costs to the states. This way, we just have to carry one card all the time for everything. One card to transact with, one card to rule them all.

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Remains from WTC site found in manhole (and how the government uses information)

"Human remains that appeared to be from World Trade Center victims were found by utility workers in a manhole at the northern edge of the site, a Port Authority official said Thursday."

@cheesehead, where are you from? Here in USA I don't think a lot of people know about the effect of the "Military Commissions Act", and the true problems it has in store for us. Besides having Habeas taken away, they can also use information which is secret against you, whisk you away without trial, basically blag bag you like something out of "V".

This new law also gives the President pretty much Dictator powers as he can determine who will be held by this new law. A US Citizen once "picked" for this program, will then be stripped of citizenship and there you go. Please remember that the Patriot Act, and features of Patriot Act II to determine what crimes are considered "terrorism" and then this law can be used to arrest, go to trial, convict and execute almost anyone.

The most horrific aspects of this new law is that "Torture" evidence can now be used by the State against the defendants in court trials. This is expressly prohibited in the 5th amendment. Why do you think we have a clause which states you cannot "incriminate yourself"? It is because in 1791 the most widely used form of self-incrimination was from torture, which of course as we all know, weak people will say anything to stop the torture. Strong-willed people such as John McCain and other Vietnam vets were able to stand up to torture.

Take for example "al-Sheikh al-Libi" who, through torture, gave up the fact that Saddam Hussein trained Al Quaeda in WMD's. (This was presented by Colin Powell) This was of course false intel, because through torture this weak minded terrorist had no way of standing up to the torture techniques of the CIA. In fact as of today the CIA retracted all statements made by al-Libi, and the CIA has classified Powell as a "fabricator" of evidence.

Here is an example from the "Curveball" fiasco.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0402-01.htm

DO YOU UNDERSTAND? This is how our government works.

Everyone needs to start reading, searching, digging, and talking. We are all screwed. Our country will not be the same 10 years from now. Think about 10 years ago, and where we are today.

Defend your constitutionally protected rights, no one else will do it for you. (wait, that may not even be possible any more).

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Bush keeps revising war justification

"Bush keeps revising war justification..."

@LoneRanger85 I am really sorry, but I AM a true Republican conservative and NOT some wackjob neo-con. Your argument is horrible because we have now killed more civilians over there than the last regime in power. We are NOT the police of the world point in fact.

There are a LOT of bad things in this world. China does most of them, but are we putting sanctions on China? NO. If we want to be leaders among the nations, then we need to do by example. We need to stop torture, stop secret prisons, stop secret court trials, and make sure the Habeas Corpus is ALWAYS available. Even a "terrorist" should have council to at least make sure whomever labeled him as such is kept in check.

As for being the world police, I say we need to be good neighbors. If we find a country like China killing its citizens, or selling organs from inmates, or grabbing people off the street for organs, or any other horrible things then we need to stop dealing with them. We need to sanction all relations with that country until they shape up.

Governments should never be allowed to do what China, or even our current administration is doing. Our constitution should be sacrosanct. If we start fooling around with the meaning of "is" with our liberties we are screwed. wait, that is happening now.

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Know Your Neo-Cons... What the North Korean Test Could be Useds To Start

"A neoconservative clique seeks to ensnare our country in a series of wars that are not in America’s interest."

I am a conservative Republican, of what used to be the Republican party. I even voted for Bush (goodness sakes). I then really started looking hard at the world, US foreign policy, and the reasons behind war, and the constant fear factor we are in over here. There is no doubt that we (the American People) are being controlled by fear from a government whose sole action for the last 6 years has been to tell us we really, really need them. September 11th was a catalyzing event planned in part by the neo-conservative wack jobs running the country right now.

Just recently a man by the name of William Kristol made a speaking appearance in Austin, TX. He was accompanied by his Secret Service contingent. People this man is a new-conservative, and ex-communist who makes policy for "The Project for the New American Century". Why would a conservative think-tank leader have a secret service contingent? Why would anything he has to say have security guards, and actually have the authority to have people removed from his talks by force?

These people in concert with Donald Rumsfeld, Scooter Libby, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Pearle, John Bolton and others created several papers for inclusion into what would be called the "Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources For a New Century" paper in September of 2000. This was an extension of the Wolfowitz doctrine and is currently being run in the Whitehouse and Pentagon as gospel.

It is not too difficult to see the roadmap as outlined in these documents, and how they are implementing all of this. By a gradual slide away from a Constitution and into what will be known as the American Enabling Act of 2006 we see that at every turn we are being driven into tyranny.

We may support our troops, and we may even support war with an aggressor nation, but lets be honest about what we are doing right now. We have not systematically fought and solely gone after terrorists. Instead we are fighting an un-ending war with nations, and not the groups involved. What did Afghanistan itself do to us? What did Iraq? As far as I can tell whenever we don't like the political posturing of our Middle Eastern neighbors, we attempt to cause civil war and shake things up. We have done this with Iran before and many other nations.

We need to stop stirring up the bee-hive and let things calm down. We have gone too far.

See more here: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/.../

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Is the Republican revolution over?

"After controlling both houses of Congress for most of President Bush's time in office, the GOP's governing record has dismayed those who fantasized about what Newt Gingrich and his band of rebels might accomplish. The current crisis arrived with a sex scandal that muddied one of the party's few remaining patches of moral high ground."

I'm with MiddleGirth and the explanation by snipehack. I want a government that works for us, and wards off all these evil corporate enterprises. I don't want these large "campaign contributions". We should abolish all the lobby groups, and start from scratch, without the ability to influence government through money. They need to influence Congress the old fashioned way through action.

While at it, lets start going around the country using the "American Idol" method, and choose our next President. Screw the current method of "who has the most money wins", but a true President loved by the people and who really cares for our values. They would be given the chance to continue through the competition and then given a generous salary once President. 1 year before re-election, we go out and find another one and then see if they want someone else or the same guy again. Choosing the Vice President should fall to some other contestant in the same race.

The way it looks today, this is a fantasy, but we can hope right?

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CBS News Commentary Blames School Shootings On Evolution and Abortion

"Last night, the CBS Evening News turned their broadcast over to a man named Brian Rohrbough, who lost his son during the Columbine massacre. Mr. Rohrbough proceeded to blame recent school shootings on: 1) the teaching of evolution, and 2) abortion."

@WickedDrag0oN dude, totally un-called for. If you haven't read our Constitution yet, it says that we have the Freedom OF Religion, not the Freedom FROM Religion. Therefore, anyone can practice the religion they want, and you don't get a say about it. (as long as that practice doesn't violate the constitution itself)

I get tired of people not understanding that because people have religious viewpoints, that they are wackjobs or lunatics or fanatical. Within our constitution it clearly wants to make the point that people can practice religion freely, and there is to be no state sponsored religion. This simply means the state cannot setup a religion and make its people follow it. This is a radical viewpoint considering many other nations including Iran, Palestine, China, Cuba and others who actively seek out alternate religions and kill people over them.

We have no separation of church and state, it was only a side-bar from the Constitution, but not actually law or in the document itself. The Judicial system made a bad choice a long time ago with the whole "separation" statement, because it could have been handled a lot better than today. Today our schools and government are so freaked out about have religion around that they ban it. That is not the intention of the founding fathers. They just wanted to make sure as a government we didn't force anyone into any religion.

Don't get me started on atheists, since they claim not to follow any religion, then the very mention of anything like the pledge of allegiance is hate speech to them.

I believe we can all get together and figure this stuff out. Its our government getting so big which is actually the problem. It was never supposed to be like this.

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A worrying sign of political brainwashing in schools.

"My concern here is not the anti-bush theme but that it is political at all. Schools should be teaching 123 and abc not who you should be voting for. Malkin seems to be concerned more about the anti-bush theme. Look beyond that because stuff like this was encouraged in nazi-germany as well as the USSR."

Yeah, also agree. Holy crap, I agree with Michelle Malkin on some point? (Well that and illegal immigration). This teachers union stuff is absolute rubbish, and they should be called on it. Politics needs to be left out, parents will get their two cents in enough at home.

Our kids should understand how the government is supposed to work (at least the way the constitution teaches) and how everything has become with the political lobby groups and how campaign "fund raising" allows are leaders to properly guide their efforts into the right places. /sarcasm.

My personal views are that our kids, through high school, need to understand enough in order to better prepare them for college. Once they get to college, they get bombarded with all kinds of political viewpoints, and they need to understand how to fend for themselves and know who is blowing smoke up their backsides.

We don't have a perfect system, so it is up to the parents and teachers to prepare them for the rough road ahead. We have strayed so far from that in our education system it is shameful. All I know is that when my kids are going through school, the policies at school will have a close watch.

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Should We Rethink Birthright Citizenship?

"No other wealthy, western nations grant automatic citizenship to those who simply happen to be born within their borders to non-citizens. These nations recognize that citizenship involves more than the physical location of one's birth; it also involves some measure of cultural connection and allegiance."

This is a powerful amendment, and one which should be given thought. Ron Paul is one of the good guys in Congress. We should listen to him, and hear him out. Down below read "PowerCow's" argument. It would make more sense that if the parents are in the country long enough to get citizenship and are contributing to society, that children are therefore citizens. We should have a set of rules and law surrounding this, not simply carte-blanche citizenship.

I would want Congress to come up with some good plans, and then we should have a serious discussion.

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