Madison School Board - Fuck you!

The BBQ Pit
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My cities School Board

Madison School Board – Fuck You! You have now made us the dregs of the country all because you’re so cool and PC. It’s not coolness, it’s arrogance!

The Star Spangled Banner is too militaristic?? It was written during a war brainiacs!!!
So now you want to play it without the words to not offend anyone. Offend anyone?? What is it that offends someone? Is it the words ‘Home of the Brave’? Or maybe it’s the phrase ‘Land of the Free’?? What do you do when you go to a football game, baseball game, basketball game, etc?? Cover your ears?? Did you know 40% or so of your Federal taxes go to the military, or do you just pretend it isn’t happening? Being a school board member you should know we FOUGHT and DIED to get the right to do what we please. Do you think back in 1776 we just asked Britain, “Hey, we wanna be free, are you cool with that?”

The Pledge of Allegiance is good enough for everyone else, now YOU say the kids CAN’T say it. Take the word ‘God’ out, would that be good enough for you?

Maybe you didn’t realize this, BUT THERE’S A WAR GOING ON!!! This may not be the best time to FORBID AMERICANS from saying it??? Do you know a month ago NY & DC were attacked? Even Rush Limbaugh is blasting us! Maybe I shouldn’t send the $1,309 in taxes I paid last year to the City of Madison Public Schools because the money says ‘In God We Trust’! I wouldn’t want to offend anyone! Is it the peer pressure of not saying it in school?? Oh no, we can’t have any peer pressure in school, this would be the first time, right? The two people who voted against this bill, did so because IT DIDN’T GO FAR ENOUGH!

Arrghhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

[Sub]Whew! My first Pit rant. Now I feel better[/sub]

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My God. I’m a fucking liberal, and that pisses me off.

Though, on the other hand, I don’t think that drawing 9/11 into your arguement is really valid. This would have been a stupid decision even if nothing had happened. It’s the national anthem for Chrissake. I get offended by everything, and I never found it overly militaristic.

Anyway…the pledge of allegiance…that does bother me. Or, at least, it used to. But that’s my own pissy little teenage anti-loyalty-to-anything schick. Hell, though, as long as they don’t make me say it, I don’t have a problem with it.

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Offensive lyrics such as this:

“No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave”

Now who have been slaves in this country? Now you see why
The Star-Spangled Banner is not my anthem.

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Ahhh, so it was Madison! I heard the tail-end of the news clip but I didn’t hear the town…

[sub]madison wisconsin madison wisconsin madison wisconsin[/sub]

Actually, you’re not the “dregs of the country”, if it makes you feel any better.
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I believe Beloit [motto: “Not A Suburb of Rockford, Dammit!”] actually holds that distinction.

:smiley:

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Well that’s true. I’ve never heard of it called the Capacitor Anthem.

Marc

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capacitor, that line about “hireling and slave” was not about groups in this country, but about mercenary troops employed by the British. “Slave” was a bit of hyperbole. Remember the Hessians in the Revolutionary War? They were talking about troops like that.

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Actually, taking “under God” out would be fine with me. The phrase was added to the Pledge of Allegiance during the 1950s by legislators who didn’t dare to oppose the measure for fear of being labeled “commies”

Supressing the “Star Spangled Banner” sounds equally totalitarian to me. I’m guessing they’re all upset about the “land of the free” part, too. :wink:

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Okay I an not up to speed on my anthem. I always it started with Oh say can you see, and ended with the home of the brave. Can someone fill me in on this hireling and slave stuff?

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It’s from the never-sung verse 3.

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Well, to be fair, I agree with them that our current anthem is too militaristic. I would personally prefer “America the Beautiful” to the current anthem; not only is it less war-centered, but it is also much easier to sing.

As to the Pledge: I have, for quite a long time, refused to say the Pledge of Allegiance, a position I doubt I will change any time soon. A minor issue is the odious inclusion of the words, “Under God”. The major issue is that I do not feel that it is appropriate to pledge allegiance to a flag. A flag is several pieces of colorful cloth sewn together in a specific manner to create an emblem of identification. I cannot justify pledging allegiance to a flag any more than I can justify pledging allegiance to a sofa or a bar sign.

What I would do, if asked, is recite the following oath (or one quite similar to it): “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States.” I will gladly swear allegiance to the Constitution. Just not the flag. The flag is but a symbol; the Constitution is what makes the United States special.

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I’d love to hear:

MON-Hendrix version
TUES-Marvin Gaye from bball all-star game 1983?
WED-Jose Feliciano from '65?
THURS-Smokey Robinson from Super Bowl around 1985. He stuck a line or two from America the bautiful in the middle.
FRI-Ray Charles doing ‘America the Beautiful’

That might make kids perk up and not hate it.

UPDATE:
School Board voted again last night and voted 6-1 to allow it to be said.
There is a recall effort underway to get rid of the ones who voted against it first time.

I’m so sick of this issue.

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Hasn’t this already been covered?

Doesn’t anyone read thread titles in forums anymore?

Esprix

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Esprix

Not really. My thread came after the school board capitulated, several days after this one was opened. So I’ll suffer the slings and arrows of opening a sort-of dup thread. My bad, sort of, although the threads seem to be diverging enough to warrant their separate existence.

Big Cheese

Did you bother reading your own link? Where does “arrogance” or “PC” factor into it? The board took the action it did to comply with a coercive state law forcing schools to offer either the pledge or the anthem in such a way as to help protect the rights of those who did not or could not participate.

Um…maybe that’s why it’s too militaristic?

When exactly did you die to get the right to do what you please? And if you’re so concerned about having the right to do as you please, then why are you not speaking out against the coercive state law?

That’d certainly go a long way to addressing most of the objections raised to it.

Or maybe we shouldn’t have “In God We Trust” on the money…

Wait…so peer pressure is a bad thing, but you’re OK with children being peer pressured into this?

Sorry, that would be illegal. The State requires either the pledge or the anthem. Playing “America the Beautiful” would put the school out of compliance with state law.

Then I hope you’ll tell the flag fetishists trying to recall the school board to let the issue drop.

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The law didn’t say anything about protecting anyones rights, the Board took those actions and made those interpretations. Scott Jensen wasn’t really worried what the minority people who didn’t want to say it thought. The law said they should have the option of one or the other. I think they were trying to be PC in their actions. Cool? Ok, that was a stretch.

Yes, it was written during 1812. If you’re gonna write a song during a war, it’s gonna be a bit militaristic. Of course it is. Guess they should play ‘Shiny, Happy People’ instead? It’s the anthem, I didn’t write it, I didn’t pass the law. They have an option not to do anything now, the board gave them that.

No, I didn’t fight in 1776, I’m not that old. I just think there should be some respect for people who did, who have fought. That’s how I was raised, not to push my beliefs on someone else.

I’m not speaking out against the law because I don’t think it’s so bad. I said the pledge when I was young. Though I don’t think they should have to say the words ‘under God’, separation of Church and State and all. They have an out, and I’m for that. You can’t force someone to be patriotic. Guess my views may have changed a bit

Take the word God out? Yep, I agree. Try getting that thru a Republican government though.

The ‘In God We trust’ thing? Well, it’s not on my check. :slight_smile: I don’t know the history of that one. That was an uncontrollable rant.

No, no one should be pressured into it.

I know about Ray, I was hoping 4/days a week would be enough. Plus, heh, I really like that song, you know?

One of the ones organizing the recall is former Congressman Klug, I don’t think they’ll listen to me. One, maybe two of them are up for re-election in Spring.

I’m kinda glad about this whole fiasco though, because it did raise a lot of issues and thought. Just wish it could have been less volatile.

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Slight hijack…

Never quite understood why the anthem is said to be “militaristic.” To my mind, that’s a loaded word, implying enthusiastic kneejerk support for all things warlike and military. But in fact the first verse says very little in favor of war. The most warlike image…“the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air”…is not there because Key was trying to glorify the war or brag about the number of people those bombs and rockets killed…no, the point of the rockets and bombs was simply that they were a source of light, so everyone could see that “our flag was still there.”

Besides, this was the war of 1812, and England had attacked the US. The reality was, there was a war going on, and we were talking self-defense. Apparently, we still are.

/slight hijack

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Baker and others, Francis Scott Key was a slaveowner, although later on he was a founding member of the American Colonialization Society, which was the group that sent American Blacks to Liberia, thinking that for various reasons they could not assimilate in America.