Virginia Schoolchildren to be Force to Recite Pledge?

Great Debates
81

I wonder what time warp enabled VA State Senator Warren Barry to drop in from the 1950s. “Spineless pinkos” indeed!
Since when is dedication to democratic principles and repescting an individual’s freedom of conscience “pinko”?
Really, he should move to Pyongyang where real pinkos live. Ironically, the Stalinist North korean regime has a mandatory patriotism law. “Showing disrespect to the Great Leader (widaehan suryong)” is punishable by a life sentence. Se. Barry would be thrilled.

Some of the nicest people on this board, including me, are cocksuckers (and darned good at it, too!), so let’s not use that as a term of opprobium; and given Sen. Barry’s far right political convictions, I think it highly unlikely (but not impossible) that he is a member of the club.

82

Amen! Some of my favourite people are cocksuckers.

83

Am I the only one who finds it ironic that Barry calls the opponents of the bill “pinkos”, when a socialist wrote the pledge?

84

goboy, you are of course correct. I have nothing against cocksuckers; in fact, I find it an endearing trait in women! Please replace that word in my post with “chimp-fucker.”

Anyway, one good letter deserves another. This baby is going to go to the Lt. Gov., President Pro Tem, Majority Leader, and chair of the conduct subcommittee:

Dear Lt. Governor Hager:

I am writing to you, in your capacity as Presiding Officer of the Virginia Senate, to express my shock over comments in the Feb. 15, 2001 Washington Post made by Sen. Warren E. Barry.

Sen. Barry apparently has withdrawn his recent bill, SB1331, because House Education Committee members were going to pass a watered-down version which would remove mandatory suspensions for not saying the Pledge of Allegiance, and allow local school boards to determine penalties. In doing so, Sen. Barry referred to those committee members, and other opponents of his bill, as “spineless pinkos.”

My impression was that Red-baiting was dead more than 40 years ago, but apparently I am mistaken. In this day and age, to refer to civil libertarians as Communists is a tactic of the stupid, the mean and the desperate. I was one of the residents of Northern Virginia who wrote to Sen. Barry expressing my disapproval of this bill, along with many others who supplied what the Senator referred to as “hate mail.” I also encouraged my own Senator, Linda Puller, to vote against this bill, which she did. I can assure Sen. Barry that neither of us is spineless or a Communist sympathizer.

As an aside, considering the subject matter of his petulantly withdrawn bill, it might be to Sen. Barry’s considerable amusement to discover that the writer of the Pledge of Allegiance, Francis Bellamy, was both a Baptist clergyman and a Christian Socialist. That’s right—a “spineless pinko” was the originator of the Pledge.

I believe Sen. Barry’s comments fall well outside the conduct expected of a public servant, especially one who chairs an important committee like Education and Health. If, as Sen. Barry claims in the Post article, he is so certain that local school boards would not support harsh penalties and that many Virginia residents do not approve of this measure, why is he so insistent on passing it? It seems contrary to the Republican ideals of personal responsibility and a minimization of government intrusion.

Sen. Barry’s peevish and immature behavior, falling when all else fails on rhetoric that was stale by the 1960s and is no less stale now, should not be the image projected by the Virginia Senate. To refer to one’s constituents as “spineless pinkos” may well rise to the level of censure. Perhaps, above all, Sen. Barry needs to be reminded of the Virginia motto: Sic Semper Tyrannus – “Thus Always to Tyrants.”

I hope the Senator’s remarks are not permitted to stand without repercussion from his colleagues in the Senate and the House.

85

I’d just like to say that I find the epistolary efforts of Phil here to be a far finer example of genuine American patriotism than a whole legion of mindless flag wavers.

86

Hey, I’m a chimp-fucker! (Not really…)

Phil, that was beautiful. You might also want to point out to Barry that it is in communist countries where people are forced to salute flags…hmmmm.

87

Does anybody else think that “Senator Barry and the Spineless Pinkos” would make a cool band name? :slight_smile: (And btw, I agree with the consensus that pld is doing a great job for the civil liberties cause on this issue—nice work, Phil!)

88

Phil, just one tiny emendation in the hopes of making your excellent letter even more quibbleproof: it’s “sic semper tyrannis”, not “tyrannus”. Dative plural. (Ablative?..)