I'm Stinkin' Mad

In one day, The Supreme Idiot vetoes the stem cell bill calling for "moral scientific research", and the house passes a bill guarding the Pledge of Allegiance from challenges in Federal courts, including the Supreme Court.

The freaking Supreme Court!!! And not just any Supreme Court, but the one that singlehandedly put him in office in the first place, and that now sports not only one of his hand-picked judges, but also his hand-picked Chief Justice! What happened to checks and balances? What happened to Freedom of Speech and Religion? What happened to the CONSTITUTION???

The terrorists have won. It's official. Their attacks on our country have given the Xtian fundamentalists free reign to do with this country as they please, Constitution be damned.

Let me tell you a little story.

I was on jury duty a few years ago here in Lake County, Illinois. I showed up to do my duty, willingly and with no complaints. A judge came in to welcome us and we recited the Pledge. As always, when it came to "under god," I chose that time to breathe and not say anything. I joined back in at "indivisible."

Mine was a silent, respectful protest. I didn't make a face. I didn't refuse to stand, I didn't refuse to hold my hand over my heart, and I didn't refuse to recite the rest of the Pledge. Not only was I simply silent for two little words, but I even gave those who disagree with me the respect of covering my refusal with the biological need to breathe. I consider myself a Patriot, and I was happy to be there in the courthouse to do my civic duty. I proudly recited, and continue to recite, the Pledge with the exception of those two little words.

I was standing in the front row, right in front of the judge. He must have seen me, because immediately after we all finished the Pledge, he looked straight at me and commented that he always likes to start out that way after the "stupidity" of the challenges that had recently been lodged against the Pledge in California. Yes, a judge publicly called me "stupid."

I didn't say anything. I didn't know if I'd find myself in contempt of court. But I was pissed. And, before you ask, no, I didn't get his name. I wish I had. I would have made sure to publicize this story the next time he came up for election.

This is how marginalized non-Xtians are in this country. We're not even given respect when we exercise our freedom of speech, or in this case non-speech. When we complain, we're told that the country's founding fathers were Xtian, and that if we don't like it we can leave. Yeah. How free is that?

Now not only can we not challenge the Pledge in the courts, but we also have to have our medical futures decided by a religion that is not ours, and that's just today. They're still working on taking away our reproductive rights and our civil liberties one library book at a time. Oh, and let's not forget that they lied to us so that we sent our loved ones overseas only for some of them to die without the benefit of a headstone that incorporates our religious symbols, shall we?

The leadership of this country is turning into a fundamentalist regime as bad as the Taliban. If you're an open-minded Xtian, I feel sorry for you. Your president is giving you an awfully, awfully bad name.