Allegiance

Defending the Pledge of Allegiance has earned two Orange Coast College students recognition from the Costa Mesa City Council, an honor one of the students said he wishes was for something more noteworthy. Mayor Allan Mansoor on Tuesday will present the monthly mayor's award to Christine Zoldos, a former member of the college's student government, and student Sage Michael for defending the recitation of the pledge at student government meetings. A minor controversy erupted in November after the student board of trustees voted to stop reciting the pledge at meetings, saying not all students seemed to want to participate and it might make some uncomfortable.

Orange Coast College's student vice president said Monday that she will order the Pledge of Allegiance to be recited at all upcoming meetings, following a decision by the student government representatives last week to remove the pledge from their agendas. During public comment at Monday's board meeting, Sage Michael, a friend of student Vice President Christine Zoldos, asked all interested patrons to join him in saluting the flag. Roughly two thirds of the crowd stood and recited the pledge, while the remainder sat in silence.

I went to that wonderful school about 40-some odd years ago. At that time, we had Vietnam and many things going on. With all that's going on in the world today, these kids decided to not say the Pledge of Allegiance. All I can say is the school, the kids, the students that are there — that's a wonderful, wonderful place for education — ought to take those clowns out of student government and just boot them out, and just reinforce that everybody that lives here loves this country and the Pledge of Allegiance is important.

The following information is so sensitive that I was unable to disclose it until this week. Several weeks ago, when the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to hear the arguments for and against the constitutionality of the Pledge of Allegiance, the Family Time SnoopCam was there to record everything. What follows is a transcript of the moments leading up to the landmark decision to declare the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional because it contains the words "under God."

SPECIAL EVENTS CHALLENGING THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE "Challenging 'Under God' in the Pledge of Allegiance" is being offered at University Synagogue at 8 p.m. Aug. 8. Shabbat services will be led by Rabbi Arnold Rachlis and Cantor Ruti Braier. The guest speaker will be Michael Newdow, who challenged the phrase "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. Newdow will speak of his decision to challenge the pledge, his education about the legal process and of bringing a case to the Supreme Court.

Constitution is on students' side I was saddened by the nasty tone of the letters bashing the student government at OCC for not reciting the Pledge of Allegiance at their meetings. It seems that if some people disagree with conservatives, they must be unpatriotic — or worse, "liberals." Since 1954, when the phrase "under God" was inserted in the pledge, I ceased to recite it because it is insulting, superficial theology and blatantly not true. The only document that a citizen is pledged to uphold is the Constitution, and it has no mention of God. This is not a "nation under God!"

o7What are your thoughts on a federal court judge's ruling last week that the "under God" reference in the Pledge of Allegiance" is unconstitutional? f7 "In God We Trust" is our national motto. It is on our currency, in our National Anthem, and is expressed in our Declaration Of Independence as the rationale for our existence as a nation of equality. "In God We Trust" is part of our DNA as Americans. It demands no particular denominational allegiance, nor does it command particular individuals to rightly bow before its divine referent.

For a few weeks, it was possibly the most famous student government in America — the target of protests on campus, impassioned phone calls to the administration and page after page of articles on Google's news site. Now, with the furor over the Pledge of Allegiance having fizzled, Orange Coast College's associated student body is quietly back to work for the spring — and it has a full load on its plate. Among the projects the trustees have lined up for the coming months are a new multicultural center on campus, an environmental sustainability project and a referendum to change the student government's constitution.

Defending the Pledge of Allegiance has earned two Orange Coast College students recognition from the Costa Mesa City Council, an honor one of the students said he wishes was for something more noteworthy. Mayor Allan Mansoor on Tuesday will present the monthly mayor's award to Christine Zoldos, a former member of the college's student government, and student Sage Michael for defending the recitation of the pledge at student government meetings. A minor controversy erupted in November after the student board of trustees voted to stop reciting the pledge at meetings, saying not all students seemed to want to participate and it might make some uncomfortable.

America not worthy of my respect, allegiance Regarding Steve Smith's On the Town column of Dec. 6, "Oh, say, did you see that picture?" I served eight years in the U.S. Army, two years in active duty, and no one ever asked me if I would kill anyone if so ordered. I would not. Or if I believed that the United States had the right to risk my life. I did not so believe. I was deeply insulted that as a new recruit I had to take a "loyalty oath" as though mouthing some vague patriotic drivel has some sort of supernatural power.

Why do people feel so threatened by an individual or group of individuals who choose to exercise their constitutional rights in this country? Freedom of speech allows us, as citizens of this country, the right to say and not say what we feel or believe. By not reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, the group at OCC is exercising its right. It has nothing to do with being unpatriotic. It's quite the converse, this group may just be proudly defending its rights and allegiance to the law, defined by the Constitution.

The Orange Coast College student government voted Monday to put the Pledge of Allegiance back on its biweekly agendas, but added that the board of trustees could alter the practice after hearing feedback from students. At an intense two-and-a-half-hour meeting in the faculty lounge, the student trustees listened to — and often expressed — passionate opinions both for and against making the pledge an official item. In the end, by a 3-2 vote, the board opted to reinstate the pledge as an "opportunity" for any attendees who wish to recite it and promised to hold a forum or take an opinion poll in the near future to determine students' feelings on the matter.

Orange Coast College student government representatives recently voted to stop saying the Pledge of Allegiance at their meetings, partly because they object to the phrase "under God" in it. What do you think of the students taking issue with the Pledge of Allegiance on separation-of-church-and-state grounds? In response to these college students, let's take an analytical attitude to the Pledge of Allegiance. A week before Thanksgiving, following their logic, let's eliminate it from the American calendar.