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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Michael M who wrote (31378)	10/9/2001 12:55:10 AM
From: epicure	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

Actually I believe it says "God shed his grace on thee..." and "God mend thine every flaw..." and "May God thy gold refine...." A more inclusive song, and one I like to sing with the kids I teach: The Star Spangled Banner O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming! And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there: O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

To: Michael M who wrote (31378)	10/9/2001 7:37:12 AM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 82486

The ACLU can go to hell The ACLU plays a role in our society, a role that needs to be played. If you don't like them, you can think of them as a necessary evil, but I don't think that banishing them to hell is smart. The ACLU or something like it is necessary to remind us that unpopular speech must be protected if we are to have freedom of speech. The organization must be kept vital if it is to perform its role reliably and, IMO, we should support them even if we don't always like them. Organizations from both ends of the political spectrum, including the ACLU and the NRA, are working together right now to monitor what freedoms we are in the process of giving up in our current quest for greater security and will be there to warn us if we go too far. I'm glad they're there. I think both organizations can be irritatingly nutty at times, but we put up with that so that they will be there when we need them. An important part of the right to free speech, as with any other right, is the responsibility of individuals to exercise it wisely by putting their issues in perspective and by practicing voluntary restraint. I would like to see these organizations do that as well, but I recognize that I may be mistaken in my notions of their strategy for playing their role. In any event, I don't think that one local chapter's making an issue of God Bless America damns the whole ACLU. The Administration has made a point of warning us to not cut Arabs and Muslims out of our society. Bush, himself, has spoken to that many times. I don't know if he does that out of "strategery" or out of a deep and abiding appreciation of the color and texture of American society. In neither perspective is it in our country's best interests to send a message to little children that Muslims or non-believers are less American than anyone else. God Bless America is a tricky song in that it is both patriotic and a prayer. It seems to me that everyone should recognize the sensitivity surrounding it and act responsibly. Karen