Not to be outdone by the US Senate, which voted 99 to 0 to support the illegal, religious, reactionary Pledge of Allegiance, the House of Representatives voted 416 to 3 to condemn the 9th Circuit Court's excellent Church/State separation ruling, thus proving that they, like the US Senate and Gov Gray Davis all are proud of violating their oath of office which mandates they support the Constitution, including the First Amendment, which mandates separation of church and state.
See the San Francisco Chronicle article of 6/28/02 at:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2002/06/28/MN95658.DTL I cite this article for convenience, not for support. This information is generally available from many other news sources.
As to the 3 who voted against condemning the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals (you read that right; the House condemned the court's ruling), they are Mike Honda of San Jose, California, Pete Stark of Hayward, California and Bobby Scott of Virginia.
SO WHERE WAS THE GREAT "LIBERAL" BARBARA LEE OF BERKELEY/OAKLAND? AND WHAT ABOUT ALL THE OTHER "LIBERALS?" Why don't you call your favorite "liberal" and demand to know why they insisted on violating their oath of office to uphold the Constitution in their vote to support this resolution condemning the 9th Circuit's excellent ruling? And then, please do not vote for these despicable people. The entire House is up for election in November. If you do not have a suitable candidate running for Congress or any other position, skip that position. The "lesser evil" is always very evil. We do not ever want anyone sitting in office who violates their oath of office to uphold the Constitution, especially when it comes to basic, important things like separating the Church from the State.
You should also know that the ACLU supports this 9th Circuit ruling, as do all atheists and all socialists. The World Socialist Website has an excellent analysis of the Democrat/Republican opposition to separation of Church and State and the history of this loyalty oath, dated June 28, 2002 by Bill Vann, entitled "US 'Pledge' Ruling Exposes Political Scoundrels"
at:
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/jun2002/pled-j28.shtml In fact, the only possible position a court and organization which defend the Constitution can take is to toss the Pledge of Allegiance as it clearly violates the mandate of separation of Church and State. The US Supreme Court, best known for its promotion of election fraud, is now promoting violating this Constitutional mandate by permitting school vouchers, our tax dollars, for religious schools, which will hasten the demise of the public schools, which are the schools of the workingclass, especially the nonwhite workingclass.
It also is illegal to have "in god we trust" on money, to have any religious symbols or observances such as Christmas trees and Christmas programs on government property, to allow Christian crosses to sit on public land, as on Mt. Davidson in San Francisco; to use phony initiatives to circumvent good Church/State separation rulings to allow that cross to sit there as has been done (with the support of such good Democrats as San Francisco Supervisor Tom Ammiano) and the like.
As to those who did not pay attention in history class and believe the lie that this country was founded by those promoting freedom, this country was built upon the genocide of the Native Americans and the enslavement of Africans. It was African slave labor that literally built the foundation of the American economy. The wage slavery that followed was also and still is often poorly-paid. It is our labor that is the basis of this society, for it is labor that creates all wealth. It is economic equality, which can only be guaranteed by labor and is only possible in a socialist society where there is no profit motive, that guarantees political democracy. Thus, a capitalist society by definition is incapable of being democratic or promoting freedom. That is why there can be no justice in our court system, whether it be civil law or criminal law. All justice is bought and paid for. You do not have to be a socialist to understand this. Any attorney who is willing to be honest about the legal system will tell you the same thing.
The very idea of having small children recite a loyalty oath which they do not and cannot possibly understand demonstrates a contempt for democracy and freedom, and breeds a great deal of anger at this loyalty oath ritual. To add insult to injury, its religious provision violates the Constitutional mandate of separation of Church and State. It is long overdue that the Pledge of Allegiance be abolished, and it will be.
Whatever you do, please stop insulting the world with the "lesser evil" garbage. You must always vote your conscience if you want any improvement in the quality of life.