``We need commonsense judges

``We need commonsense judges who understand that our rights were derived from God,'' the president said.

Constitution? What Constitution? Oh right, that can be quickly changed to suit our current whims.

``That's why the ruling is out of step with the traditions and history of America,'' Bush said.

According to history, the 1892 pledge did not include "under god." It was added in 1954 in response to the red scare. Is that the history of America we want to preserve?

The thing that shocks me the most from all this hoopla is there isn't a single intelligent politician that has the guts to stand up for the laws the nation was built on. In a land of the free, formed to help people gain freedom from religion, we have people from both sides of the fence grabbing headlines stating their wish to force children to pledge their undying allegiance to a flag and god.

When I was a child in 4th grade, I distinctly remember the day we learned about communism, and how stifling that regime was. It was a horrible system because personal freedoms were compromised for the good of the nation, and everyone had to mindlessly follow lock-and-step with the nation's wants. This is what I was taught in 1982, and after that day, I never understood why in our freest of nations, we started each morning with a forced recital of our pledge. To god no less.