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The Real Side | Commentary by Joe Messina
| Monday, Sep 15, 2014
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joemessinamugNow I have heard it all. CBS Sports banned a commercial with a little girl reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. The ad supported something very American – a televised rodeo – around Sept. 11. The little girl in the commercial was the granddaughter of the owner of the company running the ad. He though it was a really cool idea.

Well, the PC police at CBS Sports had other ideas. At first I thought, Here we go again. It has the words, “under God,” and we don’t want to offend the 20 percent of the country that doesn’t believe in God, and we certainly don’t want them to feel left out. But that wasn’t the problem. Then I thought they must have been tight on time, and a 15-second pledge would have caused them to bump one of those commercials with a hamburger-eating, sauce-dripping, car-washing, bikini-clad woman who uses the top part of her bikini to wipe off the barbecue sauce. Nope. That wasn’t what happened, either. OK, then what was it?

The knuckleheads at CBS Sports decided it was too political. Yup, the Pledge of Allegiance is too political. They won’t return any news organization’s phone calls. They’re CBS. Why should they?

This is just another example of an ungrateful company not understanding what the pledge actually means.

For those of you who might need a refresher, the pledge simply means that as Americans, we will stand up for the American way of life, its freedoms, its opportunities and its liberties. Hey, CBS. Those are the same ones you used to build your companies. The American tax laws that you take advantage of and the security you feel, in most cases, going to other countries knowing that, as Americans, your company and employees have the United States of America’s resources to protect you.

Unlike some of those third-world nations that dictate what news gets broadcast – and when and who you hire and fire, and if they decide you’re not so good at it they simply take it away from you – you have freedoms here. Go ahead and try to appeal to that third-world country’s supreme court. That’d be a joke.

How would you like it if our military refused to take the pledge and only fought if and when they felt like it, and for whatever cause they felt was worthy? With no allegiance to a country, there’s no real reason to fight or uphold its laws.

joe-pledgeCBS Sports, you are an embarrassment. You have spit in the face of many who came before us to fight and die protecting what the flag and the pledge represent.

This madness is happening all around the country. I can count no fewer than five recent stories about city councils that refused to say the pledge because there “wasn’t enough time.” And even more stories on school districts that have decided reciting the pledge “once in a while” is good enough.

And what the heck is political about the pledge? Does it apply only to Republicans? Or only Democrats? Maybe just the decline-to-state or Libertarian or Green Party? I know the Communist Socialist Democrat Party of America finds it offensive. Who cares? If you don’t like it, shut up and sit down because that’s the freedom afforded you as stated in the pledge and by those who came before and fought and died for your right to disagree without being taken out back and beheaded.

The pledge should be recited at the beginning of every major event to remind us of the men and women who came before us, fought and died. (Yes, I am repeating myself on purpose because some of you need it that way). They gave us the freedom to watch a sports game in a stadium or on TV or to listen on the radio. They gave us the freedom to put down our government leaders without fear of being killed, and to sit down during the pledge or National Anthem without fear of imprisonment. That’s real freedom.

Recently the curator of the 9/11 museum didn’t want to post the picture of the firemen putting the American flag back up on the rubble of the Twin Towers at the time of the massacre. Shame on him. Most of the people who lost their lives that day were American civilians; the buildings sat on American soil; and they were attacked by a group that declared war on America and its people – and the reason he didn’t want to put it up was that it was too American.

In his statement, he justified his stance by saying: “I really believe that the way America will look best, the way we can really do best, is to not be Americans so vigilantly and so vehemently.”

So hide your flags, your colors, and anything patriotic, and according to this well-educated loon, we will all be more American.

If you have to watch CBS Sports, please at least let them know of your displeasure with their decision.

Don’t be a do-nothing.

 

 

Joe Messina is host of The Real Side (TheRealSide.com), a nationally syndicated talk show that runs on AM-1220 KHTS radio and SCVTV [here]. He is also an elected member of the Hart School Board. His commentary publishes Mondays.

 

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26 Comments

  1. Nobody thinks it’s too political, it’s just too American.

  2. Rodeo’s are cruel to animals.

  3. What happened to freedom of speech! Especially when it’s positive speech & honoring our country!

  4. What happened to freedom of speech! Especially when it’s positive speech & honoring our country!

  5. It’s just so sad. America is NOT America anymore. It’s been called the melting pot for years and at this point I believe the recipe of this Nation has been ruined by too many added ingredients of mixed cultures and religions. It’s out right ridiculous for people to be offended by anything ” America ” stands for. This is America ! If they don’t like it, they can leave.

  6. It’s just so sad. America is NOT America anymore. It’s been called the melting pot for years and at this point I believe the recipe of this Nation has been ruined by too many added ingredients of mixed cultures and religions. It’s out right ridiculous for people to be offended by anything ” America ” stands for. This is America ! If they don’t like it, they can leave.

    • “Ruined by too many added ingredients of mixed cultures & religions.” – KKK MUCH? Wow.

    • That’s what made the country great in the first place.

    • Jesse Roach says:

      People now view America as a salad rather than a melting pot because the modern way of thinking is against assimilation. My grandparents emigrated from Sicily to America after WWII and they loved America. They learned the language, voted, paid their taxes, and contributed to the way American society worked. No one wants to do that anymore.

    • Bill says:

      melting pot=great
      mixed cultures and religion=ruined the pot
      uh, it’s a MELTING POT!
      You don’t like it, YOU leave

  7. Jason Greil says:

    I’m getting really sick and tired of this. So if our rights to be god loving, flag waving AMERICANS have been stripped, I ask this……….WTF ARE WE KNOWN AS NOW IN THE USA?!?!?!?

  8. Jared Gardner…. The people who are anti-american and who are offended by our pledge of allegiance are those not born in America. They come from other countries to live here but want “us” American’s to change to accommodate their culture and religion. Years ago our ancestors who came here to America were proud to become American citizens. Now those who come here are offended if we display the american flag in our own front yard.

  9. You know what the funny part is? It’s also the networks freedom and choice to decide not to air the commercial.

  10. tiffany bell says:

    No one should stand for nor chant the Pledge of Allegiance because it was the origin of the Nazi salute and Nazi behavior (that is one of the amazing discoveries of the historian Dr. Rex Curry, as described by the author Ian Tinny in the book “Pledge of Allegiance and Swastika Secrets”).

    The pledge was written by an American socialist who influenced other socialists worldwide, including German socialists (Hitler), who used the U.S.’s stiff-armed gesture under their flag’s notorious symbol (their symbol was used to represent crossed “S” letters for their “socialist” dogma -another of Dr. Curry’s discoveries).

    Hitler’s symbol was a type of cross, a “Hakenkreuz” (hooked cross); he did not call it a “swastika.” The misnomer “swastika” was used (and continues to be used) to cover up Nazism’s origin in American Christian Socialism, via Francis Bellamy and his cousin Edward Bellamy (author of “Looking Backward” -the origin of the National Socialist movement).

    The original pledge began with a military salute that was then extended outward to point at the flag (thus the stiff-arm gesture came from the pledge and from the military salute). In practice the second gesture was performed palm-down (the classic Nazi gesture, adopted by Hitler later), not palm up, and photos and film footage show that children would simply point the original military salute at the flag.

    The pledge continues to be the source of Nazi behavior, and that Nazi-style behavior was displayed by the Mayor of Winter Garden, Florida (John Rees) who had a cop expel a man from a city council meeting because the man did not stand for the pledge. No one should stand for nor chant the Pledge of Allegiance. End the pledge.

  11. The progressive anti-american’s are changing our traditions and laws in which this country was founded on. They want to ” remake ” the country on their own terms. America will cease to be the beacon of freedom and hope. The progressive agenda of ” reform ” is in fact totalitarian control of the state over the individual.

  12. Wendy says:

    Kathleen, you need to brush up on your US history. First, those who founded our country wanted church and state separate, and spoke out about it consistently and constantly. Also, most of them were Deists, not Christians. HEY EVERYONE!!!! Our country was NOT founded on Christianity!!!!!!!!
    The REAL Pledge of Allegiance, written in 1892, was intended for use by any country, and was not just for America. It said, “I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” The pledge was re-written in 1954 by Eisenhower to include the words “under god.” Originally it was intended to have the arm extended, toward the flag, when reciting the portion,”to my flag”. In WWII, the Nazi’s adopted a similar salute, so it was changed to have your hand over your heart. If we must pledge, it must be all inclusive. Change it back to how it was intended to be done, or get rid of it. There are so many other ways to show you love your country. This distorted version of something that no longer holds true needs to stop.

  13. old granny says:

    The Pledge of Allegiance was originally composed by Francis Bellamy (interesting fellow) in 1892 as a pledge for students and not formally adopted by Congress as the pledge until 1942. In 1954 the phrase “Under God” was added during Eisenhower administration.
    – and well said Wendy

  14. msc545 says:

    The network is not obligated to air any content it doesn’t want to air and the pledge is not an exception.

    You are still abusing your access here by writing about your political views instead of what is going on in SCV. I don’t care about your politics, and I don’t care to read about them. How about some local topics like Daryl writes about ?

  15. Well stated Joe Messina. You did a great job with few words. Hat tip to you. And to those who are quivering in their shoes (made in China) about who wrote the pledge, I seriously doubt children feel like Nazi’s after they take their young hands off their loving hearts.

    For those who love trees more than humans, read the truth about Margeret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood who created the organization to destroy the black race. How many of our Black American friends know her diabolical plans.

    Yes, there are many ghosts in our nation’s closets. I for one, as an artist, desire to see all of our colors live in freedom the United States of America offers. We are a nation of (to many) laws, but a nation of quickly eroding freedoms too.

    Turn off Dancing with the Stars and pay attention. You in California have a larger problem with freedom than we in the Midwest, but things are not very Midwest around here these days as the ACLU and numerous government agencies keeps chopping down who we have been for generations. Still most of us hold our hands over our hearts and remove our hats as we wipe away a tear when the Star Spangled Banner is sung in our stadiums.

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