Thread: John Mccain's Remarks About The Pledge Of Allegiance

Originally Posted by dg806

In light of the recent appeals court ruling in California, with respect to the Pledge of Allegiance, the following recollection from Senator John McCain is very appropriate:
"The Pledge of Allegiance" - by Senator John McCain
As you may know, I spent five and one half years as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. In the early years of our imprisonment, the NVA kept us in solitary confinement or two or three to a cell. In 1971 the NVA moved us from these conditions of isolation into large rooms with as many as 30 to 40 men to a room.


This was, as you can imagine, a wonderful change and was a direct result of the efforts of millions of Americans on behalf of a few hundred POWs 10,000 miles from home.
One of the men who moved into my room was a young man named Mike Christian.
Mike came from a small town near Selma, Alabama. He didn't wear a pair of shoes until he was 13 years old. At 17, he enlisted in the US Navy. He later earned a commission by going to Officer Training School Then he became a Naval Flight Officer and was shot down and captured in 1967. Mike had a keen and deep appreciation of the opportunities this country and our military provide for people who want to work and want to succeed.


As part of the change in treatment, the Vietnamese allowed some prisoners to receive packages from home. In some of these packages were handkerchiefs, scarves and other items of clothing.
Mike got himself a bamboo needle. Over a period of a couple of months, he created an American flag and sewed on the inside of his shirt.
Every afternoon, before we had a bowl of soup, we would hang Mike's shirt on the wall of the cell and say the Pledge of Allegiance.


I know the Pledge of Allegiance may not seem the most important part of our day now, but I can assure you that in that stark cell it was indeed the most important and meaningful event.
One day the Vietnamese searched our cell, as they did periodically, and discovered Mike's shirt with the flag sewn inside, and removed it.




That evening they returned, opened the door of the cell, and for the benefit of all of us, beat Mike Christian severely for the next couple of hours. Then, they opened the door of the cell and threw him in. We cleaned him up as well as we could.




The cell in which we lived had a concrete slab in the middle on which we slept. Four naked light bulbs hung in each corner of the room.




As I said, we tried to clean up Mike as well as we could. After the excitement died down, I looked in the corner of the room, and sitting there beneath that dim light bulb with a piece of red cloth, another shirt and his bamboo needle, was my friend, Mike Christian. He was sitting there with his eyes almost shut from the beating he had received, making another American flag. He was not making the flag because it made Mike Christian feel better. He was making that flag because he knew how important it was to us to be able to Pledge our allegiance to our flag and country.

So the next time you say the Pledge of Allegiance, you must never forget the sacrifice and courage that thousands of Americans have made to build our nation and promote freedom around the world.
You must remember our duty, our honor, and our country

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

dg308,

I wish you posted a link to this. (or did you?)

Anyway, what a load of crap.

This guy was killing civilians. He was captured.

That's what way it goes.

They should have taken him out to the firing squad.

Originally Posted by Big Smoothy

This guy was killing civilians. He was captured.

Originally Posted by Big Smoothy

Anyway, what a load of crap.

They were out of order.

So, you think that every soldier in Vietnam was killing civilians? You're the one full of shit. You have all the reasoning capabilities of a used tampon.

Dumb shit.

Originally Posted by Big Smoothy

dg308,

I wish you posted a link to this. (or did you?)

Anyway, what a load of crap.

This guy was killing civilians. He was captured.

That's what way it goes.

They should have taken him out to the firing squad.

DOMS and I are often of the same mind but equally often at odds over the perspectives of the issues but I gotta ask you ... why did you post this? Where did you get the idea that the man was killing non-combatants? None of that lame assed "Everyone knows it's true" kinda bullshit either ... source that statement. If you cannot source this then you are as DOMS has already mentioned ... a dumb shit.

Being that McCain performed bombing raids theres little doubt some civilians weren't hit by some of his strikes, the reason he was captured was because he got shot down, any pilot shot down was treated harshly, the only reason he was kept alive was because they found out his father was the CINCPAC, they offered to release him but he refused to be treated any different than the other POWs....after that he received severe punishment....

I find that to be one of the most noble actions during the Vietnam war....

Originally Posted by DOMS

They were out of order.

So, you think that every soldier in Vietnam was killing civilians? You're the one full of shit. You have all the reasoning capabilities of a used tampon.

Dumb shit.

What a great way to support your side of the argument...

While name calling may feel good, it never proves a point.

Originally Posted by Big Smoothy

dg308,

I wish you posted a link to this. (or did you?)

Anyway, what a load of crap.

This guy was killing civilians. He was captured.

That's what way it goes.

They should have taken him out to the firing squad.

little runt,
If you had taken the time to read the thread, you would have read that I recieved this in an email.
Why is it crap?

We were at war.....In war people die.

Thats the way it goes.

They should have nuked the whole place.

Originally Posted by Pianomahnn

What a great way to support your side of the argument...

While name calling may feel good, it never proves a point.

What arguement? He was spouting pure bullshit. To say that everyone involved in the Vietnam war killed is, as I've said, pure bullshit. Take, for example, the fact that not everyone involved in that war actaully used a weapon. Administrative personnel, doctors, chaplins, etc.

If you can't understand that his post isn't even deserving of a real argument, then it's your own fucking problem.

Originally Posted by Pianomahnn

What a great way to support your side of the argument...

While name calling may feel good, it never proves a point.

STFU dumbass! Go start another dumb thread in the training forum.

Originally Posted by DOMS

What arguement? He was spouting pure bullshit. To say that everyone involved in the Vietnam war killed is, as I've said, pure bullshit. Take, for example, the fact that not everyone involved in that war actaully used a weapon. Administrative personnel, doctors, chaplins, etc.

If you can't understand that his post isn't even deserving of a real argument, then it's your own fucking problem.

I got a weapon, and it's loaded.

Originally Posted by dg806

little runt,
If you had taken the time to read the thread, you would have read that I recieved this in an email.
Why is it crap?

We were at war.....In war people die. agreed

Thats the way it goes.

They should have nuked the whole place. you are an ass

.

Originally Posted by BigDyl

I got a weapon, and it's loaded.

With a barrel that short, you're not going to hit anything.

Originally Posted by maniclion

Being that McCain performed bombing raids theres little doubt some civilians weren't hit by some of his strikes,

Here is the answer to DOMS question.

Originally Posted by dg806

little runt,
If you had taken the time to read the thread, you would have read that I recieved this in an email.
Why is it crap?

We were at war.....In war people die.

Thats the way it goes.

They should have nuked the whole place.

Have you ever seen combat?


I doubt it.


So, killing 60 million would have helped, being that the USSR collapsed 16 years after the fall of the South Vietnamese government in an internecine struggle marred by 400 years of colonial meddling.


Read a history book.

Originally Posted by Big Smoothy

Here is the answer to DOMS question.

So, you know what his targets were?

Also, dropping bombs is a lot different walking upto a someone and putting a hole in them; which is what you implied.

Originally Posted by Jodi

As much as I agree with you saying its a mess with Bush, I still feel that voting should be done by what and who you believe in most and not who has the best chance. JMHO

AGREED.

Originally Posted by Big Smoothy

Have you ever seen combat?


I doubt it.


So, killing 60 million would have helped, being that the USSR collapsed 16 years after the fall of the South Vietnamese government in an internecine struggle marred by 400 years of colonial meddling.


Read a history book.

No, but I have trained with many military people. (Robin Sage)

IMO, when in war, you do what is necessary to win the war. Don't pussy foot around like we are doing in Iraq and what we did in SV. Go over there and clean house, and get out. Then you will have no more problems. I'm guessing you are a bleeding heart liberal by your posts??

Originally Posted by KelJu

.

You smell like an ass

Originally Posted by DOMS

Also, dropping bombs is a lot different walking upto a someone and putting a hole in them; which is what you implied.

I did NOT imply that.

Originally Posted by Big Smoothy

I did NOT imply that.

No but directly stated that a man who has spent FIVE years in a POW camp should have been exicuted for killing civies ... source that or retract it.

Originally Posted by Decker

Jeez dg, where do you find this stuff?

As for voting for McCain, look what the democrats have done in the last week in the House and then formulate a conclusion about the candidates:

"Among the bills passed this week was a boost to the federal minimum wage, an expansion of embryonic stem-cell research, a law allowing Medicare to negotiate with drug companies, a cut in student-loan interest rates, an implementation of port security rules, a move to recoup billions of dollars in lost royalties from oil and gas companies, and a rollback of tax breaks for that industry." http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011907R.shtml

Great, they're well on their way to creating another recession. Yay for the Dems.

Originally Posted by ALBOB

Great, they're well on their way to creating another recession. Yay for the Dems.

Originally Posted by KelJu

STFU dumbass! Go start another dumb thread in the training forum.

ROFLSKEETZ!