By now, everyone whose zip code is not in Middle Earth or Narnia knows that NBC took some liberties with the Pledge of Allegiance.  During NBC’s coverage of The U.S. Open golf tournament.  They produced and played a patriotic montage of school children reciting the pledge.  The words “Under God” were edited out both times the clip was aired.  They apologized for this after being deluged by phone calls, emails, and criticism from reasonable, “Fair and Balanced” news agencies.  What has gotten lost in the haze of outrage by the viewers is that this is the second time this spring that NBC has pulled this stunt. 

On May 12th, NBC aired one of the season’s final episodes of their hit show, “The Office”.  In the episode “Dwight K. Schrute (Acting) Manger” is temporarily promoted to the post of “Regional Manager”.  As part of his new regime, Dwight forced his underlings to start the day by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.  As the employees are reciting the pledge, the camera tightly focuses on the character Oscar Martinez.  As the rest of the office recites the words, “Under God,” Oscar stands mute; a silent protest to the offending words.  

Oscar is never portrayed as a buffoon in the mold of Tim Taylor of “Home Improvement” fame or Doug Heffernan from the “King of Queens”.  Oscar is often the most intelligent and rational person in the office. To have the omission come from the smartest guy in the room means a whole lot more than if it came from his fellow cast member “Kevin Malone.”  In the case of Kevin’s character, he is intellectually closer to Lenny from “Of Mice and Men” than he is Einstein. 

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Most 12-step programs start out by requiring that people understand that they’re powerless over their addiction and that only by turning their lives over to a Power greater than themselves can they be restored to sanity.  Far be it for me to suggest that I am that Power, but clearly someone has to step in and try to rescue these poor liberal souls.  Even the most harebrained among them deserves that much.

First, though, they have to acknowledge that Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, John Murtha, Dick Durbin, Charles Rangel, Harry Reid and Charles Schumer, are not moderates, but, rather, leftists with a Socialist agenda.  Furthermore, they must recognize that the New York Times, the Washington Post, the L.A. Times, CNN, the three major networks, the news magazines and the New Yorker, are not objective in their reporting of political events, and neither are Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann and Bill Maher, in their commentary.  If these entities and individuals are not on the payroll of the DNC, they certainly should be.  They certainly put in longer hours than Howard Dean. (more…)