Well, if those two wants of his were expressed during his campaign, then he would not win.

They inserted "under God" in the pledge in the 1950's. It had something to do with distinguishing ourselves from the Communists wh were proud aethiests.

Personally I am notparticularly a fan of the pledge. I have no allegiance to the flag. My allegiance is "to the republic for which it stands, one nation (under God) indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Makes me wonder about Rick Perry secessionist talk. Does he say the plege?

A muslim president would bother me big time. Our country is based on one nation under God not allah. I wouldn't vote for a atheiest either. But that's just me.

Then would you have voted for Benjamin Franklin if you had the oppotunity since he usually referred to Providence or Destiny instead of God? In addition, would you otherwise vote for an Orthodox Jew who still refer to God as Yahweh?

Really? A Muslim would bother you? Specifically because they believe in Allah? Or an atheist because they don't believe in any god??

As DT pointed out, there is no nation under God. The original pledge did not have the word God. It was one nation, indivisible. The founding fathers made sure that there was separation of church and state. They came here seeking religious freedom because they had been oppressed.

Who are we to point fingers at whose religion is acceptable? Just as JFK's Catholicism or Romney's Mormonism shouldn't be an issue. The only issue is extremism, when a person's beliefs cloud there ability to think. That bothers me. Not much else about a person's religious beliefs do.

The number of Americans who have fallen into poverty rose to 15.1 percent in 2010, the highest level in nearly two decades, the Census Bureau said Tuesday in a report.

The report, which showed the poverty rate rose for a third straight year as the economy struggles with a stumbling recovery and persistent high joblessness, said the number of poor Americans in 2010 was the largest in the 52 years that it has been publishing poverty estimates, according to Reuters.

There were 46.2 million people in poverty in 2010, up from 43.6 million in 2009 ─ the fourth consecutive annual increase in the figure.

We've been heading to a have-have not society for a long time now, and the middle class is disappearing. Not a good thing for anyone of any political stripe.

What about a Buddhist or a Hindu?

I think Mig is probably speaking for the majority of the country in saying she would not vote for a Muslim for president.

Watching the 9/11 rembrances Sunday it amazed me that the name of the man who succeeded George Bush is Barack Hussein Obama. He is not a muslim, but it is a muslim name, so thats saying something.

I have no doubt Bush was a true believer in Christianity, but I am not so sure about presidents like Reagan and Obama, who pay lip service to it almost because they have to. Reagan almost never went to church on sunday and neither does Obama.

That's because Reagan thought he was God.

You'd think it was the other way around the way they deify him these days.

Whoa! What's a Muslim name? How is a name's religious affiliation determined? Sammy Davis, Jr. was born to Catholic/Protestant parents and then converted to Judaism. Given his first name, do you figure he was bringing his religion in line with that name?

Yeah, I think Don T meant to say Arabic name.

From Wikipedia:

Hussein is an Arabic name which is the diminutive of Hassan, meaning "good", "handsome" or "beautiful". It is commonly given as a male given name, particularly among Shias, in honor of Hussein ibn Ali. In some Persian sources the forms osayn, Hosayn, or Hossein is used.On the Subcontinent or South Asia, the form used is "Hussain" or "Hossain" in the Bengal region.

Still PB, even if he meant an Arabic name, what's the point? Both my first name and my middle name and my last name are those there Mafia names. Uh oh! People better watch out for me.

jimmy gabriel siegelbaum?

ron paul would kick his ass

Perry made sure he had hold of Paul's gun hand.

Oli, I know you've mentioned Perry and his mandate about vaccinating 12 year old girls. What did you think of his response to Bachmann last night?

I think it was disingenuous. He used the term "we" as if his decision to issue the related executive order was a collective decision of some sort. He also stated that it could have been handled better. First of all, he issued the executive order, not anyone else. As far as handling it goes, it's like "duh!", how about asking the Legislature to pass a law to accomplish the same thing. He's a crook. The "we" he referred to is he and Merck.

In what could be a harbinger of next year's election, Republicans won House special electons in New York and Nevada. The New York victory was surprising since it took place in a heavily Democratic district.

Its been 92 years since a Republican won that seat in NY, I understand.

It certainly didn't help the Democrats that the reason for the New York election was an erection.... Anthony Weiner.

I don't quite understand this but I thought I read that that particular area was going to be "redistricted" and will not be primarily Dem anymore. Don't quite understand it.


TIS

It is TIS, but that won't take effect until the 2012 election.

How could a Democratic Governor and legislature redraw district lines to allow for a GOP seat? Do they have Fredo doing the gerrymandering?

Well, the redristrict doesn't apply until next year's election.

I doubt the redistricting has anything to do with it. Queens is probably the biggest "melting pot" of ethnicities in the entire country, and it's residents, as a whole, are overwhelmingly Democrats. A Democrat shouldn't have lost in ANY Queens district, let alone Forest Hills.

My job took me to that area constantly. I was a union rep for the funeral directors at a chapel on Queens Boulevard, just off Union Turnpike. I know the area and the people well, and I'm absolutely SHOCKED about this. I didn't even put stock in any of the polls that had Weprin trailing. I thought it was a lot of hot air. But I was wrong.

I'm not sure if this is a harbinger for Obama, but it's definitely a warning, at the very least.

Again, be sure to understand redistricting. The President provided the Congress and state legislatures with the 2010 census data in January. Although not yet necessary, state legislatures should have redistricted by now or be well on their way to doing so. The new district lines should be avaialble to voters starting early next year for the primaries and ultimately the general election in November. However, House members elected from the new districts will not take office until 2013.

I understand that, Oli. And I really do appreciate the way you take the time to put things in layman's terms for those of us who aren't as well acquainted with Federal Law as you are. And I mean that .

But unless they just redistricted the Borough of Queens to include Texas, there's just no way a Republican should have won that seat.

The 9th District election is going to be a big problem for the President. It's going to be hard to raise money from the wealthy liberals in New York now that they've had this shock so close to home.