The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional because it contains the words “under God” - good! Here are the comments I made over at Plastic about this:

My boss mentioned this to me a few minutes ago and seemed genuinely horrified, but he’s ex-Coast Guard. I refused to say the pledge in high school for two reasons: first, because I wasn’t particularly patriotic, and also because I’m an atheist. (Actually, I tried not to say it in seventh grade, and the teacher yelled at me.) I was always quiet and respectful while others said the pledge, but I never stood and said it myself.

So when can we get In God We Trust taken off money? I find that equally inappropriate as the “under God” bit.

I’m looking forward to seeing what Americans United for Separation of Church and State has to say about this.



Update, 5:09pm Someone at Plastic graciously provided me with links to both the history of our national motto and evidence indicating it’s not going away anytime soon.

Well damn. Last night my girlfriend brought home (and my mother e-mailed me) a Washington Post article about a seder at Gallaudet that’s being held tonight, so I quickly found the address of someone involved and e-mailed asking if I could come. My parents invited me to their seder, but I’ll be in Charleston that day so I figured this was a great alternative. Unfortunately it seems I missed the RSVP deadline - the note I got said there were flyers all over campus (I only ever go in one building, and only sometimes look at the bulletin boards) and an e-mail was sent to the Gally community (I’m not a full-time student, so I don’t get those e-mails). Apparently they’re already stretching the fire code and can’t take any more people, but I did write back and ask to be put on the Gallaudet Hillel mailing list for later events. I’m still pretty disappointed, but I am looking forward to the Fiesta on Saturday.

We did see the movie last night, and to be honest I’m not sure if I liked it or not. Well, I know I liked it because it presented interesting information I couldn’t have gotten any other way, but I’m not sure if it was good. Every one of the gay Orthodox Jews profiled has suffered so greatly. It did prompt me to want to better understand my Jewish heritage again, but I still don’t know where to start. We have a mezuzah in our house but it’s not done according to tradition. I am very out of it today. My brain is just not working. I did get my membership number for Starfleet though.

Here is some of the nice jewelry I’ve been finding. I’m greedy. Buy this stuff for me. (Please.)



Pink Triangle Star of David

Sterling Silver Star Outline with Blue Enamel

Tiny Gold Star of David Earrings

Matte/Shiny Sterling Silver Star of David

Star of David with Heart and Chai



Okay, I’m going to go play my Tony Hawk game now.

Any other Jewish queers running around? I found a nice little site for people like me. It even includes instructions for making your own rainbow kippot! (Shhh, I’m still figuring out what a kippot is. Seems to be a boy’s thing but there are also nice ones for women.)



I am becoming more interested in my Jewish heritage recently for some reason. I was raised Unitarian Universalist but I find myself wanting to wear a Star of David necklace or something. Of course that’s a terribly meaningless gesture, but I’m still interested in it. My girlfriend and I saw some neat mezuzot in a store near where we live and she’s quite happy to have one up at the entrance to our house. We have been looking at poesy rings and I found some in Hebrew but we don’t really like any of the sentiments on those.



I am feeling okay today. I woke up miserable again after sleeping with ice packs all night, but I brought three to work. I am mostly using them on my hands, but my face needs it a bit too and my feet are swollen. I want to go across the street and get some lo mein and fried rice (it’s sickeningly expensive at $4.95/pound, but good) but my feet hurt! So I am trying using the ice packs on my feet…just taking off my shoes and resting my feet on the pack on the floor. My boss and the engineer are here today but our president is at a funeral and he’s the one that really makes things tense for me every day so I am okay. Hey wait, I just realized why I’m okay - I didn’t take my dexedrine so I am too hyper to notice being upset. Okay, cool…usually it makes me more frustrated but with W gone today I am doing okay. I did take my Allegra and some more steroids.