A Florida teacher has been suspended for five days without pay after forcing her students to say the Pledge of Allegiance. And rightly so.
“You are an American, and you are supposed to salute the flag,” she said. 
“In my classroom, everyone will do the pledge; no religion says that you can’t do the pledge. If you can’t put your hand on your heart, then you need to move out of the country.”
Such a patriotic attitude! (Insert comic German accent) “You vill obey und salute the government. Ve do not appreciate individual thought here!”
She still doesn’t understand what all the fuss is about, which means maybe this teacher should go back to school and take a remedial social studies class.
This is America — where we don’t force people to love the government. After all, of what use is a forced pledge? If someone forces you to say something against your will, what’s the point? How is it meaningful? Does the irony not hit people? “We are forcing you to pledge against your will — for freedom!!!”
The United States Supreme Court held that no one could be forced to say the pledge over fifty years ago in a case involving the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who persuasively argued that such a pledge violated their religious beliefs concerning worshiping objects or something. The child who this teacher forced to say the pledge was a Jehovah’s Witness, which makes this Florida teacher’s decision even worse.
I am always amused by patriots who want to force Americans to do things like this — which seem to me to be one of the most unAmerican thing you can do. Say the pledge because you mean it, and not because you have to. That’s true patriotism.
Romney ran on a platform he claimed was a “referendum on Obamacare” and lost. Cuccinelli in Virginia did the same thing and also lost yesterday. This is also after they tried 42 times to repeal it, and after they appealed it to the United States Supreme Court and lost.
How many times do you guys have to be hit over the head until you get it?
Of course, the Cuccinelli crowd is spinning this as if it was a win. “We did better than expected based on the polls,” they say. “Clearly this was because people didn’t like Obamacare.”
Had Cuccinelli won, they would have claimed it was about Obamacare and felt vindicated, saying “See? People don’t want Obamacare.” But he lost, and they’re still saying “See? People don’t want Obamacare.”
When you define the terms so that you win no matter what, you’re being dishonest and hypocritical.
Besides, given the GOP voter suppression going on, there may be another perfectly good explanation as to why the Democratic vote wasn’t as good as pollsters thought it would be.
Once more I am reminding everyone to vote today. Voting is literally the least you can do to be a good citizen.
And I am putting into practice what I preach.
No one in my precinct was running for Judge of Elections. That’s the person who is in charge of the voting machines in the precinct. He or she oversees the workers there, makes sure everyone gets to vote and is eligible, and otherwise makes sure things run smoothly.
So I have been standing at the poll, handing out a flyer asking people to write my name in.
I think this will be a very important position to have, especially if Pennsylvania’s new suppress-the-vote law is in effect by next year. We will need someone making sure that no one gets turned away who should be able to vote.
Aw, who am I kidding? I just want to be able to call myself “Judge Ventrella.”
Government is not them. Government is us. We the people. We are government. The people we elect work for us.
Tomorrow is election day. In some states, they are electing governors and other major state-wide races, but in most places (like here in Pennsylvania) there are only local races on the ballot.
What always shocks me are people who do not vote in any election who then complain about their politicians. This is even greater in the off year elections where turnout is quite small.
When we the people get out and vote, Democrats do very well. That is because most people agree with the Democratic party’s positions.
The problem is that the people most likely to vote are rich, white, and elderly — pretty much, the only demographic left in the Republican party.
So in 2008, Obama and a bunch of Democrats are swept into office. Then in 2010, many people stay at home and the Republicans win big. The Democrats return in 2012 and Obama wins bigger than expected, and many Republicans lose their seats. Expect Democrats to probably lose seats in 2014 too. (If the 2014 race were tomorrow, Democrats would do great because everyone is mad at Republicans right now, but anything can happen in a year.)
Every election is important. Especially these off year ones. In a local race, your vote is tremendously meaningful, as people win these things by just a few votes all the time.
“But the election is just for Clerk of Courts, County Commissioner, and Dog Catcher,” you complain. “Who cares? Why does it matter?”
It does matter. These people affect your lives daily. Whether the corner streetlight gets fixed or your local taxes go up definitely are important to you. Not only that, you can call these people on the phone and they will talk to you. (Try doing that with your Senator or the President). Your views will be directly heard and paid attention to.
It is also important for your party. Yeah, in some ways it doesn’t matter if the local Register of Deeds is a Democrat or a Republican, but by electing more people from your party, it benefits the party. Each person elected takes with them supporters, lists of donors, and friends who will be there for the next election. Each helps the power “trickle up” to help get more people from the party elected at larger levels. It does matter.
If you’re reading this blog, you’re a political person. You have views and opinions. Make those views matter. Vote. Always vote. No matter how small the election.
Today is the day that the United States starts cutting food stamps for the most needy among us.
Most people on food stamps are not lazy moochers — most work full time for minimum wage. 
That’s right — you and I are subsidizing McDonald’s. Not only do we pay subsidies to meat producers to keep the cost of meat cheaper than the cost of a salad, but we also are helping McDonald’s make record profits by picking up the slack for people who cannot afford basic necessities on a McDonald’s salary. (Note: I am using McDonald’s as an example; feel free to plug in whichever minimum wage place you wish.)
Republicans, who just spent billions on the government shutdown, feel that we just can’t afford it. So instead of cutting corporate subsidies, they attack those who actually need our taxpayer money. Instead of raising dollars by increasing the tax burden on the super-rich who can afford it, we’ll instead cut a few pennies from the super-poor.
And of course many Democrats also take the blame, because they don’t want to cut the corporate subsidies either — after all, that’s where their campaign money comes from. None of those McDonald’s workers help them get elected, but McDonald’s Super PAC can make a big difference at election time.
ventrellaquest.com 