The history of the Pledge shows that it is not, and never was, a pledge set in stone. It has been controversial since it began and continues to be so today. During its lifetime, it has been changed four times. The origin of the Pledge also was never intended as an oath of loyalty. It was designed to encourage people to buy more flags from one particular flag-making company.

Read the rest of my article at The Daily Censored.

Jonah has made a very short follow up video letting folks know he’s okay.

“He (the boy) says he didn’t do it, and the little girl says he didn’t do it. The little girl says he touched the back of one of her buttocks,” Cooper said.

“(The experts say) a 6-year-old child is unable to intellectually and emotionally associate sexual gratification with the act that D has been accused of committing,” Cooper said.

The lawsuit also alleges the charges were brought because the 5-year-old is the daughter of a high-ranking official in Grant County.

It may have been a mistake, but there are serious HIPAA violation implications for the law firm.

Video 2:

Video 3:

“It is tragic what we do in the poorest neighborhoods, entrapping children in child laws which are truly stupid,” Gingrich said. “Saying to people you shouldn’t go to work before you’re 14, 16. You’re totally poor, you’re in a school that’s failing with a teacher that’s failing.”

“I tried for years to have a very simple model. These schools should get rid of unionized janitors, have one master janitor, pay local students to take care of the school. The kids would actually do work; they’d have cash; they’d have pride in the schools. They’d begin the process of rising.”

No, what would happen is you would create more working class poor because the children would spend all their time cleaning and have no time for education. Why would anyone in the twenty-first century advocate indentured servitude?

If you get rid of the janitors, the students might pick up the trash. More than likely, they won’t. These children also should not be tasked with cleaning up puke. Nor should they be required to clean up the feces that gets smeared on the bathroom walls, stalls and toilets. Who is going to train these children in HVAC repair? What about water treatment for the school’s water system? Are these children truly strong enough to handle the machines needed to strip, repair and re-wax gymnasium floors? Does Newt Gingrich really think that children who spend all their time completing these tasks will have the time or energy left that would be required for an actual education?

“Go out and talk to people who are really successful in one generation,” Gingrich said. “They all started their first job at 9 to 14 years of age. They are selling newspapers, going door to door, washing cars. They were all making money at a very young age. What do we say to poor kids in poor neighborhoods? Don’t do it.

Yes, these are non-skilled jobs. A child can still do these jobs. There are no restrictions on it. Neighborhood children still come around to mow lawns and shovel snow. No one has restricted them from doing these simple jobs.

Remember all the stuff about not getting a hamburger-flipping job? Worst possible advice to give the poor children.”

Yes, Mr. Gingrich. We tell children that they don’t want to flip burgers their entire life because they will never get ahead and remain poor. Doing this in high school, however, is perfectly acceptable and continues to be practiced to this day. Many college students also flip burgers to help pay the bills while in college. No one has ever told a poor child to not work flipping burgers. They’ve been told to not do it until they are 16 and are able to handle the responsibility of both attending high school while holding down a job.

If this is the GOP vision for the future of America, we need to ensure that they do not get elected or else many people will be emigrating elsewhere in the near future.

Bob O’Grady being arrested in the San Diego Civic Center Plaza for laying inside of his sleeping bag to stay warm while a group of non-violent occupiers from San Diego, Los Angeles, Irvine, Encinitas, and other transplants from various locations across the US pow-wow under an erected U.S. flag in the heart of the plaza; in celebration of Veteran’s Day. SDPD uses excessive force to apprehend Bob, a SDPD officer uses a choking technique I never knew was legal in the continuum of force ladder. That must come after using a closed fist to assault the suspect in the face.

From OccupyCal, the police tell the protesters that the grass is closed.

At about 11:30 a.m. yesterday, a police officer told me and about eight other students that, and I quote, “the grass is closed.” We were going to sit under a tree and discuss things, and two police officers were watching us vigilantly to make sure we didn’t suddenly do something violent like try to put up tents. As we moved towards the tree, the first police officer stepped up and informed us that we could not walk from the broad concrete steps of Sproul Hall, where about a hundred people were sitting and talking, and sit on the grassy area just to the north of it. “The grass is closed,” she said.

Students often eat lunch on this stretch of grass, yet, at this particular moment, the police decided that it was now off limits to the students, simply because they had the power to say so.

To make things more interesting, it immediately transpired that the other police officer had, in fact, already given them permission to sit on the grass. And in an instant, the arbitrariness of the rule was made evident and undeniable.

I said to her, in as level and direct a tone as I could manage, “This is why we don’t trust you.” And she again elected to say nothing. She didn’t have to. The truth of power, in this situation, is that the policy is what the police will use their force to enforce. They don’t have to have a legitimate reason, nor are they embarrassed when it is shown that the “grass is closed” only because someone with authority said so. And the grass only became open because someone with more authority said so. Such people are not to be trusted.

These are not abstractions or “power” as a theoretical concept. This was power made frighteningly manifest, on the bodies of human beings who did not obey a police order to get off the grass, the very exact same grass I was talking about earlier.

At UC Berkeley, the police physically assaulted several protesters.

Celeste Langan, a campus associate professor of English and one of the protesters arrested Wednesday afternoon, said in an email that she knew that what she was doing by participating in the human chain was a form of nonviolent resistance, knew that she was disobeying the police order to disperse and knew that her participation made her subject to arrest. But, she said, she expected the police would arrest the protesters “in a similarly non-violent manner.”

“Rather than take my wrist or arm, the police grabbed me by my hair and yanked me forward to the ground, where I was told to lie on my stomach and was handcuffed,” Langan said in the email. “They could have taken the time to arrest us for refusal to disperse without violence, but instead seem to have been instructed to get to the tents as quickly as possible. Since the tents posed no immediate threat to public safety, their haste and level of force were unwarranted.”

Chancellor Robert Birgeneau later sent out an email stating that, because the protesters were linked together, it was not considered a non-violent protest and the police were justified by their actions.

The protesters knew there was a good chance they would be arrested and, since they were non-violent, they felt they would be arrested in a non-violent way as well. Things, however, turned out much differently than they had expected.

For UC Berkeley graduate student Alex Barnard, the most disempowering moment of Wednesday night was not when he was repeatedly hit with a police baton, cracking one of his ribs. Instead, the most disturbing moment of his experience came afterward, when he says an officer told him he had “no rights.”

According to Barnard, who was arrested along 31 others as part of Wednesday night’s Occupy Cal demonstration, after he was handcuffed with a zip tie and taken into Sproul Hall, a police officer asked him for identifying information. Rather than immediately answering, Barnard said he asked the officer about his rights and when he would be allowed to speak to a lawyer. It was then that the officer told him he had no rights and, after Barnard disputed the statement, said he would be recorded as “uncooperative” on his police forms, according to Barnard.

“You didn’t have a voice,” Barnard said.

According to UCPD Capt. Margo Bennett, the identification process Barnard described is completely different from any kind of interview or interrogation process and is not involved with the right to have an attorney present. She said she was not aware of the exchange described by Barnard but said it is not the kind of exchange the department wants officers and arrestees to have.

You don’t have any rights. You aren’t supposed to talk with the police. Just do whatever they tell you. The important thing to remember is that, even though the police tell you that you have no rights, you do. You need to know what they are before you get into a situation like this and do not let the police intimidate you. If you are arrested, there are rights that go with it, despite the power abuse from the police who say otherwise. The 1% doesn’t want you there and they are more than happy to allow the police to behave in this manner so long as the police are protecting them.

Bechtol complained last spring that school was forcing him to obtain a debit card issued by financial firm Higher One, and that his personal information would be shared with the company. When he did, he said he immediately began receiving credit card spam, which directly inspired his Facebook comment.

After being left with no other choice, he was forced to activate the card. That’s when he got angry.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Connecticut-based Higher One works with hundreds of schools to create combination student ID cards/debit cards that can be used for direct deposit of financial aid funds. The cards can also be used to withdraw cash or make purchases. There have been frequent complaints that the school cards carry higher fees than traditional ATM cards. On many campuses, students are charged 50 cents for each “debit” card purchase at retail outlets in which they enter their PIN codes for verification — known as PIN-debit purchases, as opposed to signature-debit. ATM withdrawals at non-Higher One cash machines cost $2.50.

The cards offer some advantages for both students and school. Similar to debit cards used to deliver unemployment benefits or other government payments, the cards are far cheaper than mailing checks. And recipients have quicker access to the funds.

But confusion over debit-vs-credit purchases, and a $19 “abandoned account” non-use fee that hits after nine months, have irritated users.  The idea that a private firm is getting a cut of financial aid payments through debit card fees should also raise eyebrows.

This is an insidious use of the card by Higher One. The student has no choice but to use the card and, when they don’t use the card, they are then charged fees for not using the card.

But the chief concern about forcing students to use ID cards with MasterCard logos should be obvious: Why start kids down the credit/debit card route before it’s necessary? And why get them used to the nickel and diming?

According to FIRE, Becthol isn’t completely out of trouble yet.

Despite CVCC’s decision to rescind Bechtol’s punishment, problems remain, as Bechtol is still required to notify the college before using computers on campus. CVCC also has failed to revise the unconstitutional policy it used to punish him and has not rescinded its claim that the Facebook comment was a policy violation.

While Bechtol’s comment about vandalizing the school is not appropriate, and wasn’t even serious, the entire incident brings attention to how intrusive schools and companies associated with them have become. If a student does not want this combination ID, there should be another solution, such as a paper check or a direct transfer into a student’s personal account that they established on their own. Forcing them to use a company that they do not want to do business with should never be an option.

These combination cards are also not a good idea because they are a student’s ID, meal plan card, and an ATM card. If a single person in this chain makes a mistake, the student is then forced to pay overage charges. For example, say a student only has $100 left in his account and the person scanning the card for a meal accidentally puts in $1000, it is the student who has to fix the problem.

If a school is going to force these cards on its students, there needs to be an opt-out. A mandated checking account from a specific financial institution by the school should not be a requirement to attend college.

The playground gates are locked, infrared cameras patrol 24/7 and two adults maintain vigilance while 220 Community Christian School children leave the grounds each day. Cedar Canyon Elementary School has 12 to 15 adults outside the school after every school day as children are picked up by parents or loaded onto buses. Cedar Canyon Principal Betty Smith locks the front gate to the schoolyard nightly.

The actions are not a response to any single incident but prudent precautions in a wayward world, Community Christian School Principal Chris Geary said.

“We know we live in a sin-sick world,” Geary said. “(The precautions) help our families feel secure. We just try to be vigilant.”

While the schools are responsible for students during school hours and it is good that the schools want to ensure student safety, doing something to make parents feel secure does nothing to actually make anyone more safe or more secure.

Being vigilant may be noble, but all the extra security since this little girl was murdered is still missing the point. She was never taken to school, so there was never a chance that school officials would have seen her on that fateful day. She also was not taken by a stranger as most people feared. The fact remains that children who are abused and/or murdered often find the perpetrator to be a family member or someone close to the family.

In the Minitare Public School District, they are going beyond vigilant and into the realm  of paranoia.

“The discussion at the developmental meeting next week will be to be aware, remember as many kids as you can and ask for help from other parents in being aware of surroundings.”

The district would like to install more cameras than it already has in place. Since much of the public funding has dried up for security cameras, Cody said he would welcome someone stepping forward to donate the equipment.

Asking parents to be aware of surrounds is akin to “see something say something.” It creates fear and panic when it isn’t necessary. Installing more cameras instills an atmosphere of distrust. It indicates that every single person who comes near the school is automatically a suspect whose every move must be watched and scrutinized.

“My concern as administrator is that situations will occur; we can’t control everything,” Cody said. “We’ll do the best we can do to keep students safe as long as they are on our property. We can only control the things we can control. That would go for all school districts.”

This is the sensible approach. Unfortunately, it’s buried at the end of the story where most people won’t see or read it because they’re too busy being afraid of the first part of the story. There is no way for a school district to control everything. You cannot predict how people are going to behave, nor can you completely control their behavior even when they are on your property. If this were possible, there would be no incidents of bullying, racism, or fighting at school.

Most adults know and understand when something is out of place and when it’s nothing to be concerned about. Creating a permanent atmosphere of fear and panic in people, particularly parents, only results in freedoms lost and innocent lives at risk. Protecting children is never a bad thing, but ignoring the facts of who really hurts children only results in adult lives being destroyed due to misguided accusations.

Denys Lopez Moreno sued the Northside Independent School District, of San Antonio, the district’s Chief of Police John Page and the alleged shooter, Daniel Alvarado, in Federal Court.

Lopez says her son, Derek, got into a fight with another boy at a school bus stop and punched the other boy once, in November 2010.

“Defendant, Alvarado, having responded to a call regarding a bus with a flat tire, witnessed Derek strike the other boy. He ordered Derek to ‘freeze.’ Derek hesitated and then ran from defendant Alvarado,” according to the complaint.

“In his patrol car, Alvarado began chasing Derek in the neighborhood across the street from the high school. Alvarado lost sight of the boy in the neighborhood and returned to the location of the school boy fight. At that time, he called dispatch. Dispatch recordings reflect that his supervisor directed Alvarado to stay with the other boy and to ‘not do any big search over there.’

“Ignoring his supervisor’s orders to ‘stay with the victim and get the information from him,’ Alvarado placed the second boy into the patrol car and sped into the neighborhood to search for Derek.”

Lopez says her son jumped over a fence and hid in a shed in the back yard of a house.

The police were alerted to where Lopez was, at which point, Alvarado went to the area and shot the boy who was unarmed and still hiding.

“In approximately a four (4) year period leading up to the shooting, defendant Alvarado had been reprimanded sixteen (16) times,” the complaint states. “Specifically, he had been reprimanded for insubordination and failure to follow supervisors’ directives seven (7) times. Due to his poor service record, Alvarado was suspended without pay on five (5) occasions. On May 21, 2008, Alvarado was recommended for termination by Page. Despite being recommended for termination for insubordination and for refusal to follow supervisor directives, Alvarado remained on the force without remedial training.”

Rather than fire Alvarado, the district transferred him to patrol, “an area of duty with less supervision,” according to the complaint.

If these allegations are true, then the police department is in some serious trouble for allowing a person such as Alvarado to remain in his position for so long.