Pledge No Mo'

Judges of the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals,
in an official photograph released by the PICOC

"Federal" "judge" Lawrence K. Karlton in the People's Democratic Republic of Gerbilstan (PDRG, still known in some backward parts of the US as "California") has declared the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional. (Bow to Michelle Malkin.)

Here is the decision. I use scare quotes around "federal" above because it's not clear what nation or set of laws the Ninth Circuit is answerable to. It cites that black tool of bourgeois oppression, the US Constitution, in its decision, but it usually seems to answer to the vaporous whims of the rich gay Democrat population of Guevaragrad (formerly known as "San Francisco") and their political tools in Aztlatl City (once known as "Sacramento"), who seem to prefer laws based on whatever this week's pet social engineering scheme happens to be.

Ever full of that flighty, whacky sense of humor that gay communist Gerbilstanis are known for, the Ninth Circuit's Public Information and Community Outreach Committee ("PICOC")* released a bulletin "dispelling the notion of judicial activism" this week. It's a hoot:

[Senior District Judge William Shubb] thinks the current controversy over judicial activism had its start in a speech given last year by President George Bush. Criticizing a decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Court giving marriage rights to gay couples, President Bush said in February 2004, “If activist judges insist on re-defining marriage by court order, the only alternative will be the constitutional process.”

“To me, the significance of President Bush’s remarks was that they made it politically and socially acceptable to criticize the courts, to label judges who make unpopular decisions as ‘activists,’ and to blame the courts for what we think is wrong about society.”

Yes: Not only is Devil Dubya to blame for Global Warming and the concentration camps in southern Louisiana, he's also to blame for all that's wrong with our courts, thanks to his careless (and incompetently spoken) words. Remember: We must never criticize Those Who Are Above Criticism.

I suspect our soon-to-be new Chief Justice will have a busy year.

Monk

*Release was also approved by the Public Executive Notification Integration Section, the department of the Ninth Circuit responsible for ensuring ideological conformity and generally stiffening the PICOCs announcements against any backward thrusts.