I don’t recognize him, but I think he has freelance lunatic written all over him.

And then there’s this AP wire story, about an african-american reporter being tossed out of a McCain rally.  I don’t know how long the particular link will last.

He needs to chill on the meth.

He’s a public citizen, yet he won’t give his name.

Wouldn’t anonymity be something more suited to a private citizen?

But there I go again, disrespecting the flag by not opening this comment with the Pledge of Allegiance.

Nice laptop, a circa 1999 ibook.

Stunted development alert.  I didn’t realize how creepy watching adults say the Pledge of Allegiance was until now.  Next rally he may demand that the press buddy up as they head to recess, like they learned in first grade.

It’s also pretty creepy that we have children who don’t understand what they’re saying make an oath to a graven image.  I’m not sure whether it’s simply the fact that six-year-olds are forced to make a fucking blood oath every morning at school that creeps me out, or the fact that they’re making this oath to an inanimate object that was probably manufactured in China by other six-year-olds.

If we must have a Pledge of Allegiance, why not pledge allegiance to the actual country, rather than a piece of cloth?  Sure, there’s the “to the republic for which it stands” line, but it really seems like an afterthought to the oath of loyalty to the flag, a rectangle of fabric.  This isn’t even getting into the religious ideas contained in the pledge that’s supposedly being made to a secular nation.

“I pledge allegiance to the United States of America, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” Sounds ok to me.

John Quinn of Parma

I love the fact the Republicans hold up the pledge as semi-holy, even though it was written by a flaming Socialist. A self-admitted one, not the fake straw-man kind.

Methinks Mr. Quinn is going to be enjoying the attention of the United States Secret Service and, if his press credentials were in any way fraudulently obtained, the United States Justice Department.

So, Ben D., what you’re saying is that the Pledge was written by someone who’s almost as far to the left as bomb-throwing radical Balack Hussein Obama?

More proof of the traitorous fifth column, I’d say.

Not only that, Jrod. It was written by an UNMARRIED, CARD-CARRYING SOCIALIST WOMAN!

And she was also inspired by the FRENCH Revolution when she wrote it. And we know about FRENCH things, don’t we?

Ben you’re being sarcastic and know Francis with that conspicuous letter I usually denotes a guy, right?

Yes, I’m being completely sarcastic.  I’m aware he was male, I was just in “Republican attack ad” mode.

Just wanted to clarify.  My snark detector is off right now.

So, not only was the pledge written by a socialist, the “under God” part was added by a bunch of Catholics.

Have the rethugs been pledging their allegiance at all events?

Really?

No wonder - they worship the flag, but shit on the Constitution.

http://sunartist.com./about.htm

Huh.  Well, a few hundred years ago some people believed that a witch would be incapable of reciting the Lord’s Prayer — maybe that’s his angle, trying to see who bursts into flame, revealing themselves as America-hating Muslim Commie Fascists.

Smadin has won the thread. You owe me a new keyboard!

“Methinks Mr. Quinn is going to be enjoying the attention of the United States Secret Service and, if his press credentials were in any way fraudulently obtained, the United States Justice Department.”

I suspect you’re confused.  Obama is a Democrat, which is the Not-Republican party. 

McCain is the candidate of the Republican Party — so it would only be natural for the USSS and the DOJ to ruin somebody’s life for going off the script at a McCain “town hall meeting”.  There have been people removed from Republican events for having the “wrong” bumper sticker — let alone actually speaking and interrupting the carefully scripted proceedings.  He would have been lucky not to have been tased while being dragged out the door.

However, since Obama is a Not-Republican, I suspect that nut could have been, oh, let’s say visibly “equipped” to cause “terminal” mischief, and the Secret Service (unless they’ve finally tightened up and decided to take Obama’s life seriously) might not have noticed or even cared…

I remember this guy’s hometown of Parma being an odd affluent conservative Catholic little village even when OH was a consistently Democratic state.  Well-off children and grandchildren of Ukrainian immigrants who doubted that the U.S. had taken the right side in WWII.  Heaven knows what it’s like now.

The pledge was originally intended to force people to repudiate the Confederacy--"one nation indivisible.” Adding the “under god” part rather changed the emphasis.

He reminds me coach Losberger, an old PE instructor at the high school I attended.  I had first period PE during my senior year.  With just weeks left on the school calender, and after 12 years of robotic recitation every fucking morning of every school year, it finally dawned I didn’t have to do it.  So I stayed seated, and politely refused his command to stand and deliver.  He was livid.  On the way to the vice principal’s office, he actually said that I should go back to Russia, and it made him sick that “good marines” had died on my behalf.  We bumped into the VP outside the teacher’s lounge.  The coach launched into an outraged explanation.  The VP heard him out, turned to me and prompted, “You won’t do it again, will you, Jim”? (we had dealt with other on prior occasions).  I replied, “No”, and he immediately spun on his heels and disappeared into the lounge.  It was over.  I’ll never forget the incredulous look on Losberger’s face, or his wounded, plaintive cry of “Wally!” (the VP’s name) as he followed him through the door.  Unless I had joined the Marine Corps and gone on to win a medal of honor, I couldn’t have scripted a more perfect ending.

I love that his rationale is that the event was billed as a town hall meeting and he was interjecting a point of order.  Dude, it’s a “town hall meeting” not THE town hall meeting.

What a maroon.

I don’t suppose that declaring yourself a “public citizen” has anything in common with declaring yourself a “flesh and blood man” in court, does it?

Just wondering.

“However, since Obama is a Not-Republican, I suspect that nut could have been, oh, let’s say visibly “equipped” to cause “terminal” mischief, and the Secret Service (unless they’ve finally tightened up and decided to take Obama’s life seriously) might not have noticed or even cared.”

I have a friend whose husband is with the Secret Service and has protected Obama.  This is unfair; they most certainly take their responsibilities around Obama seriously.  It is not their fault that he is at more risk (sadly) and they work very hard to keep him safe.

This idiot can’t be blamed on the Secret Service.  He is an actual news photographer, in addition to his full-time gig as an obnoxious jackass.

JL, I’m waiting for that call where I hear that my son is not bothering with the recitation.  I think they know better than to ask at his school, despite all the jingoistic confusion of making kids sing idiotic and crass country songs with actual Patriotism.

He avoided the whole singing of “proud to be an amurukin” by playing teachers off each other for some vaguely defined stage duty.  Another son, faced with a song he hated for a grade 2 Memorial Day concert, got several of his friends to segue into Midnight Oil’s “My Country” at a key time, ultimately forcing the music teacher to drop the number from the program. 

When my older son entered Kindergarten, I asked him about his day.  He told me about jobs being assigned, the gathering circle, reading time and ... THE FLAG PRAYER.  I had to suppress hysterical laughter.

When my brother was in first grade, he did the pledge once and only once.  When the teacher asked my Mom about it, she had no clue, so they asked him.  His response: I already pledged.  I said it ... I meant it.  You don’t have to do it again!

Duh!

Ellen, I don’t know whether they are diligent or not.  I do know there was an incident earlier in the year where they just stopped searching people entering an Obama event, which at least the left bloggosphere noticed.

I also know the federal government has been subject to 7 1/2 years of Goodling-ization, and we already know a fraction of the evil that was done in the DOJ as a result.  And given all of the other shenanigans, it would be shocking if the DOJ was the only place where politics was more important than the rule of law and doing the right thing.  It is very easy to believe the Secret Service did not escape this fate.

When the Bushites came into office, their first goal (after cutting taxes and starting another war with Iraq) was to discredit government.  They succeeded beyond anybody’s expectations.  Mission Accomplished!…

My personal trust level is about one notch above ziltch…

Wow, proof yet again that one of the most dangerous (if not annoying) person alive is a self-righteous imbecile with too much free time on his hands.

Plus, this moron apparently doesn’t realize that in a Town Hall format the main speaker typically delivers a short speech, and then invites questions from the floor, not the reverse.

From some cursory googling, it looks to me like the guy was--at least it seems--a legit freelancer who either pitched a nutty or (improbably) got convinced to sacrifice his career for this stunt.  Sunartist.com is now defunct (here’s a cace of the most interesting page), but it seems that John Gerard Quinn (the man in question, as identified by the Cleveland Plain Dealer) maintained it--at some point--to advertise his freelance photography work.  This is corroborated by a photo gallery under his name, which appears here.

Here’s a description from that last site:

John Gerard Quinn is a twenty five year veteran photojournalist. John’s photography has appeared in, Arts & Antiques, Boating World, Fortune, MSN Network, Northern Ohio Live, Plain Dealer, Ohio, Rolling Stone, Time, TV guide, US Weekly and many more publications. John, is a dedicated professional that has a keen eye and attention to details. A consumate professional, Quinn has excelled in the field due to his artistic approach and willing collaborations with some of the best writers and designers in the field. You can be assured when working with Quinn that you are working with a talented and professional photojournalist.

Exhibitions & Awards
1991 First Place Color Print Brandywine Falls Cuyahoga Valley National Park Show Recognized for excellence by the United Stated Department of Interior
1992 Solo Exhibit Cleveland Metroparks Zoo
1992 2nd Place Hand Colored print Emerald Necklace Juried Show
1993 1st Place National Calendar Award Best Non Profit Lithograph
1994 Solo Exhibit Natural Beauty Rocky River Nature Center
1995 Vaccariello invitational group show Invitational
1997 Cleveland Shaping a Third Century 113 Images of Cleveland, Ohio in Hardcover.
2000 Photo contributor to the Microsoft Network
2001 Solo Exhibit Cleveland Galleria 15 fine art mural giclee\’s
2002 Jewish Community Center 33rd Annual Photographic Exhbition
2003 Cleveland Clinic Invitational Exhibit Nature healing stress exhibition
2005 Ohio Excellence in Journalism First Place magazine photojournalism
2006 Great Lakes Publishing Beyond the Printed page artist invitational exhibit
2008 Cleveland Press club 2nd place award for magazine photo journalism Northern Ohio Live magazine story on Cleveland School for the Arts.

There’s certainly enough there for someone to do some more careful research on his background and potential motivations.  Neverthless, on the basis of that preliminary evidence, and the (IMO) unstable appearance of Quinn at the event, I’m inclined to think this wasn’t planned.  For my money, this guy was exhibiting symptoms of a mental illness.  Hopefully, we’ll shortly find out for sure.

Sorry, bad link up there on John Quinn’s photo gallery; I’ll try it with tinyurl.  This is the photo gallery and also contains the quoted biographical info.

And here’s an archived version, just in case: link

“I pledge allegiance to the United States of America, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” Sounds ok to me.

JRod,

I’ve toying with a rewrite that mimics the original:

“I pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America, and to the republic which it defines, one nation, under law, with liberty and justice for all.”

(Still not quite there, but you get the idea.)

Man, all that screaming about soldiers dying for a piece of cloth.

I assume they died protecting the freedoms granted by the Constitution that they swore to uphold.  For the people of this country, not for a pretty piece of cloth. 

Do Robert’s Rules of Order say you have to start with the Flag Prayer?  B/c that’s just silly.

Ms Kate, I hope you won’t be offended if I say that your sons are awesome kids. Your brother sounds awesome as well.

I’ve also always thought it was kind of...idolatrous to pledge allegiance to the flag instead of the country. I stopped standing for the pledge in ninth grade. My chemistry teacher, in whose class we had to say it and who was otherwise a very cool teacher, got very angry at me and I ended up, after trying various tactics including placing a sign on my desk that said “I will not stand for the pledge for political reasons. I am not disrupting it in any way. Please respect my right to sit,” having to go to the vice principal who said I was not required to stand.

I wholly endorse the idea of pledging to the Constitution instead, and while we’re at it have our politicians be sworn in on a copy of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, instead of the Bible which isn’t the law they’re pledging to uphold.

JRod,

I’ve toying with a rewrite that mimics the original:

“I pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America, and to the republic which it defines, one nation, under law, with liberty and justice for all.”

(Still not quite there, but you get the idea.)

I think Life in Hell comic strip got it:
I plead for lenience to the frogs of the untied snakes of a merry cow, and to the Republicans for which they scam, one nacho, under pants, with librium and jugs of wine for owls

Ms. Kate.  I started refusing to say the pledge in 1971.  I was in the 7th grade.  When the principal called my very republican dad - expecting to be fully backed by said dad - dear dad told him I had every right not to pledge my allegiance to anything. 

Gotta’ love ‘im for that.

Wow, I wonder if that guy goes home and cuddles his flag and talks to it?