From The Federalist Patriot:
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http://FederalistPatriot.US/subscribe/I will support and defend...so help me God - Page 2Milquetoast notwithstanding, Rep. Israel and the ACLU claimed their first victim in this skirmish. In reviewing promotions for 21 Air Force generals last week, the Senate passed on awarding another star to the USAFA's commandant of cadets, Brig. Gen. Johnny Weida, a 1978 academy graduate and, unfortunately for his future billet prospects, a Christian. For a full explication on how the ACLU aborted the career of another distinguished American, a USMA graduate and decorated Vietnam veteran, link to --
http://FederalistPatriot.US/Alexander/edition.asp?id=207His offense: Gen. Weida apparently told cadets in his June, 2003, "guidance" statement that they were "accountable first to your God." Of this overt reference to God, disgruntled USAFA cadet parent Mikey Weinstein whined, "Weida lost his constitutional compass, which resulted in him violating the oath he took to preserve, support and defend the U.S. Constitution."
Ah yes, "the oath he took." That would be the one that concludes, as all official U.S. oaths do, with these words: "So help me God."
On 30 April 1789, America's first Commander in Chief, President George Washington, took his presidential oath of office with his hand on a Bible opened to the book of Deuteronomy, Chapter 28. He ended his oath with "So help me God," which was added to military oaths by Act of Congress 29 September 1789, and all officers and enlisted personnel have proclaimed them since.
In his "Inaugural Speech to Both Houses of Congress," President Washington said: "It would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this first official act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect." Such was the conduct of his administration.
In his Farewell Speech of 19 September 1796, George Washington concluded with these words: "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great Pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of man and citizens. ... Let it be simply asked, where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in Courts of Justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect, that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle."
However, "subverting the firmest props" which "sustain security for property, for reputation, for life" is the axis of the ACLU's agenda.
Despite misguided efforts by the DoD to accommodate that agenda, the fact remains, on the frontlines of our war against Jihadistan, that four words ultimately transform American citizens into Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen -- "So help me God."
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