Dayton-area GOP Rep. Michael Turner and more than 100 of his Republican colleagues sent a letter to Pelosi last week after an Eagle Scout in his district asked that a flag flown over the U.S. Capitol be sent to his grandfather with a certificate inscribed with the message: “In honor of my grandfather Marcel Larochelle, and his dedication and love of God, country, and family.”
The boy and his father noticed that one word was missing from the certificate that came with the flag. Can you guess which word it was, boys and girls?
Outraged that the Architect of the Capitol wouldn’t allow any religious expressions on the flag certificates, Turner sent a letter of protest to Nancy Pelosi.
Asked about the issue today at a press luncheon, Pelosi said the architect’s policy was adopted because “people were asking for statements that not only were religious, beyond using the word God, but political as well.”
Okay, fair enough. Let’s go back and review the Eagle Scout’s request:
“In honor of my grandfather Marcel Larochelle, and his dedication and love of God, country, and family.”
Hmmmm…..I guess I’m missing where the political expression is on this one.
Who the hell is this Architect of the Capital, Michael Newdow?
Turner said Tuesday that he will continue seeking more signatures for his letter asking Pelosi to overturn the policy, and “if the speaker and the architect continue to implement their censorship program, we will drop legislation to compel the architect to return to granting inscriptions permitting the acknowledgement of God.”
He said members of Congress vet the appropriateness of messages constituents request with the flags, and their discretion should be sufficient.
“We have the responsibility for these common sense issues that might arise with flag inscriptions and this one is basic,” Turner said. “The architect has decided the word ‘God’ is offensive. This rule should not be allowed to stand.”
I’m sure she will prayerfully consider the issue. As we all know Nancy Pelosi prays all the time.
UPDATE (10/11):
In a total reversal of the ‘no religious expressions’ policy, the Architect of the Capitol, Stephen Ayers, said today he was revising guidelines on Capitol flag certificates because it was “beyond the scope of this agency’s responsibilities to censor messages from members of Congress.”
Nancy Pelosi was asked about the decision at her daily news conference:
“I don’t think the Architect’s office should be in the role of censoring what members want to say,” she said.
That’s slightly different from what she was saying the other day, when she was defending the censorship, but whatevs.
Looks like the Christianists have won this round.
Allahpundit has a video of the whole story from start to finish at Hot Air.
