Senator Demands Investigation of NBC for Making Business Decision

[meegbear]

It is clear that NBC hates God, after the network removed the words "Under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance during its broadcast of the U.S. Open. Can't NBC just be free to hate God like every other freedom-loving corporate person? Indiana Sen. Dan Coats says no! This omission must be explained in excruciating detail to top federal authorities.

Coats has sent a letter to NBC executives asking them to "provide a written account of its decision-making process and what actions the network will take to prevent a similar occurrence from happening in the future." Coats acknowledged that the network has already apologized for its decision — there's your first mistake, NBC! — but that's not good enough. He "remain(s) concerned that such a decision to selectively edit the Pledge could be made in the first place."

It's important to make as clear as possible what a leading member of the party that rails against "Big Government" is doing here. Some employees at a private corporation made the decision to remove a couple of words that weren't even in the original text of the Pledge, most likely over the concern that it would offend certain non-religious markets in which they were trying to maximize viewership. This was a decision that employees of a private business made, because they thought it would make them more money. This was probably a miscalculation — no one gives a shit about whether "Under God" is mentioned on the teevee — but that's NBC's bottom-line issue. And yet now we have a Senator demanding written records and proof of why it will never happen again! This is a fine pander, and Dan Coats deserves applause. We're getting a special bonus mid-year "War on Christmas," and America's children couldn't be more excited.

http://gawker.com/5814469/senator-demands-investigation-of-nbc-for-making-business-decision

[fascisthunter]

1. Go F*ck Yourself you Religious Fanatic

Keep your religion out of our government... go work for a missionary so you can brainwash the poor and desperate.

[SpiralHawk]

2. Is he also calling for an investigation of DiaperGate (R)?

Or maybe he thinks God approves of extramarital diaper sex with hookers (R)? I must have missed that chapter when I read the Holy Book.

Honorable Americans recognize that the whole Republicon DiaperGate scandal stinks, and needs to be, um, uncovered.

[City Lights]

3. Kiss my ass, Senator.

:raspberries:

[daggahead]

4. Senator Coats is doing the important work ...

... to protect the American people.

:sarcasm:

[tridim]

5. Please shove your "small government" up your ass Coats.

[tblue37]

20. Is "ass Coats" anything like coat tails? nt

[Blue Owl]

6. One network, under God...

n/t

[idiotgardener]

7. Let's help him

Clearly Senator Coats is looking for a project to work on. Send him your suggestions:

Email Coats

[kestrel91316]

18. I emailed him this:

Re: Intelligence, or YOUR LACK thereof. The Pledge of Allegiance was not written by the Founding Fathers, nor is it a part of our Constitution, but I'm sure you were taught otherwise in your Christian homeschool days. Furthermore, the "under god" part was added during the halcyon days of McCarthyism in the 1950s.

But I digress. Why don't you want NBC, one of your hallowed major multinational corporations, to be able to make whatever corporate decisions it feels it needs to in order to make MORE MONEY? Because that's what motivates every single thing they do.

Why do you hate money? Why do you hate unfettered free market capitalism?

More important, why do you hate the Baby Jesus? You have certainly made him cry with this latest embarrassing stunt.

Hugs, kestrel

(I had to choose a category for the email and the only thing I could think applied was "Intelligence")

[Angry Dragon]

8. I wonder if he will subject himself to the same scrutiny that

he demands of a private business??

The people demand it..............

[LiberalAndProud]

9. Now, what will NBC do?

If they lift a pen to defend their decision-making process to this small minded religious zealot, I'll be terribly disappointed.

[RamboLiberal]

15. Hell they already caved & apologized that day

An omission in the Pledge of Allegiance had NBC issuing an on-air apology Sunday during the U.S. Open.

The network opened its broadcast with a montage that included children reciting the pledge, but the words "under God" and "indivisible" were omitted.

The backlash on social media was quick and harsh, with some tweets calling for a boycott of NBC.

"We began our coverage of this final round just about three hours ago, and when we did it was our intent to begin the coverage of this U.S. Open championship with a feature that captured the patriotism of our national championship being held in our nation's capital for the third time," announcer Dan Hicks told viewers. "Regrettably, a portion of the Pledge of Allegiance that was in that feature was edited out. It was not done to upset anyone, and we'd like to apologize to those of you who were offended by it."

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/43459414/ns/us_news-life/

I turned off a local talk host today when he started railing on NBC for the 2nd day in a row on this stupid non-issue.

[LiberalAndProud]

16. How do they do this?

If you ask the average Sally on the street, she really won't care much that NBC didn't say, "under God".

But you get enough people going on about it, and somehow the outrage just goes over the roof. It would seem that we are as easily conditioned for response as Pavlov's dog. Red meat! Kill!

Fuck 'em. I guess I don't care if NBC apologized. We deserve the next curtailment of speech coming at us, because nobody even cares.

[rfranklin]

10. Isn't the Pledge of Allegiance a socialist invention? I think so..

The Pledge of Allegiance was written in August 1892 by the socialist minister Francis Bellamy (1855-1931). It was originally published in The Youth's Companion on September 8, 1892. Bellamy had hoped that the pledge would be used by citizens in any country.

In its original form it read:

"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
In 1923, the words, "the Flag of the United States of America" were added. At this time it read:

"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
In 1954, in response to the Communist threat of the times, President Eisenhower encouraged Congress to add the words "under God," creating the 31-word pledge we say today. Bellamy's daughter objected to this alteration. Today it reads:

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

http://www.ushistory.org/documents/pledge.htm

[asjr]

11. Pledge of Allegiance did not have

"under God" until much later. NBC can always say they used the original version.

[avebury]

12. I am so fed up with politicians focusing on absolute

nonsense.

K&R

[gratuitous]

14. It's easier than doing their jobs, and they still get paid

Don't you wish you had a job like that?

[kestrel91316]

13. Sen. Coats is probably one of those morans who thinks the Pledge of Allegiance

is part of the original Constitution, written by the Founding Fathers.

[sinkingfeeling]

17. Where, oh where, is that law that demands everbody say the Pledge, Mr. Coats?

[truebrit71]

19. So according to this repuke, Senators that consort with whores = fine, but accidentally ommitting...

..words that were NOT included in the original pledge = needs to be investigated...

What a stupid motherfucker he is...