""I swear I thought the pledge was another prayer" isn't it? it's a prayer to the United States (rather than God). Recital is required, for brainwashing purposes (there's a reason people are so over-the-top patriotic instead…"

"i suppose if you wanted to be satirical you could say "one nation under Allah..." That would certainly rustle some jimmies."

""underdog" is kinda silly, and doesn't really say anything meaningful. I'm sure it was brilliant as a 4th grader, but I'll stick with a silent moment: "One nation....... indivisible with liberty and justice for…"

"That's actually not a bad idea. If someone gives you a dirty look, you can just turn to them and say, "What? You have some sort of problem with liberty?""

"In my view the biggest problem comes from big companies (mostly pharma, but also medical tech) that lobby government to jack their prices.  It's a bigger problem in the U.S. than Canada but I believe part of the reason for that is the lack…"

"I just had a stunning apiphany! What if the motto was supposed to be "In Gold We Trust" and they just missed the "l"? At least that would make more sense than God..."

"No argument there. The Republicans won this one hands down: the gun control lobby is a smoldering crater. "

"Hi Will,     As an Australian, I don't have to take a pledge of allegiance to my country, or yours. If I did, I would be very disappointed if it involved religion, other than to specify freedom of religion."

"Yep, Kris, I completely agree.  There's no way to do an apples-to-apples comparison since there are so many factors that come into play. As for Americans going to Canada for healthcare, having glaucoma, I order my Lumigan from a Canadian…"

"In my experience, these stories are often exaggerated and misrepresented, but obviously I don't check them all. I have even seen propaganda ads to this effect on American television, though this may not reflect the cases you are talking…"

"Hi Heather - Please try not to take my comments out of context.  I never said the Canadian heath system was bad, just that it wasn't perfect.  My point, though, is that I don't believe our government is nowhere nearly competent…"

"Yep - "...one nation, INDIVISIBLE, with liberty and justice for all!""

"My brother's ring tone is "proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free" and I usually sing along with "Proud to be an American, where at least I can pretend I'm free!"  LOL"

"@Keith When Canadians opt to pay cash for surgery in the U.S. because they feel the waiting time in Canada jeopardizes their health, they typically pay tens of thousands of dollars - sometimes hundreds of thousands. Their counterparts in the U.S.…"

"Good points.  My only real retort would be my general distrust for *our* government to be able to manage it.  Just because other countries governments an manage to govern a health care system, doesn't mean ours can.  I have heard…"

"The "Knights of Columbus" take great pride in their accomplishment to get "under god" added to the pledge. Never underestimate the power of guys with silly hats who take secret oaths. In fact, does anybody know where you can…"