"For my second act, I'll do the Shoop Shoop song (it's in his kiss)."
Posted on 01/25/2011 5:02:20 AM PST by Kaslin
Tuesday, when you see President Obama give his State of the Union address, you will see four things: the president entering the hall, the president ascending the rostrum to be greeted by the vice president and the speaker of the House, the president giving his speech and the reactions of members of the Congress and others in the hall.
Here is the one thing you will not see and probably have never seen. You won't see what is behind the president and above the vice president and the speaker of the House. And because you won't see it, you won't know that you are missing something of surpassing importance.
Think about it for a moment. Why do television cameras never pull back and give a wide-angle view of the president delivering his speech? That is certainly routine for TV: It is considered uninteresting to TV viewers to have a fixed view of a subject.
Why, then, have almost no Americans ever seen what is located above the president, the vice president and the speaker of the House?
I discovered the answer when I attended President Obama's speech on health care to a joint session of Congress.
I saw chiseled in the marble wall behind the speaker and vice president, in giant letters, the words "In God We Trust."
My immediate reaction was to wonder: Why had I never seen that before? I have, after all, been watching presidential State of the Union addresses for about 40 years.
Here is my theory -- and I say "theory" because I cannot prove it.
A generation of Americans has been raised to regard any mention of God outside the home or church as a violation of the deepest principles of our country. To the men and women of the left-leaning news media, in particular, "In God We Trust" is an anachronism at best, an impediment to moral progress at worst. The existence of those giant chiseled words so disturbs the media that, consciously or not, they do not want Americans to see them.
I do not for a moment believe that there is any conspiracy here. In some ways, I actually wish there were. I wish a handful of media executives had gotten together and conspired to instruct their various cameramen to avoid a wide-angle view of the president.
But, alas, no such conspiracy is necessary. The words "In God We Trust" emblazoned in giant letters behind the president of the United States just don't sit well with the secular media. So you won't see them.
We have been led to believe that America is supposed to be a secular country. But that was never the case. We were founded to be a God-centered, God-based country with a nondenominational government. And that is what those chiseled words affirm.
Yet millions of Americans -- religious and secular alike -- would be stunned to see what every member of the House sees almost every working day.
When I mentioned this to some congressman after I addressed the Republican members of the House two weeks ago, they told me that just as remarkable is the fact that when the president is speaking in the House chamber, he is facing a giant sculpted image of Moses holding the Ten Commandments.
Imagine how this scene would go over in American homes -- behind the president of the United States are the words "In God We Trust," and in front of him is Moses carrying the Ten Commandments.
This would astound and even confuse an America raised to believe that the words "separation of church and state" are in the Constitution, that those words prohibit the government from acknowledging even a nondenominational God and that no speaker at any public high school graduation ceremony may say "God bless this graduating class."
That is why, I am convinced, no camera tonight will give you a long or wide view of the president. It might change more than Americans' views of the presidential rostrum. It might change Americans' views of America.
Hey, don’t leave out Sheila Jackson Lee in her red dress, on an aisle seat!!!
Wow! I never knew that! Thanks. Watch Palin, on her first SOTU, point up and across, drawing attention to these features! I’m already laughing, imagining the liberal press gagging on the moment.
I too, shall not watch the (IMO) dung heap, nor any other.
However, you needn’t turn off your tv, THEE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY basketball game is on at 9:00. :-)
Hey, how about some Moses pics?
And some conservatives wonder why “conservatives” are dismissed so easily by the general public.
World premiere of ‘The Hulk’ on FX at 7:30 EST...that’s what I’ll be watching.
I'm with you.
I have plenty of movies to watch. Perhaps in honor of the SOTU speech, I could watch "Night of the Living Dead" or "Fargo"??
Either one fits!
I have good news: We also won’t see Nancy Pelosi sitting behind the President.
That’s an aesthetic upgrade if I ever saw one!
Well then, how can you explain the absence of crotch shots in women's gymnastics and ice skating? I would not call it "conspiracy", but there is a definite pattern of odd camera angles and quick cutaways in a desperate attempt to avoid them, it seems, in the last few years. The camera will even pan WAY out so that you can't even see what is going on. Even non-crotch shot-centric folks have commented on it to me (like moms), so I know it is not merely my perception. it's weird.
B'waaahaahaahaahaa!
Oooops. Wrong thread. Sorry.
An actual man giving the address.
Aside: Hi, Elizabeth, you rock.
"For my second act, I'll do the Shoop Shoop song (it's in his kiss)."
As an old medical reporter... I might ask why you are noticing all those possibly absent crotch shots....
:)
The Institute demands an investigation...
I second that motion by the Institute....
One might as well ask what are those golden
bundles of rods with the Axe heads on either side
of the speaker.......?
Yes those are Fascines...
Numerous governments and other authorities have used the image of the fasces for a symbol of power since the end of the Roman Empire. It has also been used to hearken back to the Roman republic, particularly by those who see themselves as modern-day successors to the old republic and/or its ideals. Italian Fascism, which derives its name from the fasces, arguably used this symbolism the most in the 20th century. The British Union of Fascists also used it in the 1930s. However, unlike (for example) the swastika, the fasces, as a widespread and long-established symbol in the West, has avoided the stigma associated with much of fascist symbolism, and many authorities continue to display them, including the federal government of the United States.
OMG! I never knew. Glad I’m in good company. Thanks to Dennis Prager for bringing this to light. He’s great!
Little aside, Dennis is the major catalyst in my becoming a Conservative. I got a chance to tell him so personally a few years ago.
Hmmm. Obama having to face Moses.
Yep, the Fasces Lictoriae are common in the halls of power around the world. The axe represents power. The bundle of rods around it represents restraint. I believe those were commissioned by Washington himself.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.