If you forward it to 100 Freepers Bill Gates will come mow your lawn.
Nope, it was Abe Lincoln.
But, it's a good editorial, nonetheless.
Internet myth.
Snopes has this clarification of the confusion:
Origins: In October 2005, the U.S. was still reeling from the physical, emotional, and political fallout of Hurricane Katrina (and several other recent severe storms); fears involving terrorism and the bird flu were in the air; and national debate was ongoing about the Pledge of Allegiance and the appropriateness of its reference to the U.S. as one nation "under God."
That month, comedian Jay Leno riffed on the emotional climate of America in one of his Tonight Show opening monologues:
With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?
A year later, Craig R. Smith penned the above-reproduced essay exhorting Americans to focus on the positive aspects of their country rather than the bad events that typically comprise our daily news fodder. By