Excuse Me. I'm Not a Christian. Please Bring Me the Koran.

newly elected democratic keith ellison is refusing to pledge his oath of office by swearing on the bible. instead, being he's muslim, he wishes to use the koran. makes sense to me. but of course, being this is, according to the wacko's, a "christian nation", there are uproars from some religious folks.

i'm an american. i remember hearing we are all free to worship (or not) any god, statue or food item of our choice. i could care less what book a member of congress chooses to put their hands upon when taking the oath of office. i care about the person's character and how well they will serve their constituents. they could put their hand on "my pet goat" for all i care. (perhaps bush would have been better served by swearing on this book instead of the bible.) and lest we all forget: placing their hands upon this described holy book has not kept our representatives from lying and stealing and cheating you and i.

maybe we need to pick a new book altogether. scrap the religious books. people are very protective and thus passionately intense about their religious beliefs, so much so it can cloud their eyes to other ways of viewing the cosmos and the world. america is expanding. people of different color, ethnicity and religions are entering the polical arena. using a generic book, one free of religious connotations, may be a good idea. as such, i would like to present my list of ideas. please feel free to add your own.........

1) oh the places you will go, by dr. seuss. a beautifully written, simple book about encouragement and the ups and down of life. a good book to remind our elected officials that we are all in this life together.

2) all i really needed to know i learned in kindergarten, by robert fulghum. another simple book with a grand focus on respect, sharing and listening, values oh so needed in our government.

3) who's the boss, by nina and the rest of america. an excellent guidebook that reminds our government that we the people have the power to hire and fire them, we pay their salaries and their benefits and therefore, they work for us.