Minnesota Governor, Jesse "the Body" Ventura, U.S veteran, yesterday vetoed a bill that would require the state's public school students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Three cheers for Governor Ventura. In his statement regarding his veto, he noted:

"Patriotism is voluntary," Ventura said in his veto message. "It is a feeling of loyalty and allegiance that is the result of knowledge and belief. No law will make a citizen a patriot."

The bill did allow individual school districts to opt out of forcing kids to stand and recite, but that's a red herring so far as this "are you a real American" litmus test for kids goes. Minnesotans should be thanking Ventura for saving them from costly litigation since the Supreme Court decided some time ago that kids cannot be compelled to recite the Pledge at school.

My French father in law was a schoolboy during the Nazi occupation of his country. He remembers that one of the first thing the Vichy traitors did after coming to power was to force every child in his village to start each schoolday by standing and singing a patriotic paean to Germany.