Posts filed under 'American flag'
September 6th, 2008
 
Thousands of American flags waved by celebrants at Invesco Field in Denver on the last night of the Democratic National Convention (above) subsequently were bagged and placed in storage for use at other events.
Instead, the flags were taken without authorization and given to the McCain camp, which now says they were just casually discarded by those unpatriotic Democrats.
Fox News and the Drudge Report predictably have jumped all over the story.
Read more about it HERE. And, of course, bear in mind that Republicans are more patriotic than the rest of us, while Democrats hate America.
POSTSCRIPT: The Democrats would be well-advised to file a theft complaint with the police, who in turn might be able to find out who swiped the flags and gave them to the McCain camp.
UPDATE: And then there’s THIS.
Wouldn’t it be sweet to see this stunt backfire?Â
May 8th, 2008
 
Excuse me for being more logical than emotional, but I’ve always had a greater affection for the U.S. Constitution than the American flag.
Don’t get me wrong. I respect the flag, and I think everyone should. But the flag doesn’t give us the freedoms we enjoy as Americans. The Constitution does.
So, why are we supposed to treat the flag with almost religious reverence, but nobody’s going to get upset if I carelessly throw a copy of the Constitution in the garbage?
The answer, I think, is that the flag is about emotion, while the Constitution is about complicated concepts.Â
The flag is great for raising goosebumps at patriotic parades, but it’s the Constitution that gives us the right to speak our minds, to embrace the religions of our choice, to be tried in courts of law by juries of our peers, and to enjoy our many other hard-won freedoms.
That’s why I think it’s wrong to say American warriors have fought and died for the flag. I’d rather think that they fought and died for the principles embodied in the Constitution.
Every nation has a flag. Only America has the U.S. Constitution.
Where can I get one of those Constitution lapel pins?
April 3rd, 2008
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It’s almost funny how some pseudo-patriots continue to work themselves into a glorious lather over Barack Obama’s failure to wear a flag pin on his lapel.
Strangely, these critics often fail to wear such pins themselves, AS WAS THE CASE the other day with former Bush henchman Karl Rove.
This mistaken notion that conspicuous display of the American flag is the highest form of patriotism reminds me of the old John Prine song, “Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You Into Heaven Anymore.”
Prine wrote this clever little ditty in 1968 as a protest against the Vietnam War. But it’s no less applicable today.
The lyrics:
While digesting Reader’s Digest
In the back of the dirty book store
A plastic flag with gum on the back
Fell out on the floor.
Well, I picked it up and I ran outside
Slapped it on my window shield
And if I could see Old Betsy Ross
I’d tell her how good I feel
(Chorus)
But your flag decal won’t get you
Into Heaven any more
They’re already overcrowded
From your dirty little war.
Now Jesus don’t like killin’
No matter what the reason’s for,
And your flag decal won’t get you
Into Heaven any more.
Well, I went to the bank this morning
And the cashier he said to me,
“If you join the Christmas club
We’ll give you ten of them flags for free.”
Well, I didn’t mess around a bit
I took him up on what he said.
And I stuck them stickers all over my car
And one on my wife’s forehead.
(Repeat chorus)
Well, I got my window shield so filled
With flags I couldn’t see.
So, I ran the car upside a curb
And right into a tree.
By the time they got a doctor down
I was already dead.
And I’ll never understand why the man
Standing in the Pearly Gates said…
“But your flag decal won’t get you
Into Heaven any more.
We’re already overcrowded
From your dirty little war.
Now Jesus don’t like killin’
No matter what the reason’s for,
And your flag decal won’t get you
Into Heaven any more.”
