I just bought a new flag for Memorial Day, as mine was getting pretty old. I always fly one and always will.
I understand the free speech conflicts in the whole flag burning debate, but for me, the flag will always be a symbol of intense pride. I will always fly it with pride.
Here is something I heard read during an assembly once when I was in the Air Force. I recently found it again:
I am the flag of the United States of America
My name is Old Glory
I fly atop the world’s tallest buildings
I stand watch in America’s halls of justice
I fly majestically over institutions of learning
I stand guard with power in the world
Look up and see me
I stand for peace,
honor, truth and justice
I stand for freedom
I am confident
I am arrogant
I am proud
When I am flown
with my fellow banners,
My head is a little higher,
My colors a little truer
Just in time for the 7th anniversary of 9/11. Nice.
Operators of a Vancouver, Wash. Apartment complex subsidized by the taxpayer-funded Department of Housing and Urban Development, also known as HUD, have told residents they cannot fly or display American flags on or in their homes.
Residents of the Brandt Terrace apartment complex received a letter in August saying they could be evicted for displaying “signage” on their homes, including flags.
The ban extended to displaying flags in windows or putting small flags in planters or other outside locations.
The ban does not sit well with residents, including a Vietnam veteran, many of whom wanted to fly American flags on Thursday, the seventh anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks.
Some residents continued to display flags on their property in defiance of the directive.
A manager at the complex, Dariya Tinkova, told KATU News she was “following the community rules” in enforcing the ban but would not say who was making the rules.
The question is on the lips of many. Some decry our failings and insist they are endemic, and show the decline of our Country’s greatness.
They point to our prosperity as evidence of our selfishness.
They point at our innovation and insist that we are lazy and weak.
They insist that in their lives we have never done anything worthy of pride.
Some point to the White House and our president, and decry his failings and decide the America has suffered under his leadership. They accuse him of crimes and demand his oust.
They demonstrate against our Military, and defame them. They falsely accuse them of crimes and atrocities.
They protest in the streets against the war we fight, against our foreign policy, against our leaders, against our culture and against religion.
The take the symbols of our country and deface them in protest.
They write articles and blogs and columns pointing our in glorious prose and detail the sins of our country, past present ad future.
Barack Obama picked some low-hanging fruit and scored some points in Denver today, after a local jazz singer substituted what some called the “black national anthem” for the Star Spangled Banner at a municipal event. Saying that Rene Marie should have sung what she promised, Obama made clear that he only recognizes one national anthem for Americans:
Sen. Barack Obama said today a jazz singer’s decision to sing the ‘Black National Anthem’ at Denver’s State of the City speech this week was wrong.
“Well, ‘Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing’ is a beautiful song that has been sung in African-American churches and other events for a very long time,” Obama told the Rocky in phone interview. “We only have one National Anthem. And so, if she was asked to sing the National Anthem, she should have sung that. ‘Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing’ is a beautiful song, but we only have one National Anthem.”
Tuck the soaring speeches in a drawer for another time.
This year, America doesn’t deserve to celebrate its birthday. This Fourth of July should be a day of quiet and atonement.
For we have sinned.
We have failed to pay attention. We’ve settled for lame excuses. We’ve spit on the memory of those who did that brave, brave thing in Philadelphia 232 years ago.
The America those men founded should never torture a prisoner.
The America they founded should never imprison people for years without charge or hearing.
The America they founded should never ship prisoners to foreign lands, knowing their new jailers might torture them.
Such abuses once were committed by the arrogant crowns of Europe, spawning rebellion.
Today, our nation does such things in the name of our safety. Petrified, unwilling to take the risks that love of liberty demands, we close our eyes.
I thought this was pretty appropriate. Today while many people watch the Pennsylvania primaries, it is also a holiday:
Patriots Day. While it is a little known holiday that is only observed in Massachusetts and Maine, the roots of the holiday seem more important today than ever before.
Jules Crittenden starts this off with a long but fascinating series of accounts about Patriot’s Day:
Patriots Day may be the least knowwn American holiday, and the day mostt deserving of our recognition. Observed in Massachusetts and Maine only. Don’t know it? It marks the day, April 19, 1775, on which Americans took up arms agaiinst their kiing, and bled, at the crack of teerrible dawn.
This is a video of the Cactus Cuties, http://thecactuscuties.com, very talented young ladies ranging in age from 8 to 13 singing The Star Spangled Banner. The performance was at the Texas Tech vs Texas basketball game January 20, 2008.
There is a certain amount of caution I approach stories like this with.
I understand quite well that politicians (or their wives) make speeches and utilize many literary devices, one of which is Hyperbole. Hyperbole is essentially intentional exaggeration which is used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression, and is not meant to be taken literally.
So when Michelle Obama made her comment below I am willing to look at it in fair evaluation and determine if they were meant to be taken literally, or as hyperbole (source: Sister Toldjah):
“What we have learned over this year is that hope is making a comeback. It is making a comeback. And let me tell you something — for the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country. And not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change. And I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction and just not feeling so alone in my frustration and disappointment. I’ve seen people who are hungry to be unified around some basic common issues, and it’s made me proud.”
One persistent argument that surfaces frequently revolves around the people who are openly anti war but who claim to support the troops.
So are clearly phony and easily caught by their anti Military prejudices, but others I have long maintained are sincere.
The problem is that most of their support revolves around ending the war. By bringing them home they figure they have shown the ultimate support. By impeaching Bush and Cheney, those they claim lied us into war they feel they are supporting the troops.
I don’t particularly want to devolve into semantics here, but I tend to disagree. The overwhelming majority of the troops volunteered to serve and most have at least reenlisted if not outright enlisted since the war began, so they have effectively voted for the war with their oaths.
Supporting them is a matter of encouragement, faith, allegiance and love. The anti war nuts too often degrade to discouragement, disrespect and derision. Not always. But often enough to be the norm.
During the 2004 presidential election, I predicted the Democrats would lose for one fairly simple, yet critically important reason: While he was full of sound and fury about Bush’s faults John Kerry offered no alternative, no leadership.
He had no vision. It is not enough to say how bad the other side is, you need to show you are better.
The Democrats learned. In 2006 they stormed congress on a platform rich with vision and promise. That so much of it has been false and empty is irrelevant. At the time, they presented a vision of promise to the voters, and the peopley bought it.
Now as the 2008 elections are finally creeping up on us, the same situation is facing us: Who will have the vision of leadership, and who will be full of sound and fury and no substance.
Don Surber ponders this in a well written blog, reposted here with his kind permission.
Note very closely the irony of who has the greatest vision of America.
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