George Bush disrepects the US Flag!

[Djinn Raffo]

Originally posted by John D Harris: Just out of Idle curiosity I wonder what the percentage of people that believe burning the flag is ok are now screaming about Presidnt Bush signing a flag. Anybody want to bet it the percentage is above 50%? It's amazing how when somebody they don't like does something they are willing to jump.

i figure it is close to as amazing as when somebody they like does something and they are willing to look the other way!

Nevertheless for all i can tell by looking at the picture.. i can't tell if it is Bush, Clinton or a female impersonator! jk.

[Djinn Raffo]

Originally posted by antryg: My observation over the past 35 years is that when everything is going good in the country, and there isn't a national controversy, then anybody can ignore the US Code. They can use the flag to advertise, wear it any way they want, and they can desecrate a flag (fly it in the dark, leave it on the ground, etc.). If there is a large national controversy then these are the rules that apply. If you support the President, you can still do what you want because that is patriotic. If you don't support the President any display of the flag, even conforming to the US Code, is unpatriotic and probably treasonous. The real problem with this issue is that, in America, the tendency to make nationalism a religion is very strong. Thus the national images become religious symbols and are vested with an interegal power and worth. To attack the symbol is to attack nation.

This is a good observation.. and each side of the angle has both pros and cons. The best imo would naturally be some kind of balance between the two different eras when this phenomenon occurs.

[John D Harris]

Originally posted by Djinn Raffo: quote: Originally posted by John D Harris: Just out of Idle curiosity I wonder what the percentage of people that believe burning the flag is ok are now screaming about Presidnt Bush signing a flag. Anybody want to bet it the percentage is above 50%? It's amazing how when somebody they don't like does something they are willing to jump.

i figure it is close to as amazing as when somebody they like does something and they are willing to look the other way!

Nevertheless for all i can tell by looking at the picture.. i can't tell if it is Bush, Clinton or a female impersonator! jk. [/QUOTE]I would agree EXECEPT if you had read any of My posts during the Flag burning Brewhaha. I made it perfectly clear I don't care what you do with any USA that you have bought with your own money, just don't try and burn a flag that I have bought and paid for. So there's nothing amazing here except the consistancy in my position.

[Rokenn]

Originally posted by antryg: My observation over the past 35 years is that when everything is going good in the country, and there isn't a national controversy, then anybody can ignore the US Code. They can use the flag to advertise, wear it any way they want, and they can desecrate a flag (fly it in the dark, leave it on the ground, etc.). If there is a large national controversy then these are the rules that apply. If you support the President, you can still do what you want because that is patriotic. If you don't support the President any display of the flag, even conforming to the US Code, is unpatriotic and probably treasonous. The real problem with this issue is that, in America, the tendency to make nationalism a religion is very strong. Thus the national images become religious symbols and are vested with an interegal power and worth. To attack the symbol is to attack nation.

Thanks antryg,
This is exactly what I was getting at.

John,
I agree with your position on flag burning. The call for impeachment was an attempt at very dry humor.

[Yorick]

Originally posted by Djinn Raffo: Nevertheless for all i can tell by looking at the picture.. i can't tell if it is Bush, Clinton or a female impersonator! jk.

How do we even know it's Bush? It could be a staged photo. For mine it doesn't look like him but whatever.... I couldn't care either way. I can't vote and it's not my flag.

However, I did see bizarre things around 9/11. I actually wore a US flag bandana to show my support for my current home.

I saw a guy in a van selling US flags assaulted. Why? He didn't have enough flags to sell to the masses of people gathered outside his trying pleading for them, so he was cutting some up to give people half flags.

Some idiot decided to take the law into his own hands and started beating the guy up for disrespecting the flag. Craziness.

The police would tell this guy to move, because he couldn't sell from the steet like he was doing (without a permit I suppose) so he'd drive slowly and masses of people would follow him until he stopped, and started selling again.

That's where I bought my bandana.

The interesting thing is that some of the cloth was not official USA flag, but incorporated the elements in the design.

So. Would a bathing suit that contains elements of the flag, but is not the flag in entirety be regarded as a sacrosanct flag? Could you burn a piece of red and white striped material without the blue and white stars for example?

[Chewbacca]

Originally posted by harleyquinn: I would object!!! Now, if it was Cameron Mathison or some other hunky guy in a bathing suit, well that's totally different!!!! [img]tongue.gif[/img] [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Doh, of course I meant American heterosexual male and some females too of course.

I know, I'll go for a politically correct rephrase-

What American is going to object to what they percieve as an attractive person in a scanty flag swimsuit. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[WillowIX]

Originally posted by johnny: What's the big deal about "respecting a flag" anyway ? It's only a piece of cloth. There are other more important things to respect as far as i'm concerned.

Exactly. [img]smile.gif[/img] It's a little piece of cloth with a signature. Come on!

Yorick, the photo doesn't look fake to me although I agree with you that it is impossible to determine if it is Bush in the picture.