Is alive and well.

[www.azstarnet.com]

I walked past the Chicago flag burners on my way to the art museum when all that was going on in the early 90s (1990??).

Little did they think that they were opening the door for PRO USofAmericans to burn FOREIGN flags on USofA soil, I'd bet.

A bit of turning the tables.

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It's a piece of cloth, one that has flown over some pretty horrendous things in history, and been worn on the sleeves of some murderous thugs. A flag represents ideals, but also whatever whoever is waving or wearing it at the time does or says. Through 12 years of mandatory stand-up-and-salute brainwashing many have come to believe a certain arrangement of colored cloth segments has some inviolable sacred presence. According to flag protocol if a U.S. flag is soiled it must be burned. If what is being done under its cover these days hasn't soiled your flag, then it must have been sprayed with Scotchguard or made of Teflon.

When a person burns their flag they are obeying flag protocols and making a statement that they are ashamed of what those in power have done to disgrace their flag. If the flag stands for anything it stands for freedom, and that freedom includes the right to protest abuse of power done under that red, white, and blue banner. Those who burn a flag often do so out of love for the true ideals it represents, and as an expression of their belief that their nation is doing shameful things that betray those ideals.

"Patriotism is a pernicious, psychopathic form of idiocy." -George
Bernard Shaw

=
Patriotism is a superstition, one far more injurious, brutal and
inhumane than religion." -Gustave Herve

=
"Patriotism - the virtue of the vicious." -Oscar Wilde

=
"Patriotism is a survival from barbarous times which must not only be
evoked and educated but which must be eradicated by all means - by
preaching, persuasion, contempt and ridicule." -Leo Tolstoy

=
"You'll never have a quiet world until you knock the patriotism out of
the human race." -George Bernard Shaw





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/31/2006 09:32AM by Refurbvirgin.

I was wondering how soon the Mexican flags would be burned. A
Mexican flag does not belong on any of our flagpoles at any
of our schools, or any other public building. This is the USA.


Flying a Mexican flag on one of our public buildings is a
statement that Mexico yas taken over that building. Time
to squash this "revolution".

I have no problem with the burning of flags, but your use of the figurative "soiled" rather than the literal meaning is a bit of a stretch.

I don't think you need to justify burning by spinning the word "soiled." I consider it a freedom of speech issue. So burn away!

However, I have not burnt a flag myself. It is an extreme and offensive statement. The weight and impact of the statement should be considered.

I just wonder if many of the people that support burning the US flag will object to burning the Mexican flag.

And I also think it is VERY inappropriate to fly a foreign flag on a public building.

Title 36, U.S.C., Chapter 10
As amended by P.L. 344, 94th Congress
Approved July 7, 1976

" (k) The flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning. "

That's all it says, kids. Don't get riled up, it's just cloth. We salute the flag. We don't worship it. We swear to protect and defend the Constitution, not the flag.

Do I rush off and publicly burn the US flag ? Nope. I don't. Burning cloth smells funny. We retire the flags via the Boy Scouts- they cut the flag into individual stripes and the star area, then burn them.

Let's not act like the One World Islamic Hegemonists, to wit:

I say that we Americans should rise up all over the world in Righteous Crusade and slay anyone who would desecrate our holy symbol the flag, as it is said in the Holy Book by the Prophet, Peace Be Upon Him. And to those who would publish these hateful cartoons depicting the Flag in such unholy light, I proclaim Death !





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/31/2006 11:24AM by cbelt3.

I agree the Mexican flag has no right to fly on U.S. public buildings. The Mexican government is at least as corrupt as the U.S. government, and less brutal only because it lacks armament.

I thought the point of the demonstrators was that they were indigenous people who'd been deprived of their birthright by invaders who now wanted to deport the original inhabitants as "aliens." It appears that some Mexican nationalists have coopted native American rage at injustice done them, when if they looked at the way the Mexican government treats its indigenous peoples, e.g. Chiapas, they'd see little difference.

cbelt3 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Title 36, U.S.C., Chapter 10
> As amended by P.L. 344, 94th Congress
> Approved July 7, 1976
>
> " (k) The flag, when it is in such condition that
> it is no longer a fitting emblem for display,
> should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably
> by burning. "
>
> That's all it says, kids. Don't get riled up, it's
> just cloth. We salute the flag. We don't worship
> it. We swear to protect and defend the
> Constitution, not the flag.
>
> Do I rush off and publicly burn the US flag ?
> Nope. I don't. Burning cloth smells funny. We
> retire the flags via the Boy Scouts- they cut the
> flag into individual stripes and the star area,
> then burn them.
>
> Let's not act like the One World Islamic
> Hegemonists, to wit:
>
> I say that we Americans should rise up all over
> the world in Righteous Crusade and slay anyone who
> would desecrate our holy symbol the flag, as it is
> said in the Holy Book by the Prophet, Peace Be
> Upon Him. And to those who would publish these
> hateful cartoons depicting the Flag in such unholy
> light, I proclaim Death !

I agree with the conclusions drawn, however, there are very real and specific cerimonies that accompany the retirement(or burning of a flag).

"Laws of the United States state: "When the flag is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning".

[tinyurl.com]

If thats too much trouble your local Boy Scout Troop needs at least one a year to teach the flag dismemberment and burning cerimony and if none of that works for you just stick it on a pole attached to your SUV, it wont do a lot for your gas mileage but a few thousand miles of flag waving will eliminate the need to burn anything.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/02/2006 03:39AM by RgrF.

Burning contributes to global warming. Maybe people ashamed of their government's actions should just shred their flags and use them as packing material as a means of recycling. Doesn't have the same dramatic effect, admittedly. Maybe if the resulting excelsior was used to pack broken up doll parts, spattered with fake blood, to ship to the White House?