Lost in the uproar over the New Yorker's current cover cartoon (and how best to respond to it) is, in my mind, the central issue around which Obama supporters, undecided voters and even Obama opponents can focus their attention:

The cartoon depicts the burning of an American flag.

Reasonable people disagree as to whether the portrayal of the Obamas is effective, or offensive, or ironic, or satirical, or all of the above.  

But images, even cartoon images, of burning an American flag are considered by a substantial portion of the American electorate to be inherently offensive.

I've been fairly well appalled at the hagiography of Jesse Helms in the wake of his death.  The man was a racist and a homophobe.  

They're saying he was a "gentleman" - which is utterly wrong.  Would a gentleman have greeted Senator Carol Mosely-Braun (D-IL), the first black woman in the U.S. Senate, by entering the same elevator and literally whistling "Dixie" through the ride?

Which is why I'm so impressed with a man in North Carolina named L.F. Eason.  From the Raleigh News-Observer:

L.F. Eason III gave up the only job he'd ever had rather than lower a flag to honor former U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms.

Eason, a 29-year veteran of the state Department of Agriculture, instructed his staff at a small Raleigh lab not to fly the U.S. or North Carolina flags at half-staff Monday, as called for in a directive to all state agencies by Gov. Mike Easley.

When a superior ordered the lab to follow the directive, Eason decided to retire rather than pay tribute to Helms. After several hours' delay, one of Eason's employees hung the flags at half-staff.

In their most recent campaign, right wingers are attacking Obama over a campaign sign that bears similar features to the US presidential seal

Leave it to the Republicans to find fault (or elitist intentions) in anything the Barack Obama campaign does between now and the general election. The latest in this series of indignations occurred at a meeting of Democratic governors in Chicago last Friday when a new campaign placard was affixed to the Illinois senator’s rostrum. This unveiling drew the ire of many conservatives across the blogosphere who believe Obama was belittling the seal that adorns the podium when the president speaks.

As the sun rose this morning after I had my coffee, I walked out to the driveway and attached an American flag to my home.

It's not as though I had bought it for the occasion -- it was a gift from my parents for Memorial Day, kept in an oblong box in the trunk of my car. When it was given to me, I wasn't sure what I'd do with it.

Just a smallish flag flapping in Oklahoma's bright early morning sun, mounted on an aluminum pole next to my garage. But I haven't felt pride like this for years.

Now that Barack Obama is our nominee (presumptive) it's time to turn our fire on the other guy.  There's so much to go after him for, I thought I'd start with something sure to get all those newspaper and radio and Fox News guys talking.  You know, like flag pins and false stories about putting your hand on your heart.

From the NY Times here's a picture of a flag John McCain desecrated back in Keane, NH in January.

This is from the Flag Code on disrespecting the flag:

TITLE 4 > CHAPTER 1 > § 8

§ 8. Respect for flag

(g) The flag should never have placed upon it, nor on any part of it, nor attached to it any mark, insignia, letter, word, figure, design, picture, or drawing of any nature.

I think any institution that places symbolism and icons above it's fundamental values and principles is an institution in decline...

I don't expect to have a lot of commentary or responses to this but I just got out of an argument with a co-worker on the issue of flag-burning.  In last years' congressional actions to ban flag burning I exchanged emails with Dianne Feinstein's office on the topic.  She told me we had to "agree to disagree" on the topic.  I just needed to vent my frustration.  (Oh - and I know that the grammar below is horrible....)

While I would probably never personally burn the American Flag, I think we have a constitutional right to do so.  

To me you could argue that it's JUST as disrespectful of the flag to use it to appeal to some false notion of patriotism for political or commercial gain.  This flag is a symbol.  If we care more about an object than we do about our republic, then we are in a sorry state.  

There have been two time periods in my life during which I wore an American flag pin on my clothing. The first was back when I was in high school.  In protest of the Vietnam War, I wore an American flag pin upside down, a symbol of distress.  I wore it along with other buttons, badges and pins, including my home-made "I am an effete intellectual, nattering nabob, snob for peace." (It repeated the unforgettable adjectives for war protesters uttered by that paragon of virtue, Vice President Spiro Agnew).   My wearing of the upside down flag pin got me kicked out of typing class during a mid-term exam, which resulted in my only "D" during my high school years (not that there were so many "A’s" either.)

I have never worn a flag pin.  I own an American flag that was presented to my mom by the Tuskegee Airmen, Philadelphia Chapter, at my dad’s funeral.  I come from the generation that was more apt to burn flags and draft cards during the Vietnam War, than wear them.   I too have been associated with groups that were  on J. Edgar Hoover’s favorite hit lists.  The recent "tarring" of Barack Obama for socially knowing William Ayers,  and his wife Bernardine Dohrn is chilling.
   
My husband and I live upstate New York, two hours from New York City in an area that is an odd mixture of hard-core Republican’s, Green Party members, aging Woodstock hippies and an assortment of Democrats.  

There I was, poised in front of my TV ready to forgive and forget. The big, bad corporate beast named Wal-mart had done the right thing and bowed to public pressure. WE THE PEOPLE had won and won big. All was right with the world of retail. Watching CNN, which took full credit for not only breaking the story but for inspiring the revolt that ensued, a round table of pundits pondered why.

Now, it could just be the after-effects of the myraid cold, flu, sore throat and stuffy nose medicines I'm presently using, but stories like this make me very, very cranky. It seems that Pat O'Brien, owner of a local Chevrolet dealership, has a problem with the city of Westlake's patriotism. Or, more specifically, the city's obvious hate-America-first attitude in the face of O'Brien's unwavering defense of liberty. Or, even more specifically, O'Brien wants to be able to break the law to hang a giant American flag. Could O'Brien hang any number of smaller flags and stay within the law? Sure, but small flags do not a patriot - or a good salesman - make.

While I was researching my book, I tracked down a story that had been circulating during debates over products liability legislation in Congress in the mid-90s, involving a guy who sued an American flag company in Texas for injuries he'd suffered trying to bring the flag down in a wind storm. Tort reform groups like the NFIB had held up the story as an example of a frivolous lawsuit, because one of the flag companies that was sued didn't make the flag or the pole it'd been flying on.

I tracked down both the lawyer for the plaintiff and the owner of the flag company, to hear their sides of the story. The political debate had obscured very substantial and valid arguments both parties had about the lawsuit, which showed not so much that the system wasn't working, but rather, how insurance companies needlessly exacerbate some of its deficiencies.

Remember this quote from Bush last month?

As President, I took an oath to protect this country, and I will continue using every element of national power to pursue our enemies and to prevent attacks on the United States of America.

Wrong, Chimpy - you actually took an oath to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States".  And while it is nice that you think you are looking after us Americans, in trying to "protect" us (however twisted and sick the way your actions are showing it), that is most certainly NOT the oath you took.

And that goes for all of the rest of you "out of the mainstream" wingnuts, congresscritters, republicans, flag waving, pin wearing yahoos who clearly forgot about that "goddamn piece of paper" that is the backbone of this country.

Kick it.  That's what I wanted to do when I saw it, kick it through the fucking wall.

No, I don't mean that exactly as it sounds. I didn't go to a protest. It wasn't done out of anger. I didn't even plan on it. I had no idea it was going to happen. But it was part of the celebration of Independence Day that I attended. More accurately, we retired a flag today.

I celebrated today with several of my friends and several of their friends and family. One of my friends has a brother who was in town visiting this weekend. The brother is a graduate student studying US history; in particular, he is an expert on the US flag. Their parents were also visiting this weekend, and knowing about the brother's expertise, their father brought along an old, tattered flag with the expectation that he would know how to dispose of it properly. The brother suggested a flag retirement ceremony.

What is a flag retirement ceremony?

Don't get me wrong. I love the flag.

I like the stories about its creation. I like the creative construction of each subequent version from the original Betsy Ross version. I like how each state is recognized by a star...as though each one is just as important as the next since the stars are all the same size. I like how the stripes represent the orginal colonies...and the effort each put into creating this idea that Obama called "pluralistic democracy" within the confines of a republic. I like how Besty Ross was able to demonstrate how to make a 5-pointed star with a single clip of the scissors.

The flag is cool.

What I don't like is on the flip side...

An open letter to the GOP:

Hey all... so man!  How about that! I know it's got to be frustrating.  One vote short for the flag burningdesecration amendment.  I mean, sure, one would think that, just in time for Fourth of July and a mere few months before the 2006 midterm election, people would be energised over this flag issue, right?  Man, tough beans.

Well, tell you what.  I'll compromise with you.  I agree with you that the American flag is a very important symbol of America, national identity, and what we stand for as a people.  For that reason alone, I think now, so close to our nation's birthday, that it would be a good time to examine what US Code Title 4 might tell us about proper flag usage.  Because none of us would want to to be on the wrong side of things regarding such an important national symbol... we'd never dilute the importance of our flag, or be caught doing anything that could be construed as such, right?  

Right.  So just to be sure...
(more after the cut...)

Thank you, George Bush.  Because of you, Americans have to be afraid all the time, no matter where we are.  From the Associated Press:

U.S. bus at World Cup won't show flag

FRANKFURT, Germany - The official team bus to be used by the United States during the World Cup will not bear a flag for security reasons.

The 32 official buses were presented Thursday in Frankfurt, and the other 31 buses have large national flags of the their teams painted on rear sides.

German and U.S. security officials decided to leave the flag off the U.S. team bus, an official of the German organizing committee said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss the topic.

But I have to wonder: If the American bus is the ONLY ONE WITHOUT A FLAG, won't that make it just as easy to identify?  Just askin'.

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

We should not allow the Right to politically manipulate the movie United 93 and the events of 9/11.

In the 1960's, pro-Vietnam War Americans embraced our flag and other symbolisms of patriotism. One of the greatest mistakes of the progressive Left was to ignore those symbols or even demean them. At first it seemed reasonable.  If oppressors used the flag to represent injustice and tyranny, the Left wanted no part of it.
Tragically, the Right won that battle and continues to prevail on the playing field of patriotism.  

As defenders of the Bill of Rights, a sound interpretation of the War Powers clause, and decency and justice for every American, the Left's patriotism is viewed with suspicion by much of the center. The suspicion is not fermented by our positions on free speech, distrust of an imperial presidency, or even advocacy of gun control. A small but critical group of centrists perceive that Progressives are un-American, because of fifty years of the Left's rejecting the flag and other patriotic symbols and icons.