You’re flying your flag, right?

November 24, 2011

Did I need to remind you to fly your flag today?

U.S. flag at Mt. Vernon, cupola on the house in the background

U.S. flag at George Washington's home, Mt. Vernon, cupola on the house in the background

2 Comments | Flag etiquette, Fly your flag today, History, Patriotism, Thanksgiving | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Fly your flag today: Veterans Day, November 11, 2010

November 11, 2010

Iwo Jima Memorial, near Washington, D.C.

Iwo Jima Memorial, near Washington, D.C.

Fly your flag today.

We honor all veterans on November 11 of each year.  The Flag Code designates Veterans Day for flag flying, to honor veterans. (See more on the Flag Code, here.)

More, and other resources

Leave a Comment » | Flag etiquette, Fly your flag today, History, veterans | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Patriotic shame of Corpus Christi, Texas

July 2, 2010

Flag in Corpus Christi, Texas, at corner of Staples and Craig - photo by Ed Darrell - IMGP4383

This flag needs to be retired. Will some patriot step up to the job?

Leaving Corpus Christi can be a trial.  It’s at least a 15 mile drive from the American Banking Center to Interstate 37, if you go by the Starbucks on Staples to get coffee for the drive back to Dallas.  (It’s a 100-yard drive otherwise.)

Tourist that I am I drove Staples all the way back, to see the nitty-gritty of the town.

Must it be this gritty?

The flag above, if it can still be considered a flag, struggles to honor our nation at the corner of Staples and Craig Streets.  Clearly this is not a flag that is retired at sundown, as the U.S. flag code urges.  It looks as though it has been flying there for at least a year.  Perhaps it has flown since September 11, 2001.  Perhaps it has flown since the War of 1812.

When a flag becomes tattered, it should be mended, appropriate for a symbol of our nation.  When it can no longer be repaired, it should be retired, according to the Congressional Research Service Report for Congress — The United States Flag:  Federal Law Related to Display and Associated Questions (pages 11 and 12):

Destruction of Worn Flags

The Flag Code states:

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.*  The act is silent on procedures for burning a flag. It would seem that any procedure which is in good taste and shows no disrespect to the flag would be appropriate. The Flag Protection Act of 1989,38 struck down albeit on grounds unrelated to this specific point,39 prohibited inter alia “knowingly” burning of a flag of the United States, but excepted from prohibition “any conduct consisting of disposal of a flag when it has become worn or soiled.”

*  4 U.S.C. § 8(k).

Do we have any readers in Corpus Christi?  Could you drop by the shop where this flag is flown sometime through the week, and ask them to retire the flag, as an act of honor for our nation?

Thank you.

2 Comments | Flag etiquette, Patriotism | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Don’t “dip” the American flag

August 14, 2009

So far I’ve been able to learn that Joe Bruni is a firefighter.  Beyond that, I don’t know much other than his YouTube series on flag etiquette is very good — not perfect, but very, very good.

In this episode he talks about carrying a flag.  I wish he’d discussed it in terms of a flag ceremony, but he gets the basics right.

Younger Scouts, Cub Scouts, Brownies and Bluebirds will have difficulty holding a large flag and pole vertical — get a flag harness to help them out (usually less than $25.00 at Scout supply shops).

He’s got a bunch of these.  I’ll pass them along as I get a chance to view them.

(Joe Bruni — who are you?)

4 Comments | Boy Scouts of America, Flag ceremony, Flag etiquette, Patriotism | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Proof Bush has America backwards

August 13, 2008

Photographic proof that George Bush has America backwards. (Avert your Cub Scout’s eyes — he shouldn’t see his president doing that to the U.S. flag. Your Cub Scout knows that the union should always be displayed to its own right — to Bush’s right, the opposite of how he’s holding it here.)

President Bush displays U.S. flag backwards, at Beijing Olympics. Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

President Bush displays U.S. flag backwards, at Beijing Olympics. Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

Worse, there’s more:

But, by God! He’s wearing his lapel pin! Wearing the pin makes one immune to the rules of respectful flag display, one would assume, from the complaints of Sen. Barack Obama’s not wearing the lapel pin, and the remarkable silence from those same people about Bush’s many insults to the flag.

George Bush makes the case: We don’t need a Constitutional Amendment to make flag desecration illegal. We need Americans who pay attention to flag etiquette, instead.

Tip of the old scrub brush to Larry Perez, and to BuzzFlash, “The Diplomatic Decathlon: Bush’s Marathon of Olympic Blunders”

8 Comments | Flag etiquette, Patriotism, Politics, Presidents | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

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