The American Standard Bearer

Let’s say your neighbor comes over to your house one day, removes the American flag from your flagpole and stomps it deep into your front lawn with the heel of his boot. Then he proceeds to tear up your wife’s flower bed and to top it all off, he pours a can of paint on the roof of your car.

What would you do? Would you call the police? Would you chase him off your property with a leaf rake? Or would you invite him in for a cool refreshing drink of iced tea, offer to help pay his mortgage and make sure his kids get the best education and free health care?

Two weeks ago, a group known as Gente Unida physically attacked a citizen’s border patrol group in San Diego. Andy Ramirez  of Friends of the Border described some of the melee, "An American flag was immediately desecrated by being torn away from our volunteers, off its pole, and onto the ground where it was stomped on and kicked. This vile act was committed by an individual who had concealed his face from cameras."

Gente Unita and many groups like it are made up of Hispanics, many of whom are illegal. We know this because there were a lot of them in Washington last week as part of the Cindy Sheehan love-in, screaming for amnesty and driver’s licenses. Not to mention that the Gente Unida soccer fans in San Diego were chanting, "We did not cross over the border, their border crossed over us," which implies that the "us" are folks from south of the border.

The problem is that the citizen border patrol groups that have formed, most notably the Minutemen, have acted in an entirely peaceful manner, but they are being unfairly characterized as violent renegades. Even the President has referred to them as "vigilantes." And on the other side, the groups that oppose an immigration policy have shown that they are capable of violence and have promised more. One of the Gente Unida hombres threatened Ramirez with a future firefight at the border.

If we allow the open-border folks, including President Bush, to prevail, if we continue to invite the neighbors who trample the American flag in for iced tea, we are headed for a radical change in this country. Los Angeles has already tipped the scales population-wise.

One caller to the Barbara Jean radio talk show last week said, "I left California because that state is lost to Mexico. It’s no longer a part of America." A Hispanic television station recently unveiled a billboard that reads, "Welcome to Los Angeles, Mexico." And a popular bumber sticker among the Mexican community says, "F**k You! This is Mexico."

For the first time, The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps will be patrolling the entire border between the U.S. and Mexico this October. Liberal news organizations are spouting off about the "raised fear of violence" implying that the Minutemen will instigate the violence. But it’s groups like Gente Unida or the California-based Brown Berets, a group that grew out of the Black Panther Party in the 1960s, that are planning violent confrontation in October.

The Minutemen have a very limited and focused goal – to fill the gaps that the Border Patrol is currently unable to handle and to draw attention to the government’s failure to secure our borders. Minuteman founder Chris Simcox puts it this way, "We will be going home when the government sends troops or the National Guard to secure the border. Until then, the patrols will continue."

Senator John McCain often tells a story about one of his fellow inmates in the Hanoi prison camp where he spent five and a half years. Mike Christian was a humble but courageous Navy pilot from Alabama who fashioned a small American flag from scraps of cloth using a homemade bamboo needle. He sewed that American flag on the inside of his shirt to hide it from the North Vietnamese.

McCain relates that Christian would hang his shirt on the wall of their sparse cell every afternoon and they would all salute the flag and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Under the conditions they were forced to live says McCain, that small ritual was the highlight of the day.

At one point, the Communists found the American flag sewn inside Christians shirt and they beat him to within an inch of his life. No sooner was he back in the cell than he began sewing another American flag.

The interesting thing about this story is that it not only says something about Mike Christian, but that it may say something pretty powerful about the teller. John McCain, although very well known and popular in a general sort of way has, nonetheless, somewhat of an image problem with the Republican base. He’s seen as a political chameleon who often allies with the wrong side.

That’s why when I heard that he had agreed to meet with Cindy Sheehan, my reaction was that he was attempting to appease the Democrats he might need to rely on in another Presidential bid.

But that’s not how it shook out. Instead of kissing up to the Sheehan Threat Machine, he stood his ground, and that made Sheehan a very angry woman. "He is a warmonger, and I’m not," Sheehan said after their meeting. "I believe this war is not keeping America safer."

McCain’s reply was calm and matter-of-fact, "She’s entitled to her opinion. We just have fundamental disagreements."

McCain is a consumate politician so I would be very surprised if this whole thing was not calculated, at least to some degree, to demonstrate to the conservative base of the Republican Party that he isn’t intimidated by the likes of Sheehan. But I would also like to think that, like his willingness to pledge allegiance to the American flag in defiance of the enemy so many years ago, his willingness to defy a new enemy demonstrates a strength of character that may play well with the Republican base.

The professional protestors, power-hungry politicians, Anarchists, Socialists, Communists, and America haters of the stripe that populated Saturday’s anti-war protest event in Washington typically view the American flag as a symbol of the repression they imagine themselves to be suffering from. So they treat the flag accordingly, spray painting it, burning it  and otherwise defacing it in the deluded hopes of making their gnarled political point. But the notion that the American flag deserves respect never sees the light of day with these folks. 

Fortunately for the rest of us, there’s an America out there that’s brimming with love of country and a conviction that the future will remain as bright as our past has been. A case in point is the undaunted spirit of those who are now picking up the pieces in the wake of two hurricanes.

John McFarland of the Sun Herald newspaper on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi recently emailed his colleagues at the Newspaper Association of America’s Marketing Federation about the miraculous enthusiasm the people there have for rebuilding. Here’s some of what he had to say,

"As you know, my beautiful Mississippi Gulf Coast has been devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Some 75 percent of all structures in our three counties along the Gulf of Mexico have been severely damaged or destroyed. Our casinos and other tourist attractions, most of which were on or near the beachfront, were washed away by 30 foot seas. Many of our priceless cultural and historic attractions are gone. And for an area founded in 1699, that’s a lot of lost history. Thousands are homeless and thousands more will be out of jobs for months to come. But we will rebuild. And first, we are working to rebuild the spirit of our neighbors."

One of the early signs of this determination to prevail are the American flags that are literally everywhere. McFarland points out that this isn’t the first time that residents of the Gulf Coast rallied around the flag in the aftermath of devastation. In the wake of Camille in 1969, the Sun Herald (then called the Daily Herald) contacted newspapers across America asking that they help by collecting American flags to send to the people of Mississippi in a show of support.

McFarland wrote of this event in his email, "At that time, flying the American flag above the rubble of homes and businesses was a visible act of determination and became the symbol for our community’s recovery. That same phenomenon is occurring after Katrina.

""The site of flags flying amid the rubble of Camille is the most endearing memory of that storm, and is already becoming a symbol of our neighbor’s determination to rebuild again. There just aren’t enough flags."

What a contrast – from the spoiled, self-absorbed and unhappy demonstrators in Washington to the good folks in Mississippi who are proud and grateful to be Americans in the midst of so much destruction.

Other than C-Span, there was just about zero coverage of the Cindy
Sheehan Road Show on television this past weekend, leaving the
political left scratching their heads. Sheehan herself, already frantic
at 6:30 AM on Saturday morning, posted this comment on the
ultra-liberal Daily Kos blog site, "i am watching cnn and it is 100
percent rita…even though it is a little wind and a little rain…it
is bad, but there are other things going on in this country today…and
in the world!!!!"

The response from Daily Kos regulars was immediate and scathing, and
surprisingly enough, dead on. One reader who goes by the screen name of
Hibsnet had this to say:

I’m in Southeast Texas with family on the coast and in Lake Jackson, LA.

I’d like you to tell us it’s just a little wind and rain. They’ve lost
their homes, jobs and businesses and gone through fear and panic while
you bask in your fan’s adulation, party with your celebrity friends and
play the star.

Shame on you, you’re jealous of media coverage of other’s suffering.
You’ve become a caricature and I no longer support you. I’m ashamed I
ever did.

And writing for another ultra left-wing  site, OpEdNews.com, Jason
Miller who carried a coffin draped with an American flag in Saturday’s
march had this lament regarding the lack of TV, "My first conclusion
was that their weak coverage of an event of this magnitude deepened my
belief that the mainstream media is merely an instrument of its
corporate masters and of the obscenely corrupt US government."

What is not obvious to Jason and others like him is, however, painfully
obvious to most Americans. The people involved in this weekend’s
festivities were not even close to mainstream America. The liberal
folks at CNN for example, could easily see that it would hurt the
anti-war movement to show America the weird collection of blatant
America haters that make up Sheehan’s followers. Jason Miller, for
example, holds the view that America has been rotten from the beginning.

…the ultimate power in the US rests in the hands of a
select few aristocrats, and has in varying degrees since our nation’s
founding.

The decadence in which many of the presidents and first ladies engaged
was truly disgusting… the US is as much an aristocracy as the
monarchy from which our founding fathers severed themselves.

The liberal media, sympathetic to the anti-war movement, was
nonetheless relieved that a Hurricane provided them a way to avoid
exposing what the movement has become. But there won’t always be
another big news story to hide behind and little by little, the warped
faces of this movement will be exposed to the American public.

Just today, the Associated Press reports that four "peace activists"
were convicted of damaging government property during an anti-war
protest that wasn’t all that peaceful. Among other things, they poured
human blood on an American flag. According to the report, four members
of Catholic Worker, a Communist organization, "splattered their blood
on the windows and walls, posters, pictures and an American flag at an
Army and Marine Corps recruiting station…"

One of the defendants, Clare Grady, made this characteristically
ridiculous statement, "That blood was already on the flag. We just made
it visible."

Pathetic.

I just finished watching about an hour of the Cindy Sheehan March On Washington and that’s how I would characterize it. During the much trumpeted appearances by Ralph Nader and Jessica Lange, there couldn’t have been more than a couple of hundred people in front of the stage. And as for the other speakers who came directly before and directly after Nader and Lange, they were either Palestinians or Philippinos spouting their own very anti-American agendas.

I thought it ironic when Nader  said, "Mr. Bush, you don’t represent the flag!" Well Mr. Nader, in the last Presidential Election, the percentage of voters you attracted was so low that taking the stastical margin of error into account, you got no votes! On the other hand, like it or not, George Bush attracted a clear majority of voters. I would say that that fact alone gives the President more of a right to represent the American flag than you have.

Leaving American flags aside, the collection of foreign nationals, pro-Radical Islamists, pro-Communist, anti-Israel, and above all, virulently anti-American groups that now make up the ultra-left Cindy Sheehan wing are dragging the Democrat Party with them. Even though Democrat leaders like Hillary Clinton would not appear at the rally, they were willing to meet with Sheehan yesterday in recognition that these fringe groups have growing clout within the Party.

Chief among these fringe groups present at the rally today is a group that goes by the name Act Now to Stop War & End Racism or ANSWER. The New York Times describes them in these benevolent terms, "…the Answer Coalition, which embodies a wide range of progressive political objectives…" So it’s fair to ask, who are they and what are the political objectives they embody?

ANSWER is really a front group for the neo-Stalinist Workers World Party. And here’s the interesting part, former U.S. Attorney General in the Johnson administration Ramsey Clark is a WWP member and the founder of ANSWER. ANSWER supporters love to point to the involvement of Ramsey Clark, correctly believing that it gives them legitimacy. But that legitimacy is only because media outlets such as the New York Times have long been sympathetic to Communist political movements.

Few Americans, therefor know that until his overthrow, Saddam Hussein’s attorney was none other than Ramsey Clark. Or do they know that he vigorously defended the Communist massacre of students in the Tiananmen Square demonstrations in 1989. Or that he and his organization defended dictator Slobodan Milosevic in the International Criminal Court. Or that he defended Nazi war criminal Karl Linnas who was directly responsible for the murders of 12,000 concentration camp inmates.

Which might explain the most troubling aspect of this unholy alliance. One of the groups that was prominent at today’s rally and that is listed as part of the ANSWER Coalition is the Free Palestine Alliance. The FPA is directly involved with militant Palestinian terrorism and has the stated objective of the destruction of Israel.

Ralph Nader today directly followed one of these Palestinian speakers, and yet has the audacity to even suggest by inference that he has the right to represent the American flag. Wow! From exposing the dangers of the Corvair to aiding and abetting the enemy – you’ve come a long way baby!

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of Islamia.."

While the politicians and the media look the other way, our country is slowly but steadily sliding towards a day when American flags will be replaced in the classroom and everywhere else with something else, preferably in green. For the most part, the media has ignored the threat from radical Islam because it just seems too far fetched to think that the United States could someday become an Islamic state.

That exact sentiment was held in Europe not too many years ago. Now, many in the know in Europe are predicting that Europe will be Islamic in less than 100 years. Meanwhile, here in America, Islamic organizations are hard at work making sure that one day, an Islamic-American flag flies over the White House.

Recently, I wrote about the pronouncements of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an organization that says on the one hand that they exist to promote harmony between Muslims and non-Muslims while on the other hand, they openly say that their goal is to transform America into an Islamic state.

This Saturday, the Cindy Sheehan road show will stage a rally in Washington. One of the main sponsors and participants of the event (they identify themselves as the Co-Chair) is the  Muslim American Society. The MAS, with more than 50 chapters nationwide, was formed in 1993 as the above-ground arm of an underground Islamic organization known as the Brotherhood.

Last September, the Chicago Tribune published an in-depth article about the Brotherhood from which this excerpt is taken:

Over the last 40 years, small groups of devout Muslim men have gathered in homes in U.S. cities to pray, memorize the Koran and discuss events of the day. But they also addressed their ultimate goal, one so controversial that it is a key reason they have operated in secrecy: to create Muslim states overseas and, they hope, someday in America as well. …

Brotherhood members emphasize that they follow the laws of the nations in which they operate. They stress that they do not believe in overthrowing the U.S. government, but rather that they want as many people as possible to convert to Islam so that one day—perhaps generations from now—a majority of Americans will support a society governed by Islamic law.

According to Daniel Pipes, writer, Harvard graduate and a foremost expert on Mideast policy, "Even if the Muslim Brotherhood is not specifically associated with violence in the United States (as it has been in other countries, including Egypt and Syria), it is deeply hostile to the United States and must be treated as one vital component of the enemy’s assault force."

Tomorrow, as politicians and celebrities fall all over themselves to bask in Cindy Sheehan’s limelight, bear in mind who’s paying for the party.

Just prior to September 11, 2003, members of the UNLV Peace Coalition received this email from one Steve Hampton of the New Socialist Party, "A reminder: the symbol of capitalist exploitation and imperialist aggression, the U.S. flag, will be burned on September 11 at 7:00 p.m. at New York New York. Be there- or be square!"

Did you ever notice that so many of the nut jobs who burn American flags do so in the name of Peace? The most famous of the phony peace-lover crowd to burn an American flag was Gregory Lee Johnson of Texas vs. Johnson fame. Johnson took part in a protest march at the 1984 Republican Convention in Dallas where he doused a stolen American flag with kerosene and lit it on fire. Other members of his contingent spray painted slogans on building walls, overturned potted plants and performed other acts of minor vandalism. All of this in the name of peace.

I mention all this because Cindy Sheehan and her entourage of peaceniks have landed in Washington to prepare for a peaceful protest this weekend. But the messages that Sheehan and her supporters have been delivering don’t strike me as being all that peaceful. Earlier this week in New York, Sheehan’s crowd physically confronted police while shouting things like "Pigs!" and "Fascists!" and "Stalinists!" (wait a minute Cindy, I thought your group were the Stalinists).

Later at Sheehan’s rally, a speaker challenged the crowd to “open a new front of resistance right here. Bring Fallujah to New York and shut it down!” I’m wondering what exactly "bring Fallujah to New York" entails.

And one of the primary organizers of Sheehan’s bus tour is none other than Medea Benjamin of Code Pink. Benjamin was responsible for the violent riots in Seattle during the World Trade Organization meetings there in 1999 and apparently not satisfied with her efforts towards a more peaceful world, Code Pink last year donated $600,000 in cash and supplies to “the other side” in Fallujah.

Somehow, I don’t think peace is what these people are all about.
  

If you watch TV news at all, you’ve no doubt heard about the Minuteman Project. For those of you who don’t watch TV news, the Minuteman project is comprised of groups of U.S. citizens who are calling attention to the huge influx of immigrants pouring across the border with Mexico. They don’t use guns and are commited to non-violence. What they do is simply stake out positions along the border and "assist" the U.S. Border Patrol in spotting illegals attempting to cross.

But it’s important to note that this is not about immigration. It’s about forcing our government to do what it should have been doing all along, and that is to prevent people from anonymously and illegally entering the United States.

There are groups in operation today who’s agenda is to disband the Minuteman Project. One of them is known as Gente Unida, a coalition of 20 or 30 activist groups that include anarchists. A contingent of Gente Unida members literally attacked a gathering of a group of border watchers on Saturday in San Diego.

Friends of the Border was assembling for deployment along the border when Gente Unida showed up, overturning tables, shouting obscenities and desecrating at least one American flag. Former Congressional candidate Roger Canfield witnessed the attack, "Gente Unita stole an American flag, ripped from its staff and trampled it, as captured on film by cameraman Larry Morgan."

Another witness saw retired Navy Officer Capt. Drew Johnson and four others assaulted by Gente Unita. The attackers were chanting, "We did not cross over the border, their border crossed over us," and one of the protesters threatened a future "firefight" along the border.

Friends of the Border chairman Andy Ramirez cancelled the deployment and apologized to the volunteers for the attack, even though he could not have forseen it. He was especially pretubed by the flag desecration, "An American flag was immediately desecrated by being torn away from our volunteers, off its pole, and onto the ground where it was stomped on and kicked," he said. "This vile act was committed by an individual who had concealed his face from cameras."

Groups like Gente Unida want unrestricted immigration into a country who’s sovreignty they have absolutely no respect for as evidenced by their treatment of the American flag. And their agenda is nothing less than the end of the United States, at least in any form the average American would recognize. Here’s how one of these righteous folks views the role of Gente Unida:

No one is illegal. All people have a right to travel and migrate wherever they want. Our struggle works toward the liberation of migrant people, women, indigenous people, people of all nationalities, queers and people of color against the violent bigotry of the MinuteMen and we intend to stop their project from going any further.

Migration controls hurt everyone’s freedom and privacy. Some of us are more directly targeted and affected by these policies, but all of our lives are being reshaped by them. We are in this struggle not only to reject and stop these racist attacks, but to move towards a world without borders, a world of liberation for all people.

A world without borders will be a world in which evil, power hungry people will be able to operate without restriction while the rest of us learn how to defend ourselves.