American Flag Blog

The photo at right shows a Palestinian burning an Israeli flag in Gaza. The one below it shows the American flag burning in Gaza with the Palestinian flag in the background. The point is that here in America, we see so many of these images from the comfort of our homes that we have become jaded.

I think there is a disconnect in the minds of most Americans between these images of chaos and violence happening a half a world away, and our everyday lives here. Perpetual polling of the American public reveals that more and more of us are questioning our involvement in Iraq, or anywhere else for that matter.

Sure, it’s true that Saddam is a bad guy, but why should Americans fight and die to depose a tyrant who had no realistic shot at attacking the United States. Even Iran, a country full of hate for America and actively seeking a nuclear weapons program, doesn’t have the wherewithal to do more than stir up trouble in their own neighborhood. Or do they?

In Paris, for the fourth straight night, a Muslim enclave has been ground zero for violent riots. Islamic immigrants have been pouring into Europe for decades now and tensions between Muslims and native Eurpopeans has been growing at an alarming rate. Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy describes it this way, "For 30 years the situation has been getting worse in a number of neighborhoods. It’s not a story that’s three days, three weeks or three months old."

So what does this have to do with the United States? It has everything to do with us, according to Tony Blankely, the editorial page editor for the Washington Times. He has just written a book entitled, The West’s Last Chance - Will We Win the Clash of Civilizations? in which he compares the looming Islamic takeover of Europe today to the Nazi takeover of Europe in the last century.

"It is beginning to dawn on Europeans that the combination of a shrinking ethnic-European population and an expanding, culturally assertive Muslim population might lead to the fall of Western civilization in Europe within a century," says Blankely, and warns, "If Europe doesn’t rise to the challenge, Eurabia will come to pass. Then Europe will cease to be an American ally and instead become a base of operations (as she already is to a small degree) against us."

If this book was written by an unknown author with slim credentials, it could be dismissed as alarmist. But Blankely is a well respected Washington insider who is very well connected in both liberal and conservative circles and he was born and raised in the United Kingdom, so he has more than just a passing knowledge of European society.

The popular outdoor pastime in Tehran these days has become burning Israel’s flag in the street. Actually, burning Israel’s flag as well as the American flag has long been a popular form of recreation in Iran. But the flag burning craze has really caught fire, so to speak, following the incendiary (I can’t stop) remarks of the new Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

At a conference in Tehran this week entitled The World Without Zionism, Ahmadinejad said, among other things, that “there is no doubt that the new wave (of attacks) in Palestine will wipe off this stigma (Israel) from the face of the Islamic world” and, “Israel must be wiped off the map” not to mention, “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.” Of course, his remarks caused quite a stir in western political circles.

But one thing should be made clear - the President’s remarks are not an abberation. The Muslim world, by and large, cannot conceive of politics seperated from religion. Many Americans see the images of Muslims burning the American flag and the Israeli flag and wonder, what have we done to make them so mad at us, but fail to realize that it isn’t what we’ve done but it’s who we are.

What’s happening in Iran right now is only a manifestation of what is brewing in other Islamic countries. The tenets of Islam proscribe Islam from existing in harmony with any other religion. So as the United States, Great Britain and the Coalition attempt to bring peace to the Middle East with political solutions, we fail to recognize the true source of the conflict. As the title of the Tehran conference, The World Without Zionism, indicates, Islam seeks to eliminate all other religions, most notably Judaism and Christianity, from the face of the earth. 

In my mind, one of the most stirring examples of the unique quality of the American spirit was the raising of the American flag on Iwo Jima. On the morning of February 23, 1945, U.S. Marines conducted an assault of Mount Suribachi and upon reaching the summit, raised the flag. In fact, two American flags were raised that day - a second, larger flag was retreived from a ship. In the midst of one of the bloodiest and most desperate battles of WW II, U.S. Marines were willing to risk their lives to raise the flag of their country.

Whats the point? Well, Clint Eastwood and Steven Spielberg are in the process of finishing up a film titled Flags of Our Fathers about the six soldiers involved in the Iwo Jima flag raising, and it has now been revealed that Clint Eastwood is working on a second film about Iwo Jima told from the Japanese perspective tentatively titled Lambs Before the Wind or Lamps Before the Wind, depending on where you read about it.

Eastwood was a bit close-lipped about his motivation for the second film but indicated that he felt the other side of the story should be told, "I don’t know — sometimes you just get a feeling about something. You have a premonition that you can get something decent out of it. You just have to trust your gut."

From what little I’ve read, Flags of Our Fathers is the story of what befalls each of the men involved in raising the flag that day. And that’s where the problem lies. As soon as you diverge from the true story into the twists and turns of personal fortune or misfortune, the door is opened for manipulation by revisionists to rewrite history.

The true story should be of the epic struggle of the United States to defend herself as well as a large chunk of the rest of the world from Japanese aggression. The raising of the American flag on Iwo Jima was not about those soldiers as individuals but about the bravery and sacrifice of all Americans who took part in the fight.

Thousands of soldiers from both sides met a grisly fate on Iwo Jima. As human beings, we should honor the bravery and sacrifice of all soldiers who willingly march into battle. But we should not conclude an equivalence exists between the aspirations of the Japanese and those of the Americans. Japan was a vicious aggressor that severely underestimated the strength and resolve of America to right a wrong and put an end to aggression. The American flags raised on Iwo Jima were a symbol of that strength and resolve.

I might get this screwed up slightly because I’m paraphrasing from my own faulty memory, but it should be pretty close. Upon ratification of the Constitution, as he was exiting, someone remarked to Benjamin Franklin that he was to be congratulated for his part in forming our new democracy. He replied that it is not a democracy, it is a republic, if you can keep it.

The point is that there is an important distinction between a democracy and a republic. A democracy is majority rule and with it comes the threat of tyranny of the majority over the minority. A republic adds the buffer of elected representation between the whims and passions of the majority and a helpless minority. Our Founding Fathers wisely sought to prevent the majority from forcing their agendas on the minority.

Sadly for us, they never envisioned an America where the pendulum could swing so far the other way that the minority has for decades been forcing their radical agendas down the collective throat of the majority. And they accomplish their goals, not through elected representatives as the founders intended, but through the courts.

Here’s an email I received today from a close friend in New York:

It seems to get worse daily. This is by a daughter of a murdered couple in Raytown who had a Bible and Bookstore on 63rd street.

Just one more example: When I had to testify at the murder trial of my parents a week ago, I was asked to raise my right hand. The bailiff started out "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?" I stood there and waited but she said nothing.  She said "Do you?" I was so stunned I blurted out "What happened to "so help me God’?" She came back with "Do you?"  I replied yes, but I was perplexed.

Then the judge said ……………. "You can say that if you want to." I stopped, raised my right hand, and finished with "So help me God!" I told my son and daughter that when it came time for them to testify, they should do the same.

It’s no wonder we have so many problems in this country.  If I’d had my wits about me I’d have told them that taking God out of the courtroom is only going to result in more criminals and murderers  like him being in there!   I don’t know what can be done about it,  but it’s time we stepped up and did something.

NBC this morning had a poll on this question. They had the highest number of responses that they have ever had for one of their polls, and the percentage was the same as this:  86% to keep the words, 14% against.  That is a pretty ‘commanding’ public response. It is said that 86% of Americans believe in God. Therefore, I have a very hard time understanding why there is such a mess about having "In God We Trust" on our money and having God in the Pledge of Allegiance. Why don’t we just tell the 14% to Sit Down and be Quiet,….. for a change!!!

I think this reaction is pretty typical. Americans more and more are speaking out about the disparity between what they believe to be right and what is being forced upon them, often by a very small and radical minority.

In the case of the pending amendment to the Constitution prohibiting the desecration of the American flag, the polls that have been conducted by independent polling organizations show that the vast majority of Americans  want  to see the American flag protected. Furthermore, they correctly surmise that an amendment protecting the American flag from desecration would not infringe upon their free speech rights one iota. Instead, it’s radical fringe groups like the ACLU, aided by the press, that are making all the noise in an effort to preserve their twisted right to burn American flags.

As the trial of Saddam Hussein starts up again next month, I predict it will be an eye-opener for a lot of Americans. Reminiscent of the days of the Vietnam War, campus demonstrations are springing up across the country replete with, yes, American flag burnings. (As a side note, it has been reported that students are burning the American flag as a demonstration of their free speech rights rather than as a statement of their hatred of America). But those demonstrations that are in vogue with many of today’s students may not seem so cool  when images of torture and death under Saddam are seared into the brains of the American public.

Despite the similarities to the Vietnam era, there are some marked differences. Perhaps the biggest difference is that today, we have a vast amount of information available, including videotape, about the atrocities of Saddam’s regime. That’s why this trial has the potential to really change public opinion. Up until now, the American news media has been complicit in failing to show the extent of Saddam’s crimes in order to appease the far-left.

And unlike the Vietnam era, when the anti-war movement was founded and spearheaded largely by American students, today’s anti-war movement has been planted and nurtured by some very questionable groups many of which are Saddam loyalists. Many of the groups I have reported on such as ANSWER and the Muslim-American Society blatantly support terrorist organizations like Hamas while calling for the destruction of Israel. And they are front-and-center with the American anti-war movement - in fact, those two groups were the cheif sponsors of the recent anti-war rally in Washington, D.C.

So how did these people gain legitimacy? They did it by recruiting the assistance and endorsements of famous people. And up until now, one of the movements brightest stars was a member of Britain’s Parlaiment, George Galloway. Galloway, if you were watching, was one of the featured speakers at last month’s Washington rally , and has been the darling of the American press. News outlets here in the U.S., including the New York Times, have been in a swoon over him.

But now, like many of his ilk, his motives have proved to be entirely self-serving and even sinister. For all his anti-war posturing, it turns out that he is entwined in the "Oil for Food" scandal bigtime. Galloway and his wife have apparently been on the take from Saddam for quite some time and it doesn’t look like he’ll be able to wiggle his way out of this.

So as much as I deplore the willful desecration of the American flag, I hope that every time an American student lights one up in the name of free speech, he/she ponders what free speech or the lack therof existed under the regime of Saddam Hussein. 

The Massachusetts state flag is on the endangered species list, figuratively speaking. In another example of political correctness  at it’s silliest, a group composed of a few state legislators and some "Native American advocates" is pushing to get the state seal removed from the state flag.

The Massachusetts flag depicts a Native American holding a bow at his right side and an arrow at his left. A star symbolizing the colony of Massachusetts is above his right shoulder and above his head is an arm with a sword. A sentence in Latin explains the sword, "By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty." The current flag has been the official Massachusetts flag since 1885, but the seal actually dates back to 1780.

One of the complaints (people like this can never stop at one complaint) is that the sword symbolizes violence towards the Native Americans. Only those who are bent on wiping out American history could come up with an argument like that. In 1780, when Massachusetts Governor and signer of the Declaration of Independence, John Hancock approved the seal, we were in the throes of the Revolutionary War. That the sword is in reference to our struggle against the British and not a threat of violence towards the Indians is something a child could decipher.

Without researching it further, I really don’t want to venture a guess at why a Native American appears as the central figure on the Massachusetts flag at a time when the people of that state were fully engaged in the desperate fight with the British. But I can tell you one thing for sure. The folks who are behind this effort aren’t concerned with that question. They are not about finding the truth. Their agenda is to rewrite history to diminish and demean the role of the white man. Period.

And at least one Massachusetts politician is in agreement. State Rep. Jeffrey Perry, R-Barnstable, had this to say, "In the name of political correctness, we have a tendency to rewrite history."

I received an email over the weekend from Jeff Archer (aka Malcom Lagauche), the subject of my October 8th post, Malcom Lagauche Tries His Hand At American Flag Desecration. Despite the fact that we hold opposing viewpoints, his letter was very respectful. He wrote to correct my assumption that the American flag he featured in an article with a likeness of an abacus in place of the star field was meant to portray the United States as greedy.

Here’s what Archer had to say about the abacus/American flag:

I used the picture of the U.S. flag with an abacus to portray the fact that many U.S. flags are made in China and many of those who deem it necessary in the U.S. to display a flag will buy an Chinese-made flag to show their patriotism. As you know, an abacus is an ancient Chinese adding machine, not a symbol of greed and sinister actions.

So I stand corrected and I apologize for making an assumption about his intentions. It should also be noted that he is correct about the fact that many American flags are coming into the US from China and that many otherwise well-meaning Americans are subsequently flying Chinese-made American flags.

But the picture is really not all that bleak. Most of the Chinese made flags are very inexpensive light-weight polyester (as oposed to a heavy two-ply polyester) and they are substandard quality. Some flag distributors are making a very good profit featuring them as "free American flags" and others will offer them as a low-cost alternative to a quality American flag.

Most flag buyers however, won’t waste their money on a cheap flag simply because they won’t hold up under the type of punishment the typical flag endures. And most people, if they know they are about to buy a flag made in China, will opt for the American made version. It’s one thing if your coffee mug is made in China, but very few Americans want their American flag to be made there. Add to that the fact that most US flag makers and distributors (ourselves included) will tell you over and over again that the American flag you are about to buy is made in America, you would be hard-pressed to wind up with a Chinese made flag if you set out to find one made in the U.S.A.

So the notion that American patriotism is such a thin veneer that Americans  across the country are scooping up Chinese made flags to save a few bucks just doesn’t apply. Most Americans are OK with a screw driver or a calculator made in China, but a Chinese made American flag is a different story altogether.

P.S. - The abacus is a Middle Eastern invention, most likey from Babylonia (Iraq).

I just finished reading a letter to the editor of the Chico Enterprise Record in Chico, California, that I think, sheds some light on the increasing polarization of our society. On Friday, I wrote of a mother and daughter in Chico who have rigged a display of flags in their yard that is causing a little stir. Wendy Oshima has the Cuban, Palestinian and Iraq (under the rule of Saddam Hussein) flags flying along with her daughter’s desecrated American flag.

As a result of the display, the American flag in particular, the Mount Shasta Spring Water Company has decided to cease doing business with Oshima. There would be no story here except for the fact that Oshima felt her "rights" had been violated and she’s making some noise about it. The book on Oshima is that she is politically active and tied in with some very left wing groups that are dedicated to the destruction of the United States and that support some of the nastiest regimes on the face of the earth. Hence, the Cuban flag in support of Castro, the former Iraq flag in support of Saddam Hussein and the Palestinian flag in support of the various terrorist organizations that operate under the umbrella of the PLO.

The Mount Shasta Spring Water Company has stated that they are only taking issue with the desecration of the American flag which, as a private business, is well within their rights. The problem arises, however, when the average Joe reads the whitewashed version the newspaper wishes to present and concludes that the water company has overreacted. After all, the American flag the water company takes issue with was the work of the child, not the mother and as for the mother’s flags, she’s just expressing her appreciation for other cultures.

This is exactly the conclusion that Shala Fredson, a Chico resident, made after reading the story in the paper. The letter she wrote the paper begins like this:

"I read the story about a woman whose water delivery service was stopped because her delivery man found a multicultural flag display in her yard offensive. Among the flags was an American flag her daughter had decorated with a peace sign and some smiley faces."

Fredson apparently doesn’t see the importance of questioning why those three flags in particular were displayed by Oshima - she dismisses them as "a multicultural flag display." And the American flag hasn’t been desecrated - it’s been decorated.

Fredson is fairly representitive of a large chunk of America. She’s so caught up with the "feelings" that she doesn’t see where this might be leading. She sums up the conflict this way:

"So what if Oshima doesn’t feel the same way as Ellis (the owner of Mount Shasta Spring Water)? She doesn’t have to. He doesn’t have to like it either, but he does need to accept it, just like everyone else should be accepting of him."

Oshima isn’t merely "feeling" a certain way. She is actively supporting a set of ideas and consequently, a course of action, that intends to destroy our democratic republic. There is no reason on earth that Mr. Ellis, or any other American for that matter, should "need to accept" the ideas that Oshima is promoting.

Do you remember Nikita Khruschev? He was the Premier of the Soviet Union through a very scary period of the Cold War in the late 50’s and early 60’s. He ominously warned the United States that they would not need to destroy us with conventional warfare but rather, they would destroy us from within. If he was specifically referring to the Soviet Union or Soviet style Communism, well, that didn’t happen. But if he was referring to subversives who hate America, who hate our capitilistic society and would like to replace it with a socialist, authoritarian regime, he might yet be right on the money.

Here is yet another example of someone living here amongst us, who claims to be a lover of peace but who worships the most bloody and barbaric of the world’s leaders primarily because they too would like to see the destruction of America. Her name is Wendy Oshima and she lives in Chico, California.

Oshima is not shy about her proclivities either. There are four flags flying outside her house. Oshima herself put up the Cuban flag, the Palestinian flag, and the flag of Iraq under Saddam Hussein. She says she flies them "to show our solidarity with the people of these countries. These are countries that have long suffered from U.S. foreign policy." 

She should tell that to the thousands who have fled Cuba and lived to tell about it. Or the millions who are willing to risk their lives voting in Iraq. Or the families of Israelis killed in Palestinian terror attacks. It begs the question, is it really the people she supports or the ruthless leaders of those countries.

The fourth flag is an American flag her daughter is displaying, and it’s no ordinary American flag either. It features a hand drawn peace sign over the stripes along with some smiley faces and it has caused the Mount Shasta Spring Water Company to discontinue service to Oshima over the desecration of the American flag.

The interesting thing here is that Oshima is not just an ordinary citizen who happens to own these flags. She is an active member of the Chico Peace and Justice Center and she flew the flags at a benefit she recently held at her home. And she flew these particular flags because the Chico Peace and Justice Center is one of many organizations that is actively associated with "Act Now to Stop War & End Racism" (ANSWER).

Here’s what I had to say about ANSWER in a recent post:

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.

Of course, the media is portraying her as a peace lover who is being unfairly persecuted by the nasty right-wing bottled water company over some cute American flag artwork done by a child. And Oshima, who hates America as it currently exists, doesn’t mind using the justice system to go after the water company because they violated her rights.

I say three cheers for Mount Shasta Spring Water Company. In our politically correct world, they have the smarts to recognize the enemy within and the guts to do something about it.

A note to Cindy Sheehan: I am truly sorry to have to inform you of this, but you may have been replaced as the martyr-in-residence of the anti-American left. Yes, it’s true Cindy, it seems that fired English teacher, Stephen Kobasa, has gained some traction within progressive (far-left, world-without-borders) circles.

Kobasa has eagerly opened up to a number of leftist publications, and they are, in turn, eagerly promoting his plight. And as we speculated, Kobasa has confirmed his progressive agenda.

Kobasa was recently relieved of his teaching position at Catholic Kolbe-Cathedral High School in Bridgeport, Connecticut , for refusing to tolerate an American flag in his presence. In fact, he has repeatedly removed the American flag from his classroom whenever one was installed there and has, until recently, refused to allow the Pledge of Allegiance to be recited in his presence. Under pressure from the school administration he proposed allowing students who wished to recite the pledge to bring their own American flag, unfold it, hold it up, recite the pledge, fold it back up and get it out of his sight. But this was too little too late.

In justifying his disdain for American flags to the school admistration, the New Haven Advocate says that Kolasa explained "why the symbol of the flag was, in his view, in direct contradiction to the symbol of the crucifix." It should then logically follow that Kobasa views nations, borders, etc. as being ultimately evil.

And he doesn’t dissapoint, "My faith understanding of the gospel is a compassion without boundaries.  The commandment to love one’s enemies is the most clear statement against nationalism that I know."  Without delving into the theology, it nevertheless should be said here that Kobasa’s views are not gounded in the Bible, but in ultra-left politics.

The view that Kolasa and others like him hold that the United States is a violent and vile instigator of most of the world’s problems ignores the evidence. While he describes America as having a  "dominant culture of self-interest and greed and violence," he says nothing of much of the rest of the world where violence is a way of life. Given that evil exists for it’s own sake and is waiting for restraints to be withdrawn, a world without nations and borders would truly be a dangerous and violent place.

Mr. Kobasa should be careful what he wishes for - he just might get it.