American Flag Blog

Poor Michael Isikoff of Newsweek Magazine has really done it now. He might even have to give up the key to the executive washroom. But seriously, is his cluelessness just an act? How did he think that people who hate America irrationally will act? They certainly don’t need much of an excuse to kill people, or kill themselves along with other people, or fly planes into buildings for that matter. Muslims burning the American flag in far off streets is now the least of our worries.

Isikoff said in a published interview Tuesday morning: "Whenever something like this happens, you’ve got to take stock and review what you did - how the story was handled. The big point that leaps out is the cultural one. Neither NEWSWEEK nor the Pentagon foresaw that a reference to the desecration of the Koran was going to create the kind of response that it did. The Pentagon saw the item before it ran, and then they didn’t move us off it for 11 days afterward. They were as caught off guard by the furor as we were. We obviously blame ourselves for not understanding the potential ramifications."

Wow! A glimpse of sanity in a crazy world.

A U.S. Federal Appeals Court has struck down the attempt to force electronics manufacturers to install digital flags in equipment to prevent individuals from making copies of movies, etc., broadcast over the public airwaves.

The FCC collaborated with the Motion Picture Association of America (do I smell conflict of interest?) in writing the rules that would have restricted the legal recording of broadcasted material by placing electronic flags in your DVD recorder.

You can read the more about the death of digital flags here.

Once in a while, I write about something that has absolutely nothing to do with flags, and this is one of those times.

Some time ago, I reported remarks made to a group of newspaper execs by Rupert Murdoch, in which he warned that they had better  pay more attention to online news, since more and more people are getting their news online.

So today I found this article in Editor & Publisher reporting an increasing rate of decline of newspaper circulation across the country, which is all fine & dandy, except that the writer didn’t mention the internet as a possible culprit.

I don’t know a thing about the newspaper business except that it is a business and in business, if you fail to recognize what your customers want and how your competition is giving them what they want, you won’t be around long.

By Jennifer Saba

(Excerpt)
NEW YORK The Audit Bureau of Circulations’ March 2005 Fas-Fax report won’t be released until mid-afternoon, but the Newspaper Association of America did a preview analysis of the numbers and found to be true what has largely been anticipated: Daily and Sunday circulation took greater hits this period than in periods past.

For the six months ending March 2005, daily circulation fell 1.9% to 47,374,033 for the 814 papers reporting to the Audit Bureau. Sunday’s drop was even steeper, with a decline of 2.5% to 51,073,104 for the 643 papers that reported.

The study does not include three newspapers — Newsday, The Dallas Morning News ,and the Chicago Sun-Times — that have been censured by the bureau because of prior circulation inflation. The declines would have been larger had the three been included, as they are three of the largest papers in the country.

"Changes in strategy among some publishers to focus on certain categories of higher-readership paid circulation rather than total new paid circulation impact the industry totals," said John Sturm, NAA president and CEO, in a statement. "In addition, a variety of new changes in reporting methodology came into effect at ABC, and this reporting period also reflects the first full cycle of regulatory changes such as the new telemarketing rules."

The do-not-call list is still cited as one of the culprits dragging down the numbers. The legislation creating the reigstry went into effect in October 2003, but more and more people have been adding their names to the list over the past two years. The NAA is set to release a new report that shows as of two years ago only 10% of "available numbers" were on the do-not-call list. Now, it’s up to 40%.

A word of thanks from the staff at Flagstuff.com to George and Virginia Fluke for their unselfish generosity in the interest of preserving our history.

Family Returns Original Oklahoma Flag To State [Associated Press]

OKLAHOMA CITY — The original Oklahoma state flag is now back in Oklahoma.

The flag designed by Louise Funk Fluke, of Ponca City, was donated to the state Thursday by Fluke’s son and daughter-in-law, George and Virginia Fluke, of Houston.

The flag was designed by Louise Fluke in 1925 and adopted by the Legislature on March 25 of that year. It first flew over the state Capitol on April 2, 1925.

The only change made to the flag since its adoption is the addition of the word "Oklahoma" in 1941.

Wow! Terri Schiavo has been dead for, what, a week? And already, a judge has ignored the wishes of an elderly woman and paved the way for her imminent demise. We know what the wishes of this elderly woman are because she put them in writing in the form of a living will.

All the talk about the neccesity of a living will is apparently meaningless, because, as a lawyer friend once told me, "The law is whatever the judge says it is." This case looks nothing like mercy - it looks a lot like convenience, and maybe even greed. This is really scary stuff.

Read the story: Granddaughter yanks grandma’s feeding tube

Something to contemplate - has there ever been a nation at any time in history in which compassion was practised  so naturally and selflessly  as here  in the United States of America?

Here’s a story about a delivery man trapped in an elevator in New York. The resources, time and effort that went into finding this guy are remarkable, yet just par for the course here in the good old USA. Plus, he turns out to be an illegal immigrant from China, yet the overwhelming sentiment is simply relief that he was found in one piece. Even the Mayor got involved.

Read the story.

April 4, 2005

FLAGINFORM from the Flag Research Center

By presidential proclamation George W. Bush has required the half-staffing of the United States flag in commemoration of the death of Pope John Paul II.  All federal government and military buildings, and navy vessels throughout the country and its territories, are affected.  The flag is to remain at half-staff until sunset on the day of the pope’s interment.

Flags flown by state, city, and other non-federal government buildings may be ordered lowered by responsible authorities.  Private individuals, businesses, non-profits, etc. may half-staff flags at their own discretion.  When the United States flag is half-staffed, all other flags flown with it in a given display should likewise be half-staffed for the duration.

I just ran across this whilst surfing the web - I realize it’s a little old, but I thought it was interesting nonetheless. We were wondering why orders for American classroom flags have been up.

Thousands of flags needed under new state law
an Associated Press report 12/06/04

ORLANDO - More than 15,000 American flags need to be replaced in public-school classrooms in central Florida by the end of the school year because they are smaller than required under a new state law.

The law, requiring every Florida public classroom to display an American flag, includes a 3-foot-by-2-foot size requirement. Many flags already used in classrooms aren’t large enough.

"We already had flags in every classroom," said Richard Wells, the district spokesman in Seminole County. "They just weren’t the ones specified by the law."

Because the law states that districts should "attempt to acquire the flag through donation or fund raising," many schools regionwide have spent the fall looking to community groups and businesses to pay for their flags.

In Seminole County, for example, Bank of America has agreed to donate half of the 4,000 flags the district needs, at a cost of about $4 each, Wells said.

Lawmakers estimate there are 156,000 kindergarten-through-12th-grade classrooms in Florida.

"Had the school districts come to us, and said, ‘We have suitable flags,’ I would have had no problem grandfathering them in," said state Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, who led the movement for the law.

The law is known as the Carey Baker Freedom Flag Act, named for the Eustis lawmaker who spent a year serving in Iraq. Fasano said he would be surprised if any school had to buy flags on its own.

Carl Persis, principal of Ormond Beach Middle School in Volusia County, said these groups are needed right now for more serious projects such as collecting holiday food for the needy and lending a hand to hurricane victims.

Volusia schools need 3,300 new flags, or about $15,000 worth. The most popular flag size in Volusia — 12 inches by 18 inches — is half of what the state now requires, district officials said.

"I really do think it’s just a total waste of effort and money," Persis said. "We already have flags. It’s not the size of the flag that matters, it’s the idea that students are aware of what the words mean in the Pledge of Allegiance and that they stand every morning and express themselves and recite the Pledge."

Orange County school officials aren’t sure how many flags the district needs because donations are being organized at the school level, district spokesman Lin Wright said.

First Medal of Honor flag to be presented [Army News Service]

By Eric W Cramer

March 29, 2005

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, March 29, 2005) — When Sgt. 1st Class Paul Smith’s family receives his Medal of Honor, they will receive a new item that will be given to all future recipients of the medal – a Medal of Honor flag.

The flag consists of a field of blue, with 13 stars arranged in the same formation that the stars appear on the Medal of Honor ribbon. It is fringed with gold.

The design was the brainchild of Sarah LeClerc of the U.S. Army Institute of Heraldry. A panel of eight members made of representatives from each Service (Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Coast Guard), one Office of Secretary Defense staff, one historian and one representative from the Medal of Honor Society was formed to review and evaluate all designs submitted and make a final recommendation to the Principal Deputy to the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness.

"Several of us in the Creative Section worked on the design," LeClerc said. "I wanted to the simplicity of the 13 stars on a blue field."

LeClerc said her initial design also contained a canton, similar to the canton containing the stars on the U.S. national flag. On her original design, the canton of red and white stripes, contained the word "valor" as it appears on the Medal of Honor. The committee asked if the canton could be removed.

"They felt the design was better without the canton. We said that as it is an Army design, we can change it however you want, and so we removed it," said Pam Madigan an industrial specialist with the Institute of Heraldry.

A law created in October 2002, called for the creation of the flag, and the institute solicited designs via an announcement in the Federal Registry, Madigan said.

"It didn’t take long for the committee to make a selection. The meeting only lasted four hours, and they asked me if we could remove the canton. They decided to go with Sarah’s ribbon design, with gold fringe," Madigan said.

This seems to be a trend - Bill Gates, Ann Coulter and now Bill Kristol. Although I’m sure none of these good people enjoyed having a pie thrown at them - especially in front of a crowd - as a form of protest, it seems almost benign. Having grown up watching Soupy Sales and Johnny Carson, it’s hard to feel indignation over a pie in the face.

As  Americans, we have at our disposal any number of options for legal political protest. Throwing a pie crosses the line from legal non-violent protest to illegal violent protest, without the usual accompanying intimidation. In fact , it  carries with it  a message of endearment - you only throw a pie in the face of someone you really like. Go figure.

Earlham student hits pundit with pie

Associated Press - March 30, 2005

RICHMOND, Ind. — A pie in the face didn’t silence conservative pundit William Kristol during a speech at Earlham College.

A man who later was identified as a student at the private Quaker college jumped onto the stage and splattered Kristol with the pie Tuesday night about 30 minutes into a speech about U.S. foreign policy.

Members of the audience jeered the student as he walked off the stage, then applauded as Kristol wiped the goo off his face with a paper towel and said, "Just let me finish this point," the Palladium-Item reported.

The student was suspended and could face expulsion following a disciplinary review, Earlham Provost Len Clark said today.

The school, which did not release the student’s name, said Kristol was hit by an ice cream pie. Some of the pie also hit college President Doug Bennett, who was sitting on the stage.

Clark issued a written apology complimenting Kristol for his "graciousness."

Kristol, the editor of The Weekly Standard in Washington who was chief of staff to Vice President Dan Quayle, finished his speech after he was hit by the pie and then took questions from the audience before spending 30 minutes talking with students and others who gathered at the edge of the stage.

Earlham is a liberal arts college of about 1,200 students that is well-known for its peace studies program.