Throughout the recent election there have been a number of instances in which the venerable flag of our nation has been ill-used, from the masses of flags that were found in the garbage after the democratic convention, to the flag on Obama’s personal plane that was painted over in favor of his quadi-presidential seal. Today, in reading the news about the appalling display that is Obama’s inauguration, I noticed a number of pictures in which, once again, our flag is being dishonored. See the links below.

http://www.foxnews.com/photoessay/0,4644,6313,00.html#5_0

http://www.foxnews.com/photoessay/0,4644,6313,00.html#8_0

If I may refer you to the Flag Code of the United States, section 176 (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.” As the code clearly states, there is never an occasion in which it is permissible to place any image on the American flag, even if you absolutely love the person whose image you’re promoting. In reading through other portions of the code, conduct such as defacing the flag (i.e. putting your idols image upon it) is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine, imprisonment or both.

Throughout the campaign there has been furor whenever the patriot zeal of Obama supporters is questioned, yet doesn’t this situation make it entirely clear that they have no patriot zeal? They are defacing and defaming the overriding symbol of our democracy in favor of a politician they like, without any regard for the proper display of our flag or that there’s even anything wrong with what they’re doing. Clearly our law enforcement agencies have no intention of enforcing proper respect of our national emblems, and I find it to be a sad day indeed in which there is no well-earned outrage over this sort of behavior. Obama’s ascendancy is indeed already bringing about “change” in out nation, ushering in an era where people can show blatant disrespect for out nation, even when it’s illegal, and fear no repercussions.

This morning as I flipped through the radio stations I came across an NPR news broadcast that really astounded me with its completely illogical, and classically liberal, train of thought. The topic was German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit with Russian diplomats to “discuss” the Georgian “crisis”. The NPR reported pointed out that Russia voted against NATO membership for Georgia earlier this year and is one of the European nations that have avoided “blaming” Russia for the current situation.

Then an astounding statement was made. Given the above status in German-Russian relations, the Russians are expected to be more receptive to Merkel when she tells them that hostilities must end and the Russian troops should be withdrawn.

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