In a Huffington Post story at http://tinyurl.com/6zhyb9 , the Democratic Party refutes the version of events as told by Fox News' Carl Cameron and Bonney Kapp. They had "been told" that "a vendor at Invesco Field found the flags, which were going to be thrown out, and turned them over to the McCain campaign."
As the GOP drifts farther from reality let me tell you a true story from my neighborhood.
Some realtor sticks flags in the front yards of many houses in my neighborhood on July 4th. These flags are unasked for and have a business card attached to the stick.The realtor is using America's alleged precious talisman to spread his/her business name for a profit.
Many of these small plastic flags languish curbside for weeks before being disposed one by one in trash cans just like other things that are tattered and worn.
A purchaser can go to almost any retailer and find sporting equipment spouting the flag, including underwear, handkerchiefs, caps--you name it, including folding chairs and towels.
If anyone is going to get their nose out of joint over alleged misuse of flags then get busy and stop the Oklahoman Publishing Company, from using an American flag on the front page of every paper they send out. You can see an on-line version at http://newsok.com/home/theoklahoman .
The GOP has no compunction about trashing the Democratic Party when it furthers GOP falsehoods. Yet I've not heard of any bill promoted by the GOP to limit the use of the American flag on retail items that are invariably trashed without a second thought.
I fail to see the holiness of any flag.
Does anyone seriously think EVERY front page of the Oklahoman newspaper is disposed of as if it were a human body which is, in effect, what the promulgators of flag etiquette tell us to do? What are we to make of hankerchiefs used as sweat bands and underwear used to cover basic human body functions?
Why am I supposed to revere a printed cloth or piece of plastic as if it were sentient?
In fact, is every human body killed through the machinations of the illegal Bu$h Junta war treated in a reverent manner? After all, we're told over and over that these American citizens are being killed to protect our freedoms--freedoms which are daily ignored as the Bu$h/Cheney Junta continues its illegal wire-, phone-, and email-taps of law abiding American citizens who have no connection with terrorism.
Are we all guilty until proven innocent? The only two amendments of the Bill of Rights still in force are the 2nd, concerning gun ownership, and the 3rd, concerning the housing of the military in private homes.
Let's get real. What the flag protectors are really objecting to is the use of the flag for political purposes that do no correspond with the ideology of the complainer.
Just as Sarah Palin has sacrificed her daughter Bristol's pregnant privacy, as well as that of the unwed father; just as the GOP bought off the St. Paul, Minnesota police in order to arrest journalists, so will the GOP sacrifice the 1st Amendment in order to freeze free speech nation wide.
If I purchase an American flag and use it in political action which is peaceful, nonthreatening, and causes no harm to other people or property that is my right just as others have a right to use their property in a reciprocal manner to make their own views known to the public.
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