really? they celebrate Americans killed by the American government by flying the symbol of the American government?

Posted by: bill jones at May 23, 2015 6:59 PM

Oh Bill,
It's so nice to hear from "The Republic of Moi"

Posted by: Van der Leun at May 23, 2015 9:12 PM

bill: Actually they celebrate the freedoms dirtbags like you take for granted.

Celebrate Assholes Get a Punch in the Face Day. And you're in first place.

Posted by: chasmatic at May 24, 2015 2:22 AM

I love the American flag. You see, I take visual symbols to mean things. And by "mean," you understand the value and significance of the symbol. The US flag does not mean "Fundamental Change," or liberal statism. This is evident by the simple proof that Obama's party dislikes or disregards the flag.
Positive examples: Remember the Civil War soldiers who would stop at nothing to retrieve the flag on the hot battlefield? These guys would give their life in order to post the symbol of their cause in view of their host.
Me? I stand when the flag goes by. I stand when the flag is raised in a John Wayne movie. My family gets a kick out of that, but they understand that it is that flag that symbolizes what I hold dear, which is my free republic.

Posted by: Casey Klahn at May 24, 2015 5:34 AM

Casey, good point. We venerate not the cloth but the concepts of Liberty, Faith, Democracy (in the true sense), Hope.

Same with the office of POTUS, not the person but the position. We salute the chair, not the man.

Posted by: chasmatic at May 24, 2015 6:57 AM

Gerard, I think you meant 'the Republic of Nil".

Posted by: pst314 at May 24, 2015 12:16 PM

I think desecration of the flag should still be allowed, and if you kick someone's ass for trying to perform such a disgraceful act, there should be a maximum fine of $1.

Posted by: Snakepit Kansas at May 25, 2015 7:21 AM

"A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within.
An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly.
But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself.
For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men.
He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist.
A murderer is less to fear. The traitor is the plague." - Marcus Cicero

I have only one question: Which side are you on?

Posted by: chasmatic at May 25, 2015 10:11 PM

A nice counter to the oft-repeated claim that California is nothing but fruitcakes and communists. Thanks Paradise.

Posted by: Will at May 29, 2016 5:27 AM

I am surprised that the US Flag has not been outlawed in California. I understand that a tee shirt with the US Flag worn in a public school is an offense demanding suspension. At the same time calling teachers MF's is not sufficient to warrant disciplinary action. Actually the video is inspiring as a view of what used to be an America to be proud of serving. I grew up in north central NY, quite different from the City and Cuomo land. The village I lived near had two churches, a Legion Hall, a part-time PO and 1.5 stores. Ever since 1867 when John A. Logan Commander of the Grand Army of The Republic, declared decoration day there has been a parade. I left when I was 17 and have only been to one parade since but it still goes on as does a dinner at the Methodist Church basement. Ironically. The village has about 200 people almost the same as during Civil War. The surrounding farms have been cut up for trailer sites and the overall township has swelled in population. But in the cemetery,there are still GAR flag holders on graves even if the names on the tombstones are almost obliterated by weathering. There were more deaths among Civil War soldiers than from WWII and the guys who came back from the Big One were the pillars of the community and were accorded the highest respect of the people. They were worthy role models for someone who chose to be a professional soldier.

Posted by: prusmc at May 29, 2016 5:32 AM

Celebrate, or commemorate? The difference is important.

Posted by: Ann K at May 29, 2016 6:34 AM

Have you seen Taking Chance, with Kevin Bacon? It's worthy for your Memorial Day weekend. As is my habit, I stand when the flag passes in review, or is raised or lowered. Even on the screen.

Too much?

It's a good time to be a patriot. Your president just shat on the service members who fought in the Pacific War, as sure as any insult ever hurled. The US Marine with a face no older than a child's, who died trying to assault a beach from the front, is no different than the Nippon soldier who bayoneted a 7 year old boy in China. You understand that, don't you? That's called morally evolving.

I'm never too cool to respect the flag.

Posted by: Casey Klahn at May 29, 2016 9:20 AM

Goddammit, Casey. Good for you, and long may you wave.

My father, apparently a gentle and kind-hearted man, born an orphan, died while fighting his way across France with Patton. He was drafted at age 26. His response to his draft notice was to have another baby, and I was born 5 months after his death.

Life without a father has been unremitting and painful, but there's never a day I don't pray for his immortal soul, and give thanks for his bravery and patriotism.

God Bless America Forever.

Posted by: Rob De Witt at May 29, 2016 10:13 AM

Thank you, Gerard! Was looking forward to seeing this again this Memorial weekend. You never disappoint, brother.

Posted by: AbigailAdams at May 29, 2016 12:21 PM

Rob: you lost your father in Europe.

I can't say enough about that. It's like a candle in a cathedral right before the morning light.

I went to Europe with my dad's veteran cohort, the men of the 10th Mountain Division. They had it very rough. My dad survived the war. I'd like you to know the Italians do love Americans and they say it out loud, and specifically for liberating their little hill towns. Allow me this. Take your local high school football field, and rut it with big holes, and then prop it up at a 45 degree angle. Run up that SOB with too much gear, and let the local shooting club shoot at you for target practice, then beat the shit out of you at the top. In the snow.

You know all this, Rob. I wrote that for the youth reading this. You and your father, in memory, are held very highly in our hearts, to include many Europeans. It's the truth I've seen for myself.

Thanks for sharing my comment, Gerard. What gets me is the photo you posted. It's worth a thousand words.

Posted by: Casey Klahn at May 29, 2016 12:35 PM

To me, there is no higher accolade you can say about any man or woman, is that they "died trying".

To wager the most valuable thing that you posses, your life, in a cause that may cost you everything, to live up to your oath and honor.

To the cause and purpose of Memorial Day, is not to honor war, which is hellish enough, but to honor those who gave up all their tomorrows, that we should live in freedom today.

If you have never read "Brave Men" by Ernie Pyle, you should try and pick that up sometime and read through some of his war correspondence. Everyday guys, that saved the world.

Posted by: David at May 29, 2016 4:28 PM

My father died from complications associated with his service in the US Navy. He was in the navy equivalent of the Quarter Masters corp. He unknowingly handled radioactive waste in Green Land. Most of the men he served with died before they were 40 from some form or other of blood or lymphatic cancer. He never regretted his service and was more proud of the time he spent in the Navy then almost anything in his life..

So Bill Jones (which I am sure is a fake handle)

Fuck You and fuck the horse you rode in on...

Just in case you didnt get that..

Fuck you..

Bill Henry... My real name

Posted by: Bill Henry at May 29, 2016 10:21 PM

Disrespecting something, any symbol, that carries huge significance for a great number of people, is a sure way of bringing waves of negative energy into your life. This is obvious to me now, but for most of my life it would have seemed like mystical b.s. What goes around comes around. Live by the lie, suffer and die by the lie. It's a moral and spiritual principle.

Why, for instance, would disrespecting the Eagle standard of a Roman legion have no meaning or effect today? Because that legion has no place in our consciousness or awareness, it's passed into a realm of the forgotten. But to foul any symbol that still resonates, still 'lives', is to invite ruin into your life. Maybe this is one of the reasons so many Leftists live lives of loss, misery, bitterness, and utter moral decay.

Posted by: Stephen Carter at May 30, 2016 12:50 AM

Honor is a precious thing to some men. To some losing it is worse than death.

Its not the symbol or even the government behind the symbol that people are so jealous of and that engenders so much violent defense...

It is the idea of the loss of honor, that a man would die without it and that a man would so lightly dismiss the honor of another man that causes such reaction.

When I think of my father and men like him I want to memorialize their character, their honor and their sacrifice..

God Bless all men who value honor... and may God prevent us from being lesser sons of greater men..

Posted by: Bill Henry at May 30, 2016 8:49 AM