FLAG DAY 2012

It is right and just that we have a day to honor our Flag.  A symbol of Liberty around the world and one that has been defended by millions who wore the uniform of our military since the first flags in the 1770's.  It has taken many shapes and has changed but OLD GLORY bows to no one.

The picture of  our flag at right was taken at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan while I was there.  The flag shown was being flown in honor of a highschool classmate who perished at the World Trade Center on 09/11/2001.

Celebrate Flag Day by remembering all she stands for today and all those who stood up for her in the history of our great land.

 

I am the Flag

by Ruth Apperson Rous

I am the flag of the United States of America.

I was born on June 14, 1777, in Philadelphia.

There the Continental Congress adopted my stars and stripes as the national flag.

My thirteen stripes alternating red and white, with a union of thirteen white stars in a field of blue, represented a new constellation, a new nation dedicated to the personal and religious liberty of mankind.

Today fifty stars signal from my union, one for each of the fifty sovereign states in the greatest constitutional republic the world has ever known.

My colors symbolize the patriotic ideals and spiritual qualities of the citizens of my country.

My red stripes proclaim the fearless courage and integrity of American men and boys and the self-sacrifice and devotion of American mothers and daughters.

My white stripes stand for liberty and equality for all.

My blue is the blue of heaven, loyalty, and faith.

I represent these eternal principles: liberty, justice, and humanity.

I embody American freedom: freedom of speech, religion, assembly, the press, and the sanctity of the home.

I typify that indomitable spirit of determination brought to my land by Christopher Columbus and by all my forefathers - the Pilgrims, Puritans, settlers at James town and Plymouth.

I am as old as my nation.

I am a living symbol of my nation's law: the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights.

I voice Abraham Lincoln's philosophy: "A government of the people, by the people,for the people."

I stand guard over my nation's schools, the seedbed of good citizenship and true patriotism.

I am displayed in every schoolroom throughout my nation; every schoolyard has a flag pole for my display.

Daily thousands upon thousands of boys and girls pledge their allegiance to me and my country.

I have my own law—Public Law 829, "The Flag Code" - which definitely states my correct use and display for all occasions and situations.

I have my special day, Flag Day. June 14 is set aside to honor my birth.

Americans, I am the sacred emblem of your country. I symbolize your birthright, your heritage of liberty purchased with blood and sorrow.

I am your title deed of freedom, which is yours to enjoy and hold in trust for posterity.

If you fail to keep this sacred trust inviolate, if I am nullified and destroyed, you and your children will become slaves to dictators and despots.

Eternal vigilance is your price of freedom.

As you see me silhouetted against the peaceful skies of my country, remind yourself that I am the flag of your country, that I stand for what you are - no more, no less.

Guard me well, lest your freedom perish from the earth.

Dedicate your lives to those principles for which I stand: "One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

I was created in freedom. I made my first appearance in a battle for human liberty.

God grant that I may spend eternity in my "land of the free and the home of the brave" and that I shall ever be known as "Old Glory," the flag of the United States of America.

tyr·an·ny of the mi·nor·i·ty - A homeowner's association in Ohio tries to prevent a Vietnam Vet from displaying a US Flag outside his home

tyr·an·ny of the mi·nor·i·ty - A process in which a minority segment of a population has a certain degree of primacy in that entity's decision making.

This seems to be most prevalent in Homeowner Associations. These types of organizations attract those whose sole interest is to control the way other people live their lives. Imagine that you just paid $400K+ for the home of your dreams and now you have to check with Fred and the rest of the pinheads on some homeowners board before you can do almost anything....talk about living in hell.

Well it appears we have some that going on in OHIO where a homeowners group wants to dictate to a retired Army Chaplain how he can fly the US Flag outside his home...The Chaplain isn't trying to fly a huge car-dealership sized flag, just a basic 3'x5' flag on a basic flagpole.

I believe the idiots on the homeowners board need a lesson in civics and a greater understanding of why the Flag matters a bit more to those who fought and bled to defend it.


Vietnam vet threatened with legal action for flying Stars and Stripes outside his home
By UK Daily Mail Reporter
23rd June 2011


A 77-year-old Army veteran is being threatened with legal action for flying the American flag in his front yard.

Fred Quigley, of Macedonia, Ohio, a retired Army chaplain and minister who served active duty during the Vietnam War, has been told his flag violates his homeowners association's rules on flagpoles.

As an alternative, the association offered to place the flag at the entrance of the development, but Mr Quigley refused.

Mr Quigley said: 'It's the principle. It's about patriotism, and the soldiers I've had to hold as they were dying.

'It's just important to me to be bold with the flag. 'If they can dictate to me that I cannot fly an American flag in America, then, to me, the country is lost.'

Mr Quigley's lawyer Gerald Patronite said the association has no right to stop his client.

Joseph Migliorini, representing the association, says free-standing flagpoles are not allowed. He cites a 2003 state statute that addresses the homeowner's rights in such a dispute.

'Essentially, no deed restriction or association can abridge this right to display the flag,' he told AOL Real Estate.

Mr Patronite said that the HOA's rules state that a flag can only be displayed if affixed to the home. But doing so would mean Mr Quigley would have to put up a much smaller flag.

Mr Quigley's daughter, Karen Wilson, said that she doesn't understand how anyone could deny her father the right to raise the flag.

She said: 'It's a standard 15ft pole, with 3ft by 5ft flag.'It's not outlandish, it's not over-the-top, and it fits in with the house.'

Joseph Migliorini, the representative for the homeowner's association and former mayor of Macedonia, which is between Cleveland and Akron, said he plans to take Quigley to court if the flagpole is not removed. Mr Migliorini said: 'We just want the rules and regulations followed.

'We're not gonna have rogue homeowners that are going to just do what they want to do and not get approval.'

This is not the first time that homeowners have clashed with a homeowners association over the right to display the flag.

In Idaho, the dispute ended in a public apology from an association that prohibited flags in 'common areas.'

In that case, the 'Freedom to Display the American Flag Act' of 2005 was cited to uphold the homeowner's right.

On Wednesday, members of the local American Legion post joined Mr Quigley in a flag-raising ceremony in protest at the association's policy.

Mr Quigley said that he's been given until Monday to remove the flag, or legal action will be taken by the association.

'As a minister and a chaplain, I have fought for people,' Quigley said. 'Now I fight for myself.'