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I have never been someone who gets off on flag waving, but I too (like the better man in the article below) have now served overseas, and have since developed an even deeper appreciation of what our freedom means....both because I have seen people die for freedom and because I have seen how hopeless another country is when its people lack freedom, and how our involvement was a source of hope for them in terms of future freedom.

Further, my perspective on the flag was even more deeply enhanced the moment I graduated the Army's S_ _ _ school, and they "liberated" us from our (mere) few days under the control of role-playing captors. That's the culmination of weeks of training. But just those few days - and with (very convincing) role-players - was enough to make all of us cry when we saluted the flag that day.

To those of you who don't understand that, you a part of the problem with our country. Please wake up to that before we end up on the ash heap of history with the rest of the countries that have tried the freedom experiment. These societies never last more than (hmmmm) 200 years, and the complacency about freedom that many Americans have developed is the main reason for the demise of those societies. Further, it is the politically-correct, relativistic mindset that inspires shallow thinkers to believe that there's something "backwards" about "taking sides" or being able to say that something is just plain "wrong." As the other man on this page whom I mentioned earlier puts it even better than me, ask the survivors of the Holocaust, or the Kurds who were mass murdered by Saddam Hussein, what they think about supporting (or better yet, fighting on) one side or another ... or about saying that the Nazis were "wrong" - even "evil." Would you say that it is evil or just "an alternative view" to saw off the head of a live person who wouldn't accept the enlightened ideas of Mohammed? Yea, "wrong" and "evil" are two words you won't hear in the modern indoctrination / education system. And yes, fighting is a dirty job. But don't be one of those Micheal-Moore-ons who can't see the bigger picture past that.

"Despite war's ugliness; the reason to engage in it anyway is when the alternative is even uglier...like life under Nazi occupation, for example."

If you think that's just an extreme example, just Google the word "dictator" or "mass-murder" or "terrorist" and you'll find hundreds of such people who are oppressing people this morning; and a hundred more who have inflicted their rule on mankind over the last thirty years. Most of them were killed or deposed by people who had the courage to "take sides;" people who said "this will not stand - not on my watch."

People who put their money where their mouths were by taking up arms against such "people" for the sake of freedom from them for everyone.

I sure hope this gets around before November!

Hot on the heels of his explanation for why he no longer wears a flag pin, presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama was forced to explain why he doesn't follow protocol when the National Anthem is played.

According to the United States Code, Title 36, Chapter 10, Sec.171, during rendition of the national anthem when the flag is displayed, all present, except those in uniform, are expected to stand at attention facing the flag
with the right hand over the heart.

'As I've said about the flag pin, I don't want to be perceived as taking sides,' Obama said. 'There are a lot of people in the world to whom the American flag is a symbol of oppression. And the anthem itself conveys a
war-like message . You know, the bombs bursting in air and all? It should be swapped for something less parochial and less bellicose. I like the song 'I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing.' If that were our anthem m, then I might salute it.'
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I sort of thought that a person running for president should be on "our side" !!!!   And just what is the other side ? Can one imagine Roosevelt in 1941 saying "I don't want to take sides"! Incredible, but it gives an insight into the man. An insight that I find appalling. signed---Butch Satterfield

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Added commentary: This is particularly addressed to those who might contemplate voting for Obama. The above quoted statement is not the only one that is disturbing, but it is perhaps the most glaring.

I don't often bring this up, but I feel that I have earned a right to speak out.. I fought in two wars so that our freedoms could be protected. In WW II , twenty five percent of my squadron's combat crews were killed. In Korea, fifteen percent of my air group's combat air crews were killed. We "took sides" so that others might have their freedom.

Try explaining to the survivors of Dachau and Buchenwald about not taking sides and the consequences there of. Speak to the survivors of the "rape of Nanking" or of the death march from Corregidor, or the survivors of the Kurd families slaughtered by Saddam, or the North Koreans enslaved by Kim, etc, etc. about not taking sides.

For a person who is being considered for the most important job in the world to harbor such pusillanimous and sophomoric psuedo-idealogy, is indeed appalling. For those of you who permit blind loyalty to the democrat party to stimulate you to vote for such a person is also appalling. This is not an issue of democrats vs. republicans, it is an issue of the quality, capability and character of thinking, hence the character of the aspirant.  I urge each of you to really think about the implications.---     butch

Ragged Old Flag

I walked through a county courthouse square,
On a park bench an old man was sitting there.
I said, Your old courthouse is kinda run down.
He said, Naw, it'll do for our little town.

I said, Your flagpole has leaned a little bit,
And that's a Ragged Old Flag you got hanging on it.
He said, Have a seat, and I sat down.
Is this the first time you've been to our little town?

I said, I think it is. He said, I don't like to brag,
But we're kinda proud of that Ragged Old Flag.
You see, we got a little hole in that flag there
When Washington took it across the Delaware.

And it got a bad rip in New Orleans
With Packingham and Jackson tuggin' at its seams.
And it almost fell at the Alamo
Beside the Texas flag, but she waved on though.

She got cut with a sword at Chancellorsville
And she got cut again at Shiloh Hill.
There was Robert E. Lee, Beauregard, and Bragg,
And the south wind blew hard on that Ragged Old Flag.

On Flanders Field in World War I
She got a big hole from a Bertha gun.
She turned blood red in World War II
She hung limp and low a time or two.

She was in Korea and Vietnam.
She went where she was sent by her Uncle Sam.
She waved from our ships upon the briny foam,
And now they've about quit waving her back here at home.

In her own good land she's been abused --
She's been burned, dishonored, denied and refused.
And the government for which she stands
Is scandalized throughout the land.

And she's getting threadbare and wearing thin,
But she's in good shape for the shape she's in.
'Cause she's been through the fire before
And I believe she can take a whole lot more.

So we raise her up every morning, Take her down every night.
We don't let her touch the ground And we fold her up right.
On second thought I DO like to brag,
'Cause I'm mighty proud of that Ragged Old Flag.

Written by Johnny Cash

One nation

"UNDER GOD"

indivisible with liberty and justice for all.