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KABUL, Afghanistan, July 6, 2008 – More than 50 U.S. sailors rendered a salute as their nation’s colors were raised over Camp Eggers in honor of America’s Independence Day. What made the ceremony so special was the American flag had only 48 stars. Retired Navy Cmdr. Joseph Agra III (left), Afghan National Army Air Corps logistics mentor, reads a citation regarding an American flag with 48 stars that was raised during a ceremony July 4, 2008, at Camp Eggers in Kabul, Afghanistan. Agra acquired the flag in 2000 after a fisherman retrieved it from the water off the coast...

Woman In Trouble For Flying American Flag In Neighborhood ROBINSON TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- A local member of the Air National Guard is in trouble with her condominium complex for what she says is a show of patriotism. Master Sgt. Denise James has been fighting her condo association over the right to fly an American flag. She lives in a condo complex on Kenzie Drive in Robinson Township. On Memorial Day, she put up small American flags in her yard to honor past and present veterans. As July 4 approaches, she is still flying the flags, but her condo association says...

Since 1969, a U.S. flag has been flying high on a tall pole in front of the Mitchell family home in Brea. "It's been up there every day," says Jane Mitchell, 73. "Except for a week when a storm brought down the pole and we had to replace it." Flag Day is Saturday, but many Orange County residents choose to display their pride every day of the year by decorating their homes with a flag. Charles and Rosemary Kissel display up to 13 flags at a time at their Anaheim home. The couple has a collection of about 300 U.S....

Most U.S. school children grow up knowing the story of Betsy Ross, who may or may not have sewn the first American flag, based on a sketch given to her by George Washington. But what about Francis Hopkinson, Mary Pickersgill or Samuel Reid, all of whom played roles in the history of the flag? Or Bernard Cigrand, who may have been the first to celebrate the birthday of the flag and led the movement to make Flag Day, June 14, a national observance? In her lifetime, Ross herself never claimed to have sewn the first flag. Only in 1870 did...

It may not be much of a deal to most Americans, but to we Philadelphians, Saturday is Flag Day. Betsy Ross was once a member of my church, Old St. George’s (America’s first and world’s oldest Methodist Church). Contrary to what the National Park Service contends, there is concrete proof she crafted the first American Flag. Philadelphians will gather for an observation in front of her home on Arch Street. Another tradition is the annual radio broadcast "I am Your Flag" by Bob Nelson, aired on KYW 1060 AM, Philadelphia’s All-News station. KYW NewsRadio and its anchors are an institution...

Case – American Flag Burning Problem: Rebellious people burn the American flag. This is the same flag, that millions of Americans have sacrificed their lives for in war. There are many other ways for rebellious people to demonstrate their hate for America, desecrating or burning the American flag is not demonstrating freedom of speech, it’s an insult and nullifies the sacrifices of million of Americans. Burning the flag is not enough for the hate America crew, they can’t stand to see the flag fly, at any place, at any time. Sometimes these characters wind up on the board of directors...

My parents recently purchased a home in Northwest San Antonio. My dad, a Vietnam Veteran, used his VA Home Loan to purchase the house they always wanted and rightfully deserved. After settling in my dad put up his flag pole---the same one we’ve had in every house I’ve ever lived in. We fly the American flag on a regular basis and a POW-MIA flag during appropriate holidays. My dad was approached by a member of the mandatory Home Owners Association (HOA) and said that some concerns were raised at the last HOA meeting with regards to “that damn Mexican’s” flag...

Claim: Photograph shows a Mexican national flag flown above an upside-down U.S. flag during a high school student protest over immigration reform. Status: True.

Display of Stars and Stripes along S.R. 7 a visual blight, officials say State Road 7 in Hollywood is one patriotic corridor. From small tire shops to major car dealerships, it seems nearly every business on the busy roadway has its own sizable supply of Stars and Stripes flapping away. City commissioners are considering regulating the mass displays of American pride, calling it a visual blight.

On Friday's "Good Morning America," ABC reporter David Wright narrated a sympathetic look at Barack Obama's decision not to wear an American flag lapel pin and asserted that this country's "obsession with flag pins is relatively new." To further defend the Democratic presidential candidate, Wright pointedly noted that liberal bogeyman Richard Nixon wore such a pin. He observed, "Ike didn't wear one. JFK either. Nixon did wear the flag as he told the American people he had nothing to do with Watergate." Of course, Wright himself was not wearing a pin with the U.S. flag on it. As the MRC...

After hearing a Reno bar was flying a Mexican flag above a U.S. flag, an angered U.S. Army veteran took matters into his own hands, drove to the site and cut down the banners in front of a stunned group of Hispanic patrons. Reno television station KRNV, which was there to document Jim Broussard's act of defiance, noted the U.S. code prohibits raising the flag of any other nations above Old Glory. Broussard pulled up in his truck to the Cantina El Jaripeo near downtown Reno yesterday, cut the rope that anchored the flags and pulled them down from a...

Most of the attention devoted to Thursday night's GOP presidential debate at Morgan State centered on the four frontrunners (Giuliani, McCain, Romney and Thompson) skipping it and the reactions to the no-shows by everyone under the sun including members of the media, bloggers, former Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, and debate host Tavis Smiley. However, columnist Laura Vozzella of the Baltimore Sun reports that another controversy arose the night of the debate. After mentioning there was no flag on stage, Vozella describes the set, "The backdrop to the 'All-American Presidential Forum,' brought to you by Tavis Smiley and PBS, was a...

Republican front-runners weren't the only things missing from the presidential debate stage. The American flag was AWOL, too. The backdrop to the "All-American Presidential Forum," brought to you by Tavis Smiley and PBS, was a map of the United States, superimposed with a checkerboard of multicultural faces. Rep. Duncan Hunter of California, one of the presidential hopefuls, asked debate organizers to get Old Glory up there, too, according to Chris Cavey, first vice chairman of the state GOP. Cavey was acting as an escort for another candidate, Tom Tancredo of Colorado, and heard Hunter's request over his earpiece about half...

SAMPSON COUNTY, N.C. – On the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, students at one high school were not allowed to wear clothes with an American Flag. Under a new school rule, students at Hobbton High School are not allowed to wear items with flags, from any country, including the United States. The new rule stems from a controversy over students wearing shirts bearing flags of other countries. Gayle Langston said her daughter, Jessica, was told to remove her stars and stripes t-shirt. “Today she wanted to wear her shirt, and I had to tell her no,” said Langston....

August 24, 2007 -- The tennis-prodigy niece of former Knick star Kiki Vandeweghe was stunned when a referee told her to remove her American flag patch just before her debut at the U.S. Open. Coco Vandeweghe, 15, one of the most promising young American women players, was unnerved by the bizarre incident before her first-round qualifying match at the U.S. Tennis Center in Queens on Wednesday. She was warming up for her match against Spain's Maria José Martinez Sanchez when an assistant referee pulled off Coco's Stars and Stripes patch, a U.S. Tennis Association official said yesterday. "They profusely apologized...

A Wheat Ridge woman has upset some of her neighbors and sparked quite a controversy by choosing her to hang a U.S. flag upside down outside her home. Beth Hammer said she is flying her flag "union down" to protest the country's role in the war in Iraq, and her homeowners association is not happy about it. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for Wednesday night. Hammer, 64, is one of an increasing number of people who are very angry about the war. But it's the way she has expressed that anger that has rubbed some the wrong way....

CLAREMONT - There will not be a sequel to the mini-scandal known in some circles as "Flag-gate." Claraboya residents, many of whom were engaged in a fierce neighborhood dispute over tiny American flags during last year's Fourth of July season, have pledged to behave themselves this year. Tom and Nancy Telford, the two neighborhood real estate agents who planted flags last year in their neighbors' front yards with Nancy Telford's business card attached, left off the business cards this year, and mailed out a postcard to their neighbors giving them an advance opportunity to decline a flag. Last year, after...

When Stanley Hauerwas, the Duke University professor dubbed by Time as "America's best theologian" ("A playful mind," March 17, 2007), gave a commencement speech at a Mennonite college a while back, he said he was glad that no American flag was in evidence, for "the power of the flag is, by necessity, violent." Hauerwas added, "Because there is no flag here, Goshen College is potentially a more truthful, and thus academically interesting, educational institution than those that serve such flags." Two questions for asking on June 14, Flag Day: Is a flagless institution likely to be more academically interesting than...

A NewsBusters reader alerted me a few minutes ago to London Times film critic Leo Lewis and how he threw in a complaint about the American flag's brief cameo in "Spider-Man 3." The superhero sequel is set for wide release in the United States on May 4, Lewis filed his review from Tokyo. Lewis liked the film overall (3 out of 5 stars) but was disappointed that the evil alter-ego that inhabits Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) in the film is "still hopelessly mild-mannered." Of course, unlike say "Grindhouse," "Spider-Man" is intended for a wide audience from fathers and sons to...

Three Yale Students Arrested for Burning a Flag By JOHN HOLUSHA Published: April 4, 2007 Three Yale University students were arrested early Tuesday morning for burning an American flag on a pole attached to a house in New Haven, the Yale Daily News reported today. The three men, all of foreign origin, were charged with offenses ranging from reckless endangerment to arson and were held in jail Tuesday night after a judge refused to release them without bail. According to the newspaper, the New Haven police said the men — two freshmen and a senior — first attracted police attention...

(New Haven-AP) _ New Haven police have arrested three Yale University students and charged them with burning an American flag hanging from the porch of a Chapel Street home. The three are facing charges ranging from reckless endangerment to arson. Police identified the three as 23-year-old Said Hyder Akbar, 19-year-old Nikolaos Angelopoulos and 19-year-old Farhad Anklesaria. They were held in jail early yesterday and later arraigned in New Haven Superior Court. Bond was set at $25,000 for two of the suspects and $15,000 for the third. Anklesaria and Angelopoulos are foreign students while Akbar was born in Pakistan, but is...

When a North Seattle man saw black Range Rover with a "giant American Flag" on it he was offended. He went up to the driver and advised him why he should not have a flag on his car. "Those damn flag waving baby killers, they think they have the right to display their flags, well I have the right to tell them not to. It's offensive. I am not proud to be an American right now. Bush is a murderer he has killed 600,000 people and if you don't believe me they have death certificates to prove it," the officer...

The Flag is Our Shepherd

Vanity question: today I was in the area of Union Station (Washington, DC) and noticed that all of the American and state flags around there were being flown at half-staff. A few blocks away I saw the same thing at a government building. I've looked online to figure out why this was, but I haven't come up with anything. Does anyone have any ideas?

Liberals fly their colors, by Mike Rosen It was two years ago that North High School was the center of controversy over a foreign flag. A Mexican flag was given equal prominence with an American flag in a permanent wall display in the school lobby and in a social studies classroom. The teacher who hung the Mexican flag in his classroom said he wanted his students to feel welcome. This was a nice sentiment, but a direct violation of Colorado law. Although North High is almost 85 percent Hispanic, this is still an American school in the United States, funded...

The city of Maywood - a 1.2-square-mile town with an official population of just over 28,000 about eight miles south of downtown Los Angeles - is a pocket for illegal immigrants, lauded by immigrant advocates and decried by detractors. In this 96 percent Hispanic town, signs advising pedestrians to use crosswalks are printed in Spanish and English, and many storefronts' signs are in Spanish as well. The last census says 55 percent of residents are foreign-born, and 92 percent speak a language other than English at home. Earlier this year, the Maywood City Council passed a resolution opposing the Sensenbrenner...

Police officers in Maywood, Calif., Saturday eventually came to the pole to remove the flag but had bottles and rocks thrown at them, a radio listener named Sandra reported to the Terry Anderson show, heard on KRLA in Los Angeles. A video can be viewed here, and photographs can be seen here on the website

A Mexican man with two prior convictions for illegally entering the United States was arraigned in federal court in Cleveland on Wednesday for illegal reentry, the result of an investigation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Jose Barron-Marquez, 35, a citizen of Mexico, was apprehended by the New Philadelphia Police Department after stealing a US flag and setting it on fire following a July 4th Independence Day celebration. Marquez provided the arresting officer a false identity, calling himself “Marco Polo.” Marquez was taken into ICE custody July 11. Database checks revealed that he had two previous convictions for illegally entering...

<p>The article source is WZZM13, Grand Rapids Michigan, a Gannett website. The article comes from Gannett News Service.</p> <p>Gannett has requested that Free Republic allow only a title and link from any Gannett material to be posted on Free Republic.</p>

The Patriot Guard Riders need help on the afternoon/evening of Wednesday July 12th for a PGR SPECIAL MISSION in Oak Grove, KY for the Ft. Campbell Eagle Remeberance Ceremony. There is a possibility that protestors may try to show up but PGR really wants to do a tremendously positive display at the front gate that will honor America's fallen heroes and they are requesting help.DETAILS FROM THE PGR WEBSITE: "Ft. Campbell and the 101st Airborne Division are holding the monthly Eagle Remembrance Ceremony to honor all 101st Airborne Division soldiers who have been killed in the previous month. July's...

For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary June 6, 2006 Flag Day and National Flag Week, 2006 A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America From our Nation's earliest days, Old Glory has stood for America's strength, unity, and liberty. During Flag Day and National Flag Week, we honor this enduring American symbol and celebrate the hope and ideals that it embodies. In 1777, the Second Continental Congress established the flag of a young Nation, whose 13 original states were represented in the flag's 13 stars and 13 alternating red and white stripes. Today, the...

I went into a Wal-Mart in Texas to buy a 3X5 Texas Flag and a 3X5 American Flag. I have bought both at this Wal-Mart several times. This time no Texas Flag and only 1 American Flag were available but 12 3X5 Mexican Flags were available. The store is not located in a predominantly Mexican American area. I drove around to several Wal-Mart stores today and found many Mexican Flags and American Flags and even a few Texas Flags.

FALLBROOK ---- The American Civil Liberties Union on Thursday called for administrators at Fallbrook High School to apologize to a student who said she was told to stop displaying an American flag on campus two weeks ago. Fifteen-year-old Malia Fontana said the district violated her right to free speech when it asked her to remove a handkerchief-sized flag that she wore in her back pocket when she went to school on March 31. Tom Anthony, superintendent of the Fallbrook Union High School District, said he will meet with school officials when they return from spring break Monday morning to discuss...

The ancient Chinese sage who advised generals yearning to enhance their splendor to "put out more flags" ought to be recognized as the patron saint of every rebel with a cause. Sometimes the rest of us can't hear the music for the sound of marching feet, but we can see the flags. The backlash against Mexican flags in the street theater about illegal immigration has set off a run on the Stars and Stripes. Every demonstrator needs one, whether he really wants it or not. Some flag stores here have sold out of American flags. Street demos are scheduled in...

The flag, the schools, the immigrants, and us By Mona CharenApr 7, 2006 Concerned that the raging immigration debate would spark violence, officials in at least two schools in Colorado have banned students from bringing flags to school, the AP reports. Predictably, this news and associated rumors have lit up the phone lines at call-in shows around the nation.Conservatives are right to bristle at the idea that the American flag is being treated as a "fighting word." But a few clarifications seem to be in order. 1) It wasn't just the American flag that was banned, but all flags. 2)...

BREAKING NEWS: SHAW HEIGHTS PRINCIPAL SURRENDERS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 6, 2006 Shaw Heights Middle School Ends Neutral Dress Code Westminster, CO: Due to the exemplary behavior of the students at Shaw Heights Middle School and the progress made throughout the week, as well as Attorney General John Suthers news release regarding the display of flags in schools, Myla Shepherd, Shaw Heights Middle School principal has announced that the neutral dress code will end effective Friday, April 7, 2006 at 8:00 a.m.

FLY OUR FLAG HIGH/div> By Michelle Malkin   ·   April 06, 2006 09:11 AM ***scroll for updates...reader photo submissions...Senate immigration legislation developments...Denver pro-patriotism rally tomorrow...a judge forced to recuse himself for leading the Pledge of Allegiance...Mexican flag-flyers defiant...*** ***1135am EST newsflash: cloture vote on Specter amnesty amendment...immigration deal announced*** It's Take an American Flag to Work Day. Fly one high and proud. Printable flag here. Here's the poster I have on my home office wall: Show your colors. Track back or e-mail your favorite American flag photos. *** Reader Paige D. sends her favorite: Charles Ryder at Age of Hooper...

HESPERIA — While thousands of Hispanic students spent the week facing suspension for walking out of class, now Caucasian students around the country are being handed the same penalty for waving the American flag. Flaunting the American flag is precisely what 13-year-old Cameron Miles did at Ranchero Middle School on Friday. Wearing two shirts, one with the American flag, school officials said he removed the one displaying his patriotism and began waving it at a group of Hispanic students on campus. “His friends began to hoist him on their shoulders so he could be more predominately displayed when the proctor...

More than two dozen students walked out of Skyline High School Friday morning to protest what they say is a ban that doesn't allow the American flag to be flown on school grounds. Several students said that they were upset that Mexican flags can be waved around but that American flags couldn't. They said that school officials confiscated their American flags because it has become inflammatory because of recent immigration issues. "When the immigration laws came out we noticed that a lot of Hispanics were waving Mexican flags and what we were thinking to ourselves is like, isn't the immigration...

Tensions over immigration reform heightened in the Phoenix area's East Valley Thursday when students raised a Mexican flag over Apache Junction High School — and then other students yanked it down and burned it. --Snip-- School flagpoles have been lightning rods across the country this week, including an incident in which a Houston high-school principal was disciplined after he flew a Mexican flag underneath his campus' U.S. and state flags. A new political awareness among students has also been grabbing attention, as thousands have walked out on classes to join rallies in Phoenix and elsewhere. More than 100 students from...

California protest defines roles of each group Two groups arrived to face off in Vista, California recently. A group affiliated with the Minutemen Project chose a corner of a busy street where day laborers congregate to hold a protest of illegal immigration. Another group opposing the Minutemen, and thus supporting illegal immigration, protested in an area around the corner, with sheriff's deputies in riot gear staged between the two groups. The groups were roughly equal in size, although the minutemen were spread out and right on the curb, while the counter protesters took up less than half the curb space...

PLYMOUTH (PA)- A 31-year-old man was sentenced to probation after he tore down his family's American flag then passed out on it in his front yard. David Allen Young, 33 Elm St., plead guilty Wednesday to desecration of a flag, a misdemeanor in Pennsylvania. He was sentenced to six months probation. "It wasn't like I wanted to hurt the flag," Young said in an interview. "It was a rage thing. I really do love my country." The entanglement with the flag began a hot June night after a drunken fight with his family, he said. The feud moved to the...

Should school children pledge allegiance in the morning? ... ... remarks: What, my daughter will be required to pledge such thing, everyday? Yes, it's brainwashing school children; you are absolutely right. The inserting of "under God” to the pladge is a product of McCarthy era, which is the darkest age in US history. Meanwhile “In God we trust” was recognized as “National Motto”. I think Bush presidency shares more with McCarthy era than Iraqi war shares with Vietnam War. My only hope is, evangelicals will shoot in their foot when they get an upper hand. I did a small survey...

Like the slime-creature from a '50s science-fiction film (“Kill it, before it multiplies!”), federal judges are seemingly unstoppable – a malignant, mutating entity determined to conquer the planet. Which is another way of saying that another activist judge has decided that God is unconstitutional. Judge Lawrence K. Karlton (not surprisingly, a Carter-nominee) based his opinion on a fiction – which, come to think of it, isn’t surprising, either. Karlton said he was bound by precedent to find that recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance with the words “one nation under God” violated the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. The precedent Karlton...

SAN FRANCISCO — Reciting the Pledge of Allegiance (search) in public schools was ruled unconstitutional Wednesday by a federal judge who granted legal standing to two families represented by an atheist who lost his previous battle before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The opinion issued Sept. 14, 2005 may be accessed here.

Just heard on top of the hour on Fox News Radio

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal judge in San Francisco ruled Wednesday it is unconstitutional for public school children to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton ruled that the pledge's reference to one nation "under God" violates school children's right to be "free from a coercive requirement to affirm God." Karlton said he's bound by precedent set by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled in 2002 that it was unconstitutional for the Pledge to be recited in public schools. The Supreme Court threw out that case, ruling that Sacramento atheist Michael Newdow had no standing...

This photo provided by Jeep shows 140 vehicles positioned by Jeep owners in the form of an American flag Thursday, Aug. 11, 2005, in Mount Pocono, Pa., to promote the National Anthem Project, a national effort to re-teach Americans the words to 'The Star-Spangled Banner.' Two out of three Americans do not know the words to the National Anthem, according to a Harris Poll survey. The flag, measuring 73 feet wide by 191 feet long, was created to celebrate the first year of this multi-year national education initiative of which Jeep is a national sponsor. (AP Photo/Jeep, Stuart Ramson)

This is what the homosexual movement (and the sign company, ClearChannel) thinks of the American Flag. This advertises a pornographic homosexual website for "hooking up." But it's more than that. We warned you: Legally sanctioned gay "marriage" is the green light to push this in your face -- in the schools, government, businesses, and the public square. This is also about desensitizing you and your family to homosexuality. When will you and your children drive by this in your neighborhood? This is just the beginning. The sign company (making money thru social decay): Clear Channel Communications Stoneham, Massachusetts (Regional Office)...