I am not ashamed of the flag of the United States of America and the country for which it stands. And neither should the apartment manager be who forbade renters from putting flags on their CARS, TRUCKS AND MOTORCYCLES sitting in the PARKING LOT! The story has gotten international attention. Now the apartment manager, Barb Holcomb, has said she was wrong.
“What we were trying to do was to keep the peace,” she said, declining to say whether a specific incident sparked enforcement of the ban. “Obviously, we were wrong. If the peace needs to be kept, it belongs to the police department.”
I haven’t spent time on this story because of the Multnomah & Clackamas County car tax
and health care stories, but as I contemplated talking about it on the show this afternoon I became profoundly saddened. I was sad because the Oaks Apartments manager in Albany issued a ban on flags (except “NOW RENTING” flags) because she believed the mere sight of the US flag would “offend” people. Think about that. She didn’t want to allow people to embellish their own vehicles with American flags for fear of offending someone.
Would she have said the same about this flag? See that flag over there? THAT flag offends me. It stands for 
the ego of the President of the United States, NOT the United States of America. Should some numbskull be able to fly it? As long as it’s legal they should be able to fly it. UPDATE: Rees Lloyd says that Obama flag IS illegal:
Oh, and up until last weekend tha
t Obama flag was on sale on ebay. Genius.
And this is the same spiel we were getting from the McMinnville City Council. A suggestion to recite the Pledge of Allegiance before each meeting was put off at least twice before the council relented last night. The Mayor told a VT Show 5th Listener that the council could not come to a consensus! Consensus? What, you need to take a public opinion poll to pay respect to the country and the flag represents it? How inane can you be? Not as inane as we thought. Last night before the meeting, a Boy Scout troops (sans mess kit utensils I suppose) posted the colors and led the adults in the Pledge.
But here’s the question? Why, oh, why are we so afraid to speak out in defense of our country, its symbols and its values? Why are we so afraid of offending someone? If they’re so thin skinned and hate our country so much you’d think they’d go to some country they respect–like old Russia or something.
