I had to shovel off my roof yesterday.
18"s of snow in the last three weeks, and the threat of rain scared me into action.
Shovelling give a person time to think.
When Matt was home a couple of weeks ago we had a discussion about the proper treatment of the flag.
He had been to the police station in a neighboring town, and noticed how their flag was worn and tattered.
He mentioned that it was a disgrace, and they should know better.
Then he got after me.
We have a flag flying outside of our home.
He said it was worn, and he noticed we didn't bring it in at night.
The flag is not supposed to be flown at night, without being illuminated.
I explained.
I put the flag up shortly after he was deployed to Iraq, and vowed to not take it down until he was home for good.
Then shortly after making this pledge I read that there is a mandate in Iraq, by our leaders, that we are not to fly the flag anywhere in the country.
Seems we don't want to give the impression that we are a conquering country.
I'd like to know who the dumb m-fer is that came up with that idea.
If we don't want to be considered a conquering country, why the hell don't we get out.
after all we did invade their country, didn't we?
George Bush himself has said " we will not leave until the war is won".
If we don't want to be a conquering country, why are we fighting a war?
The flag will stay up until our combat troops come home, and I don't give a big rats ass who likes it and who doesn't!!
If the men can't show their patriotism over there, I will damn sure show it for them here.
As I mentioned in my last post, there are a lot of people who are of the mind that one can not support the troops and not support the war.
What a stupid notion.
I damn sure support the troops, and I am as against the war as a person can be.
If you clarify the statement by saying that you can't support the troops, and not support the funding for the war.
You may have a point.
While I am against the war, I am in favor of doing whatever is necessary to keep our men and women safe, while it goes on.
I am against the public protests, and acts of civil disobedience in the name of protesting.
Most of the folks involved in the latter are misguided individuals looking for a cause. Some place to belong.
I will show my support for the soldiers, and my lack of support for the war, by voting for the candidate for presidency that has a clear and concise plan for ending the war.
George Bush says we must win the war, or send a message to terrorists all over the world that America is weak, and can be brought down.
I think we've proven that false.
Our problem in Iraq is that the soldiers aren't allowed to take the necessary actions to end the war.
There is no clear picture of what winning the war is.
See previous post.
What is the war?As I see it we accomplished the tasks set forth when we first invaded Iraq more than a year ago.
They were, 1) Eradicate Weapons of Mass Destruction. There were none.
2) Remove Saddam Hussein from power. Check, Done.
3) Allow the Iraqis to hold an election and form their own government. They have. Mission accomplished, our job is done, the war is won.
Now it's time to remove our combat troops, and let their government succeed or fail.
18"s of snow in the last three weeks, and the threat of rain scared me into action.
Shovelling give a person time to think.
When Matt was home a couple of weeks ago we had a discussion about the proper treatment of the flag.
He had been to the police station in a neighboring town, and noticed how their flag was worn and tattered.
He mentioned that it was a disgrace, and they should know better.
Then he got after me.
We have a flag flying outside of our home.
He said it was worn, and he noticed we didn't bring it in at night.
The flag is not supposed to be flown at night, without being illuminated.
I explained.
I put the flag up shortly after he was deployed to Iraq, and vowed to not take it down until he was home for good.
Then shortly after making this pledge I read that there is a mandate in Iraq, by our leaders, that we are not to fly the flag anywhere in the country.
Seems we don't want to give the impression that we are a conquering country.
I'd like to know who the dumb m-fer is that came up with that idea.
If we don't want to be considered a conquering country, why the hell don't we get out.
after all we did invade their country, didn't we?
George Bush himself has said " we will not leave until the war is won".
If we don't want to be a conquering country, why are we fighting a war?
The flag will stay up until our combat troops come home, and I don't give a big rats ass who likes it and who doesn't!!
If the men can't show their patriotism over there, I will damn sure show it for them here.
As I mentioned in my last post, there are a lot of people who are of the mind that one can not support the troops and not support the war.
What a stupid notion.
I damn sure support the troops, and I am as against the war as a person can be.
If you clarify the statement by saying that you can't support the troops, and not support the funding for the war.
You may have a point.
While I am against the war, I am in favor of doing whatever is necessary to keep our men and women safe, while it goes on.
I am against the public protests, and acts of civil disobedience in the name of protesting.
Most of the folks involved in the latter are misguided individuals looking for a cause. Some place to belong.
I will show my support for the soldiers, and my lack of support for the war, by voting for the candidate for presidency that has a clear and concise plan for ending the war.
George Bush says we must win the war, or send a message to terrorists all over the world that America is weak, and can be brought down.
I think we've proven that false.
Our problem in Iraq is that the soldiers aren't allowed to take the necessary actions to end the war.
There is no clear picture of what winning the war is.
See previous post.
What is the war?As I see it we accomplished the tasks set forth when we first invaded Iraq more than a year ago.
They were, 1) Eradicate Weapons of Mass Destruction. There were none.
2) Remove Saddam Hussein from power. Check, Done.
3) Allow the Iraqis to hold an election and form their own government. They have. Mission accomplished, our job is done, the war is won.
Now it's time to remove our combat troops, and let their government succeed or fail.
Here's a picture of Matt expressing my feelings for George Bush's war.
Need I say more?
Dad,
ReplyDeleteI made the same vow. The flags stay out 24/7 until he came home. I did make the mistake of flying a battalion flag seemingly higher than Old Glory and I was promptly corrected by Mark. Now that the Xmas lights are out, I am leaving the flags up until after the holidays. Then I will follow the rules.
Should make a flag out of that picture(oops, now he will).
ReplyDeleteLet it all hang out
Thanks Mark,
ReplyDeleteI'm going to take pictures of it in varying stages of decay, and post as a reminder of how long we've been there, and how worn out the troops are getting.
Thanks Mic,
I think I'll hold of on making Matt's pic the next national symbol.
Stay away from the mauls.
OK, hey there, don't know what to think about old bunny over there....
ReplyDeleteon our flag. hubby and I have the same debate. He says take it down and burn/bury when it first becomes tattered. But the flag makers themselves say that to keep a flag in good repair longer you can hem it as it becomes frayed...hubby says this amounts to defacing it.....(can you tell he's a purist?) My question is this. All the American flags that have flown over all the battlefields that are now displayed are faded, tattered, and some are rather holy. When did it become "a disgrace" to fly a worn flag? Has that only come around since they are easily gotten? (ie mass production)
by the way I think your photo shoot of the flag wearing out in relation to our soldiers is inspired! I can't wait to see it!
Thanks MOM.
ReplyDeleteYour right on with my way of thinking, ie the flags flown during battles.
That's what our flag is symbolic of.
That ant the fact that I'm really pissed off about the guys not being able to fly our flag in Iraq.
I don't even want to get started about it.
I'm so damn mad.
Sorry.
Hope the holiday season is going well for you?
What did you get for a new computer?
Hi
ReplyDeleteLOVED the pic of Matt. They say a picture's worth a thousand words. In this case I'd say 1001 words.
Hi Bunny,
ReplyDeleteSometimes a picture is priceless.
Thanks for stopping bye.
Keep supporting the troops.
It means a lot to us.