Mexican Flag Incident at UNM Unfurls Debate

Albuquerque Journal ^ | Sunday, September 30, 2007 | Martin Salazar

[Peter R. Lynch]

Peter Lynch never imagined that pulling a Mexican flag from a university flagpole and ripping it apart would thrust him into the center of a nationwide argument. Lynch, a University of New Mexico student and Air Force veteran, said he was angry on Sept. 17 when he saw the Mexican flag flying without the United States flag, a violation of flag etiquette. "I was livid with the situation, and it wasn't the fact that it was the Mexican flag," said Lynch, 30. "It was the fact that it was any foreign banner." UNM police charged Lynch with misdemeanor criminal damage to property. Lynch and the university concede that the incident resulted from miscommunication— someone simply failed to take down the Mexican flag when the U.S. flag was lowered. But it obviously touched a nerve, sparking strong reaction from both sides. POLL: Should the student who lowered and tore up the Mexican flag at UNM be prosecuted? Yes No Background story Belshaw: Apology Should Be the End of Flag Flap Email comments Local talk show lines were flooded with calls, blogs were abuzz, letters and e-mails poured into the Journal and hundreds of motorcyclists are making plans to rally on Oct. 7, the day of UNM President David Schmidly's inauguration. Was it an act of patriotism or an act of hate?

[Peter R. Lynch]

The Mexican Student Association, which took part in raising the Mexican flag, called Lynch's action an "act of hate." "Charges have been brought against said individual ... in order to vindicate this act of hate," states the Mexican Student Association news release issued soon after the incident. Schmidly, in his weekly e-mail, called the flag-ripping a "deplorable act." "There are other ways to express dissatisfaction that do not involve the willful destruction of a nation's symbol," he said. Others defend Lynch's acts as those of a patriot simply trying to right a wrong. Charles Evans is a Korean War veteran who has sent money to Lynch for his defense. The flag "represents what every one of us was willing to fight and die for," he said. "We don't worship the flag. It represents what we stand for: freedom, democracy. That's what the American flag stands for, so don't degrade it." UNM sociology professor Richard Wood's take on the flag flap: People are feeling angst over globalization and identity, particularly with millions of immigrants in the nation. "The flag is a really powerful symbol for folks," he said. "Next to religious symbols, it's probably one of the most potent kinds of symbols we have." Airing of views The Mexican flag, flying in commemoration of Mexican Independence Day, was never supposed to be left up by itself. It had been raised by the Mexican Student Association on Sept. 14. When Army ROTC members went to retire the U.S. and state flags that evening, they left the Mexican flag because they thought students from the Mexican Student Association would return that same evening to take it down. That didn't happen. On the following Monday, Army ROTC students who were supposed to raise the U.S. and state flags forgot to do so. Lynch said that, before he yanked the Mexican flag, he contacted the UNM dean's office and Army ROTC and waited for the problem to be fixed. When nothing was done, Lynch took matters into his own hands, pulling down the flag, ripping it apart and handing it over to the Air Force ROTC office. If convicted, Lynch faces up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $500. The reaction: The telephones rang off the hook at KKOB-AM (770) during the morning and afternoon talk shows last week as listeners jockeyed to express their views. "I just brought it up one day on a slow news day," KKOB talk show host Jim Villanucci said. "The phones just went crazy ... I was a little bit surprised about the reaction." Villanucci said the most consistent view was that, while Lynch shouldn't have torn the flag, he was justified in taking it down. Paul Caputo, a retired police officer and Marine veteran, said he's expecting at least 1,500 people to be outside the Pit at 10:30 a.m. on the day of Schmidly's inauguration. Caputo plans to present Schmidly with a new American flag. The presentation will conclude a motorcycle rally Caputo is organizing to honor the U.S. flag and to raise money for Lynch's defense. Both the Daily Lobo, UNM's student newspaper, and the Journal have received many letters about the incident. "I feel it ludicrous and somewhat backward to charge Peter Lynch for taking down some other country's flag, which was being displayed in a public place without the American flag above it or around it," wrote Patti Winklepleck in a letter to the Journal. "This is not Mexico, and I don't understand why the Hispanics have such a hard time with this concept." People on national blogs have weighed in. One, FireSociety.com, featured the Daily Lobo article about the incident in which Schmidly is quoted as saying, "For God's sake, New Mexico was part of Mexico at one time. There's tremendous ties, and we have a large population of Hispanics that live in our state and many of them have relatives and connections to Mexico." To that, one blog poster— identified as p. hunt— wrote, "Bud, just where are you coming from??? New Mexico is not part of Mexico now, and how many of the Mexicans here are illegals? It was OK for the U.S. flag to be flown upside down under the Mexican flag when they were protesting??? The U.S. flag takes presidence (sic) over all other countries!!! This man should be fired." 'A little carried away' While the vast majority of writers posting on blogs voiced support for Lynch, some were critical of his actions. One contributor to armchairgeneral.com wrote: "Why, instead, did he simply not get an American flag and run it up next to the Mexican one if he had a problem?" Letters to the Lobo have been mixed. UNM student Andres Saenz wrote, "I truly admire and thank Peter Ryan Lynch for his eight years of military service to our country, but I believe that he was absolutely wrong in destroying the Mexican flag." Lynch said his actions weren't motivated by hate or racism. So why didn't Lynch just take the flag down and hand it over instead of ripping it apart? "I may have gotten a little carried away," Lynch said, but he's glad that people are talking about how the flag should be treated. Lynch said he was reacting to seeing another nation's flag flying alone on U.S. Constitution Day. "It was all Americans that were being insulted," Lynch said. Wood, the sociology professor, said he thinks that for both sides, it's about feeling threatened, feeling that their world is changing fast in ways they don't control. "What I think is going on is folks, in seeing the flag in their mind desecrated, it draws all kinds of emotions," Wood said. "It sparks all kinds of feelings that then get acted out politically, and that's true both for folks for whom the Mexican flag is a sacred kind of symbol ... and it's also true for other kinds of Americans who feel that the American flag has been desecrated ..." Caputo, the motorcycle rally organizer, said he and others are upset that some are trying to turn Lynch's actions into an ethnic issue or a hate crime. "The big insult is that a foreign flag flying on our soil unaccompanied basically states that we have been conquered," Caputo said. "I don't know how you feel about it, but as long as I'm alive, we haven't been conquered." He said that, although it appeared "no one was to blame," he still thinks that Lynch should not have been charged. Evans said he doesn't think the students responsible for the Mexican flag flying alone meant any harm. "I don't think they meant to insult America by any means," he said.

[Balding_Eagle]

Ouch! My eyes.

[neodad]

La La La La, I am not listening. . . . . .

[Old Sarge]

"The big insult is that a foreign flag flying on our soil unaccompanied basically states that we have been conquered," Caputo said.

I need a beer.

[neodad]

BTW, are you the same Peter Lynch as the article?

[skinkinthegrass]

If they want to fly the Foreign flag......let them, in that Foreign country.
....all else is garbage.

[Army Air Corps]

Hmmmmm, maybe I should go to Mexico and plant Spanish and French flags.

[OldArmy52]

Would have been ok if it had been a USA flag being taken down and destroyed.

Fines and jail if any other countries’ flags.

[Iron Munro]

Speaking of garbage -

I wouldn’t have wasted my energy tearing the Mex flag into pieces.
I would have just tossed it into the nearest garbage can — unless some nearby homeless people were looking for a wipe rag.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***Would have been ok if it had been a USA flag being taken down and destroyed.***

This brings to mind the time way back in the 1960’s, when US students in the Canal Zone (Remember that?) took down a Panamanian flag which was flying with an American flag.

Riots and looting were the result.

[trumandogz]

There seems to be a lot a Flag Theft occurring. First in New Mexico and now people in Pennsylvania are stealing Confederate Flags. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1904399/posts

[longtermmemmory]

It really boils down to university staffers and professors who hate the usa.

The proof is the fact that this would not be prosecuted but PRAISED if the subject was a US flag.

[trumandogz]

UNM police charged Lynch with misdemeanor criminal damage to property.

If you damaged someone else's property, you will likely be found guilty.

[Thumper1960]

Since when is Freedom of Speech an offense punishable by fines and/or prison?

When it's a patriotic, truly American exercise of speech.

[freekitty]

As usual, the idiots are just trying to get our goat; but using any juvenile acts their pea brains can accomodate.

[Domandred]

crushed by wall of words...but i’ll muddle through it in support

[Regulator]

Ignore TrumanTheDog. He's one of the local Reconquista sympathizers. Just like them, he's full of sotto voce threats and intimidation for anyone who dares to criticise the Great and Wonderous Mexican nation in their struggle to take back what was never theirs.

Pulling the Mexican flag down from flying over our soil was a noble act. If you really are the Peter Lynch in the article, Congratulations.

[Disambiguator]

The Mexican Student Association, which took part in raising the Mexican flag, called Lynch's action an "act of hate."

"Charges have been brought against said individual ... in order to vindicate this act of hate," states the Mexican Student Association news release issued soon after the incident.

Schmidly, in his weekly e-mail, called the flag-ripping a "deplorable act."

"There are other ways to express dissatisfaction that do not involve the willful destruction of a nation's symbol," he said.

Others defend Lynch's acts as those of a patriot simply trying to right a wrong.

Charles Evans is a Korean War veteran who has sent money to Lynch for his defense.

The flag "represents what every one of us was willing to fight and die for," he said. "We don't worship the flag. It represents what we stand for: freedom, democracy. That's what the American flag stands for, so don't degrade it."

UNM sociology professor Richard Wood's take on the flag flap: People are feeling angst over globalization and identity, particularly with millions of immigrants in the nation. "The flag is a really powerful symbol for folks," he said. "Next to religious symbols, it's probably one of the most potent kinds of symbols we have."

Airing of views The Mexican flag, flying in commemoration of Mexican Independence Day, was never supposed to be left up by itself.

It had been raised by the Mexican Student Association on Sept. 14.

When Army ROTC members went to retire the U.S. and state flags that evening, they left the Mexican flag because they thought students from the Mexican Student Association would return that same evening to take it down.

That didn't happen.

On the following Monday, Army ROTC students who were supposed to raise the U.S. and state flags forgot to do so.

Lynch said that, before he yanked the Mexican flag, he contacted the UNM dean's office and Army ROTC and waited for the problem to be fixed.

When nothing was done, Lynch took matters into his own hands, pulling down the flag, ripping it apart and handing it over to the Air Force ROTC office.

If convicted, Lynch faces up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $500.

The reaction: The telephones rang off the hook at KKOB-AM (770) during the morning and afternoon talk shows last week as listeners jockeyed to express their views.

"I just brought it up one day on a slow news day," KKOB talk show host Jim Villanucci said. "The phones just went crazy ... I was a little bit surprised about the reaction." Villanucci said the most consistent view was that, while Lynch shouldn't have torn the flag, he was justified in taking it down.

Paul Caputo, a retired police officer and Marine veteran, said he's expecting at least 1,500 people to be outside the Pit at 10:30 a.m. on the day of Schmidly's inauguration. Caputo plans to present Schmidly with a new American flag. The presentation will conclude a motorcycle rally Caputo is organizing to honor the U.S. flag and to raise money for Lynch's defense.

Both the Daily Lobo, UNM's student newspaper, and the Journal have received many letters about the incident. "I feel it ludicrous and somewhat backward to charge Peter Lynch for taking down some other country's flag, which was being displayed in a public place without the American flag above it or around it," wrote Patti Winklepleck in a letter to the Journal. "This is not Mexico, and I don't understand why the Hispanics have such a hard time with this concept."

People on national blogs have weighed in. One, FireSociety.com, featured the Daily Lobo article about the incident in which Schmidly is quoted as saying, "For God's sake, New Mexico was part of Mexico at one time. There's tremendous ties, and we have a large population of Hispanics that live in our state and many of them have relatives and connections to Mexico."

To that, one blog poster— identified as p. hunt— wrote, "Bud, just where are you coming from??? New Mexico is not part of Mexico now, and how many of the Mexicans here are illegals? It was OK for the U.S. flag to be flown upside down under the Mexican flag when they were protesting??? The U.S. flag takes presidence (sic) over all other countries!!! This man should be fired."

'A little carried away' While the vast majority of writers posting on blogs voiced support for Lynch, some were critical of his actions. One contributor to armchairgeneral.com wrote: "Why, instead, did he simply not get an American flag and run it up next to the Mexican one if he had a problem?"

Letters to the Lobo have been mixed. UNM student Andres Saenz wrote, "I truly admire and thank Peter Ryan Lynch for his eight years of military service to our country, but I believe that he was absolutely wrong in destroying the Mexican flag."

Lynch said his actions weren't motivated by hate or racism. So why didn't Lynch just take the flag down and hand it over instead of ripping it apart? "I may have gotten a little carried away," Lynch said, but he's glad that people are talking about how the flag should be treated.

Lynch said he was reacting to seeing another nation's flag flying alone on U.S. Constitution Day. "It was all Americans that were being insulted," Lynch said.

Wood, the sociology professor, said he thinks that for both sides, it's about feeling threatened, feeling that their world is changing fast in ways they don't control. "What I think is going on is folks, in seeing the flag in their mind desecrated, it draws all kinds of emotions," Wood said. "It sparks all kinds of feelings that then get acted out politically, and that's true both for folks for whom the Mexican flag is a sacred kind of symbol ... and it's also true for other kinds of Americans who feel that the American flag has been desecrated ..."

Caputo, the motorcycle rally organizer, said he and others are upset that some are trying to turn Lynch's actions into an ethnic issue or a hate crime. "The big insult is that a foreign flag flying on our soil unaccompanied basically states that we have been conquered," Caputo said. "I don't know how you feel about it, but as long as I'm alive, we haven't been conquered." He said that, although it appeared "no one was to blame," he still thinks that Lynch should not have been charged.

Evans said he doesn't think the students responsible for the Mexican flag flying alone meant any harm. "I don't think they meant to insult America by any means," he said.

[Domandred]

Yes he is. He became a FReeper when he first posted about this last week or the week before.

[Rembrandt]

Thank you Peter. I’m honored to have the same last name.

[trumandogz]

He's one of the local Reconquista sympathizers.

Nope, that is not the case. I am against Amnesty and for border enforcement including the fence. Furthermore, I understand that due to our Constitution's 14th Amendment and subsequent Court cases that we once in the country that illegal aliens have all the Constitutional Rights as you and I.

Now, from what I have read about this story at UNM it would appear that Mr. Lynch took and destroyed property that, while he may have felt was objectionable, did not belong to him.

I simply do not believe that it should be okay for people to destroy other people's property simply because we feel it is objectionable.

[YHAOS]

What many Americans do not understand is that all the nation’s flags are sacred. That is, all flags except the American flag. It’s perfectly appropriate to treat the American flag like a filthy rag.

[amihow]

I believe that when any foreign flag is flown in the United States, the U.S. Flag must be flown higher, on a separate pole next to the foreign flag.

Someone correct this if I am wrong on flag etiquette.

But why should any forgeign flag fly at a U.S. University for any reason?

[Regulator]

that illegal aliens have all the Constitutional Rights as you and I

Nope. Not true.

Simple example: aliens of any flavor, illegal or not, do not have Second Amendment rights.

Fourth Amendment rights for aliens and especially illegal aliens have been shown to be questionable in the famous case of United States v. Verdugo-Urquidez.

In general, aliens have rights only insofar as Congress has afforded them, and the Courts have identified as incorporating them.

As another simple example, there is no right to assemble, peaceably or not, for illegal aliens, as they have no right to even be in the country to assemble in the first place. They can, and should be, arrested and deported if so identified.

I haven't bothered to respond to your silly, simplistic assertions based on juvenile readings of the Constitution because, well, they're juvenile and simplistic.

But now I have, and here's a little more: this is just the tip of the iceberg. There is very little of the Constitution that can be universally applied, because it is not a human rights document - which the Declaration is.

The Constitution is an agreement among one people - the citizens of the United States, or the States which are United if you want to understand it in its real sense. It is not a human rights document. The fact that it had a Bill of Rights appended was even controversial when it was drawn up.

And as for the Fourteenth Amendment, it was never ratified, and was merely put into place by military force, deceit, and outright fraud.

You mentioned on another thread that this amendment would also survive the next nine or ten generations of my family. That's a laugh. It was implemented when 8 generations of my family in America had already come and gone. More if you count some lines. It - and America - will change once again, and the imposition of tyrannical statism at the point of a gun will be thrown off. It's human nature, and without a doubt, the nature of the Americans. We came because of our nature, and will express our will once again.

This expression will not include rule by the citizens of Mexico and the descendants of the Spanish Crown.

[TigersEye]

UNM police charged Lynch with misdemeanor criminal damage to property.

Oh, please let them put it up again. I'll be in Alb. in the near future and would be glad to come down and burn the sob'n thing.

[TigersEye]

I simply do not believe that it should be okay for people to destroy other people's property simply because we feel it is objectionable.

Complete horse puckey. It is an American's duty to defend the flag and remove, at one's first opportunity, any foreign flag put in its place. With lethal force if necessary and at the cost of one's life.

[donnab]

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you for showing your allegiance.

This is not the United States of Mexico regardless of what many would have us believe. If the Mexican or Hispanic students had burned the US Flag...somehow I think this conversation would be very different with no charges pending.
As to the excuses for why it was there to begin with....
show more respect next time.

[trumandogz]

It is an American's duty to defend the flag and remove, at one's first opportunity, any foreign flag put in its place. With lethal force if necessary and at the cost of one's life.

You would rather die than see a Mexican Flag fly in Texas or a French Flag Fly in Louisiana or a Confederate Battle Flag fly in Mississippi?

Surely, you jest.

[TigersEye]

O say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free, and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen thro’ the mist of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
’Tis the star-spangled banner! O long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner, in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation!
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the Heav’n-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our Trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Despite the ravings of liberal idiots like Evans our country is not a joke and the flag that represents it is not merely a symbol of someone's sentimental emotions. Many hundreds of thousands of our countrymen have given their lives to see that it still flies over our nation. The opinions of intellectual fools have never saved a single life or freed a single slave.

[TigersEye]

See post #29, quisling.

[trumandogz]

I own one American Flag. It was handed to me by a Marine at my father's funeral. My dad was in the Third Army in WWII and I understand the sacerfices he and others made.

However dad did not fight to keep Mexican, French, Canadian Flags flying from flying at people's homes or schools in the United States. Rather, he fought to uphold Freedom of Speech, Property Rights and to liberate Europe for the Nazis.

[TigersEye]

Rather, he fought to uphold Freedom of Speech, Property Rights and to liberate Europe for the Nazis.

That is what the flag represents. Apparently you have no problem letting it become a joke that people spit on and laugh at. The attitude that allowed this Mexican flag to be flown in Alb. is not isolated or exceptional as evidenced by all the excuses now being made for it and the complaints that somebody cared enough to do something about it. You are defending the attitudes that are calling the validity of our nation into question. (spit)

[chuckles]

The sumbitch that raises it better be afraid I don’t see him do it.

[endthematrix]

"I simply do not believe that it should be okay for people to destroy other people's property simply because we feel it is objectionable. "

(worse still is to implicate anothers' ethinicity for the crime -very un-PC)

[TigersEye]

Previous threads here...

UNM will not tolerate acts of racism or xenophobia

Student Tears (Down) Mexican Flag; Suspect Remains At Large

[Altura Ct.]

“But why should any forgeign flag fly at a U.S. University for any reason?”

Indeed that is the question.

Unless this is Mexico why would we be celebrating Mexican Independence Day?

[TigersEye]

Another thread here...

UNM Student 'Livid' Over Wrong Flag (tore down Mexican flag)

[azhenfud]

Mr. Lynch was wrong to deface that flag. No excuse for the damage and reactional emotions are warranted, but the flying was plainly in error. The saying “two wrongs” comes to mind.

Any time a foreign nation’s flag is flown with the Stars and Stripes, the US flag should fly on a separate staff at equal height and of equal size. Territorial or state flags are to be flown underneath national flags.

At NO time upon US soil, unless upon diplomatically conferred territory such as an embassy, are foreign national flags to be flown unaccompanied by this nation’s flag. The ONLY other time such foreign banners are flown is when territory is ceded such as in loss of battle or the forfeiture of that territory - neither of which occurred to my knowledge.

Anyone who doesn’t understand the significance of the Stars and Stripes being raised over Mount Suribachi, or over Berlin, or even the Moon doesn’t possess the capacity to grasp the significance of a foreign nation’s flag raised unaccompanied in the US, and IMO, is a pathetic excuse of an American.

[Syncro]

...that we once in the country that illegal aliens

Is that just poor sentence structure or are you saying you are an illegal alien?

And the Constitutional right to vote is given to illegal criminal invading aliens?

[Syncro]

Now, from what I have read about this story at UNM it would appear that Mr. Lynch took and destroyed property that, while he may have felt was objectionable, did not belong to him.

I simply do not believe that it should be okay for people to destroy other people's property simply because we feel it is objectionable.

No where in the article does it say he "felt" it was objectionable.

It looks like he saw it was wrong and illegal...which it was...and removed it.

Yea, he should not have destroyed it maybe, but it does symbolize that flag's country's conquering of the USA so why not destroy it?

If they really cared about their host country and their flag, they should have treated out country's rules and their flag with more respect.

[Convert from ECUSA]

You are a true American and a real hero! Thank you for standing for the USA against those that want to ruin her!

[Travis McGee]

Just give them another decade or two, and the flag raising will be permanent.

[Travis McGee]

MEChA has had an active chapter on the UNM since its founding in the 1960a. MEChA is the Chicano Student Movement for Aztlan. This openly racist group espouses the creation of Aztlan from the Southwestern states, an area to be exclusively for "the new bronze race," and it advocates the expulsion of "gabachos" (whites). Just google "The Plan of Aztlan," which is MEChA's core founding document.

Note that the official logo of MEChA (which means "fuse" in Spanish) incorporates a lit dynamite bomb, and an Aztec head chopper. Yet this racist, violence espousing organization is perfectly welcome on the UNM and hundreds of other campuses.

[amihow]

I believe you are mistaken about the foreign flag being displayed at equal height. Could you document that please?

[Betty Jane]

Travis,

I just finished reading Domestic Enemies: The Reconquista. It's truly a prophetic look into the future of the Southwest if we don't stop it now. I'm afraid if a Dem wins in 2008, your book will become reality.

Thanks for writing it. Looking forward to book 3. I hope in takes place at the Con-Con.

Regards,

Betty Jane

[AU72]

A truly courageous act on any campus is to buy a Mexican, or say the Hezzbollah flag and publicize a burning.

[azhenfud]

I sure can. It has been my objective the Stars and Stripes is flown with pride, flies correctly according to US Flag Code, and is retired with dignity when her service life has expired.

http://www.stpeteblue.com/Flagcode.htm

From US Flag Code.
§175. Position and manner of display
(g) When flags of two or more nations are displayed, they are to be flown from separate staffs of the same height. The flags should be of approximately equal size. International usage forbids the display of the flag of one nation above that of another nation in time of peace.

[Travis McGee]

Hi Betty Jane,
In Foreign Enemies, the Constitutional Convention has already taken place, but the events are described in detail by a character. In short, the Southwest delegates demand autonomy first for them to vote for any other amendments, so they get their official quazi independence. Then amendments such as the “Freedom From Gun Violence” and the “Economic Justice Amendment” are passed into law. However, the federal govt can only enforce them in the NE from Minnesota to Maine to Virginia. This region quickly becomes a socialist hell. Most of the action in the book takes place in Tennessee, which is a contested area, basically a disaster area and civil war zone.

[amihow]

Thanks. I guess the American Flag can’t be lower anda the foreign flag can’t be to the right of the American flag.

[azhenfud]

That’s right - “nothing higher nor to the right of the glorious Stars and Stripes”.

Unless they'd drop the charges, if I were Mr. Lynch, I believe I’d attempt to counter sue the UNM administration for having clearly been in violation of TITLE 36, CHAPTER 10, §174 (e) “The flag should be displayed daily on or near the main administration building of every public institution.”