U.S. Flags Removed From Fire Trucks for UC Protests

Berkeley fire officials ordered flags to be removed from the city's fire trucks Wednesday, at least temporarily.

The decision was made by top department brass in order to avoid a confrontation between protesters who might try to steal the flags and the firefighters who would defend them, said Assistant Fire Chief David Orth. Orth said the "operational decision" was made in preparation for a protest today on Sproul Plaza at UC Berkeley.

"We are fearing protesters might try to rip the flags off the rigs," Orth said. "I am not concerned about losing a flag; I am concerned about them defending the flags instead of doing what they are supposed to do. They would defend the flag."

Berkeley Mayor Shirley Dean said the firefighters feel profoundly hurt by the ban on flags.

"I don't think people understand how firefighters feel about this," Dean said. "It was like someone just insulted them."

Both Berkeley and UC police are allowed to display flags, officials said yesterday.

Orth said most of the department's fire trucks had "very large flags that were attached in a make-shift manner." The flags had been displayed on the fire trucks since last week, he said.

"We do have things that get out of hand here," Orth said. "We are going to be prepared rather than think things are status quo."

But Dean said she doubts there will be a confrontation between firefighters and protesters.

"I cannot believe that an anti-war demonstration involving UC students is going to endanger firefighters," she said.

Americans across the nation have been displaying flags on cars, in businesses and homes.

In Boca Raton, Fla., however, one business banned flags in the workplace. But to comply with Gov. Jeb Bush's request that Floridians fly the flag, the National Council of Compensation Insurance reversed its ban Monday, the Associated Press reported.

Also in Florida, three firefighters in Miami-Dade County refused to ride on a fire truck flying Old Glory, calling it offensive, according to a local television station.

The Berkeley Fire Department is currently searching for smaller flags that could be properly attached to the fire trucks, Orth said, adding that the department is having "lots of trouble finding any."

Orth said that if tomorrow's protest "goes okay," the flags could be back on the fire trucks soon.

Berkeley firefighters have raised $42,000 in four days for families of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Standing on street corners holding large signs, the firefighters urged passersby to "fill the boot for the FDNY."

Dean said Berkeley firefighters need to display the American flag in order to pay tribute to the firefighters who died in last week's terrorist attacks.

Berkeley fire Lt. Rick Guzman, president of the firefighters' union, said he supported the decision to ban the flags on fire engines.

Guzman said allowing the flags on the engines would be preferable, but the current political climate does not permit it.

"Many of us see it as support for the fallen firefighters in New York," he said. "All we need is some yahoo to take it as we are showing support for Bush and going to war."

Kelly Thomas, editor of the California Patriot, a conservative monthly publication at UC Berkeley, called the decision "ridiculous."

Anka Lee, president of the Cal Berkeley Democrats also called the decision ridiculous.

"When you tell the people who are fighting for our safety that they cannot fly the flag anymore, something is wrong with that," Lee said.

>>Mexico is taking back the Southwest and California.

They never really owned it. I got this text from FReeper Travis McGee some time ago, and it’s pretty spot-on.

“The True History of the Southwest, 101”

The amount of historical idiocy and fallacies surrounding the history of the Southwest is staggering, chief among them the “Aztlan” fairy tales. What’s the truth? How did the Spanish Europeans conquer the Southwest? The “conquistadores” (that means “conquerors”) did it with the lance, and the lash.

For example, in 1541 Coronado entered present-day New Mexico (which included present-day Arizona during the Spanish era) searching for the “lost cities of gold.” One of his first actions upon meeting the natives was to burn 100s of them alive in their dwellings, for not handing over suspected horse thieves. That is how Spain conquered the natives of the present US Southwest—not with hugs and kisses. It was certainly no love-fest between long-lost brown-skinned soul-mates, as it is often portrayed today by the delusional Aztlaners, who spin the “new bronze race of Mestizos” toro-mierda.

By 1821, Mexico City was strong enough to overthrow the even more decrepit and ineffectual Spanish rule. However, the distant provinces of the current U.S. Southwest were far beyond the reach of the authority of the independent but strife-torn government of Mexico City. These distant northern provinces received neither military protection nor needed levels of trade from the south. Under Spanish rule, trade with the USA was forbidden, but at least Spain provided trade and Army protection from hostile Indians. Under Mexican abandonment and neglect, the Southwest received neither trade nor protection from Mexico City.

For example, Comanches and Apaches ran rampant in the 1830s in this power vacuum created by Mexican neglect, burning scores of major ranches that had been active for hundreds of years and massacring their inhabitants. Mexico City could neither defend nor keep the allegiance of its nominal subjects in these regions. Nor did it provide needed levels of trade to sustain the prior Spanish-era standard of living. Mexican governmental influence atrophied, withered and died at the same time that American pathfinders were opening up new routes into the region.

Increasingly, a growing United States of America was making inroads into the Southwest, via ships into California, and via gigantic wagon trains of trade goods over the Santa Fe Trail from St. Louis. The standard of living of the SPANISH in these provinces subsequently increased enormously, which is why they did not support Mexico City in the 1846-48 war. In fact, the Spanish-speaking inhabitants of the Southwest NEVER considered themselves “Mexicans” at all, ever. They went, in their own eyes, from SPANISH directly to AMERICAN. To this very day, if you want a punch in the nose, just call an Hispanic native of New Mexico a “Mexican!”

So how long did Mexico City have even nominal jurisdiction (in their eyes) over the American Southwest? For only 25 years, during which they had no effective control, and the area slipped backwards by every measure until the arrival of the Americans. The SPANISH inhabitants of the Southwest NEVER transferred their loyalty to Mexico City, because all they received from the chaotic Mexican government was misrule, neglect, and unchecked Indian raids.

Since then, how long has the area been under firm American control? For 150 continuous years, during which time the former Spanish inhabitants of the region, now American citizens, have prospered beyond the wildest dreams of the Mexicans still stuck in Mexico. To compare the infrastructure, roads, schools, hospitals etc of the two regions is to understand the truth. The Mexican government has been mired in graft, corruption, nepotism and chaos from the very start until today. The ordinary Mexican peons have been trampled and abused, while only the super-rich elites have thrived. This is why millions of Mexicans want to escape from Mexico today, to enjoy the benefits of living in America that they can never hope to obtain in Mexico.

And because today Mexico is a corrupt third-world pest-hole, (despite having more millionaires and billionaires than Great Britain), we are now supposed to let any Mexican from Chiapas, Michoacan or Yucatan march into the American Southwest, and make some “historical claim” of a right to live there?

From where does this absurd idea spring?

At what point in history did Indians and Mestizos from Zacatecas or Durango stake a claim on the American Southwest? Neither they nor their ancestors ever lived for one single day in the American Southwest. The Spanish living in the Southwest in 1846 stayed there, and became Americans by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. There were no Spanish inhabitants of the Southwest who were marched to the border and driven into Mexico. It didn’t happen. The SPANISH in the Southwest welcomed American citizenship, which brought stability, protection from Indian raids, and a vast increase in their standard of living with the increase in trade.

In summary, NO current inhabitants of Mexico have ANY claim on even one single inch of the Southwest!

NOT ONE citizen of Mexico is sneaking into the USA to reclaim property their ancestors were deprived of, NOT ONE.

They are criminal invaders and colonizers, pure and simple.

It’s time Americans learned the true history, as a counter to the prevalent Aztlaner fairy tales.

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