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Flying The Flag at Half-Staff: A State of Perpetual Victimhood (VANITY)
9/16/2012 | rlmorel

Posted on 09/16/2012 8:01:54 AM PDT by rlmorel

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To: davzabigpatsfan
WELCOME to Free Republic my FRiend!

Good to have you aboard, brother...:) We KNOW we are on the same page here!

21 posted on 09/16/2012 9:10:07 AM PDT by rlmorel ("It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong." Voltaire)
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To: Colonel_Flagg
LOL...good point, and...being an ex-sailor, and being half-wet all the time anyway, I always feel more comfortable calling it half-mast!

But, you ARE correct!

22 posted on 09/16/2012 9:12:12 AM PDT by rlmorel ("It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong." Voltaire)
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To: rlmorel

Wow.. I was actually thinking about this the other day. Noticed all the flags around have been at half- for the past week or so (that I’ve noticed) and the only thing I could think of was 9/11. It is rather ridiculous.

1) 30 days after Pres/former is, I think, excessive. A week or tenday is sufficient.
2) Same for VP/Justices. Maybe 3-5 days.
3/4) Congressmen can have a half-mast in their state. For maybe a day or two, including Speaker. Cabinet/Dept heads, Secretaries, not really unless they fall under another category.
5) Memorial day, of course.
6) As Presidential decree, but it is way overused now. 9/11 understandable, Houston not so much. Some national heroes like Armstrong, or MoH recipients, but that’s about it. And this should only be a single day lowered.

7) Within a state, governors have I think some control over flag-lowering. Not sure exactly how much. Should be limited to state-specific things, and only State flags lowered.


23 posted on 09/16/2012 9:15:22 AM PDT by Svartalfiar
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To: rlmorel

Feel the same way, VERY few people know ANYTHING about flag etiquette. I have had to personally talk to several owners about replacing their flags (torn, worn out, etc.). Sad really. Here is a refresher for those interested.

http://www.usflag.org/flagetiquette.html


24 posted on 09/16/2012 9:37:35 AM PDT by ConservativeChris (I feel like Marvin Boggs!)
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To: ConservativeChris

This is how some SoCal high schools kids did it, not that long ago...http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTcknSH2YPFjS0ntA4M2aZBI59E2jlsC67P-9Ttx-J7ZqbMXGi3sQ


25 posted on 09/16/2012 9:41:58 AM PDT by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both)
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To: rlmorel

When Zero ordered flags flown at half-mast for the murders in Colorado; I noted with some amusement that CANADIAN flags around Red Hampshire were also flying at half-mast. WTF?


26 posted on 09/16/2012 9:49:15 AM PDT by who knows what evil? (G-d saved more animals than people on the ark...www.siameserescue.org.)
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To: BenLurkin

Was the school under attack by Mexicans?


27 posted on 09/16/2012 9:49:32 AM PDT by ConservativeChris (I feel like Marvin Boggs!)
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To: ExGeeEye
I know at least one person who has been flying the flag at half-staff for years. He is in mourning for his country.

Alan Keyes used to wear a flag pin on his lapel upside-down for the same reason...not sure if he still does...

28 posted on 09/16/2012 9:57:49 AM PDT by who knows what evil? (G-d saved more animals than people on the ark...www.siameserescue.org.)
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To: who knows what evil?
When Zero ordered flags flown at half-mast for the murders in Colorado; I noted with some amusement that CANADIAN flags around Red Hampshire were also flying at half-mast. WTF?

Rendering honors is now just another form of political correctness.

29 posted on 09/16/2012 9:59:34 AM PDT by TADSLOS (Conservatism didn't magically show up in Romney's heart in 2012. You can't force what isn't in you.)
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To: rlmorel

Obama (and Bush) has flown it at odd times- like for the Sikh shooting in particular, and the civil rights women mentioned & the Pope.


30 posted on 09/16/2012 10:02:04 AM PDT by PghBaldy (I am sick of Obama's and Hillary's apologies to muslims, especially after 11 September 2012.)
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To: TADSLOS

The outgoing Governor of Red Hampshire (Lynch) would lower the U.S. Flag every time a cop was killed in the line of duty...local or state; it didn’t matter. He has the power, but it still drove me nuts.


31 posted on 09/16/2012 10:07:53 AM PDT by who knows what evil? (G-d saved more animals than people on the ark...www.siameserescue.org.)
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To: Colonel_Flagg

I flew my flag at half-staff the day Neil Armstrong died, on the anniversary of 9-11 and on the day that Ambassador Stephens died. I felt the need to honor these occasions. I didn’t read anywhere whether they were right or wrong.


32 posted on 09/16/2012 11:56:09 AM PDT by luvie (All my heroes wear camos)
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To: rlmorel; Colonel_Flagg

I definitely agree with your post and I can’t SEE a flag on
a military coffin without tears coming to my eyes.

We lost 4 more servicemen today in Afghanistan. I wonder if it
is appropriate to lower my flag to half-staff for their deaths.

Do you know? I am seriously asking.......


33 posted on 09/16/2012 12:18:28 PM PDT by luvie (All my heroes wear camos)
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To: LUV W

I’m OK with a citizen flying his flag at half staff whenever they want to.

Governors have the authority to order the US flag flown at half staff when a resident of the state dies in the line of duty while in the military. I’m torn on this one. It’s a nice tribute, but what happens in wartime when it’s an everyday occurrence? Should the the nation have flown the flag half staff every day of WWII, or the Korean War?

In our state, the flag is flown at half staff if a state employee is killed while at work. This would include everything from death due to noble self sacrifice to showing up hungover and getting in an accident.

I’m not entirely comfortable with the proliferation of government decreed half staff events. Dilution of meaning through overuse is a real issue.


34 posted on 09/16/2012 12:50:26 PM PDT by M1911A1
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To: rlmorel

I deeply love Old Glory. The guidelines for flying the flag at half staff are just that — guidelines. They are designed for the appropriate display of our flag on military posts, government buildings, public property, etc. However, private citizens may choose to fly their flags at half staff as an expression of personal mourning.

I agree that official declarations at the national level to fly the flag at half staff have been overdone by Obama (OWHNI), who has used it to recognize individuals for political or social accomplishments. I consider that to be an abuse of the solemn purpose of flying the flag at half staff. National mourning should not be trivialized.

Though Obama (OWHNI) ordered flags to be lowered for the funeral of Dorothy Height, a civil rights activist in the 60s, he did not order the flag to be flown at half staff when a helicopter carrying Navy SEALS was shot down in Afghanistan last year. It was the greatest loss of life for any single military operation in the history of the SEALS.

The problem isn’t simply one of overuse. National appropriateness and solemnity should be the defining issues. For myself personally, I have been mourning for my nation by tying a black ribbon to the top of the flag pole. (That is the equivalent of half staff, when the flag is fixed on a pole and cannot be lowered.) See my post at

http://retiredday.wordpress.com/2011/08/10/fly-the-flag-at-half-staff/

If things change this November, I will come out of mourning and remove the black ribbon.


35 posted on 09/16/2012 12:55:03 PM PDT by retiredday
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To: M1911A1

Thank you for clarification. I will go out right now and
lower it for our dead heroes....as I mourn their senseless
deaths by people they trusted.


36 posted on 09/16/2012 12:56:24 PM PDT by luvie (All my heroes wear camos)
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To: LUV W

Private citizens may choose to fly their own flag at half staff as an expression of personal mourning. “Official” declarations to lower flags are only applicable to flags on public, municipal and military locations.


37 posted on 09/16/2012 12:57:15 PM PDT by retiredday
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To: retiredday

Thank you. I haven’t had my flag and pole for very long, and
always want to do the right thing. :)

It’s now at half-staff for the 4 troops killed.


38 posted on 09/16/2012 1:02:44 PM PDT by luvie (All my heroes wear camos)
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To: LUV W

On a personal note, I find your desire to pay tribute to our nation’s fallen warriors entirely appropriate and touching. It’s your flag, fly it at half staff when you feel the need. There is no law prohibiting it.

In fact, I feel that this sort of heartfelt display by citizens is more appropriate than the decrees of politicians. In my own case, had I died in the line of duty, I’d rather that my family, friends and others so inclined flew their own flags at half staff than have a governor decree that government workers do so for me.


39 posted on 09/16/2012 1:04:51 PM PDT by M1911A1
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To: M1911A1

I appreciate your kind words.


40 posted on 09/16/2012 1:09:26 PM PDT by luvie (All my heroes wear camos)
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