Posted on 02/18/2012 5:40:00 PM PST by smoothsailing
NJLawman.com-Police and Law Enforcement News
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Yesterday, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie ordered all New Jersey State and American flags to be lowered to half staff on Saturday in honor of Entertainer Whitney Houston who passed away this week.
Last year, the governor did the same for Clarence Clemmons, the saxophone player for the E Street Band.
In January, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett ordered the state flag to half staff for three days in honor of Penn State Football Coach Joe Paterno when he passed.
We take great issue with this practice.
Ms. Houston and Mr. Clemmons are both children of our great state and were both wildly successful. Each has made a significant contribution to music, culture, and the arts, and both are deserving of many accolades.
But just as an American serviceman killed in Helmand Province, Afghanistan is not deserving of a Grammy award, musicians and celebrities are not deserving of the lowering of the American flag.
Simply, not everybody gets every honor.
There are few gestures as symbolic and as loud as an entire state lowering their flags at the same moment for the same amount of time.
Seeing a flag at the half staff position should spawn pause and thought. It should make one a bit unsettled but at the same time thankful. It should make one ask, "what happened?"
A flag at half staff gives publicity to courage and nobility otherwise only mildly publicized. For one day, it is an inescapable message announcing to an entire state that tragedy occurred and reminding everyone that the fruits of each free day come with a price.
Expanding this honor only diminishes its meaning and raises the question: where does it end?
Between Ms. Houston and Mr. Clemmons, entire rooms could be filled with the distinctions they have each received throughout their lives.
In the coming months and years they will continue to be given well deserved recognition for their accomplishments.
But there are certain honors that should and must be set aside.
Rifle salutes, aircraft flyovers, and half-staffed flags are among those honors and they should not be on the public menu.
It is eminently important that we protect the tributes that have become part of the military and public service fabric over the past two centuries. They are part of our tradition and should not be for sale at any price. They should not be available to take, and they should not be available to give.
The manner in which we lay the valorous when they fall helps define how we should carry ourselves while we live.
Lowering the flag to half staff should be reserved only for those who perish as a result of public duty and service, protecting our nation and the Constitution, and for those who served as formal leaders and dignitaries.
This practice must stop.
Cherished by All Americans, freedom of speech, freedom of religion,
Freedom for want, and freedom from fear.
I pledge allegiance, to the flag of the United States
of America.
And to the religion, for which it stands,
one nation under God.
Indivisible, with liberty and justice for All.
ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1QmeEdFOSc&feature=related presented by a military family.
People don’t think drug addicts should be honored by the state?
Amen!
Makes him sound like a real good candidate for President from the republican party. ann coulter would vote for him...idiot
Talk about cheapening the symbolism of flags at half-mast.
LOL I had the same reaction to the ship naming...what the heck?! Giffords didn’t DO anything.
At least Whitney did a fantastic job singing the National Anthem.
As you said, people need to "give it a rest." She is in God's hands now. Show respect to her family. Let her rest in peace.
She did a lot for morale.
AFN (Armed Forces Network) played it at the close every night - just the audio,with a picture of the flag.
That’s about 30,000 troops (guessing) and their families. No complaints I am aware of.
And as the erosion of patriotism increases, as people stop caring about the twisting and bastardization of the tenets that made America great and relegate disparagement of the symbol of the Nation for a drug-addicted "star", the days of a free and great America enter even deeper in it's ugly decline.
So very sorry for your loss....God Bless You.
You don’t need to remind me the words of my favorite song, or of the sacrifice it brings to mind. I stand by my statement.
Sadly, I'm not. While Gov Crispy Cream is good compared to what we usually get in the North East he's by no means a conservative. That's why I don't get Ann Coulter's gushing over him.
Christie is a politician, and was in a no-win situation. If he refused to lower the flag for a black celebrity, he would have been accused of racism and Sharpton's crowd would have had yet another thing to march about.
Maybe Christie is trying to prove that he isn’t a racist. Two celebrities - both black????
No matter what turn Ann takes after this; will not be listening or watching - much less, buying. . .
How many people fly a flag outside their home that is a school or 'sports team' - but never fly, an American flag?
Not that it matters; no sense challenging someone's patriotism because of their position on Christie' decision - or whether they fly a flag or not.
(So; whatever. . .this poster does not agree with Christie's decision; and does fly daily; an America flag outside home.)
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