House votes to ban Confederate flags at federal cemeteries [and in federal gift shops]

The Hill ^ | 07/08/2015 | Cristina Marcos

[GIdget2004]

After just two minutes of floor debate late Tuesday evening, the House passed a measure to prohibit the display of Confederate flags on graves in federal cemeteries.

Despite the lack of fanfare, the vote marked the House's first entry into the debate over removing the Confederate flag from federal property that went beyond codifying already established policies.

Rep. Jared Huffman's (D-Calif.) amendment to the 2016 Interior Department spending bill seeks to end a policy that allows a temporary display of the flag in cemeteries under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service. It sailed through on a voice vote after minimal discussion on the House floor that encountered no opposition.

National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis issued a directive in 2010 that allows national cemeteries which commemorate a designated Confederate Memorial Day to decorate the graves of Civil War veterans with small Confederate flags. The directive states that decorative flags must be removed "as soon as possible" once the Confederate Memorial Day is over.

"We can honor that history without celebrating the Confederate flag and all of the dreadful things that it symbolizes," Huffman said.

[ladyjane]

the Confederate flag and all of the dreadful things that it symbolizes,

State's rights are dreadful? He represents California so they must be.

[onedoug]

Damned yankees!

[samtheman]

Sheep

[NKP_Vet]

Alabama governor showing some sense. Don’t know how long that will last.

http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/07/gov_robert_bentley_wont_take_a.html#incart_river

[Bobby_Taxpayer]

Soon they will desecrate graves of our falling ancestral heroes, like this at Fredericksburg.

[cripplecreek]

I already wrote to my congressman to remind him that Confederate war dead are counted along with Union war dead as American soldiers by an act of congress.

I also pointed out that the Sons of the Union Civil War Veterans officially supports and actively engages in the placing of Confederate battle flags on Confederate graves.

[ladyjane]

As a lifelong Yankee I don’t really have a dog in this fight

It was the Yankees who blocked off coastal trade to the South and enacted tariffs to further squeeze the South - the real reason for the southern states to pull out of the Union.

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

Isn't it amazing how she can run a POTUS campaign without answering one single solitary question from the press or the public? I never seen a politician in my life as protected as that bitch is. They even go so far as to physically rope in the photographers as if they are cattle. I have absolutely zero respect for anyone who even remotely supports this woman.

[Cymbaline]

Having solved all other problems, congress now turns to the vitally important issue of the confederate flag.

[moovova]

My mother-in-law was just laid to rest (next to her husband & daughter) at an historic SC church graveyard. Burials there go back to the Revolutionary War.

The are many graves from the Civil War, quite a few marked with confederate flags and/or iron markers. I fear there will be changes coming to this very honored place...either by vote or vandalism.

The locals could probably handle the vandals...there was actually gunfire far into the adjacent woods during my MIL’s service (sounded like target practice). Dealing with a vote could be more difficult (PCUSA).

[DoodleDawg]

It was the Yankees who blocked off coastal trade to the South and enacted tariffs to further squeeze the South - the real reason for the southern states to pull out of the Union.

How about sticking to the point of this thread -the idiocy of banning all Confederate flags from cemetaries, which is something we can all agree on - and leave the lost cause mythology to another day? Please?

[bonehead4freedom]

We were told in 2014 that we had to help Republicans win both Houses of Congress in order to stop Obama and the Democrats. Since they received control of both Houses of Congress we have seen Republicans either lay down and roll over for or actively assist the Democrats in implementing their agenda. I won't be voting to return Mike Turner in 2016. I will vote for Ted Cruz in 2016.

[Klemper]

Once we dig them up... where do we put them? Our nation has lapsed into insanity.

[RightLady]

I meant to say “Why not a white flag like the flag Obummer waves all the time?”

[Tupelo]

I have several ancestors buried at Brice’s Crossroads. I am curious to see how the Federals handle the flag issue there.

For those that do not know, Brice’s Crossroads is where N. Bedford Forest out Generaled Samuel Sturgis.
But Sturgis got the biker rallies and Forrest is getting dug up and dumped somewhere.

[armydawg505]

So don’t put US flags on their graves on US Memorial day.

[ladyjane]

One man’s facts are another man’s myths. That’s how flags get banned in the land of the free.

[DoodleDawg]

One man’s facts are another man’s myths.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but not their own facts.

That’s how flags get banned in the land of the free.

Yeah I say there is a lot of hyperbole and myth involved for those who want the flag banned. It's the ISIS-ization of our history.

[rockrr]

How about sticking to the point of this thread -the idiocy of banning all Confederate flags from cemeteries, which is something we can all agree on - and leave the lost cause mythology to another day? Please?

Seconded

[minnesota_bound]

So why did John Boehner not allow this?