The funny thing about the flag burning amendment is that the preferred way to discard an old flag is to burn it.

Skipper.

megan walker "Natter 36: But We Digress..." Jun 22, 2005 3:39:36 pm PDT

The funny thing about the flag burning amendment is that the preferred way to discard an old flag is to burn it.

There's a very specific, proscribed, almost ritualized way to burn an old flag -- you don't just fling it in a fire pit with some kerosene and a Zippo.

(I learned how to properly dispose of a flag as a Girl Scout. I am very useful in many situations, including the dreaded "Oh NO! Our flag is too old!" situation.)

Hey, at least I knew who Buddy Bell was.

ION, Apparently, you can't even smoke in your own apartment anymore. [link]

Prohibitions against flag burning always make me think of the RSC rant in History of America (Abridged). (One of them goes off on a rant about how free speech is actually curtailed in all sorts of obscure ways, like how you can't yell "fire!" in a crowded theatre, and eventually gets around to flag burning, and why can't I light this flag on fire anyway? And of course the answer is, "because that would be fire in a crowded theatre.")

The side bar listed all of the things that shouldn't be done to the flag -- print it on paper, wear it as clothes, etc.

I thought that what we currently had was a list of Ways It Is Appropriate To Treat The Flag, rather than an explicit list of don'ts. (I remember after 9/11 reading an article that detailed exactly how one is supposed to display the flag on one's vehicle, if one chooses, and pointing out that most of the available flag bumper stickers are Right Out.)

Hey, at least I knew who Buddy Bell was.

An excellent fielder too, as I recall from some old Bill James abstract. Probably one of his curious surveys noting the upsurge in third base talent that happened in the immediate historical vicinity of Mike Schmidt's and George Brett's emergence.

pointing out that most of the available flag bumper stickers are Right Out

How so? (she asks, considering that unaugmented flag sticker on the bumper that she got in the wave of "dammit, not my country" feeling after 9/11)

My poor BF was just unceremoniously dumped back into Detroit's airport after flying all the way here on a plane delayed because of thunderstorms...the plane had to turn around when all the other planes delayed by the storms were attempting to land at the same time. So they flew back and told him that all the other flights out tonight were booked. Lovely.

I was wrong -- the Flag Code contains Dos and Don'ts in about equal measure. The ones pertaining to bumper stickers seem to be:

(c) The flag should never be carried flat or horizontally, but always aloft and free.

(e) The flag should never be fastened, displayed, used, or stored in such a manner as to permit it to be easily torn, soiled, or damaged in any way.

(i) The flag should never be used for advertising purposes in any manner whatsoever. It should not be embroidered on such articles as cushions or handkerchiefs and the like, printed or otherwise impressed on paper napkins or boxes or anything that is designed for temporary use and discard. Advertising signs should not be fastened to a staff or halyard from which the flag is flown.

Is there a distinction between a flag and a picture of a flag?