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Political Correctness Beats Out American Flag

    Republican front-runners weren’t the only things missing from the presidential debate stage. The American flag was AWOL, too.

    The backdrop to the “All-American Presidential Forum,” brought to you by Tavis Smiley and PBS, was a map of the United States, superimposed with a checkerboard of multicultural faces.

    Rep. Duncan Hunter of California, one of the presidential hopefuls, asked debate organizers to get Old Glory up there, too, according to Chris Cavey, first vice chairman of the state GOP.

    Cavey was acting as an escort for another candidate, Tom Tancredo of Colorado, and heard Hunter’s request over his earpiece about half an hour before the show began.

    “Escorts were wired. I heard [in the earpiece], ‘Congressman Hunter is requesting a flag on stage,’” Cavey said.

    Request denied.

Why would something as a simple request for the American flag be denied? You guessed it…it might offend some of the viewers. Any American offended by our flag should not be voting for President. Oh, or it could have been that the colors would have clashed with their map of multicultural faces. I bet the Boulder High School students, protesting the pledge of Alligience, wouldn’t have a problem pledging to that….and to the diversity for which it stands.

    The buzz among some Republicans was that organizers thought the flag might “offend” some members of the audience. Cavey, while critical of the decision, chalks it up to aesthetics, not politics. Red-white-and-blue simply would have clashed with the map’s yellow-to-burnt-orange hues…

    Isn’t it possible that the producers just couldn’t find a flag in time after Hunter raised the issue?

    “They could have walked across the street to the police station to get a flag in half an hour, and I know personally that Morgan State University has a flag somewhere,” Cavey said. “I thought it was absolutely inappropriate that the ‘All-American Presidential Debate’ couldn’t even produce an American flag.”

Flag-folding recitations for vets banned because of religious content

Complaints about religious content have led to a ban on flag-folding recitations by Veterans Administration employees and volunteers at all 125 national cemeteries. It all started because of one complaint about the ceremony at Riverside National Cemetery in California.

During thousands of military burials, the volunteers have folded the American flag 13 times and recited the significance of every fold to survivors. For example, the 12th fold glorifies "God the Father, the Son and Holy Ghost."

The complaint revolved around the narration in the 11th fold, which celebrates Jewish war veterans and "glorifies the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob."

The National Cemetery Administration decided to ban the entire recital at all national cemeteries. Details of the complaint weren't disclosed.

Administration spokesman Mike Nacincik said the new policy outlined in a Sept. 27 memorandum is aimed at creating uniform services throughout the military graveyard system. He said the 13-fold recital is not part of the U.S. Flag Code and is not government-approved.

Veterans and honor detail volunteers, including Bobby Castillo, 85, and Rees Lloyd, 59, are furious. "That the actions of one disgruntled, whining, narcissistic and intolerant individual is preventing veterans from getting the honors they deserve is truly an outrage," Lloyd said. "This is another attempt by secularist fanatics to cleanse any reference to God."

World War II Navy veteran Castillo said it's "a slap in the face to every veteran."

"When we got back from the war, we didn't ask for a whole lot," Castillo said. "We just want to give our veterans the respect they deserve. No one has ever complained to us about it. I just don't understand."

Lloyd and Castillo are part of a 16-member detail that has performed military honors at more than 1,400 services. They were preparing to read the flag-folding remarks at the Riverside cemetery when graveyard staff members stopped them.

Charlie Waters, parliamentarian for the American Legion of California, said he's advising memorial honor details to ignore the edict. "This is nuts," Waters told the Riverside Press-Enterprise by telephone from Fresno. "There are 26 million veterans in this country, and they're not going to take us all to prison."

Nacincik said that though the flag-folding narrative includes references to God that the government does not endorse, the main reason for the new rules is uniformity. "We are looking at consistency," Nacincik said. "We think that's important."

Rabbi Yitzhak Miller of Temple Beth El said he understands the ban. "It is a perfect example of government choosing to ignore religion in order to avoid offending some religions," Miller said. "To me, ignoring religion in general is just as problematic as endorsing any one religion."

This is a blatant attack on Christians, Jews and the those fallen for the service of this nation. It isn't a part of the U.S. Flag Code but it has been a part of this ceremony since the start of it. There is such a thing as precedent in the law and it is precedent for this to be an acceptable part of this ceremony.

More intolerance in the name of tolerance.


Amen! Let them try to put even just one Veteran in prison over this. They won't like the results.

Vets plan to ignore ban on flag-folding recitations

An American Legion commander in California says he and other veterans will defy a newly imposed ban on flag-folding recitations that include references to God.

During thousands of military burials, Veterans Administration employees and volunteers have folded the American flag 13 times and recited the significance of every fold to survivors. The fourth fold, for example, refers to God's "divine guidance." The 11th fold glorifies "the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." And the 12th fold glorifies "God the Father, the Son and Holy Ghost." Now the National Cemetery Association has made a decision to ban flag-folding recitations by VA employees and volunteers at all 125 national cemeteries -- all because of one complaint about a ceremony at Riverside National Cemetery in California that included a reference to God.

Rees Lloyd is director of the California Defense of Veterans Memorials Project and part of a 16-member detail that has performed military honors at more than 1,400 services. He says veterans -- and in particular, American Legionnaires -- are outraged by the ban.

"It's outrageous," he says bluntly. "These are decisions that should be made by the families of our deceased veteran comrades and not by Washington bureaucrats -- and most certainly not by any narcissistic, disaffected, offended atheist, agnostic, or any other [person] who is upset or offended by the word 'God' or a religious symbol which might offend his delicate sensibilities."

Lloyd vows that even if there are "a hundred-million offended atheists," he and other American Legionnaires will stand against the ban.

"We will defy this ban, pure and simple," he states. "If the families ask us to recite the flag-folding ceremony, we will abide by the wishes of the family -- not [by the wishes of] some bureaucrat sitting in an air-conditioned office in Washington, DC, or some lawyer wearing a diaper back there whose main mission in life is to protect his own behind instead of standing up for the American people and saying enough is enough."

Lloyd, who is a California civil rights attorney, says he and his allies at the Alliance Defense Fund are considering their legal options.

Standing up against Christophobes!

Lord, wilt thou that we bid fire to come down from heaven, and consume them?

(always thought it was my good friend Peter that said this but it was James and John!)    :-[

Christophobes?  Haven't heard that one before but I LIKE it!

Don't ya just LOVE this guy?!!  :D :D :D :D

 ;D ;D  A meaningful word that I have borrowed from a friend that is fed up with the "phobic words these people use to try to silence those that disagree with them.


Yep. They don't want to mess with the American Legionnaires or any other Veteran group. Especially one that is a major lawyer in a Christian legal organization.

Mess with the Veterans and they will lose support of all Military. Not a good thing for the elected government employees to do.

Now we're talking!  I have a favorite uncle that was career Army and did 2 tours in Nam and of course you already now that my son is Navy.
And I'm borrowing your word.  I love it.  :D

You're welcome to it.

Public outcry brings resolutions involving flag-folding ceremony, monument cap

Officials with the Veterans Administration (VA) have clarified a directive limiting the use of a religious recitation at flag-folding ceremonies during military funerals. And a replica of the cap on the Washington Monument will be rebuilt so a God-honoring phrase is visible. The founder of the American Family Association (AFA) credits public outcry in both cases.

Last month, a senior VA official told directors of the agency's 125 cemeteries not to distribute or post non-government handouts on "The Meaning of Each Fold of an Honor Guard Funeral Flag." The memo also said the handout should not be recited at graveside services by cemetery workers or by VA-sponsored volunteer honor guards. The recitations include references to "the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob" and to "the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost."

Public outcry was swift, with more than 200,000 emails sent to the VA. Now a VA spokesperson says volunteer honor guards may recite any text requested by next of kin.

AFA founder Don Wildmon says prompt public outcry made the difference. "The censoring of Christianity, making Christianity officially hostile to the federal government, has been seen," argues Wildmon, "and the Christian community and fair-minded people in our society are not going to allow this to happen anymore."

He cites another recent example of the influence of public outcry, noting that the National Park Service (NPS) has said it will rebuild a replica of the cap on the Washington Monument so that the Latin phrase "Laus Deo" -- meaning "Praise be to God" -- is not hidden from public view. The current display was moved in recent years so the phrase was facing a wall and not visible to the public.

A spokesman with the Park Service says the placement of the replica was not intentional, and that it will be moved to another location in the center of a room where all inscriptions will be easily viewed. The 100-ounce aluminum cap at the top of the monument has engravings on all four sides.

Wildmon says the NPS responded to the public, resulting in what he considers a great victory. "There was an outcry," he explains. "Over a hundred-thousand people contacted the National Park Service, and they rescinded that, [saying they were] going to put it back just like it was" so people can read it.

The pro-family leader believes many citizens are getting tired of efforts to eradicate references to God from the public square -- and that frustration, he says, is demonstrated by their willingness to get involved and express their displeasure when those efforts are brought to light.

Cheney says flag recitation with religious references ok

Vice President Dick Cheney says a flag-folding recitation with religious references can be part of military funerals at the nation's 125 veterans cemeteries.

In a speech Thursday at the Indiana War Memorial, Cheney criticized a September VA directive prohibiting honor guards from using the recitation, which includes references to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and to the "Father, Son and Holy Ghost."

Faulting "the federal bureaucracy" for what he called a "confusing order," Cheney assured the American Legion that its honor guards at military funerals can include the recitation in "any service where the family requests it."

The VA agreed to as much this week under pressure from veterans and House Republicans.