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Thread: Really?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    10-23-01
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    Really?

    My neighbor (who lives about half mile away since we are so isolated) recently received a letter from the local VFW. Apparently, someone complained about how he is flying his flag. The US Flag Code (yes, that's a real thing) is Public Law 94-344. It states that if the flag is flown after dark, it should be illuminated by a spotlight. His is not.

    He is 97 years old and a veteran of D Day. I say he can fly his flag any damned way he wants and more power to him. He's earned it.

    Damned buttinskies up here.

  2. #2
    Join Date
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    I just donated my beloved Dell 32 inch monitor to the VFW so for a short period of time I have standing with them..

    Please tell the VFW to leave the guy alone.. you have permission to use my name..

    Maybe the solution is for the malcontents to donate a solar powered light to the old hero..

  3. #3
    Join Date
    11-22-03
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    I couldn't find any clause in Public Law 94-344 alluding to the use of a spotlight for any purpose...It may exist in the Flag Code, but I did not go so far as to check it...I see flags here waving at all hours unlighted...I did find the following quote...Until that one is enforced, your neighbor has the well earned right to respectfully display his flag as he sees fit......Ben

    The future is forged on the anvil of history...The interpreter of history wields the hammer... - Unknown author...

  4. #4
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    His letter referenced 94-344, but I found the following in US Code Title 4, chapter 1:

    §6. Time and occasions for display
    (a) It is the universal custom to display the flag only from sunrise to sunset on buildings and on stationary flagstaffs in the open. However, when a patriotic effect is desired, the flag may be displayed 24 hours a day if properly illuminated during the hours of darkness.
    (b) The flag should be hoisted briskly and lowered ceremoniously.
    (c) The flag should not be displayed on days when the weather is inclement, except when an all weather flag is displayed.

    So my bad, it is a different section of the law.

    I just get riled when people are such busy bodies up here, sticking their noses in and causing problems. Sorry.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kevin View Post
    Sorry.
    Don't be...The crass buttwipes who demeaned and dishonored your neighbor's honorable service, sacrifice and patriotism are the ones who should be sorry...If they are anything like a few (not all) VFW members I've seen here, they'll get drunk at the VFW hall bar, drive home that way and toss their empty beer cans out the window on the way...I just picked up another sack of empties this morning from last night's celebrants of this national holiday......Ben
    The future is forged on the anvil of history...The interpreter of history wields the hammer... - Unknown author...

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sandman View Post
    ......Maybe the solution is for the malcontents to donate a solar powered light to the old hero..
    That's the best solution that could happen. Let the VFW fix the problem and STFU. Everyone wins except the Karen across the street that complains about the (tiny) light keeping her awake at night in her bedroom on the backside of her house.
    The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible - Arthur C. Clarke

  7. #7
    Join Date
    10-23-01
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    That's a good solution, actually. We live so far back in the back that I'm his nearest neighbor - and I'm about a half mile away.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Truckman View Post
    Don't be...The crass buttwipes who demeaned and dishonored your neighbor's honorable service, sacrifice and patriotism are the ones who should be sorry...If they are anything like a few (not all) VFW members I've seen here, they'll get drunk at the VFW hall bar, drive home that way and toss their empty beer cans out the window on the way...I just picked up another sack of empties this morning from last night's celebrants of this national holiday......Ben
    That is similar to what I told my wife. She goes to the local VFW once a month with her swimming buds at the "Y" for breakfast---which she says is terrible but the money goes for a good cause

    She wanted to know why I didn't join I said that I had zero interest in sitting around with a bunch of drunks trying to relive past glories that exist only in their imagination. There is very little of that experience that I want to relive-----if I could blot out the entire experience I would do that in a heart beat. The best day of my military career was the day I walked out of the gate at the Oakland Army Terminal with my DD-214 firmly in hand

    The good thing I can say is----I lived----but a whole bunch didn't-----and for what
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” ---Sir Winston Churchill
    "Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all." ---John W. Gardner
    “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” ---C. S. Lewis

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