Not So Jolly Roger
People are talking about flags. My brother, born and bred in New Jersey, flies a Confederate flag on his pickup truck, and as a kid had one hanging on his bedroom wall. He still has it somewhere. Why does he do it? He's a rebel. He loves NASCAR. He goes fishing in South Carolina. He also goes fishing in Canada.
Each unit in the military has their own flags- see some here:
These are called 'colors.' If each military unit has a flag does that mean we have to worry about them deserting en masse or declaring war on each other? I think not.
The term applies to the Crips and the Bloods, though with them their colors are displayed on their fancy kerchiefs. They may or may not be model citizens. You may also notice the back of a Hell's Angel's motorcycle jacket. Colors.
It's normal to 'not like' someone else's colors. That's because colors are personal. Think about the phrase 'rally around the flag.' The colors of the United States of America aren't displayed on everybody's front lawn. Something has to happen- like 9/11- to wake people up to remember they 'have' colors. As a matter of fact there's always a 'news' story when needed about somebody's condo association refusing to let grandma fly Old Glory. These colors don't run, buddy. At least for this news cycle.
Police units have colors. And what do you think all those bagpipes and kilts at funerals are all about?
Where is everybody's head at with this stuff?
Ace at Ace of Spades flies the Jolly Roger with a Mencken quote that in more polite society may be viewed as an incitement to violence. Do we pull the plug on his site?
Some people do use colors to incite; it's the nature of colors. Any colors. See? My group's better than yours. It's something those stupid 'tribal' hippies never get, at least not consciously. Let my freak flag fly.
Hillary says she wants the State of South Carolina to remove the Confederate Flag from the Statehouse grounds.
"I think about how many South Carolinians have served in our military and who are serving today under our flag and I believe that we should have one flag that we all pay honor to, as I know that most people in South Carolina do every single day"...
Glenn Reynolds agrees with her. What's next, Jack Murtha sponsoring a Democratic bill requiring everyone to recite the pledge of allegiance at basketball games?
