Take down U.S. flags!

[cwcox]

Hey, I just heard a caller on the radio (local daytime am talk show here in Pittsburgh, PA. ), and he was relating a statement he heard while in Portland (Oregon, I believe). The mayor of Portland has restricted the police chief from stopping, directing, or prosecuting any and all anti-war protesters who might break the law. She specifically told the chief "Hands off". One officer even got hit with a ball bat- no arrests! But this is the WORST part... This clown of a mayor, her name is Cats or something like that , has ordered that all flags of the United States of America be removed from all city vehicles. REMOVED FROM ALL CITY VEHICLES! No flags on fire trucks, police cars, etc. She said she doesn't want to offend the protesters.

Let me state for the record, I am damn glad I live somewhere that my fellow citizens can protest, and can voice their opinion. But no one has the right to perform acts of violence, destruction of public or private property, or of civil disobedience. I salute those who have an opinion and stand by it, even if it differs from mine, and I enjoy educating those folks as much as I enjoy having them educate me on the facts when I might have it wrong. This is what makes our country great.

Let me also state for the record, if anyone wants my flags taken down, from my house, from my truck, or from any public building, then let that characterless, spineless, ungrateful freak dare to try it in my presence. PERIOD. Our brothers and sisters have fought and died to give us the rights we have, and continue to do so, so that those rights are secure. And we send these people in harms way to free other peoples, to offer them the chance to govern themselves, as a free people.

And you'll notice also, when a U. S. soldier committed an act so heinous against his own brothers, was he beaten? NO. Was he tortured? NO. Was he dragged down the streets by his feet in humiliation? NO. He was secured, he was jailed, and he will see his case brought forth and tried by his peers, and he will meet judgment as set forth by U. S. military law. There are few countries where you will see this sort of treatment of such an individual.

God Bless and Keep our troops, our leaders, and those who support them.

Chris Cox.

 

[TxDieselKid]

someone else that needs to be added to this list, right behind Michael Moore.

 

[cwcox]

Who? Oh, Michael Moore, Yea, I remember him. He's that guy who USED TO make movies and he won an Oscar for something, and now he is looking at a career selling commie pencils on the street corner.

 

[Todd T]

i went out and snugged up the flag this morning. just to make sure i had it as high as my pole would fly it!



Bring it on, you spineless cowards!



Seatle has always been full of forward thinkers haven't they? its pretty bad when people have to work from home due to a bunch of jobless people playing in the streets.

 

[JTBMC]

Let em try to haul mine down they will leave with a Cur dog on thier arrse or in a body bag thier choice.

TJ

 

[TPCDrafting]

The fire department basically said NO, we're gonna fly our flags anyway.



http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,82172,00.html



What BS, they can try to burn mine. A good friend of mine was arrested in Boulder, CO in '91 for beating up a flag burner. He put out the fire first, the swung first and he got his but kicked for it. The judge sided with my friend and dropped the whole thing.



So glad to not be in Boulder anymore.

 

[merryman]

Oregon

Please don't judge Oregon by the actions of the idiot portland elected mayor.

Portland (also Eugene and Ashland Oregon), are about as liberal as they can be---how else could Portland have elected her to anything??. Most of the rest of the state is OK! I spend time in Portland only when I can not avoid it.



Vaughn

 

[willyslover]

Vaughn. . Kinda like Komiefornia... . 90% of the state is CONSERVATIVE and then there are the metro areas that control the vote here :{

 

[Champane Flight]

Maybe

Maybe these protesters forget the flag stands for their right to protest, to destroy it only means they are giving up that right!

 

[dbryant]

People like thak make me sick!





They should be proud to live in the land of the FREE.



Some people need to wake up and smell the Coffee and realize that other parts of the world are not so fortunate.



Let them go live in a place where speaking out against the establishment can get your Wife and Daughter raped. Or you can be beaten, tortured and imprisoned.



I work for a small fire dept. in a small LIBERAL college town.



These treehuggers really get under my skin.

Ok - I'm done venting now.



I work a shift tommorrow and I'm going to see to it that every truck in the bay has flags on it.



Be Proud to be an American







Don

 

[Bill Lins]

Hold on, now...

I sent the allegations contained in this thread to my sister, who lives in Portland, and asked her if they were true. Her response follows:



"Oh, Good grief!!



1. There has been no such restriction--the main criticism toward the police

the night of the big demo (last Thursday) was that they were too soft and

needlessly let things get out if control. (Decisions are made by incident

commanders at the scene, and they are given authority to do so by the mayor

and the city council. ) By the way, contrary to your correspondent's

assertions of 'no arrests!', over 135 were arrested that night and arrests

continued into the following morning. There were 2 marches that took place

yesterday--and police arrested 14 people. (The protesters were much better

behaved this time around. )



2. The order to remove flags from fire vehicles (not all city vehicles) was

issued by the Portland Fire Bureau (not the mayor)-- and it was not done to

kowtow to protesters, but was ordered in an effort to minimize or avoid

confrontations that could endanger fire personnel. The city council ordered

the directive rescinded the following day.



3. The mayor's name is Vera Katz, not 'Cats'. Anyone who knows Ms. Vera

knows that she has little patience with nonsense--which is why she has

routinely backed up a police chief who is very much a law and order guy, as

long as people are not abused in the process. She did praise the police for

showing restraint and professionalism that night, ie. , not beating people to

a bloody pulp, but she is (to put it mildly) annoyed at protesters that

misread their civil rights as the prerogative (?sp) to hold up traffic for

hours, physically and verbally abuse others, and cause property damage--and

she doesn't mince words about it. She has no problem having such buffoons

arrested and she has labelled them as people who 'quite frankly wanted to be

arrested and be an embarrassment'. When asked what her sympathy level was

toward protesters (the morning after the minor riot), she replied, "My

sympathies right now have to be with the armed forces in harm's way. " I

have my issues with Ms. Vera, but this isn't one of them.



Love--and thanks for asking!



Beth"

 

[JTBMC]

Bill thats the way I heard it for a friend in the Portland Fire Dept.



TJ

 

[moparguy]

Bill, thanks for the info.



RJR

 

[merryman]

Must be a different "Cats"

Wow!!

"Beth" knows a different Vera Katz, than the rest of us here in Oregon have been dealing with for years-------name the most "wild eyed" liberal you can think of, and "Cats" will be their buddy!!



To portray her as a supporter of law and order would be like portraying "slick Willy" as a paragon of marital fidelity; but I suppose she might get along with the police chief considering she would me the main voice in hiring------ or firing him.

And, yea there were some arrests, but the rest of the story is that those arrested are released as soon as they are booked and in most cases were probably back out demonstrating while the police officer making the arrest is still back at the station completing the paper work-----they WILLNOT suffer any meaningfull penalty.

Never mind that they virtually shut Portland down; fire vehicles, ambulances etc would have found responding to emergencies in some areas impossible.

Vaughn