Today's Story Headline That It's Hard To Look At Without Having A Rude Thought

[dianeduane]

Where To Put Your Hand During The National Anthem

Also: fellow writers: Are they dissing our babies? (OK, I am not biologically a mom. I've done all my mothering in bulk. Approximately 1500 babies during my stint of pediatric nursing.)

Comments

[post-ecdysis.livejournal.com]

It's the Flag Code, which specifies no punishment for non-compliance, nor an agency that would enforce the rule. It is also a statute that nobody fully follows, especially the hyper-patriotic. Sticking a flag on your car's antenna is grossly out of line, for instance. Heck, if you see the picture that got Barak in trouble here (http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/anthem.asp), it isn't quite clear to me that any of the people on that stage are directing their attention towards a flag.

[keristor.livejournal.com]

But it is illegal, right? So you have a law which is unenforcable and has no punishment for breaking it? That sounds like the definition of bad law...

[post-ecdysis.livejournal.com]

Hard to say. There are all kinds of laws that aren't criminal statutes. It seems to be as "illegal" as not observing a moment of silence for fallen veterans on Monday.

Perhaps I'm a tool for saying so, but I appreciate the existence of a uniform code for respecting the symbols of the United States. Gives people, local governments, and the military understandable guidelines for showing patriotic unity, and it gives protesters a clear standard against which to rebel.