The Patriot's Flag

Today the Patriot Flag I am flying is the Ft Moultrie Flag.

Talk Risking Liberty

Well, anytime is a good time for a fine cup of coffee, and sometimes you just have to make choices … even this early in the morning.  So this morning’s coffee break is brought to you by Starbucks as they introduce their latest new brand … “Via.”

From HotAirPundit: Starbucks is rolling out its own brand of instant coffee this week, and they’re employing a very topical, if slightly risky, ad campaign to do it. First aired during the premiere of Saturday Night Live, this ad for “Via” gambles heavily that the “angry mob” will either have a sense of humor about themselves, or weren’t going to patronize Starbucks in the first place.

“… the ad gambles whether or not the “Angry Mob” will have a sense of humor about themselves?”

Hmmm, I’m not laughing, and I haven’t lost my sense of humor because now I think Starbucks is a joke!  I just don’t think the Tea Parties, the Town Hall meetings and the 9-12 March on D.C. were  the kinds of historic events anybody should be joking about. To me, with the very foundations of our country trembling, it was damned serious business!  The events certainly were not humorous and now a Starbucks marketing genius dares to make fun our effort to they can sell a new brand of coffee?  I don’t think so.  For me their gamble didn’t pay off, this member of the “Angry Mob” will be going to McDonald’s for my for my sugar-free vanilla “grande.” (I like it better anyway!).

(l. to r.): Robert F. Bukaty / AP; Karen Bleier / AFP / Getty

LEFT choice?  <====  ====> RIGHT choice!

I’m Lovin’ it … Meet me at the Golden Arches for some Conservative Coffee!

• PS: … there’s an interesting article I ran across at TIME Magazine on the demographics of Starbucks and McDonald’s customers … worth the read.

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The Patriot Flag I am flying today is the South Carolina State Flag.  Here is why …

South Carolina

Today is relatively quiet … lots of talk, discussion, etc. But basically nothing is looming that threatens liberty (today!).  After the Joe Wilson flap, maybe we should take a closer look at the “rules.”  So lets focus on the “rules” then make our opinions. The rules were not difficult to find, here’s a piece the Politico put up that defines them fairly well.

. . . . . . . . . . . . Their thoughts . . . . . . . . . .

Politico As stated in Cannon’s Precedents, on January 27, 1909, the House adopted a report in response to improper references in debate to the President. That report read in part as follows:

• “It is… the duty of the House to require its Members in speech or debate to preserve that proper restraint which will permit the House to conduct its business in an orderly manner and without unnecessarily and unduly exciting animosity among its Members or antagonism from those other branches of the Government with which the House is correlated.”

As a guide for debate, it is permissible in debate to challenge the President on matters of policy. The difference is one between political criticism and personally offensive criticism. For example, a Member may assert in debate that an incumbent President is not worthy of re-election, but in doing so should not allude to personal misconduct. By extension, a Member may assert in debate that the House should conduct an inquiry, or that a President should not remain in office. Under section 370 of the House Rules and Manual it has been held that a Member could:
• refer to the government as “something hated, something oppressive.”
• refer to the President as “using legislative or judicial pork.”
• refer to a Presidential message as a “disgrace to the country.”
• refer to unnamed officials as “our half-baked nitwits handling foreign affairs.”
Likewise, it has been held that a member could not:
• call the President a “liar.”
• call the President a “hypocrite.”
• describe the President’s veto of a bill as “cowardly.”
• charge that the President has been “intellectually dishonest.”
• refer to the President as “giving aid and comfort to the enemy.”
• refer to alleged “sexual misconduct on the President’s part.”

However, the Senate rules on decorum and debate do not prohibit personal references to the President. Senate Rule XIX governing decorum and debate is applied only to fellow Senators and “does not extend to the President, the Vice President, or Administration officials and a Senator cannot be called to order under rule XIX for comments or remarks about them…” (Senate Procedure, p. 741).

. . . . . . . . . . . . My thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . .

Ambiguity again?  No, valid legislative double talk!

I am pretty sure these people write these rules so, depending on who is doing what, they can point at a rule and “interpret” it any way they like.  Rules like these say: “well, sort of, but in this case, or that, you know, maybe”.   So I guess it comes down to common sense and courtesy.  In the Joe Wilson flap, both sides are easy to understand.  The “decorum” must be preserved or there would be legislative chaos.  However, a President should not make a statement that is in direct contradiction to a law he is asking to be passed., that would be a LIE being presented to a Joint Session of Congress.

Let’s Look at President Obama’s Lies at the Joint Session of Congress:

• FACTS: The legislation Obama was pushing at the time of the “flap” did not state illegal aliens are not covered, therefore by default they were covered!  The CRS (Congressional Research Service) confirms that Illegals are/were covered under the then-present version HR-3200.

• Also a Republican amendment stating that was VOTED DOWN by the Democrat majority, why if the legislation already disallowed it?
• Obama called the legislators liars FIRST.  A President can call people in a Joint Session of Congress liars and is not “admonished” but someone calls him a liar after he does that and that breaks the rules? Transcript from his speech:

Some of people’s concerns have grown out of bogus claims spread by those whose only agenda is to kill reform at any cost. The best example is the claim, made not just by radio and cable talk show hosts, but by prominent politicians, that we plan to set up panels of bureaucrats with the power to kill off senior citizens.

Now, such a charge would be laughable if it weren’t so cynical and irresponsible. It is a lie plain and simple. Now… Now, there are also those who claim that our reform efforts would insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false. The reforms — the reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.

(UNKNOWN): That’s a lie. <- (Joe Wilson)

• And another one at the Joint Session: Remember when Obama talked about the poor man with cancer that died because he couldn’t get health care insurance?  Well, guess what … that was a LIE … In fact, the man, Otto S. Raddatz, didn’t die because the insurance company rescinded his coverage once he became ill, an act known as recission. Source HERE His sister secured a life-extending stem-cell transplant for him. Raddatz died this year, nearly four years after the insurance showdown. Obama couldn’t even tell a little “heart throbbing story” truthfully.
• Also, on the Friday afternoon “document dump” from the White House, the “language” of the bill was changed to disallow health care for illegal aliens. How much proof do we need, folks?

At what price? So you have to ask, “what price” do we have to pay to get something done? To get illegal aliens out of the health care bill, was the price that Joe Wilson paid too high?  And when an ABSOLUTE LIE is stated in a Joint Session from the President’s lips … does “decorum” allow such behavior from a President of the United States … or if he has the “audacity” to do that, should someone who KNOWS it is a like not have the audacity to say “STOP IT!”

• In an earlier post, I mentioned a lady I encountered on the mall during the 9-12 March on DC.  Her sign said: “I’m off the Sidelines … A First Time Protester… And I’m Here to STAY!”  From looking at that crowd I was in and listening to what they were saying, there were a lot of “first timers” there. I think people are starting to take the risk, pay the price (of annoyance) and start saying “NO! THIS ISN’T RIGHT!”     That’s what I saw last Saturday.

This isn’t Democrats, this is Dangerous! What people still don’t “get” is that what is happening is DIFFERENT and DANGEROUS to anything we’ve ever seen in the USA.  This isn’t Bill Clinton tring to pass some bill, or George Bush pushing for illegals. This isn’t “politics” … 1/2 of which I’ll disagree with as you disagree with the other 1/2.  That’s politics, debate, etc.  All healthy for a Democratic Republic. But this is DIFFERENT.  We’ve never had an avowed Communist appointed to the high level of the government. We’ve never had a President who wanted to use ACORN (total corruption) brought into Washington to “help him shape” the new administration.  These people are not “Democrats” … that are RADICALS and there is one hell of a difference.  (Give me Hillary, Bill, Al, even the war hero of Vietnam, John and I’ll breath a sigh of relief… yes relief … that would be “politics” … this is different!)

Make YOUR point!

What’s YOUR point? (Have you even got one?)

This administration, with TRILLIONS in spending (leaving George Bush way behind!) with “redistributing the wealth” ideas, with taking over giant corporations and giving them to the unions … is not a bunch of Democrats having fun.  This is you and me losing our country to Socialism.  Decorum is not going to mean anything to these people.  Decorum got us the bill as it was, shouting out “You Lie” got it changed! We are going to have to get off the comfortable “sidelines” and get in the game.  If you are a Republican, shame on you for supporting do-nothing republicans.  If you are a Democrat, shame on you for blindly supporting this administration, just because they “say” they are Democrats.  If you are an American, you better wake up, see what’s going on, and do something about it.   Maybe you’ll see a political button that says, “ACORN helps PEOPLE”  … are you going to ignore it or get into somebody’s face?  Decorum got us “here” … I’m not going any further. In the struggle of Decorum vs. Outrage … I’ve chosen a side.  Have you?

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?

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The Patriot Flag I am flying today is the Flag of the United States of America! Here’s why …

Flown for 9-11 Remembrence

9/12/2009 Today, I am at the 9-12 march in Washington, DC. I’ve never participated in anything like this, so it is a first for me.  I’ll be keeping a log of the day and will be taking many pictures and videos of the activities. Below are links to the Patriot Flag’s Gallery so you can see what the march and rally looked like from “ground level.”  I put comments on each of the pictures. Below I’m giving you a sort of hour by hour summary of our day at the March on Washington, DC.  It was certainly an event I’ll never forget.  

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE PICTURES IN THE 9-12 Album

Click here for our video on YouTube: Part 1 (Getting there)

Click here for our video on YouTube: Part 2 (March on the Capital)

(Part 3 coming tomorrow)

8:30 am …  We started off by driving from Sterling, VA to the Dunn-Loring Metro station.

Click for YouTube Link

As we got out of the car, we saw a couple of ladies get out of another car, and they were carrying posters.  They saw our T-Shirts and realized that we were “friendlies” and we were surprised to find people getting out of a car with posters. The surprise got larger as we walked into the Metro station to get our tickets and found a sizable line waiting to buy tickets from the machine.  When we got down to the platform, it was about 1/3 taken up with people carrying posters and flags.  When we got on the train, many people were already on board from the 2 stops ahead of ours. By the 2nd stop after us, nobody else could get onto the train … it was jam-packed.  What was amazing (and you’ll see it in the pictures) … getting off the train was when we realized this thing was much bigger than we had ever imagined. The platform at Federal Triangle metro was completely filled with people waiting to go up the escalators.  Then at the final escalator, there was a good wait as the huge crowd came up from below and out into the open (pictures show this).

Emerging from the Metro

When we emerged from the Metro, we were in another crowd which was slowly moving forward. This crowd merged with a crowd already walking up Pennsylvania Avenue. (We were supposed to turn left and go to Liberty Square, but there were so many people they started the march early to move the people along). So we merged with the march and continued toward the Capital.  Along the way toward the Capital building which loomed larger and larger on the horizon ahead of us, we again had to re-adjust our image … this thing was MUCH BIGGER than we had imagined, people as far as you could see ahead and behind.

We finally got to the Capital grounds, but they swere already full so we “parked” our chairs across the street from the grounds … a good viewing point for the activities.  There were basically two forms of entertainment, the speakers and activities from the podium area, and the crowd milling around us.  They had some fine speakers and some good bands playing patriotic music.  One of the most stirring moments was when a lady began to sing the Star Spangled Banner and the entire crowd … from the Capital steps to the Washington Monument (2 miles?) all sang along with her … that was amazing and we captured a little of that on the video.  My favorite speech was our South Carolina Senator, Jim DeMint. He got a great welcome, was well-cheered during his speech and made a big hit with the crowd.

About 3:30 Dan and I walked away from the Capital area around the reflecting pond.

Patriots Everywhere!

Again, our focus had to widen. We hadn’t seen the people behind us, probably 4/5ths of the entire crowd. The area all the way around the reflecting pond was filled as was the entire mall down to the Washington Monument.

We finally found a Starbucks, got an iced coffee, and headed back into the Metro for a long, (tired) ride home. Many people were with us from the rally … everyone was tired but still having a good time.

There were no swastikas, there were no “angry mobsters” … what we saw was a helluva lot of people … darned concerned about the direction of their government, and doing their best to make a point … HOPING somebody would listen.  (Of course the White House mentioned Friday, that they were “unaware of the march”.  That figures).  When you see the aerial shots of this event … which we did not see until we got home … you realize a statement was being made. But you would have barely noticed it if you were not watching Fox News.

We are all Sons of Liberty

My favorite “moment” was THE picture I missed.  On the mall, a gal sitting in her lawn chair, here dog lying  by her side, with a poster that read:  “I’m off the Sidelines!  I’m a First-Time protester.  And I’m here to stay!”  I think that summed it up for many people there. The people who sat beside Dan and I were in their 80′s … he was a WW II vet. These folks were not “professional” protesters by a long shot.

This was a PLEASURE to have attended this event. Sometimes we are thinking we are “all alone” in this struggle. As Dan and I got out of the car we were kidding about being the only two in the march … then the two ladies showed up, then the people in line for tickets, then the packed subway, and into a Pennsylvania Avenue crowded with people from end to end.  I came away feeling that being a “conservative” doesn’t mean you are “alone” … you’re actually in a pretty good group that is growing, and growing and growing.  I’d rather be on the RIGHT side of this whole issue than the LEFT!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE PICTURE GALLERY

From the Podium, it was announced that CNN had stated there were “Over 1000″ people at the 9-12 March and Rally.  For once, they were correct!  When this was announced, the crowd boo’ed then started chanting, “They can’t Count!” Below is the time lapse video of the march … are there more than 1000 of us there?

Here is the WORLD NET DAILY summary … great summary with pictures.

Your comments are welcome.

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The Patriot Flag I am flying [PROUDLY] today is the Title of Liberty flag.  Here’s Why …

RED RIBBON ADDED TO FLAGSTAFF! (See Ribbons)

Liberty Trumps Tyranny

WND WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama’s “Green Jobs Czar” Van Jones quit late last night after pressure mounted over his extremist history first exposed in WND.

Van Jones Resigns

The last straw for Jones was being caught on tape in an expletive-packed rant, directly attacking Republicans in the Senate who he said abused their majority position in the past to push legislation through. He admitted after the statements were released that the comments were “inappropriate” and “offensive.”

Exit Statement

VAN JONES: “On the eve of historic fights for health care and clean energy, opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me. They are using lies and distortions to distract and divide.”

We are still mining the Internet for the “lies and distortions” he is writing about … haven’t found any so far. Everything that has been brought up against him are HIS OWN VIDEOS … all over YouTube.  We’ll post here if we find any “lies and distortions.” (Please “comment” below if you find one.

Chickens coming home to roost?

I’ll keep this simple.  You cannot spend a major part of your adult life bashing about saying things that you “find regrettable” if you were chosen for a high level post.  Van Jones did this to himself.  This country simply is not going to put up with a person in a high office that has these views and says those kinds of things.  Its just not going to fly. So for Jones … this wasn’t something Glenn Beck or talk radio did to him … he DID IT TO HIMSELF.  In the words of Rev. Wright … his “chickens are coming home to roost!”

And where was the “mainstream news media?”

There were a few “missing in action” on this news cycle …  ABC, NBC, CBS, NYT , and the Washington Post.. just to name a few. As of Sunday morning, NOTHING, not ONE word was said or printed about the Van Jones controversy by any of these. This raises a question for me … is everybody watching Fox and the Internet?  If none of these other [sorry] “news” outlets weren’t  covering this … then where did the panic come from that made him resign?  95% of the news media is silent and 5% causes this to happen? (figures are mine, just a guess).  Does this seem strange to you? It certainly makes you wonder “what” people are listening to and who they are believing.

The “Vetting” process of the Obama Administration?

Judge me by the people I surround myself with ...

According to Administration spokespersons … they had been “watching Jones since he was in Oakland.”  The statements he made that chased him out of office were made during and after when he was in Oakland.  So you have to ask what are the Obama Administration’s standards?  Obviously, Van Jones “passed” the standards this administration has in place for its people … but those standards didn’t pass (the smell test) for the American Public.  Basically this incident demonstrates this President’s  standards are far below those of the American citizenry and how out of touch this administration must be with the mainstream.    Now we have to ask, what about the other 30 some czars?  And are the czars being appointed “around” the vetting of congress because they could not meet the standards of congress?  Sure seems an interesting way to set up your own cabinet without the scrutiny of congress (shadow government?).

The bottom line …

Trust once again becomes an issue.  This President and administration are not ones we can trust, and we have demonstrated that we must question them over and over on anything they are doing.  We questioned their “educational plan” for the upcoming speech to the children … and they “changed” it because it was WRONG. So had we not questioned, they would have gone full speed ahead in the socialist direction WITH OUR CHILDREN without our approval.  The Van Jones affair shows now that we cannot trust them with the VETTING process  (guided by poor standards) … and also now is clear that the other 30 some czars “probably” have many of the same problems.  We’ll see.  Just remember, if you are looking for “news” on this, don’t use ABC, CBS, NBC, NYT or Washington Post …  this has proven there is no “news” there. Adding all this up, it becomes a vote of TOTAL FAILURE for the main stream media (other than Fox and the Internet)  and NO TRUST in this president. The result is this:PS:

"Trust" Approval Index?

PS: Sargento Cheese pulling ads from Glenn Beck?

Statement from Sargento:

“We deeply appreciate your reaching out to us and sharing your comments and concerns about Sargento ads appearing during “The Glenn Beck Show.” We sat down with the marketing department to talk about it and I learned that we buy time periods not specific programs. But in any event, they’ve made the decision to exclude that program from our future ad rotation. Simply stated, Sargento ads won’t be airing during that show. Again, thanks for contacting us.”

Does this mean they support Van Jones … someone the President doesn’t even support?  Apology Sargento?  Ask them HERE (I did).

Dear Sargento:

You pulled your ads from Glenn Beck.  Now it has been proven that Mr. Beck was correct in his analysis of Van Jones. So you were INCORRECT in your analysis. Now the President of the United States no longer supports Van Jones.  But your ads still are not running. Does this mean you  do continue to support the statements and  policies of Van Jones?  I love your products, but won’t purchase another until I see an apology to Mr. Beck and an ad supporting him.

Doug Linn
The Patriot’s Flag

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