Koran Burning Zero, US Flag Burning 1000’s

Have you ever wondered where the hell all the sand jockeys get American flags to burn? I fly my flag everyday, rain or shine. I like to keep it looking respectable. I  change it every year. By the time I do, the old one looks like it was at IWO JIMA. The wind and sun does a number on it. I take the tattered flag to the local VFW. The veterans conduct a flag burning ceremony regularly. I was taught to respect the flag by my legally immigrated parents.

Lately, I have had luck finding inexpensive flags at Home Depot. Before that, I had to scour the yellow pages, or wait until the 4th of July before I could find a replacement.

Within twenty-four hours of the preacher in Florida announcing his Koran burning party, a news video from Pakistan showed a crowd burning a US flag. Where the hell did they get a US flag so quickly in a crap hole of a country like Pakistan? It wasn’t a Home Depot flag either. It was a big one, like the one that flies over the White House.

What really upset me was the lack of rage from Americans about the event. Have we grown so numb as to forget what the flag means to us? Or, is it the Supreme Court, the ACLU, and the Liberals brainwashing us with progressive bullshit?

What ever it is, it pisses me off. I can hardly wait for November to throw my vote-bomb into the mix, and elect some leaders who will stand up for the country.

Let us pass a law to ban foreign aide to any country that allows a US flag to burn in protest of anything.

Mojave Caper

     This story begins after World War I, in 1934.  Many men from America fought in that war to save Europe from a dictator. Many of them never came home.  The ones that survived wanted to honor their fallen friends. One of them, a WWI Army medic has maintained a memorial shrine in the Mojave for fifty years. The VFW took over after John Riley Bembrey could no longer do the job. 

    The memorial is a cross atop a hill in the middle of God’s majestic and beautiful desert filled with Joshua trees, cactus, and rocky, sandy desolation. They chose the spot because those who went there, to honor the dead, could commune with nature, God, and possibly to speak to a fallen comrade.

     Not many people knew of or heard of this monument until recently when the cross became news. One of our fellow Americans saw the cross, and decided it upset his sensitive psyche. The man, a former National Park Service employee, filed a suit in federal court claiming that the cross was a violation of separation of church and state because it was on federal land, and it upset his sensitive psyche. The court ruled in his favor and covered the cross with plywood to appease him.

     The matter did not end with the plywood.  The ruling was appealed and brought before the Supreme Court. The Court ruled that the cross could stand because it is a symbol for fallen soldiers. Not to mention the bag of worms the court would open. Think of the thousands of crosses in military cemeteries all around the world. The government would have to remove them because we upset one person’s sensitivities.

Within two weeks of the Supreme Court ruling, the cross standing on a hill in the Mojave, disappeared. Who could have taken it? I have some leads for the FBI to follow. Here they are:

  1. the chicken shit employee who started the protest. Not a chance, the guy doesn’t have the balls to perform such an act.
  2. the ACLU. This is a better option. This decision is a loss for them. They would sooner defend a person’s right to atheism than the rights of those who fought and died for that right.  They also have the money to hire thugs who know what a hacksaw is. They themselves would never consider getting their lily white hands dirty outside of court.
  3. Obama. He is a prime suspect because he has claimed that America is not a Christian Nation. The Supreme Court ruling has discredited that claim by giving fallen soldiers an association with the symbol for Christianity. Since the Muslims deny the holocaust, it would not be surprising that they also deny the existence of the hundreds of thousands of crosses in military cemeteries proclaiming Christianity as a valid belief. He also has the resources to make it happen.
  4. the VFW. They may be taking the cross to more secure ground than federally owned land.
  5. lightning. A huge bolt of energy from heaven struck the cross and vaporized it. Surely, a sign that God is unhappy with America and the direction of “Change” we are taking.

     You can add many more possibilities to this list, but they will not bring the cross back. Nor, will another stupid reason bring honor back to the foolish destruction of a symbol honoring our military.

Not a Grass Farm Anymore

Grumpa Joe Looks at FlowerSo many things to write about so little time or desire to do it. Memorial Day was spent quietly. A walk in the early hours, followed by breakfast then a trip to the Breidert Green for the VFW Program. I’ve lived in Frankfort for seventeen years, but this is the first Memorial Day Service I attended. I was drawn to the program to hear my two beautiful grand daughters play in the band. The flag was lowered to half mast followed by the invocation. The Hickory Creek Tiger Band played three numbers, The Star Spangled Banner, America the Beautiful, and a third number that I don’t recall. The mayor read the names of all known service people currently serving. After, a Veteran read the names of all the deceased vets from Frankfort. The VFW color guard gave a twenty-one gun salute. Three members of the Tiger Band trumpet section played taps in echo fashion. It brought tears to my eyes. Even though I avoided serving, I grew up with WW-II, Korea, Vietnam, and now Iraq. In between those there was the Bay of Pigs, Lebanon, Grenada, and some that I’m sure I have forgotten.

I drove the girls home and chastised my son for not being at the service. He was busy painting his garage door.  

The rest of the afternoon, I spent trying to barbeque some chicken breasts. I say tried, because I ran out of gas on my grill. I had to use a roaster oven to finish. Thank God I paid the electric bill. Peggy and I ate a late lunch. We cleaned up then sat on the patio.  We listened to the sound of the waterfall. A pair of mallards waddled through the yard trying to find a path around us to the bird seed. Finally, we went in to let them enjoy the seed. I’m hoping they are in a family way and will bring their young to the pond. Wouldn’t that be a joy!

This evening, I re-boxed some golf balls for shipment to Iraq. After that I took a baby step to sort through Barb’s favorite poetry and prayers for the legacy scrapbook I am assembling. Another baby step went toward getting my bike ready for the road. In years past, I would have had fifteen hundred miles logged by now. This year I’m struggling to get started. I figure a baby step toward making the bike ready will get me to take the next step, i.e. bring it up from the basement.

Wow its warm. It is our first warm day, and I have every window open and all the fans running to stay cool. Even this laptop is adding heat to my discomfort.

Tomorrow, I will bring the bike up after breakfast. In the afternoon we will shop for more flowers. With all of the trees, shrubs, and perennials we planted around the pond last week, the yard is beginning to look like a real garden again. Goodbye grass farm.