Old Glory Censored

Two more signs of things to come should a Kerry Tyranny seize power:

"Vacuous veep wannabe John Edwards has banned the American flag at campaign appearances, according to a left-wing weekly.

"New Times Broward Palm Beach, a monomaniacally Bush-hating yuppie tabloid in Fort Lauderdale, tells the sad story of Banjo the Democrat clown and how Edwards' handlers censored him.

"During a recent campaign appearance in West Palm by the sue-happy senator, professional clown Jack 'Banjo' Williams of Delray Beach showed up early to nab himself a good spot.

"'Before the start of the speech, 70-year-old Williams worked the crowd in a star-spangled outfit that made him look like a patriotic Raggedy Andy with a top hat. Williams, a retired social worker, pulled an American flag from his clenched fist for a bit of magic. "This flag right here doesn't belong to the Republicans," he said. But the trick drew the ire of an Edwards camp volunteer. All signs and flags are outlawed at the event, Banjo was frostily informed,' New Times reported."

Understand that Opie's operatives seized this little U.S. flag from a supporter who was using it as a prop to bash Republican patriotism.

Does this mean that Old Glory doesn't "belong to Republicans," but does belong solely to Democrats - and they're going to dispose of every last one of them in a landfill someplace?

But that's not the only example of flag-related repression.

"Two California high school students were suspended last week after they refused to surrender American flags they displayed during the class photo session.

"In the week before the photo, seniors at Sonoma Valley High School in Sonoma, Calif., had been notified in the daily bulletin not to bring any flags or other 'props' with them to the shoot, according to the Sonoma Index Tribune.

"Officials at SVHS said they were merely trying to enforce a ban on all flags in student photos, but former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich isn't buying it. He traveled to the school on Saturday and met with the patriotic rule-breakers in a dramatic show of support.

"'It's such an amazing story and so out of sync with what's going on in the rest of the country,' Gingrich said during a 30-minute meeting with the students, in quotes picked up by Tuesday's Washington Times.

"'In the middle of a war the idea that you'd say "no" to students about the American flag is strange, to say the least,' the influential Republican complained.

"School officials, however, said their side of the story was being ignored. In recent years tense conflicts have erupted over students brandishing different flags, they said, with disrupters waving banners, toting blow-up dolls or wearing inappropriate clothing with tobacco or alcohol logos.

"'The staff wanted to have a photograph that focused on the students, not props,' District Superintendent Kim Jamieson told the Index Tribune. 'This issue was not about the American flag or political correctness; it was about decorum and comportment.'

"During last week's photo shoot, officials said, students showed up with an empty beer keg, beer cups, replicas of pot bags and T-shirts with alcohol logos - in addition to Old Glory."

Let's get this straight: under the premise of promoting "decorum and comportment" these educrats are equating the U.S. flag with "blow-up dolls, empty beer kegs, beer cups, pot bags, and t-shirts with alcohol logos?"

I wonder how many of those kids - or teachers and administrators - are aware that when the British surrendered at Yorktown at the end of the Revolutionary War in 1781, their band played a song entitled "The World Turned Upside Down."

The contemporary version would be "A World Gone Mad."