Stars And Stripes And Obama Forever

Federal law (the federal flag code - public law 344, section 4G) states, in part: "The flag should never have placed upon it or any part of it, any marks, insignia, letters, words, figures, designs, picture or drawings of any nature."

Evidently the democrat party in Florida thinks it is above the law.

President Obama's face in place of stars on an American flag flying at Lake County Democratic Headquarters in Tavares irked a group of veterans on Tuesday, who found themselves engaged in a verbal confrontation and the threat of police action when they requested the flag be taken down.

"We were given this as a gift," said Nancy Hurlbert, chairwoman of the Lake County Democratic Party. "We are proud of our president, we're proud of the United States, and we felt it was time to display that."

Leesburg veteran Jim Bradford recalled he did a double take when he saw the Obama flag with red and white stripes for the first time over the weekend.

"When I saw the picture on the flag, I thought this is wrong," he said. "I really hate seeing the flag not being respected, and to me this was not respectful."

Korean War veteran Don Van Beck of Tavares spearheaded the veterans' visit to the Lake County Democratic Headquarters, where he was joined by a dozen veterans and media on the front steps of the Main Street building.

"There are laws against desecrating the flag," Van Beck said, right before he read out loud the federal flag code, public law 344, section 4G to Hurlbert: "The flag should never have placed upon it or any part of it, any marks, insignia, letters, words, figures, designs, picture or drawings of any nature. We would like to ask you to take it down please."

Van Beck gave Hurlbert a POW-MIA flag to be installed in place of the Obama flag and offered for the veterans to put it up. Once again Hurlbert reminded Van Beck that he and the other veterans were on private property and if they touched the flag, she would call police.

"It would be nice if you showed respect for our flag," said veteran John Masterjohn, who voiced disapproval for Obama.

"God bless America and our president," Hurlbert said. "You guys have a wonderful day. Thank you very much."

The veterans debated their next move before Hurlbert and another volunteer resurfaced to the front yard and began taking down the Obama flag.

"We didn't know it was in violation and so now we are taking it down," Hurlbert said. "If somebody had just called ahead of time, we could have avoided all of this."

While ignorance on the part of democrats is understandable -- it is, after all, their natural state -- as a number of police officers have reminded me over the years, "Ignorance of the law is no excuse."

Van Beck said he did try to phone to Democratic Headquarters on Monday and also Tuesday morning, but did not make contact with anyone.

Yet, he was pleased with the outcome.

"I'm very happy," Van Beck said. "I'm sorry it had to come to this ... You don't desecrate the flag, especially for the veterans who fought the wars and died for it. In dictatorships, they have a picture of their dictator on some of the flags, but we haven't arrived at having a dictator, yet."

Notice the qualifier "yet" in the above statement. It's disturbing that more and more people are voicing that sentiment. It's even more disturbing that the actions of the current administration are causing people to think that way. 

More:

Hurlbert said Tuesday's incident was the first time anyone had complained about the flag, which she received as a gift two months ago.

"It leads me to believe that it's not about the flag," she told FoxNews.com. "Certain elements cannot accept Barack Obama as president."

Yeah - like veterans, conservatives, and other people who care about the future of this country.

Or could the chairwoman of the Lake County Democratic Party be playing the race card to cast aspersions on opponents of the failure-in-chief?

Naw, liberals wouldn't stoop that low ... would they?

The final insult to veterans? The flag is made in China.

(H/T BMEWS for the links)