Veterans group with a gripe upends the Stars and Stripes

[arcadian]

Vietnam War-era veteran Rees Lloyd holds a flipped flag in front of the VA Medical Center in West Los Angeles. The group Veterans Revolution has for years criticized the facility's oversight.


http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-flag27-2009jun27,0,3933157.story

This is one battle that will probably be decided by whichever side is most "distressed" -- officials of the VA Medical Center in West Los Angeles, or a group of protesting veterans.

On Sunday, demonstrators plan to gather by the VA grounds and display an upside-down American flag "as a signal of dire distress." They contend that agency policies have placed the VA property in "extreme danger."


But if that act upsets VA officials, protesters could find themselves facing off with federal police, who view the upended banner as a sign of disrespect to Old Glory.

more

[tularetom]

1. Somebody should clue in the federal police to what the Flag Code says

Yes Virginia there is a flag code and it deals with the practice of flying the flag upside down as follows:

the flag should never be flown upside down "except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property."

I believe these veterans could make a solid case for dire distress and extreme danger.

If you are going to be a federal policeman and get your panties in a bunch over upside down flags, you should perhaps make an effort to learn the laws you are paid to uphold.

[lindisfarne]

2. First amendment protect speech, including flying upside-down flag.n/t

[virgogal]

3. Symbolic expression is protected and I'm damned sure that the

Feds are aware of this.

[tabasco]

4. These protesters were nowhere to be seen during AWOL Bush's tenure,

when the VA was grossly underfunded. It took RATS IN WALTER REED to get anybody's attention, back then.

Now the protesters show up after Obama has increased the VA budget by more than in 30 YEARS.

Things that make you go "hmmmmmmm."

[maglatinavi]

6. going "hmmmmmmmmm"

even with obama's increase in funds for vets, there is much that has to be attended too... one matter is the military's attempt to down grade soldiers and vets. with the stress syndrome... there is much that is not right that will take time and lots and lots of efforts, advocacy, etc. to do justice to our military and veterans...

[ThirdWorldJohn]

5. Tjh4e why of the protest is because they have been stabbed in the back!!!!!!

http://www.veteranstoday.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3680

The Veterans Revolution

Old Soldiers Who Refuse to Fade Away

By Robert L. Rosebrock

For over a century, every generation of America's citizenry protected and preserved the 388 acres of land in West Los Angeles that were deeded as a permanent National Home for America's Military Veterans to convalesce and rehabilitate from defending our nation’s freedom.

Unfortunately, patriotic and moral responsibilities have changed over recent years as this hallowed land has been negotiated away with commercial and special interest deals, sometimes rent free, and always with the blessing of our elected public servants.

Heretofore, every generation respected this as a safe haven of privacy and quietude for Veterans to heal from war. Now, those who have benefited like no other generation from these heroic sacrifices want to use this hallowed land for their own selfish amusement and entertainment. And they do it audaciously and irreverently under the guise of "honoring our veterans."

“Beauty, Honor, Country”
Veterans Park Conservancy (VPC), a non-profit community group in Brentwood recently obtained a no-bid, rent-free agreement with our federal government to build a public park on 16 acres of Veterans hallowed land. The parcel at the corner of Wilshire and San Vicente Boulevards is arguably the most valuable on the West coast and estimated to be worth nearly a billion dollars. Yet, not one penny will go toward Veterans healthcare services at this largest VA Hospital in the nation.

veteransland_400Veterans will never forget VPC’s denigrating slur against “Duty, Honor, Country,” the time-honored creed of West Point and the watchword for all who serve in the military, when the group engraved “Beauty, Honor, Country” in stone at their National Home.

Thanks to Col. Buzz Aldrin, a 1955 graduate of West Point and a distinguished exemplar of this highest code of service to our nation, he took swift action to have the degradation removed.

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