I just heard this on the news tonight. What the fuck is he thinking?
That it’s really sad 150,000 people died?
Probably, “Gee, it would be nice to display a symbol of mourning for 150,000 dead people.”
I generally dislike Bush, but I can’t see the point of pitting him over a gesture of mourning for hundreds of thousands of dead.
Perhaps you could gloss your OP?
What the fuck are you on about Chefguy?
Flying the flag at half-staff used to be reserved for the death of presidents or other heads of state. Of late, it seems to be used to honor everything that remotely smacks of sentimentality. It seems to me that it lessens the meaning of things when it becomes a cliche. I have nothing but sympathy for the victims of the earthquake and have contributed money and goods to their plight (unlike, I’m sure, some of you smartasses). This just seems to be pandering and pointless.
Did you think the same thing after they were lowered on 9/11, Chefguy?
So, we have possibly the world’s greatest tragedy happening, and you think it’s cliched to express sympathy in a formal way such as lowering the flag?
You’re bloody idiot. :rolleyes:
I have to agree with Kambuckta.
Cause you know, it’s just a flag. A piece of colored cloth that is so fucking dear to us that we can only lower it for dead presidents. Nothing else. It’s like a rule in the flag book, and if that rule is ever broken, dudes like Chefguy go ape shit ballistic.
wanker
Further evidence that hatred for Bush comes from irrational people.
A sentence that no doubt was painfully removed, at the last minute, from Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People”.
I’m no fan of Bush and I think this is a lovely thing to do.
Title 4, Chapter 1, Section 7
My thread has nothing to do with George Bush. It’s directed at the action, not the person. The action is inappropriate, IMO, and is pandering to those who criticized the administration as not being sympathetic enough to the situation. It’s reducing our nation’s symbol to the same status as a yellow ribbon.
What was the point in making that grossly partisan stab in a thread that, so far, has been non-partisan? I haven’t seen anyone, of any political stripe, support Chefguy yet. Do you think it would be fair if a Democrat went into a thread where a Republican said something stupid and said “Further evidence that Republicans are dumb.”? If so, you’re losing the credibility needed to bitch about comments like that when you make comments like the above…
Personally, as we approach the 22nd hour of 2005 (around here anyway), I’m seeing a number of signs of increased hope and humaneness here and there. There was a thread in GQ, of all places, that touched a special concern of mine and made me feel good that someone else saw it as a problem needing work. Prisoner’s volte face post of course was a wonderful thing. I received a special call from my sister-in-spirit that lifted my mood immensely. And GWB is showing signs of trying to do the right thing instead of posturing, which was, I think, my major complaint with him – he was acting like President of his supporters, not of the American people – and now he’s reaching out to those hit by catastrophe as this country used to do.
Chefguy, the flag is flown at half staff whenever the President (or the Governor or the Mayor, for concerns affecting states and cities) so orders. Period. The custom is to fly it at half-staff for 30 days or equivalent for the death of ex-presidents, for shorter terms to honor the death of prominent Americans (e.g., Eleanor Roosevelt, John Foster Dulles), and occasionally for the death of important friends of America (e.g., Sir Winston Churchill). When a disaster is truly national or greater in scope, it too is commemorated in the way the President orders.
It’s one of the few things given over totally to his untrammelled judgment – and little as I like GWB, he did the right thing here.
Yeah - if we lower the flag every time 150,000+ people die in a natural disaster of horrific proportions, what are we going to do when something bad happens? What will it mean? Oh, the humanity!
Chefguy makes goatse man feel inadequate in the “largest assholes” category.
Cite?
Yeah, that was over the top.
Further proof that I’m irrational myself. 
I withdraw the comment and apologize.
Ahem. Might I point Mssr.Assmonkey to another cite?
From here:
Sec. 10. — Modification of rules and customs by President
Any rule or custom pertaining to the display of the flag of the United States of America, set forth herein, may be altered, modified, or repealed, or additional rules with respect thereto may be prescribed, by the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States, whenever he deems it to be appropriate or desirable; and any such alteration or additional rule shall be set forth in a proclamation