# Obama has his own fucking flag!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 18, 2008, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-his-own-fucking-flag/468513 "2008-10-18T10:05:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-his-own-fucking-flag/468513/161 "2008-10-20T14:23:59Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Nitpick: Ohio isn’t a sovereign jurisdiction. Oh yes it is. There are 51 sovereign jurisdictions in the United States: Each of the 50 states plus the United States as a whole. I like the Ohio flag. Of course, there’s a natural bias for me. I think New Mexico and Alaska’s flags are absolutely beautiful in their simplicity, and are probably the best of the lot. New Mexico’s flag is just as good as any of the Japanese prefecture flags. Every state flag that consists of the state seal pasted onto a piece of cloth sucks donkey balls. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-his-own-fucking-flag/468513/162 "2008-10-20T14:26:59Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > Oh yes it is. There are 51 sovereign jurisdictions in the United States: Each of the 50 states plus the United States as a whole. No, they aren’t. That ship sailed with the Civil War; the states cannot secede, and therefore do not possess sovereignty. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-his-own-fucking-flag/468513/163 "2008-10-20T14:31:13Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > No, they aren’t. That ship sailed with the Civil War; the states cannot secede, and therefore do not possess sovereignty. Then you need to go to law school, because the first thing that every damn law student in the United States is told upon entering a constitutional law class is that the U.S. states are sovereign. It’s the basis of constitutional law in this country. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-his-own-fucking-flag/468513/164 "2008-10-20T14:38:16Z")
[http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract\_id=651381](http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=651381) ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-his-own-fucking-flag/468513/165 "2008-10-20T15:15:49Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > [Eddie Izzard] “Do you have a flag?”[/EI] > 🙂 > [@wring](#): > > Has anyone here seen his “O” face? Well I don’t like to kiss and tell…but let’s just say that the Big O has worked hard for my vote. Very hard. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-his-own-fucking-flag/468513/166 "2008-10-20T15:18:19Z")
> [@](#): > > A modern version of a Revolutionary War flag, today’s New York State flag displays the State Coat of Arms, adopted in 1778, and centered on a dark blue field. > > The shield depicts a cloudless sky with a rising sun behind three mountains, the highlands of the Hudson River. A three masted, square rigged ship and a Hudson River sloop navigate towards each other on the Hudson River representing commerce. The river is bordered by a grassy shore fringed with shrubs. > > Beneath the shield on a white ribbon is the State Motto, “Excelsior (Ever Upward),” signifying a reach for ever higher goals. Above the shield, the crest shows a Bald Eagle, wings spread, perched atop a globe depicting the northern Atlantic Ocean. The eagle faces right, a good omen. > > On one side of the shield stands “Justice,” her hair decorated with pearls. She is blindfolded and carries a sword in one hand and a scale in the other hand. These symbols represent the impartiality and fairness of justice required to meet out punishment and reward. Justice is clothed in gold with a blue belt edged with red. A loose red robe hangs from her > > Opposite Justice, stands “Liberty,” holding a pole topped with the Phrygian cap. These caps were given to Roman slaves when emancipated and adopted by French Revolutionists as symbols of Liberty. A crown is at her left foot, thrown there to symbolize the failed control of the British Monarchy. Liberty is clothed in blue and wearing red sandals. Like Justice, a red robe hangs from her shoulder and her unbound hair is decorated with pearls. > **[Phrygian cap](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrygian_cap)** > > The Phrygian cap (/ˈfrɪdʒ(i)ən/ ⓘ), also known as Thracian cap and liberty cap, is a soft conical cap with the apex bent over, associated in antiquity with several peoples in Eastern Europe, Anatolia, and Asia. The Phrygian cap was worn by Thracians, Dacians, Persians, Medes, Scythians, Trojans, and Phrygians after whom it is named. The oldest known depiction of the Phrygian cap is from Persepolis in Iran. > Although Phrygian caps did not originally function as liberty caps, they came to signify... > **[Liberty pole](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Pole)** > > A liberty pole is a wooden pole, or sometimes spear or lance, surmounted by a "cap of liberty", mostly of the Phrygian cap. The symbol originated in the immediate aftermath of the assassination of the Roman dictator Julius Caesar by a group of Rome's Senators in 44 BCE. Immediately after Caesar was killed the assassins, or Liberatores as they called themselves, went through the streets with their bloody weapons held up, one carrying a pileus (a kind of skullcap that identified a freed slave, n Th... It’s a symbol of liberty, often planted on a Liberty Pole flagstaff. There was one in NYC at the time, the brits kept knocking it down, the Sons of Liberty kept putting it back up. I should also point out the colors are the colors of the Dutch, orange and blue (and white), the same as the Mets. [http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-ny^r.html](http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-ny%5Er.html) It’s an updated version of the Third New York Regiment’s flag, as flown in the Revolution against Gentleman Johnny. So consider it a battle flag, rather than a ‘seal on a flag’. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-his-own-fucking-flag/468513/167 "2008-10-20T15:23:07Z")
> [@flodnak](#): > > On the other hand, how many other states have a state bird that tastes good with cranberry sauce? Alaska has the willow ptarmigan, which is mighty tasty. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-his-own-fucking-flag/468513/168 "2008-10-20T16:57:24Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > That’s the [Phrygian cap](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrygian_cap), AKA the “liberty cap”. The [U.S. Army](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:United_States_Department_of_the_Army_Seal.svg) uses it as well. Awesome! Thanks! Very interesting. That Army seal is something else - I noticed that there are two images of the flags-and-cap-on-a-liberty pole in the seal. And cannonballs with handles! Also, the armor looks like it has boobs. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-his-own-fucking-flag/468513/169 "2008-10-20T19:20:12Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Nitpick: Ohio isn’t a sovereign jurisdiction. Double nitpick: it isn’t a flag, its a burgee. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-his-own-fucking-flag/468513/170 "2008-10-20T19:35:53Z")
Doesn’t it have to be on a boat to be a burgee? ---
**Author:** ![Ceejaytee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ceejaytee/32/2956_2.png) [@Ceejaytee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ceejaytee)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-his-own-fucking-flag/468513/171 "2008-10-20T19:38:07Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > You know, I’m always sticking up for Jersey on this board, but… > > Good Og! Is that thing ass-ugly or what? Nice piss-yellow background. And are those _sleds_ in the middle? Oy vey. > [@NinetyWt](#): > > I thought they were plows! And we get the mafia-inspired decapitated horse’s head! NJ’s flag is rockin’! ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-his-own-fucking-flag/468513/172 "2008-10-20T20:25:53Z")
> [@LouisB](#): > > I doubt that Ohio has had six flags and I don’t care, either. Wassamatta, you don’t like amusement parks? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-his-own-fucking-flag/468513/173 "2008-10-20T20:51:46Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > You know, I’m always sticking up for Jersey on this board, but… > > Good Og! Is that thing ass-ugly or what? Nice piss-yellow background. And are those _sleds_ in the middle? Oy vey. I have to agree, it is not a nice looking flag. I am also disappointed that \*\*aruvqan \*\*never showed back up. I read through the entire thread looking for a follow-up post. Nice Op **Liberal**. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-his-own-fucking-flag/468513/174 "2008-10-20T21:05:17Z")
Yes, would someone PLEASE scare up aruvqan and haul him back here?? > [@acsenray](#): > > Every state flag that consists of the state seal pasted onto a piece of cloth sucks donkey balls. You rang? [Kentucky: United We Stand, Divided We Fall](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Flag_of_Kentucky.svg). We’re also very huggy. Hug your pioneer today. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-his-own-fucking-flag/468513/175 "2008-10-20T21:18:24Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > Yes, would someone PLEASE scare up aruvqan and haul him back here?? I suspect that **aruvqan** has crawled under the couch and died of embarassment. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-his-own-fucking-flag/468513/176 "2008-10-20T21:31:20Z")
> [@sqweels](#): > > Wassamatta, you don’t like amusement parks? Frankly, no. I miss the lovely citrus groves that Disney chopped down in order to further screw up the beautiful state of Florida. Of course I do understand that most of the citrus grove owners walked away with more money than they would have ever made from citrus crops; it still pisses me off. What really pisses me off is that I didn’t own a citrus grove. But, I dislike amusement parks quite a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-his-own-fucking-flag/468513/177 "2008-10-20T21:32:59Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Nice Op **Liberal**. Thank you. Your kindness is both unexpected and appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-his-own-fucking-flag/468513/178 "2008-10-20T21:37:28Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > You rang? [Kentucky: United We Stand, Divided We Fall](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Flag_of_Kentucky.svg). We’re also very huggy. Hug your pioneer today. It’s very pro-gay, what with the favorable depiction of two men holding hands and almost hugging. Go Kentucky! ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-his-own-fucking-flag/468513/179 "2008-10-20T21:46:49Z")
> [@NinetyWt](#): > > That Army seal is something else - I noticed that there are two images of the flags-and-cap-on-a-liberty pole in the seal. Yeah, you know what? The damn thing is recursive: the [emblem](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_the_Army_Seal_and_Emblem) includes a depiction of [the Army Flag](http://flagspot.net/flags/us%5Ear.html), but the Army Flag is basically the seal and/or emblem on a bedsheet–so, on the white flag on the emblem, you can see two flags, one of which is clearly the U.S. flag (you can see the stars and stripes), the other of which (the dark shape) is presumably the Army flag, and if you could just see the details on _it_… _Duuuuude._ ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-his-own-fucking-flag/468513/180 "2008-10-20T21:54:27Z")
Oh, and you know, looking at “Flags of the World”, there’s all sorts of specialized flags: ensigns and jacks and flags for harbor pilots and special flags for various officials, but I don’t actually see any “fucking flags”. You’d think a useful concept like that would have caught on more. They could display it over the White House or on Air Force One or on the Presidential limo, as needed. “If this flag is a-flyin’, don’t come a-pryin’.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-his-own-fucking-flag/468513.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-his-own-fucking-flag/468513.md?page=10)