Poor persecuted flag-wavers

I turned briefly to local (Portland, Maine) talk radio and heard some wingnut whining and slobbering about how some local guy raised money to put up a flag on the fort at the opening to our harbor and just a little offshore. People were calling him and going into tirades about the fifth-column traitors who hate America and hate the flag blah blah blah....

The radio guy was making it sound like the flag guy had been refused a permit to do this by the evil city council and saying "what kind of country does to this true Americans" and on and on.

So I found an article online from Tuesday and it turns out the radio guy is lying by omission, neglecting to say that the council approved this unanimously and that the flag is 12 x 15 feet, it's huge!

I don't mind a flag, but being at the entrance of the harbor and gigantic, it is like people on boats from other countries and other cities will be saying to themselves WTF, why is that so big? It would be like if we went to Canada and were met by a giant Canadian flag at the border. We would probably think, gee Canada, you guys got some kind of insecurity problem? Well, they don't, but some people in this country sure do!

The funny thing, too, is the guy got his way, but the talk radio is frothing over because they feel victimized that somebody had the nerve to merely object to his flag display. I mean, his heart might be in the right place, but why does it have to be so gaudy? The harbor is naturally beautiful and I could see why people might object to the size.

"A huge, lighted flag will fly over Fort Gorges, despite complaints from some Portland residents that it is a fascist act and shows support for the war in Iraq.

The City Council overwhelming disagreed with detractors and voted unanimously Monday night to install a flagpole and solar lighting at the fort in Portland Harbor, at the mouth of Casco Bay."

snip

Whitten raised $11,500 to buy a 50-foot flagpole, six U.S. flags measuring 12-by-15 feet and solar panels to light the flagpole. The flag will fly from Memorial Day to Labor Day at the fort, which was completed in 1865 on Hog Island Ledge and named for Sir Ferdinando Gorges, the English colonial proprietor of Maine."

http://www.pressherald.com/news/local/040608gorgesflag.shtml

10 on my front porch and sit in my rocking chair waving 3 or 4.

with it being at half-staff this week, it was only about 3-4 feet from the flag touching the ground. I mean ungodly big flag on a fairly normal sized flag pole. Can you say "overkill?"

A flea market near my home has the largest flag I have ever seen. Numerous times over the past 12 years I have lived here that flag has been blown onto the interstate during storms. On several occassions the pole has been damaged during storms as well. On one such ocassion, a tornado bent the pole at such an angle the whole thing had to be removed to keep the pole from falling on the Interstate as well. Thing is, when they replaced it - they replaced it with a BIGGER pole and a BIGGER flag. Six months later, Hurricane Opal bent the pole and it had to be replaced again. Each time they replace it, they get an even bigger flag. The current one is bigger than my house.

"If you look at our flag, it is one of the most beautiful flags of any country! People don't appreciate that enough." And the radio host replied, "You're right, I went over to England, and of course they fly THEIR flag everywhere over there, but I saw our flag flying at the embassy and saw it from a whole different perspective! Maybe more people need to do that!"

What is THAT supposed to mean?