My avatar is now the upside-down American flag. The upside-down...

...American flag is a symbol of distress. The first time I claimed the upside-down American flag I was 17, it was November 1973, I was due to graduate high school in 1974. I lived in a small, predominately mormon farming and ranching town (yep, raised lds or lsd, i forget...he heh heh). Needless to say, I was my class' "radical." I was having my senior portrait taken, and wore a flag pin, upside-down, on my left lapel. The crusty old photographer tried to straighten my pin, which I promptly turned back upside-down. He proceeded to throw a hissy fit, refusing to take my picture with the flag pin upside down. He pretty much inferred I was everything but a son of god for "desecrating the flag." Long story short, I had my senior portrait taken with my flag pin upside-down, and I mean it, because my country WAS in crisis. Not only did I graduate that year, but another school turned out it's first class: the richard m. nixon school of political dirty tricks, head mastered by lee attwater. This school existed for one reason: to learn how to take what you want. And what you wanted was power over the populace. The curriculum featured such courses of study as; "Voter Intimidation 101," "Advanced Minority Voter Suppression", etc.

And now in the 21st century I see they've added "Stealing the Election in the Digital Age," "Hack That Tabulator," and "God and Gays: Using Persecution of the new "jews" to your Political Advantage."

My flag flies upside down for a very good reason.
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Upside-down flag stamps

B Y D A V I D K A S P E R

You may have noticed that the most popular 37-cent stamp the Post Office sells, and the one they give you automatically if you ask for a 100-stamp roll, is the American flag. There must be millions of American flag stamps circulating every day throughout the country.
Since many people use the flag as a symbol of support for their country in the so-called War on Terror (and by association the War on Iraq, and the crackdown on immigrants and civil liberties), I've always felt uncomfortable using these flag stamps, even though, as some would say, "It's our flag, too." One can't easily be anti-flag, because then you are perceived as being anti-American, which most all of us who are opposed to war are not.

I've now found a solution to this problem, which makes me want to use these stamps even more. As I was peeling a flag off my stamp roll today, I found myself inverting it onto my credit card payment envelope. The upside down flag is almost impossible not to notice. You would have to think that whoever put that stamp on was in an awful big hurry, or is making a strong and unmistakable statement. I'm probably not the first one who has thought of this, but if this upside-down flag stamping catches on, it can be a constant reminder of growing anti-war, anti-repression sentiment.

Some might say that improperly displaying the flag is desecration, but the upside-down American flag is a universal emergency signal for distress, which is exactly what our country is in--not because of its external enemies, but because of how our own government is exploiting fear to achieve more power over its citizens and the world.

http://www.indyweek.com/durham/2004-03-31/porch.html
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Perhaps we need a symbol for our movement, something everyone will recognize. Consider changing your avatar, consider wearing an upside-down flag pin, consider an upside-down flag bumper sticker.

I was going to do this yesterday on donation letter to BBV but wanted to make sure Bev got the money so I put stamp on right side up

no worries. Happens a lot. Used to be done on letters to loved ones, the upside down stamp meaning "I love you"

Proclaiming that you notice the nation is in a time of distress is a way of saying "I love you" yet again. I love my nation therefore I pay attention and make efforts to try and fix what is broken that we may again be a beacon to the world's people. I want the nation's honor restored and want the flag to be a symbol of what is good about the US again.

Get those stamps and put them on upside down.

years, and they always go through.

I like the idea.

It reminds me a bit of that underground mail system in Thomas Pynchon's "The Crying of Lot 49." We'll be using the US Postal System, but it'll have our own special symbol.

(and it will), then I see no reason why it wouldn't go through with an upside-down stamp.

as long a it is in the upper right corner, where they'll be looking for it.

their only concern is that there's enough postage on the piece of mail. Or at least that's what I think they should be worried about.

The proliferation of upside-down flag stamps may just raise a red flag and alert the USPS, though, to "radicals", on an individual and/or institutional scale, and who knows if the postal worker might just dump your mail into the trash--you never know.

Risky, methinks. But I'm more paranoid about every damn little thing anymore, what with the current atmosphere the way it is!

I've got to keep my bills paid on time too.

<<and who knows if the postal worker might just dump your mail into the trash>>

Isn't theft of mail a crime?

O well, so is stealing a Presidential election -- twice.

To be honest, I always thought it just looked cool. But yeah, I remember the "distress signal" aspect.

And I was very happy to get them! Upside down they go one, every one of them.

I changed my avatar yesterday, and I just happen to be in need of a roll of stamps...:evilgrin:

:hi:

My brothers in arms


These mist covered mountains
Are a home now for me
But my home is the lowlands
And always will be
Some day you’ll return to
Your valleys and your farms
And you’ll no longer burn
To be brothers in arms

Through these fields of destruction
Baptisms of fire
I’ve watched all your suffering
As the battles raged higher
And though they did hurt me so bad
In the fear and alarm
You did not desert me
My brothers in arms

There’s so many different worlds
So many differents suns
And we have just one world
But we live in different ones

Now the sun’s gone to hell
And the moon’s riding high
Let me bid you farewell
Every man has to die
But it’s written in the starlight
And every line on your palm
We’re fools to make war
On our brothers in arms

--Dire Straits

I've got two antique toy car stamps and twenty "I love you" heart stamps. Maybe I'll buy some flag stamps the next time. I've got to get some holiday stamps too.

And the flag of the people of the revolutionary times (the commoner) was red and white stripes with a rattlesnake on it saying "don't tread on me"
Perhaps one with blue stripes and a snake would be appropriate for our times sense we have been relegated to blue.

to my store. only on a t-shirt so far...

Welcome to DU. May your stay be what you make it.

the star field will still be against the flagpole... (unless you're going to move the grommets (sp?) as well...

:grr:

I put flag stamps on upside down in the early seventies as well, after nixon was gone I started putting them on right side up again.
I started putting the flag stamps back on upside down again sometime during the early part of this misadministration.

When the purple heart stamps came out I used them, I asked for them regularly at the post office.
The postmaster always foisted off flag stamps on me even though I told him I didn't want them. I asked for stamps one day, he smiled and slid a book of flag stamps across the counter.

I smiled back, paid for the stamps, and calmly and deliberately removed the stamps and affixed them upside down on every bill going into the mail, and asked him to put them in the mail for me.

because someone was talking about the irony of all our "I voted" gifs. So I thought it is fitting to question the vote with every post I make.

I want the "I voted and all I got was this dumb avatar" avatar.

flags.

I like it. It's simple.

I like the stamp and bumper sticker suggestion, also.