http://www.sptimes.com/2004/12/08/Opinion/Patriotism__2_by_3_fe.shtml As it turns out, Mike Fasano, the flag-waving state senator from New Port Richey, was right about one thing: Many public school classrooms in Florida already proudly display the American flag. So the law he pushed through the Legislature earlier this year might be remembered only as a gratuitous political stunt if not for his penchant for detail. The flags that now must be flown, as a matter of state law, are to be made in America and measure at least 2 by 3 feet.
Oops.
By one count, more than 15,000 flags in several Central Florida school districts don't meet the letter of Fasano's law and must be replaced and, presumably, destroyed. Many of them were purchased specifically for their educational value and were smaller because they were the centerpiece of displays with the Pledge of Allegiance and the national anthem.
Fasano, unfazed, says he "would have had no problem grandfathering" the flags had districts told him before the law was passed. But his bill, which offered schools and universities no money to buy the flags, was subjected to almost no public debate. Why would anyone dare to speak out against the flag?
Ask Fasano why Florida needs a law requiring schools to do something most of them were doing anyway, and he is likely to answer, as he did earlier this year in a letter, by saying: "The United States serves as the model for nations throughout the world that seek freedom from tyranny."
Fasano, as he compels the purchase and display of 2-by-3-foot American flags, is much too petty to be a tyrant.
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wonder if the flag making company down by Miami will get the contract?