I could Not Believe this

Talk about irony, Bank of America has a policy which prohibits a patriotic act such as this. It would be very funny if everyone in the county closed their accounts.

I MUST CONCUR!!! :( WTF???!

It's of course easy to get worked up about the flag issue, so i try not to assume anything.

that was a pretty poorly written story, for what it's worth. not much info on the other side of the story. for one thing, what IS the BOA flag policy? is it really "to run out and take down flags honioring dead soliers"? I'm betting that's not quite it... It's hard to believe that she was "acting on orders from higher up" to take down the flags. How would that have happened so quickly? Am i really supposed to believe that the bank manager got instant instruction from far away HQ to run out and take down flags the moment they were being stuck into the ground? I'm thinking we just have a very nervous, overly anxious bank manager.

Sounds like the bank manager might be a little amped up and made a stupid mistake, probably out of fear that corporate would rain down on her. but who is to say that corporate BOA was going to (or had) a problem? sounds like an addled confused bank manager.

i'd wait to actually see that BOA's policy was to tear down flags honoring local fallen soldiers before i agreed they were total idiots about it. the bank manager, however, really screwed up.

honestly though, what scares me about that article isn't that a bank manager could fumble so poorly (bank managers are required to be a little more than uptight about things simply by the nature of their job), but that Councilman Humphries thinks he's in a position to require someone to atone by declaring "we are patriots" otherwise "they shouldn't be in America".

only only thing sadder than someone who rips a flag out of the ground is a person demanding you ought to have one stuck in the ground.
patriotism and religion are very personal things, and no one has the right to judge whether a person is patriotic enough or religious enough as they ought to be.

the bank manager caused her own problems, and should have apologized. in this day and age, she was probably scared sh!tless of p!ssing off her bosses and getting fired from one of the few jobs left in her career-of-choice. probably feels like an idiot.

but the councilmen's reaction to withdraw business and politicize the soldier's death under the literal banner of patriotism is pretty much grandstanding bullsh!t

respect for the flag is one thing. using it as a bludgeon is another thing entirely and offends me as much as desecrating it does. it isn't any one person's flag. it's ours.

i always think the real interesting stuff in these discussions isn't the clownish posturing on one side or the other, that's for simpletons. where the real interesting things are, i think, are in the way folks all think they are right.

for example. lotta folks these days walking around with eagles and flags on their shirts. time was, wearing the flag on your clothing (other than as a patch on a uniform) was "disgraceful". ain't that innerrestinhg? as few as maybe 35, 40 years ago, most people would be on your side if you walked up to someone with a flag-shirt and slapped them in the head.

i wonder if i have a right to go up to the neighbor of mine who has a lag on a flagpole out in his yard. he is a real patriot. leaves it up all the time, rain, snow, sleet, or hail. night and day. only problem is, i was taught that to fly it at night required a light on it, and that you don't fly it in inclement weather. guess i'm the real patriot. which i will keep in mind if things get bad and we start having tests for patriotism. i could have him hung.

self-righteousness exists in all of us, to some degree.

dangerous thing. far more dangerous than a confused bank manager.

This isn't a coalition of the willing...it's a UN police action. Even though there are very few participants, it is sanctioned by the only body that exists to react to atrocity.
My statement wan't a nuke em all call but we're in a tough spot there.
I know your president recognises the problem and has spoken about it with world leaders.

There is certainly an argument for that. The previous president didn't want to wait for a UN sanction.