Did you know that President George W. Bush is guilty of desecrating American flags? Well, I think that his actions qualify as desecration: while in Livonia, Michigan, in 2003, he signed small flags handed to him by workers at the Beaver Aerospace and Defense plant. I suppose this is an old story by now, but it still deserves attention.

Fire Dog Lake has a photo and comments:

The American Legion folks in my town would be having a heart attack if they saw the picture above, and I’m sure that’s true for folks around the country. American values and flag burning amendment, my ass. Political theater and hollow gestures do not mean you are governing — they only mean that you are campaigning, and not very well at that because the American public isn’t buying it any longer. Why trust someone whose acts contradict what he has said?

According to Michigan law, it’s a crime to “publicly mutilate, deface, defile, defy, trample upon” the American flag (emphasis added). So far, no one in Michigan has filed charges against President Bush and I suppose the statute of limitations has passed, but why didn’t anyone do anything while it was still possible? Did President Bush sign a secret executive order that declared it a national security matter that he be exempt from this law, too?

 

Flag Burning, Desecration and Politics:

• Overview of State Laws on Flag Abuse, Desecration, Burning
• Index of State Laws on Flag Abuse, Desecration, Burning
• Flag Fetishism and the Cult of the Flag
• Flag Burning vs. Flag Waving, Speech vs. Expression
• If Desecration is a Crime, What is Prohibited?
• What is a Flag?
• What is Desecration?