cDc #357
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   ...presents...                 Flag Rant
                                                         by The Nightstalker
                                                         7/15/1998-#357
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This Modern World is copyright 1998 by Tom Tomorrow.

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                            "Desecrating"(?) The Flag

I'm getting sick and tired of all these "Patriots" who fulminate about the
dozen-odd flag burnings a year, and how The Precious Symbol Of Our Country
NEEDS the protection of a Constitutional Amendment!

                                    Sod Off!

You want to know what the real desecration of the flag is? It's that there are
veterans of WW II, Korea, Viet-Nam, et al, who are homeless. These men and
women who volunteered to offer "that last, full measure of devotion" in the
defense of their country, are reduced to sleeping on the streets. You over-fed,
knee-jerk patriots cross the fucking street to avoid that ragged, smelly
individual pleading for spare change. You don't care that he helped liberate
South Korea inch by inch, under unspeakable hardships, or that he answered a
call to fight for freedom in Viet-Nam, or that he got dosed by nerve gas in
Iraq. No, you fat fuckers don't give a rat's ass about him, but you all PISS
yourselves over the thought that some bozo might burn a flag and that the
Federal Government needs to come down on him with both jackbooted feet.

So SCREW THE FLAG and WIPE MY ASS WITH IT! As long as there are veterans who
don't have a safe place to sleep, food to eat, and the medical, physical and
psychiatric care they deserve, then the flag is being desecrated far worse than
anyone could do with a can of naptha and a Zippo!

The Government has always considered veterans as a disposable commodity. Use
them and then throw them away. From the very first, the surviving veteran has
always been the first to be screwed by the Feds, and the last to be succored.
Even today, the bullshit from the Feds about Gulf War Syndrome is sickening.
These men and women are sick, they are dying, they are giving birth to
seriously deformed children. This is not all in their minds. The Government
just wants to weasel out of paying for their care and treatment.

That the surviving veterans of America's wars do not take up arms and march on
D.C., DEMANDING redress of their grievances amazes me.

Well, not really. They tried that once before, right after World War I.
Something called the "Bonus March." When they reached Washington, D.C., they
wound up being FIRED UPON by the same Army they once served in, on the direct
orders of the President.

One day, though, the Hired Help in the White House, on the Hill and in the
Pentagon, will be called forth (hopefully at bayonet point) to answer for their
sins of omission and commission.

And then, perhaps, the Government-Sanctioned Desecration of the Flag will
cease.

Don't hold your breath waiting for it to happen, though.
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