Why do I feel like my posts should all have WTF in the subject?

[heidi]

Went to the baseball game yesterday. The Red Cross was collecting, everyone felt that the National Anthem was for those along the Gulf Coast and all of us were talking about our terror that if we see another high-category storm in rhe last three months of this hurricane season, the likelihood is that we in Florida are fully fucked.

But at the game, one thing I noticed was that the flags were at full staff.

What's up with that?

How many thousands have to die before the president orders the flags to half staff? We are a nation in mourning. None of us - no person in this country - isn't two degrees removed from an evacuee - and it's likely that none of us are more than three degrees away from someone who has died.

It's so minor compared to evacuating people and rescuing people and hydrating and healing people. But the flags in this country need to go to half staff.

Comments

[annearchy.livejournal.com]

You're shitting me!!!!!!!! Flags at full staff after the horrendous loss of life this past week. That's unconscionable. GRRRRRR. I'm hopping mad now *adds to list of things to be hopping mad about*

[casirafics.livejournal.com]

I saw several Red Cross collection jars & boxes at Bumbershoot yesterday, and they got called out from the mainstage at least twice. I expect to be hearing a lot more about it this weekend. Haven't noticeed the state of the flags, but I'll keep my eyes out.

I'm also going to be watching the booths from the Washington State Democrats and Republicans, which got set up -- I'm not kidding -- right next to each other. I'm just waiting for someone to start firing volleys. Part of me wants to give them both Nerf guns and take pictures. ;)

[roguebitch.livejournal.com]

Part of me wants to give them both Nerf guns and take pictures.

As a cowboy once said, "I'd buy me a ticket to see that show." ;-D

[ani-bester.livejournal.com]

It wasn't terrorists so the President doens't care -_-

[dreamcoat-mom.livejournal.com]

There's also a discussion about this over at pegkerr's journal where I weighed in on the subject.

[mogliecat.livejournal.com]

Could be that no one has had time to worry about such a thing in the wake of trying to evacuate people. Maybe it's just me, but I don't think the position of the flag matters during a time like this.

[gmth.livejournal.com]

Ours are at half-staff. I think it might be due to the death of a local serviceperson and not because of the floods, though.

[anemonerose.livejournal.com]

They were doing the collection thing at the Rams game last night, too. I didn't notice the flag thing, though, because the only flag in the dome is one that hangs down from the ceiling.

Two guys behind us, though, were being total arses about Katrina and its victims. Throughout the night, the played a Red Cross advert with Marshall Faulk (one of the Rams superstars) asking people to donate money or food or clothing to the RC to help the victims of Katrina. The guys behind us said that they weren't giving anyone anything because it was the people's own fault for living in New Orleans. ... I didn't even know what to say. That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life. St. Louis lies on a fault line, so I suppose, in these guys' reasoning, if we're struck by a horrific earthquake, it will be all right for folks not to send us aid or help, too, because it's our fault for living in St. Louis. Where do people like this come from?

[nmalfoy.livejournal.com]

And, as the song says, how many deaths will it take 'til we know that too many people have died?

[ashesofautumn.livejournal.com]

I'm confused. Why aren't the flags at half staff anyway?

Sergeant George Ray Draughn and Staff Sergeant Robert Lee Hollar of the Army National Guard of Georgia were killed in Iraq on September 1. I don't see why the flags aren't perpetually at half mast.

I agree!

[enelya-oronar.livejournal.com]

He should have ordred it, but with today's news it will happen:


The flag, when flown at half-staff, should be first hoisted to the peak for an instant and
then lowered to the half-staff position. The flag should be again raised to the peak before it is lowered for the day. On Memorial Day the flag should be displayed at half staff until noon only, then raised to the top of the staff. By order of the President, the flag shall be flown at half-staff upon the death of principal figures of the United States Government and the Governor of a State, territory, or possession, as a mark of respect to their memory. In the event of the death of other officials or foreign dignitaries, the flag is to be displayed at half-staff according to Presidential instructions or orders, or in accordance with recognized customs or practices not inconsistent with law. In the event of the death of a present or former official of the government of any State, territory, or possession of the United States, the Governor of that State, territory, or possession may proclaim that the National flag shall be flown at half-staff. The flag shall be flown at half-staff thirty days from the death of the President or a former President; ten days from the day of death of the Vice President, the Chief Justice or a retired Chief Justice of the United States, or the Speaker of the House of Representatives; from the day of death until interment of an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, a Secretary of an executive or military department, a former Vice President, or the Governor of a State, territory, or possession; and on the day of death and the following day for a Member of Congress.