Walking on the flag??

[gozling]

I am sorry but cant she just be arrested for even doing this? The idea that the flag was touching the ground... LAYING ON IT????
pisses me off HUNDREDS OF THEM?????


A Maine college student has caused a firestorm after plastering the floor of a campus building with American flags to see if anyone would trample Old Glory.

Susan Crane, a student at the University of Maine, Farmington, placed hundreds of flags on the floor of the school's student center Tuesday for an art class assignment. She set down the flags in a maze-like pattern to document whether students and staff would step on them.
But instead of fostering dialogue, the experiment drew demonstrators, among them Vietnam War veteran Charles Bennett.
"As far as I was concerned, that was desecration of the American flag," Bennett told FOXNews.com. He went down to the student center to protest the display after a friend told him what was going on, he said.
Bennett was among a vocal group that protested the treatment of the Stars and Stripes.






Bobbie Hanstein/Daily Bulldog

April 15: Susan Crane poses in front of her art project at the University of Maine Farmington.


Click here to see video taken during the project.
Crane did not return a request for an interview, but she told the Franklin County Daily Bulldog that she chose to use the flag so passers-by could reflect on their patriotism.
"It sparked conversation and thought about how we feel about our flag, which I think is very important," Crane told the paper. "It was a very hard thing for me to do, to put the flag on the floor."
She said she filmed students from the knees down to see if they would walk on the flags. More than 95 percent did not.
"The strong emotions caught me by surprise. The veterans said, 'A lot of people died for that flag,'" Crane told the paper. "I had a hard time with it. Most others asked, 'What's this about?'"
The university gave Crane permission to arrange the project, which she designed to fulfill a requirement for her class, the Cultural Relationship of Art and the Personal Politic.
Bennett said he was irritated that the school permitted the project at all. He planned a protest for Thursday afternoon.
"It's a patriotic feeling that I have," he said. "That's what I fought for — for our freedoms — so they could do things, but don't do it with the American flag."
The school expected the project would cause a stir.
"Certainly passions are always swirling around the flag," said Celeste Branham, vice president of student and community services at the university. "Particularly in a time when there's a lot of controversy about our involvement in Iraq, we expected that the passions would be heightened, and we were not at all surprised by the reaction."
Branham said it's the role of a university to spark debate as part of the learning process.
The project was supposed to stay up for 24 hours, but the flags were removed 10 hours into the experiment after a fire marshal asked Crane to move them to the side of the hallway, the Daily Bulldog said.
Branham said the school wouldn't hesitate to allow the project to go on again.
"We were supporting and would continue to support any student's First Amendment right to free expression under the law," she said.
Click here to read the full report at the Daily Bulldog.

[213th]

I believe the US Code that deals with the flag is just guidelines, not laws that can be prosecuted. Thats what we were taught when we were doing flag details anyway. Unfortunate though. Thats how people get away with the freedom of expression by burning flags, or wearing them as clothes (which is against the code dealing with displaying the flag btw).

[213th]

This code is the guide for all handling and display of the Stars and Stripes. It does not impose penalties for misuse of the United States Flag. That is left to the states and to the federal government for the District of Columbia. Each state has its own flag law.

Criminal penalties for certain acts of desecration to the flag were contained in Title 18 of the United States Code prior to 1989. The Supreme Court decision in Texas v. Johnson; June 21, 1989, held the statute unconstitutional. This statute was amended when the Flag Protection Act of 1989 (Oct. 28, 1989) imposed a fine and/or up to I year in prison for knowingly mutilating, defacing, physically defiling, maintaining on the floor or trampling upon any flag of the United States. The Flag Protection Act of 1989 was struck down by the Supreme Court decision, United States vs. Eichman, decided on June 11, 1990.

http://www.usflag.org/uscode36.html

[gozling]

in the marvin the martian voice...

i am very very angry
lol

it is a shame that people cannot be arrested for messing with our flag.
I wish i was up there.. I would have picked every single one of them up off the floor and told her some few choice words... oh and NO she wouldnt get her flags back. She can sue me for them later

[213th]

in the marvin the martian voice...

i am very very angry
lol

it is a shame that people cannot be arrested for messing with our flag.
I wish i was up there.. I would have picked every single one of them up off the floor and told her some few choice words... oh and NO she wouldnt get her flags back. She can sue me for them later

I agree! It's despicable. It's one thing that I can't stand. I personally feel that it should be illegal to mistreat the flag, and in some states it may be (that website said it was up to the individual states). But the supreme court in its infinite wisdom said that the feds can't impose penalties :rollseyes:

[Pudge]

I agree! It's despicable. It's one thing that I can't stand. I personally feel that it should be illegal to mistreat the flag, and in some states it may be (that website said it was up to the individual states). But the supreme court in its infinite wisdom said that the feds can't impose penalties :rollseyes:

From the Ohio Revised Code

2927.11 Desecration

(A) No person, without privilege to do so, shall purposely deface, damage, pollute, or otherwise physically mistreat any of the following:
(1) The flag of the United States or of this state

etc etc

[213th]

From the Ohio Revised Code

2927.11 Desecration

(A) No person, without privilege to do so, shall purposely deface, damage, pollute, or otherwise physically mistreat any of the following:
(1) The flag of the United States or of this state

etc etc

good on ohio. I haven't checked alaska's statutes. THe online versions are difficult to navigate.

[gozling]

From the Ohio Revised Code

2927.11 Desecration

(A) No person, without privilege to do so, shall purposely deface, damage, pollute, or otherwise physically mistreat any of the following:
(1) The flag of the United States or of this state

etc etc

very cool!

[CTR man]

in the Marvin the Martian voice...

i am very very angry
lol

it is a shame that people cannot be arrested for messing with our flag.
I wish i was up there.. I would have picked every single one of them up off the floor and told her some few choice words... oh and NO she wouldn't get her flags back. She can sue me for them later

Bravo! I would do the exact same thing. And stand with you in court, too.

[gozling]

Bravo! I would do the exact same thing. And stand with you in court, too.

hmmm the only problem with my idea is - i would prolly be arrested for theft lol
fudge it... i would go to jail for that one!

[CTR man]

If so. so be it. It would be worth it to me. No one desecrates the flag of my nation, I don't care whose flag it is.

[ex401mp]

Fuck her so called "art". She is totally disrespecting everyone who has given their lives to protect her freedom. Pisses me off bad to see that.

[gozling]

i wonder if an internet search on her info would give a mailing addy or email addy?
i would love to write her a lovely letter telling her some lovely information on where she can go.

[HudsonHawk]

..."

Bobbie Hanstein/Daily Bulldog

April 15: Susan Crane poses in front of her art project at the University of Maine Farmington.
...
Click here to see video taken during the project.
...
She said she filmed students from the knees down to see if they would walk on the flags. More than 95 percent did not."

Calm down Goz. You'll give yourself an ulcer, or at least leave some bruises from pounding your chest so hard, if you keep this up.

In the picture it appears that the "flags" were actually decals or paper drawings and not actual cloth flags. I understand if you don't consider it any different due to the sybolism.

My high school basketball court had a picture of the US Flag painted on a section of the wood floor. Should we arrest the faculty and students? I hardly think this is worth arresting someone for, especially since there was no malicious intent to desecrate the flag.

[10-42Adam]

That girl is a disgrace to our country. Ship her off somewhere nice...

[gozling]

no ulcers here.

It is just one of my hot buttons...
like you couldn't have guessed lol.

bending a rule on the flag is not a good place to start for me

Watching Paul having to write letters to mens families who have died and going through services of men who protect our country made me a little sensitive. (well makes me a little sensitive) Going through service members funeral services and knowing what that flag represents to those familes.. well i guess I just hold a great honor in the flag and every day at 8am I stop and turn to face the colors played.

I can see she had no malicious intent.. just sheer fucking stupidity...
I hope she never breeds.

well... being a mainer she probably will and it would be to her brother
(angry remark only since I grew up in New Hampshire and always used to dig on those from mass and maine lol.. oh and mass folks were called massholes just fyi...vermont was cool because we could go drink there LOL 18 way back in the day)

[HudsonHawk]

Just remember that Paul is fighting for her to have the freedom to be stupid. You also didn't respond to my analogy. This is not something new, and although her research topic may be stupid and offensive, it is not a crime.

[Ender]

it is a shame that people cannot be arrested for messing with our flag.

It isn't so much that for me...freedom of speech and all that. I know, the 8th and 9th (or 9th and 10th?) Amendments allow the state/county/etc to establish laws....

Its more that the people who stomp all over those who desecrate the flag can't be beaten down by REAL Americans, without those REAL Americans being charged with something, that bothers me....

[gozling]

it is a shame he fights for morons to continue on in their behavior lol...

as far as your analogy - to me it doesnt thrill me personally... what can i do about it? nothing... it is where ever and i am here....If I were there though, I would say something to somebody in regards to it being on the floor for my own personal piece of mind and most likely leave it at that. I also wouldn't attend any games in that facility after that. Don't get me started about 4th of july LOL... I just don't go out much then. (jk)
I guess I am vocal though when it comes to this issue.. we all have our issues i guess.

in some places it is a crime to mess with the flag and it is about time that it is listed so... like Ohio mentioned above.