All of us have seen the United States Flag displayed at half staff from time to time. The flag being displayed in this manner is a sign of respect or mourning. When we see it displayed at half staff, we begin to wonder what happened, who died. We seem to only associate it with the death of a dignitary. But that is not always the case.
To begin with, the President of the United States can authorize the flag to be hung at half staff when the country is mourning the loss of a dignitary. A Governor of a state can also make a proclamation for its display in this manner as well.
March 1, 1954 was the date the first proclamation was issued, by then President Dwight D. Eisenhower. With this proclamation the dates and time periods were set for all federal buildings, federal grounds and naval vessels.
In the case of the Death of a US President or former President, the flag will be displayed at half staff for 30 days.
With the death of a U.S. Vice President, Supreme Court Chief Justice/retired Chief Justice, or Speaker of the House of Representatives the time is 10 days.
• From death until the day of internment - US Supreme Court Associate Justice, member of the Cabinet, former Vice President, President protempore of the Senate, or the majority and minority leaders of the Senate and House of Representatives. Also for federal facilities within a state or territory, for the governor.• From death until the day of internment - US Supreme Court Associate Justice, member of the Cabinet, former Vice President, President protempore of the Senate, or the majority and minority leaders of the Senate and House of• On the day after the death of US Senators, Members of Congress, territorial delegates or the resident commissioner of the commonwealth of Puerto Rico Representatives.
The flag should also be displayed at half staff for the following dates:
May 15th, Peace Officers Memorial DayMemorial Day, until noon, then raised to full staffJuly 27th, Korean War Veterans DaySeptember 11th, Patriots DayDecember 7th, Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day
To properly place the flag at half staff, it should first be hoisted quickly to full staff, then lowered slowly into position. When taking the flag down from half staff, it should be raised to the top slowly, then quickly lowered.
The only place where the U.S. Flag is never lowered to half staff for the above mentioned times is the moon.
Mark P. Bialkoskihttp://www.usmilitarycollectibles.com/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mark_Bialkoski
Friday, July 13, 2007
Fairy Tales Are Still Relevant Today
The Emperor’s New Clothes is a lovely Danish fairy tale written by Hans Christian Andersen. it was first published in 1837. As with all good fairy tales, there has to be a moral of the story component. The story will point out some good or evil options, or make a point as to how life can backfire on one if the wrong choices are made.
The story goes like this. Once upon a time, there lived an emperor. He had no claim to fame except that he loved dressing up in fine clothes. One fine day, he was approached by two swindlers. And as is the case of con artists, the successful ones know how to manipulate human nature. These two promised the finest clothes from the most beautiful cloth. And as a sign of its exclusivity, it was invisible to the stupid and those not fit for their position.
Of course the Emperor was too scared to be shown up to be stupid or incompetent as an emperor, so he sent off some supposedly trusted men to check the story out for him. They were hardly going to admit that they could be considered stupid when they could not see the cloth and they reported back that all was as promised, the cloth being of the finest material.
And so it went down the line of people, each level of the population decided that they were not about to be shown up as being stupid or not worthy their position in society. All endorsed the validity of the claim that the clothes were made of the most beautiful cloth.
Finally, the day of the procession arrived and the Emperor stepped out in his new clothes, totally invisible to him. But after he had been told by so many people that the clothes were made of the finest cloth, he decided that he would step out in them and ignore what his eyes and logic was telling him. Of course everybody bought into the same blind belief until a kid shouted that the Emperor was wearing no clothes.
The story now serves as a metaphor involving a situation wherein the overwhelming majority, usually represented by the unempowered, are willing to share the collective ignorance of an obvious fact. Check wikipedia.
After reading a comment left for me, by an American reader, on one of my posts on the senseless war in Iraq, it struck me that the Emperor’s Clothes story applies to the USA. This is a country where the emperor has persuaded his subjects to buy into a universal ignorance. Americans actually believe that there is some morally justifiable reason for them to wage war against Iraq.
And it still has nothing to do with the oil fields. Nah. Even if the front page of the Independent newspaper talks about the fact that the oil reserves of the world are set to run out faster than expcted. Four years, scientists seem to think, the oil will be able to cover escalating demand. Guess the American troops aren’t going to be leaving Iraq in a hurry.
So who is going to be the ‘kid’ that wakes up this ignorance in the USA? Possibly Barack Obama? Not sure if I would put my money on Hillary Clinton on this score. She still thinks her endorsement of the war at the time was the correct stance. Bring on Al Gore, please. Here is somebody who didn’t buy into the invisible clothes story and had the courage to say so, very loudly.
Anja Merret lives in Brighton, UK. Her personal blog
http://www.anjamerret.com allows her to voice opinions on issues that interest her and observations she makes.
She has started a new blog http://www.pinkblocks.com that deals with observations on self development and personal power. Her recommendation for self help tools may be found on http://www.anjamerret.blogspot.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Anja_Merret
The story goes like this. Once upon a time, there lived an emperor. He had no claim to fame except that he loved dressing up in fine clothes. One fine day, he was approached by two swindlers. And as is the case of con artists, the successful ones know how to manipulate human nature. These two promised the finest clothes from the most beautiful cloth. And as a sign of its exclusivity, it was invisible to the stupid and those not fit for their position.
Of course the Emperor was too scared to be shown up to be stupid or incompetent as an emperor, so he sent off some supposedly trusted men to check the story out for him. They were hardly going to admit that they could be considered stupid when they could not see the cloth and they reported back that all was as promised, the cloth being of the finest material.
And so it went down the line of people, each level of the population decided that they were not about to be shown up as being stupid or not worthy their position in society. All endorsed the validity of the claim that the clothes were made of the most beautiful cloth.
Finally, the day of the procession arrived and the Emperor stepped out in his new clothes, totally invisible to him. But after he had been told by so many people that the clothes were made of the finest cloth, he decided that he would step out in them and ignore what his eyes and logic was telling him. Of course everybody bought into the same blind belief until a kid shouted that the Emperor was wearing no clothes.
The story now serves as a metaphor involving a situation wherein the overwhelming majority, usually represented by the unempowered, are willing to share the collective ignorance of an obvious fact. Check wikipedia.
After reading a comment left for me, by an American reader, on one of my posts on the senseless war in Iraq, it struck me that the Emperor’s Clothes story applies to the USA. This is a country where the emperor has persuaded his subjects to buy into a universal ignorance. Americans actually believe that there is some morally justifiable reason for them to wage war against Iraq.
And it still has nothing to do with the oil fields. Nah. Even if the front page of the Independent newspaper talks about the fact that the oil reserves of the world are set to run out faster than expcted. Four years, scientists seem to think, the oil will be able to cover escalating demand. Guess the American troops aren’t going to be leaving Iraq in a hurry.
So who is going to be the ‘kid’ that wakes up this ignorance in the USA? Possibly Barack Obama? Not sure if I would put my money on Hillary Clinton on this score. She still thinks her endorsement of the war at the time was the correct stance. Bring on Al Gore, please. Here is somebody who didn’t buy into the invisible clothes story and had the courage to say so, very loudly.
Anja Merret lives in Brighton, UK. Her personal blog
http://www.anjamerret.com allows her to voice opinions on issues that interest her and observations she makes.
She has started a new blog http://www.pinkblocks.com that deals with observations on self development and personal power. Her recommendation for self help tools may be found on http://www.anjamerret.blogspot.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Anja_Merret
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