Respect for the flag.

Some DUers seem unaware that display and use of the US flag is governed not merely by usage BUT BY LAW.

Some California morons were sent home for wearing the American flag on Cinco de Mayo because it might insult students of Mexican ancestry. They should have been sent home any day of the week for daring to disrespect the American flag in that way.

§8. Respect for flag

No disrespect should be shown to the flag of the United States of America; the flag should not be dipped to any person or thing. Regimental colors, State flags, and organization or institutional flags are to be dipped as a mark of honor.

1. The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.
2. The flag should never touch anything beneath it, such as the ground, the floor, water, or merchandise.
3. The flag should never be carried flat or horizontally, but always aloft and free.
4. The flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery. It should never be festooned, drawn back, nor up, in folds, but always allowed to fall free. Bunting of blue, white, and red, always arranged with the blue above, the white in the middle, and the red below, should be used for covering a speaker's desk, draping the front of the platform, and for decoration in general.
5. The flag should never be fastened, displayed, used, or stored in such a manner as to permit it to be easily torn, soiled, or damaged in any way.
6. The flag should never be used as a covering for a ceiling.
7. The flag should never have placed upon it, nor on any part of it, nor attached to it any mark, insignia, letter, word, figure, design, picture, or drawing of any nature.
8. The flag should never be used as a receptacle for receiving, holding, carrying, or delivering anything.
9. The flag should never be used for advertising purposes in any manner whatsoever. It should not be embroidered on such articles as cushions or handkerchiefs and the like, printed or otherwise impressed on paper napkins or boxes or anything that is designed for temporary use and discard. Advertising signs should not be fastened to a staff or halyard from which the flag is flown.
10. No part of the flag should ever be used as a costume or athletic uniform. However, a flag patch may be affixed to the uniform of military personnel, firemen, policemen, and members of patriotic organizations. The flag represents a living country and is itself considered a living thing. Therefore, the lapel flag pin being a replica, should be worn on the left lapel near the heart.
11. The flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning.

<http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/flagcode.htm>

wearing those clothes to mess some hispanic kids on cinco de mayo in the midst of the papers please brouhaha.

wearing those clothes to mess some hispanic kids on cinco de mayo in the midst of the papers please brouhaha.

“Thus, the Flag Code does not prescribe any penalties for non-compliance nor does it include enforcement provisions; rather the Code functions simply as a guide to be voluntarily followed by civilians and civilian groups…”

More at link http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/RL30243.pdf

That might be why one can see arguments here on DU regarding refusal to recite the 'pledge'.

I honor the rules regarding the flag, with one exception:

I have no problem with anyone burning the flag in protest. I'm a combat veteran, but I see such protests as reaffirming our enshrined comitment to the protection of free speech. As long as they're not burning the flag flying outside my house, or the courthouse, or the post office, protesters have every right, under our Constitution, to burn the flag.

Abbie Hoffman's shirt, to the point where he was arrested for it.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-krassner/the-trial-of-abbie-hoffma_b_2334.html

So we have to decide, do we support the Constitution (which protects free speech), or do we revere an iconic and representative piece of colorful cloth to the point where it trumps the very ideals it is purported to represent?

has printed the flag on a postage stamp, your point #9 is violated. Of course, you can go through some semantic gymnastics, and say that the "image of the flag" and not the actual flag itself is what is portrayed on the stamps. I'd say that was what was on these kids' T-shirts.

...to the symbol-minded." George Carlin

I'll wait.