People v. State

This story via the Army Times (also covered here by Veterans Today) encapsulates what’s wrong with America:

In mid-June, Congine, 46, began flying the flag upside down — an accepted way to signal distress — outside the restaurant he wants to open in Crivitz, a village of about 1,000 people some 65 miles north of Green Bay.

He said his distress is likely bankruptcy because the village board refused to grant him a liquor license after he spent nearly $200,000 to buy and remodel a downtown building for an Italian supper club.

. . .

Just hours before a Fourth of July parade, four police officers went to Congine’s property and removed the flag under the advice of Marinette County District Attorney Allen Brey.

Neighbor Steven Klein watched in disbelief.

“I said, ‘What are you doing?’ They said. ‘It is none of your business. Leave or you will be arrested,’ ” Klein said. “It was out-and-out theft.”

A commenter on this blog post at Blogging Blue has it exactly right when he wrote: “I can think of nothing more disrespectful to Old Glory than trampling on the liberties it represents while pretending to protect and respect it.”

Don’t Tread on Mike (who says he’s on the terrorist watch list because of his blog) writes:

My favorite line in the entire article is “If he wants to protest, let him protest but find a different way to do it.”

Government approved protests are not protests.

. . .

If you have to get a permit (i.e. BEG PERMISSION) to run a business, you are not free.

The 4th of July, or INDEPENDENCE DAY should be considered a protest rather than a celebration. It’s been a long time since this country has been free.

The story says that the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin is “considering” legal action against the village for violating the First Amendment rights of the distressed Iraq War veteran who flew the upside down flag. I would hope that such legal action would be a foregone conclusion for something this blatant and tyrannical.

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