Dude Weather Subscribe to Secrets Minneapolis / St. Paul

The Read Menace

States' Rights When It Comes to Flagpoles

Share

Related Content

I've been thinking a bit about Mike Huckabee. Of course, I've mostly been thinking about what a disaster for the country it would be to follow the idiot currently in the White House with another. But you've got to admit Huckabee would be funny.

For example, let's consider his performance on the Confederate flag in South Carolina issue. First, he obviously considers whether South Carolina wants to erect a racist lightning rod over its capitol a states rights issue. I couldn't agree with him more. But, if South Carolina can have its states rights issues, what's Huckabee's problem with, say, Massachusetts permitting gay marriage or California having stricter air quality standards for cars?

And then there's that whole remark he made about the flag poles. In case you missed it, here it is: "If somebody came to Arkansas and told us what to do with our flag, we'd tell them what to do with the pole. That's what we'd do."

I'm going to take a wild guess as to what Baptist preacher Mike was talking about and say "shove the pole up their ass." Do you think? (Do Baptist preachers really talk like that?)

Ok, but somebody's going to have to explain to me why Mike's so all fired anxious for some people who might be visiting Arkansas to shove a pole up their ass and he's so dead set against people who happen to live in Massachusetts doing the same thing.

2 Reader Comments

goldyguy (not verified)09:51am
Jan 22
Forget the unspoken gay rights question, it's despicable enough that he acts as an apologist for racist Carolinians (among others) who hang onto a "heritage" that is a symbol of hate and oppression. Flags are very powerful statements of identity, as the Iraqi Kurds understand, having just forced the Iraqi parliament to change the flag of Iraq because of the offensive symbolism that history and Saddam's regime of terror has attached to it. Like South Carolina's defenders, many Sunni lawmakers are resistant to changing "their" flag, refusing to acknowledge it as a flag of oppression for Kurds and Shia.
Tom Bartel  url10:23am
Jan 22
There's a terrific piece in the NY Times today by Bob Herbert http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/22/opinion/22herbert.html?ex=1358744400&en=3a9476732c84f67f&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalinkon the SC flag issue. Huckabee should drop out of the race out of shame...not that he's going to win anyway.

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <i> <b> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <img> <br> <p>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.

More information about formatting options

CAPTCHA
By entering in the words in the captcha image, you help us prevent automated spam submissions and keep the site tidy.

Blogs

Sports

Baseball:
Warning Track Power by Alex Halsted
Sports:
On the Ball by Britt Robson

Society

Weather:
Dude Weather by Jimmy Gaines

A&E

Fiction:
Write Now! by Terry Faust

Retired

Hockey:
Spazz Dad by Todd Smith
Style:
Hook & Eye
Misc:
Is This News?
Fiction:
Yo, Ivanhoe by Brad Zellar
Food:
Consider the Egg by Stephanie March
Wine:
Beyond the Cask
Food:
Food Fight!
Media:
To the Slaughter
Misc:
Outrage by Staff
Food:
Chef's Table
Guest Commentary:
Just Passing Through
Humor:
Spazz Dad by Todd Smith
Cars:
Road Rake by Chris Birt
Commentary:
Read Menace by Tom Bartel
Society:
The Adventures of Melinda by Melinda Jacobs
Politics:
Defenestrator by Rich Goldsmith
Food:
Breaking Bread by Jeremy Iggers & Ann Bauer
Books:
Cracking Spines by Max Ross
Music:
Hear, Hear by Staff
Art:
The Vicious Circle by 6 Critics
Secrets:
Secrets of the Day by Kate Iverson
Theater:
Seen in the City by Staff
Film:
Talk About Talkies by Staff