Original Maple Leaf flag back in Canada's hands

Saturday a story was posted about the widow of a former Speaker of the Canadian parliament, who was hold the first Maple Leaf Flag of Canada hostage. Yesterday the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that Mrs. Hoffmann had quietly handed the flag over to John McNee, Canada's ambassador to Belgium.

Flags of the Day

Today is Flag Day in Portugal and Tanzania; Independence Day in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Armed Forces Day in Guatemala; and Salvation Revolution Day in the Sudan.

Animated flags provided courtesy of Pascal Gross.

Flags of the Day

Today is Saints Peter and Paul Day in Malta; and Independence Day in the Seychelles.

Animated flags provided courtesy of Pascal Gross.

Flying the Confederate battle flag

Near Verbena, Alabama, the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) own a plot of land adjacent to I-65. Recently the SCV erected a flag pole and are flying a large Confederate battle flag.

The NAACP and others who have opposed flying the flag on State property have always said that they had no objections to flying it on private property. That policy seems to have changed now.

Flag of the Day

Today is Independence Day in Djibouti.

Animated flag provided courtesy of Pascal Gross.

Flag of the Day

Today is Independence Day in Madagascar and Somolia; and UN Treaty Day.

Animated flags provided courtesy of Pascal Gross.

Flag desecration law in Morocco

While the US Senate ponders a consitutional amendment to allow Congress to prohibit desecration of the US flag, the govrnmental council is considering such law in the Kingdom of Morocco.

Original Maple Leaf flag held hostage by MP's widow

Elisabeth Hoffmann-Lamoureux has Canada's first Maple Leaf flag, the one raised on the Peace Tower on Feb. 15, 1965, tucked away in her home in Belgium. The flag was given to her late husband, Lucien Lamoureux, a former Speaker of the House.

The European woman who has the historic banner wants to "clear up" whether she's owed money from her late husband's federal pension.

"Why should I be in a hurry to hand this flag over to a government who refuses to me what I guess all widows are normally entitled to?"

In telephone interviews from her Brussels law office this week, she even raised the possibility of auctioning the historic national artifact on eBay.

Flags of the Day

Today is Independence Day in Mozambique and Slovenia; and Ratification Day in Virginia.

Animated flags provided courtesy of Pascal Gross.

New Zealand sporting legends want flag change

New Zealand sporting legends have thrown their weight behind a campaign to change their national flag because it is too much like Australia's.

Cricketer Sir Richard Hadlee, a champion fast bowler who often bore the brunt of abusive Aussie crowds in the 1980s, thinks New Zealand's four red stars next to the Union Jack, instead of Australia's six white ones, are not enough to tell the flags apart.

"Too many people confuse our flag with the Australian one and it also becomes embarrassing when New Zealanders cannot tell the difference either," Hadlee said.

Images of New Zealand and Australian flags courtesy of Flags Of The World.

Flags of the Day

Today is Countryman's Day in Peru; St-Jean Baptiste Day in Quebec; and Battle of Carabobo Day in Venezuela.

Animated flags provided courtesy of Pascal Gross.

School board won't ban flag clothing

The School Board in Hernando County, Florida, has shelved a plan to prevent students from wearing clothing displaying any flag other than the US flag. The proposal was abandoned because of legal concerns.

The proposed ban was reported here Saturday.

School Board member Sandra Nicholson questioned the ban. She wondered at the logic of preventing students from wearing Reebok sneakers since they display British flags as logos.

"I like my Reeboks," she said.

House passes desecration amendment

By a vote of 286 to 130, the U.S. House of Representatives passed an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would grant to Congress the power to "prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States".

In order for the proposed amendment to become a part of the Constitution, it must next pass the U.S. Senate by a favourable vote of at least 67 of the 100 member body, and then be ratified by at least 38 States.

Flags of the Day

Today is Victory Day in Estonia; and Discovery Day in Newfoundland.

Animated flags provided courtesy of Pascal Gross.

Vast majority support anti-desecration amendment

Opinion Research Corporation conducted a survey of 1,004 Americans, finding that while 81-percent supported the concept of protecting the flag from being burned, 75-percent are actually in favor of it becoming law. The poll has a plus or minus three percent margin of error.

I have mixed feelings about this myself. I love the flag, and cherish what it represents. Certainly anyone who destroys a flag belonging to another can and should be subject to criminal sanctions. But I have a problem with makig it a criminal act to do whatever you want with your own property.

Monochrome flag grounded

This is not a black and white photo. The flag is black where it should be blue, and grey where it should be red.

Surrey artist Jonathan Parsons was commissioned by Norwich Castle Museum to produce the monochrome flag; but plans to fly a black, grey and white Union Flag above Norwich Castle have been scrapped amid fears it would offend British patriots.

Flags of the Day

Today is Anti-Fascist Struggle Day in Croatia; and Flag Day in Finland.

Animated flags provided courtesy of Pascal Gross.

Flag Man of Laporte

For nine years Jim Roy has been buying flags to be mounted on telephone poles around Laporte, Indiana. With the city?s help he flies the 3-by-5-foot US flags on the poles along the major thoroughfares.

Now every year from late spring through summer, Old Glory waves in the wind along Lincoln Way, J Street, Monroe Street and Boyd Boulevard.

Stolen Scottish flag honored lost love

Ed Safford flew a Scottish royal banner at his home in Bristol, Rhode Island, as a tribute to his wife of 25 years. Nancy, who was of Scottish descent, died last August. The flag was stolen from its bracket on the front of Mr. Safford's house on June 9. "That flag was a symbol of our love," he said.

To honor her, Mr. Safford decided shortly after her death to fly a flag that not only would have meant a lot to his wife, as she was mostly Scottish, but to him as well. His father collected flags and growing up, he had an appreciation for other nations' flags, he said.

Image of Scottish Royal Banner courtesy of Flags Of The World.

Flags of the Day

Today is Flag Day in Greenland; and Ratification Day in New Hampshire.

Animated flags provided courtesy of Pascal Gross.

Flags of the Day

Today is Flag Day in Argentina and Sweden. It is also Martyrs Day Day in Eritrea; and West Virginia Day in West Virginia.

Animated flags provided courtesy of Pascal Gross.

Taiwan Flag Flap (continued)

In a follow-up to the story about the the removal of the flag of the Republic of China at a graduation ceremony visited by a delegation from Red China, the investigation of the matter by the Taiwanese government finds the school's explaination to be contradicted by a video tape of the ceremony.

Illlustration of the flag of the Republic of China on Taiwan provided courtesy of Flags Of The World.

Flags of the Day

Today is the anniversary of the adoption of the plain tricolour as the flag of the Republic of Italy. It is also Labour Day in Trinidad and Tobago; and Jose Gervasio Artigas' Birthday in Uruguay.

Animated flags provided courtesy of Pascal Gross.

Another flag ban in the works

In Florida, the Hernando County School Board will consider banning clothing that displays any flag other than the American flag. Once again, the target is the Confederate flag, but in order to try an pass a constitutional regulation, in addition to preventing Southerners from displaying the Southern flag, they will prevent Floridians from displaying the Florida flag, Cubans from the Cuban flag, etc.

The American Civil Liberties Union, says the proposal was "overly broad" and would create "serious first amendment problems."

Lawyers want flag near courthouse

In Fort Wayne, Indiana, the Allen County Bar Association has offered to pay for a flag pole and flag for the county courthouse. The county government has accepted the offer, but now there seems to be a fuss over the location of the flag pole.

Flag of the Day

Today is Evacuation Day in Egypt.

Animated flag provided courtesy of Pascal Gross.

Mozambique to choose new flag

The government of Mozambique has announced a contest for the selection of a new national flag.

The competition is to run from June 15 to September 15, when the commission will collect all submissions from which the best three will be selected.

The three selected proposals will then be handed to the ad hoc commission that will table them to the plenary of the Assembly of the Republic for a final decision on the winner.

The winning designer will receive a prize of 250,000,000 meticals (about US$10,400.00).

Flags of the Day

Today is Workers Day in Germany; Constitution Day and National Day in Iceland; and Battle of Bunker Hill Day in Massachusetts.

Animated flags provided courtesy of Pascal Gross.

New Bougainville flag

The new autonomous government of Bougainville was inaugurated yesterday with the raising of its new flag.

The island's new flag, featuring a traditional red Upe head dress, was raised by a colour guard of the new Bougainville Police Force in the northern town of Buka before local school children sang the new song of Bougainville.

Unfortunately, the article does not include an illustration of the flag.

UPDATE:


The image of the Bougainville flag, shown here,is taken from the web site of TVNZ. It appears to be the same flag used by the Bougainville secessionist movement since 1975. So, while the individual flag is a new one (made by Flags of All Nations Pty. Ltd. in
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia a few weeks ago) the design of the flag is not new.

Taiwan Flag Flap

Hsiuping Institute of Technology in Taichung County, Taiwan is the center of a flag related controversy. Some students there have accused the school of removing the flag of the Republic of China and a portrait of Sun Yat-sen, "as a gesture to please" an academic exchange group from Shandong University of Technology in Red China who were attending the school's graduation ceremony on June 12.

The school, however, denies any such motivation. "We did not take down the national flag and portrait of Dr. Sun Yat-sen to welcome the representatives from China. We took them down to better display the background setting that had been designed specially for the graduation ceremony," school president Lin Bao-zong said.

According to Lin, the graduation ceremony was opened with the singing of the national anthem, followed by bowing to the national flag and a portrait of Sun. The school then removed the flag and portrait in order to change the background setting.

Illlustration of the flag of the Republic of China on Taiwan provided courtesy of Flags Of The World.

Flag of the Day

Today is Youth Day in South Africa.

Animated South African flag provided courtesy of Pascal Gross.

Flag Banning

The Maryville Board of Education (in Blount County, Tennessee) has acted to ban Confederate flags at any Maryville school system events.

The Board of Education's lawyers were apparently aware of the several federal cases ruling that singling out the Confederate flag for banning is unconstitutional. So, to make sure no one show up with a Confederate flag, they have outlawed all flags at school events.

A Banner Day

Yesterday there were scores of Flag Day related articles and stories--too many and too generic to bother bloggin them. But this one from Bangor, Maine stands out. Of course, Dave Martucci is my friend, and is a past president of the North American Vexillological Association.

One of Dave's comments stands out for me. He says that flags are "the shorthand of history." I have found that to be true. My love for flags and my love of history go hand-in-hand. I have certainly found flags to be a great aid to teaching history (as a guest, not as a profession) in Tennessee, as has Dave in Maine.

Flags of the Day

Today is Statehood Day in Arkansas. It is also Valdemar's Day and Reunification Day in Denmark

Animated flags provided courtesy of Pascal Gross.

The President's Proclamation

You can read the text of President Bush's Flag Day Proclamation on the White House web site. In addition to Flag Day, the president declared the week of June 12th to be National Flag Week.

Flag Quiz

Check out the Christian Science Momitor's flag quiz.

Flags of the Day

Today is Flag Day in the United States of America; and Liberation Day in the Falkland Islands. It is also the Day of Mourning in Estonia and Memorial Day for the Victims of Communist Genocide in Latvia.

Animated flags provided courtesy of Pascal Gross.

Flag of the Day

Today is Flag Day in Palau.

Animated flag provided courtesy of Pascal Gross.

Flags of the Day

Today is Flag Day in Luxembourg and New Zealand. It is also Peace of Chaco Day in Paraguay; and Independence Day in the Philippines and Russia.

Animated flags provided courtesy of Pascal Gross.

Flag of the Day

Today is King Kamehameha I Day in Hawai'i.

Animated flag provided courtesy of Pascal Gross.

Maine's flag in two wars

A story published yesterday told the tale of SFC Garth MacDonald of the 101st Airborne Division, who is flying the same flag of Maine on his depolyment in Iraq. The flag is a family heirloom. It was first flown by SFC McDonald's uncle during his service in Vietnam.

Every day is Flag Day

Today's edition of the Salem, Oregon Statesman Journal has a story on vexillologist Elliott Lamb. Lamb's interest in flags and their history started when he was about 12. A few years later, during the American Bicentennial celebration in 1976, he really got hooked. It was around that time that his family learned an ancestor -- Lamb's great, great, great grandfather, Sgt. James Lamb -- was a Revolutionary War hero.

When a family member, friend or neighbor celebrates a birthday, he flies the state flag of their birthplace.

When a military service member dies in combat, he flies the standard of their branch.

When a newsworthy event happens somewhere in the world, he flies the colors of that nation.

Sounds a bit like life here at the Cannon home in Tennessee.

Flags of the Day

Today is Arab Revolt and Army Day in Jordan; and Luis de Camoes Day in Portugal.

Animated flags provided courtesy of Pascal Gross.

The Flag Guy of Dundalk

The Dundalk Eagle has a story today about Dale Grimes, a/k/a "The Flag Guy", who celebrates Flag Day, Independence Day, and other festive occasions by deorating the Maryland town with 15 star/15 stripe replicas of the Star Spangled Banner.

A Mexican restaurant in Phoenix, Arizona, is serving a frozen margarita layered in the colours of the Mexican flag. The name of the drink is la Bandera--Spanish for "the Flag".

Each layer has a different flavor--mint, pineapple or strawberry--and the drink is served in a tall chilled Pilsner glass.

I'll drink to that.

Tibetans protest railway company

As Bombardier executives and shareholders left their annual general meeting at the Montreal Sheraton yesterday, a student hung a Tibetan flag off the hotel as protesters below demanded: "Bombardier: hors du Tibet / out of Tibet". The action was intended to draw attention to a campaign against Bombardier for its involvement in a highly contentious railway being built through Tibet . Slated to begin test runs in 2006, the railway will facilitate an influx of Chinese settlers and migrants to Tibet, threatening the survival of Tibetan culture.

Flag of the Day

Today is Tennessee Secession Day, and the birthday of Nora Cannon (my wife).

Animated flags provided courtesy of Pascal Gross.

EU flag cartoon

This cartoon comment on the current state of the European Union following the rejection of the proposed constitution by the voters of France and the Netherlands was published today in Le Monde.

English village refuses to surrender to France

The village of Swarland, Northumbria, will continue with plans to fly the British Union flag or the English St. George's flag on October 21st to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Lord Nelson's victory over Napoleon's navy at the Battle of Trafalgar.

Some have asked the parish council to scrap its plans out of concern that it would upset the French.

Flags of the Day

Today is Liberation Day in Chad; the anniversary of the Establishment of the Republic in Iceland; and in Norway it is the anniversary of the Dissolution of the Union with Sweden.

Animated flags provided courtesy of Pascal Gross.

Flags of the Day

Today is the anniversary of D-Day. It is also Memorial Day in the Republic of Korea; National Day and Flag Day in Sweden; and McCartney Memorial Day in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Animated flags provided courtesy of Pascal Gross.

NAACP boycott over Confederate flag fizzles

The Associated Press is reporting that the NAACP's boycott of South Carolina is not having much effect.

"The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People started the boycott in 2000 to get the Confederate battle flag off the South Carolina statehouse dome. That goal was achieved in July of that year, but the organization continued the sanctions when the flag was moved to a memorial on the statehouse grounds a place of honor the group feels the flag doesn't deserve.

"But judging from the columns of black motorcyclists zooming up and down the Grand Strand during the recent "Black Bike Week," few are heeding the call.

"'I spend my money wherever I want to,' [Marquita] Jackson, a stay-at-home mom from Fayetteville, N.C., said defiantly as she headed for the beach Memorial Day weekend. 'They don't give it to me.'"

Ms. Jackson is one of the two ladies pictured in the accompanying AP photo.

Kurdistan Regional Parliament to fly pre-Baathist Iraqi Flag

The Kurdistani flag and the Iraqi flag, used in the time of Abdulkarim Qasim's rule prior to the rise of the Baath regime, will be used during a meeting between Mesud Barzani, who is expected to become the president of federal Kurdistan, and Iraqi president Jabal Talabani. The same flags will be used the first session of the Kurdistan Regional Parliament, with Talabani attending will be held similarly. Kurdistan Democratic Party supporters have not used the Iraqi flag since Saddam Hussein was overthrown, claiming that it represents the Baathist regime.

1959-1963 Iraqi Flag image courtesy of Flags Of The World.

Flags of the Day

Today is Apostles Day in the Czech Republic; Constitution Day in Denmark; the Anniversary of the 1977 Revolution in Seychelles; and Flag Day in Turkey.

Animated flags provided courtesy of Pascal Gross.

Confederate flag to fly Sunday in Missouri

Missouri governor Matt Blunt has ordered the Confederate flag to fly Sunday at the Confederate Memorial State Historic Site in Higginsville, where an afternoon graveside service is planned to mark Confederate Memorial Day.

You would think that this would be an appropriate time and place to fly the flag--over the graves of the soldiers who fought beneath it. The NAACP, however, doesn't even want the Confederate flag in Confederate cemeteries. The Missouri branch will be "asking for drastic measures from our national office."

Confederate flags had flown daily at the Higginsville site and the Fort Davidson State Historic Site in Pilot Knob until they were ordered down in January 2003 by Democratic Gov. Bob Holden's administration shortly after a comment by then-Rep. Dick Gephardt of St. Louis - who was running for the Democratic nomination for president at the time - that the Confederate flag should no longer fly "anytime, anywhere".

Flags of the Day

Today is Defence Forces Day in Finland; and Flag Day in Panama; and Emancipation Day in Tonga.

Animated flags provided courtesy of Pascal Gross.

Flag of Red Cross Children's Home flies on Everest summit

The Cape Town Red Cross Children's Home flag was planted on the summit of Mount Everest yesterday by South African businessman Tony van Marken.

Flag of the Day

Today is Confederate Memorial Day or Decoration Day in Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, and Tennessee. It is also the birthday of President Jefferson Davis, who was born in 1808 in what is now Todd County, Kentucky.

Animated Confederate flag provided courtesy of Flags Of The Confederacy.

Flag ban ruled unconstitutional

A federal court in West Virginia has ruled that a ban on Confederate flags in a school, enacted solely out of fear that the flag might offend someone, is unconstitutional.

"To suggest a ban is warranted simply because some associate it with racism proves too much for First Amendment purposes," U.S. District Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr. wrote in a decision issued Tuesday evening.

Judge Copenhaver wrote that without evidence of racial tensions, the school could not justify silencing people who see the flag as an ?innocent? symbol of things unrelated to racism, including geological heritage, ancestors? service in the Confederate Army or a reputation as a rebel.

The ACLU lawyer involved in the case said, "You know, as long as the flag is properly used it is not a symbol of hate, and I think it?s fair to say that?s what [Copenhaver] found."

Flags of the Day

Today is Republic Founding Day in Italy and Coronation Day in the United Kingdom. It is also the anniversary of the adoption of the flag of the late Republic of Vietnam.

Animated Italian and British flags provided courtesy of Pascal Gross. Animated Vietnamese flag provided courtesy of Multimedia Palace.

World War II widow finally gets flag

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

Vera Evans, now 94 and living in a nursing home, never received a U.S. flag when her husband, Andrew Joseph Giret, was killed Feb. 28, 1942, aboard the U.S.S. Houston.

He was "the true love of my life," she recalled.

Annette Sherman, activities director at Heartland of Bucyrus, worked for nearly six months to make sure Evans received the flag. She contacted Army and Navy recruiters, then Delmer Click, past deputy commander of Ohio Amvets.

With Click's help, Sherman made Evans' wish come true.

Read it all.

The Russian flag: a tricolor icon

Anatoly Korolyov with RIA Novosti, the Russian News and Information Agency, has an article on the history of the Russian flag.



An excerpt:

On August 22, 1991, (following the attempted coup by the State Committee for the State of Emergency) a Supreme Soviet resolution on the national flag of the RSFSR (Russian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic) restored the imperial tricolor. A presidential decree confirmed this decision and declared 22 August Russian National Flag Day.

The symbolic meaning of the tricolor has changed slightly. White is seen to be the color of moral purity, the Christian faith and eternity. Blue is the color of truth and the Mother of God, the protector of Russia, the Virgin. Red is the color of strength and life. Taken together, the flag represents the eternal Virgin and the Giver of Life.

And so it could be said that the Russian flag is a kind of abstract icon that depicts, through the symbolism of color, the Mother of God holding the infant Christ.

Flags of the Day

Today is Statehood Day in Tennessee and Kentucky, marking the date in 1796 when Tennessee became the 16th member of the American Union, and the same date in the previous year when Kentucky was admitted as the 15th state.

It is Self-Rule Day in Kenya; Navy Day in Mexico; and President's Day in Palau

Three communist countries, the Peoples Republic of China, the Loa Peoples Democratic Republic, and the Republic of Mozambique, recognize today as Childhood Day. I don't know whether or not this has anything to do with Red China's "one child" birth control policy, which results in the forced abortions or post-partem infanticide of so many children.