Nobody's more patriotic, says upside-down Flag Boy
In his column in the Times yesterday, David Brooks compared the “talk jocks”—Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, et al.—to the Wizard of Oz, an apparent behemoth who turns out to be a funny little man behind a curtain.
The talk jocks, Brooks says, “ride the airwaves claiming to speak for millions,” when in truth they speak for a “mere niche.” They’re just funny little men, speaking for a small group of Stupid People.Seems like the Stupid People are more than a niche, though.
Yesterday, the Register (Former Marine's upside-down flag is 'distress' call) described one of these Stupid People, a guy named Cason who lives in San Clemente. He’s flying the American flag upside down. “It’s a sign of distress,” he says.
"I think the United States is in distress right now, with all that's going on," he says. "I'm not a socialist ... I like our freedom. ... I don't like higher taxes. I've never known anybody that's been able to ... borrow your way out of being in debt or to borrow your way into wealth. I actually feel that we're being held hostage by the Congress ... and our president."I guess Cason forgot about Reagan’s spectacular deficit spending. He’s stupid and has a lousy memory to boot.
Cason, being stupid, is perplexed by the incident. He cites the “flag code,” according to which an upside-down flag is a distress signal to be used “in instances of extreme danger to life or property.”
Obviously, Cason is misreading the code. The young Marine got it right.
But Cason is stupid, and so he persists in his misreading. He bought a replacement flag, which, naturally, is hanging upside down outside his home.
As if to leave no doubt that he is one of the stupidest people in the country, he next appealed to the Constitution:
"You know," he says, "I heard under the First Amendment that we have the right of expression."Gosh, by that reasoning, flag burning would be—well, you know.
