the American flag is a symbol just like a word is a symbol. dont abandon the symbol to the government or a political faction. use it as you chose. it is your absolute right.

Chris Wallace really stuck his neck with that controversial comment. You mean there are adults out there who think wearing a flag pin is the exact same thing as being patriotic? I wear a flag pin and have always been against our militaristic trend. that trend itself is unpatriotic and anticonstitutional. My flag pin is an anti- dictator statement.

Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore
© John Prine

While digesting Reader's Digest
In the back of a dirty book store,
A plastic flag, with gum on the back,
Fell out on the floor.
Well, I picked it up and I ran outside
Slapped it on my window shield,
And if I could see old Betsy Ross
I'd tell her how good I feel.

Chorus:
But your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more.
They're already overcrowded
From your dirty little war.
Now Jesus don't like killin'
No matter what the reason's for,
And your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more.

Well, I went to the bank this morning
And the cashier he said to me,
"If you join the Christmas club
We'll give you ten of them flags for free."
Well, I didn't mess around a bit
I took him up on what he said.
And I stuck them stickers all over my car
And one on my wife's forehead.

Repeat Chorus:

Well, I got my window shield so filled
With flags I couldn't see.
So, I ran the car upside a curb
And right into a tree.
By the time they got a doctor down
I was already dead.
And I'll never understand why the man
Standing in the Pearly Gates said...

"But your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more.
We're already overcrowded
From your dirty little war.
Now Jesus don't like killin'
No matter what the reason's for,
And your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more."

Everyone knows these people in politics are Americans, so what does wearing a pin prove? Nothing. The flag pin thing is such a redherring issue. It's Patriotism for Dummies.

The pins were made in China and recently recalled due to extreme amounts of lead.

No wonder our federal politicians have been so bizarre and ineffective:

since 2001 they've had a lead induced brain impairment.

.

Nazi party members wore swastzer pins and arm bans to show loyalty to the Führe and the party. If they were really good nazis Hitler himself would pin it on your suit or dress as was the case with Maria Magdalena Goebbels before she killed her 5 children and than was shot by her husband in order to die with the Führe, Berlin 1945.

I not sure this tradition that mostly Republicans have adopted is something to be prowed of. It has not been the tradion of our American Democracy for civilian leaders to ware their patriotism on their there sleeve, so to speak, even after Perl Harbor, it frankly gives me the creeps. When Larry Craig wore his flag pin in his mug shoot, I found that more appalling than his wide stance.

I wonder if this means people will stop with the magnetic ribbons, or giant American Flag stickers splashed across their rear windows on their cars?

Anyone who has to wear a flag lapel pin, is a total idiot. If they don't have any idea what country they are in by now, they should be deported for obviously being an illegal alien.

This is by far the most shocking video relating to "lapel pin"-gate. In it, a conservative radio host makes some of the most glaringly partisan and absurd statements I've heard in weeks (and thats saying something)

FOX News & Mark Williams
http://beta.redlasso.com/Community/ClipPlayer.aspx?i=3f0528aa-a052-4a85-8513-0c1b1fff791a

If we continue to choose presidents based on phony displays of patriotism, we will continue to get the kind of "phony soldier" presidents we deserve.

Clearly a simple pin does not make someone more patriotic than another. But Obama is not just making a wardrobe choice, he is making a statement as well. This statement basically treats the display of the flag and “true patriotism” as mutually exclusive. He says that he will demonstrate his patriotism by telling people what “will make this country great.” (Some of us believe it's already great.) Can he not act and speak patriotically at the same time that he dresses patriotically?

Read more and discuss this at http://www.thecoin.org

Also while it appeals to cheap patriotism it's technically in violation of the flag code.

Wearing a flag lapel pin isn't disrespecting the flag at all, in fact it's doing the exact opposite. Where was Napolitano a judge, the county fair?

The flag should not be worn as a pin anyway. Per the flag code:

"The flag should not be used as part of a costume or athletic uniform, except that a flag patch may be used on the uniform of military personnel, firefighters, police officers, and members of patriotic organizations. Flag lapel pins may also be worn."

In addition to being a patch on a uniform, a lapel pin is acceptable... on a uniform. Wearing a flag, except on an official uniform, is a violation of the flag code and, therefore, offensive to the flag.

I respect purposeful violations of the code as a means of expression, but I despite violations done in ignorance under the pretext of patriotism. Either respect it properly or disrespect it intentionally, but break the code and claim you respect the flag.

I could care less about who wears what.

One does wonder why he mentioned it, though. If he had simply stopped wearing one, who would have noticed?

Conservative radio jocks are bashing Obama about his flag pin remark. If you look at what he said, what exactly is wrong with him not wearing the flag on his lapel? Does wearing that pin somehow make you more patriotic? This is the way the right is, all talk but no action. They talk about patriotism, but when its time to serve your nation they all suddenly develop anal cysts.