Well, this is pretty outrageous. I’m not so easily offended, I think, as some middle-aged white guys. I believe in liberal applications of the First Amendment. But really.

At a recent protest against pending immigration reform, students at Montebello High School here in Southern California hauled down the American flag, and hoisted the Mexican flag — with Old Glory upside down underneath it. This is documented here , on Michelle Malkin’s blog.

Who is raising these miscreants, that they would do something so profoundly stupid, so abjectly insensitive to the memories of men and women of all races who’ve died under that flag? If I were a Latino veteran of the US military, I’d be pretty pissed at these idiots.

As Malkins writes:

“I predict this stunt will be the nail in the coffin of any guest-worker/amnesty plan on the table in Washington. The image of the American flag subsumed by another and turned upside down on American soil is already spreading on Internet forums and via e-mail.”

And that’s exactly how I found out about it. And here it is:

Who do these kids think they are? That’s not their flag to mess with. It belongs to all of us. … I could go on. Suffice it to say this was a selfish, moronic, juvenile act that really makes me mad. And it won’t go far to helping the cause of immigrant rights.

The simplest questions are the most profound.
Where were you born?
Where is your home?
Where are you going?
What are you doing?
Think about these once in a while and watch your answers change.

-Richard Bach

“In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here does in good faith become an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with every one else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed or birthplace or origin. But this is predicated upon the man’s becoming in very fact an American and nothing but an American.

“If he tries to keep segregated with men of his own origin and separated from the rest of America, then he isn’t doing his part as an American.

“We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red flag which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization just as much as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile. We have room for but one language here and that is the English language, for we intend to see that the crucible turns our people out as Americans, and American nationality, and not as dwellers in a polyglot boarding house; and we have room for but one soul [sic] loyalty, and that is loyalty to the American people.”

— Theodore Roosevelt, 1919

Here’s a little Sunday night quiz for ya. What’s the fastest land animal in North America? (Also fastest in the world for more than a short sprint.) It can sprint as fast as 60 mph and can sustain a speed of 30 mph for miles!

Give up? Pretty cool, huh?

The Guardian has a review of the novel Black Swan Green, by David Mitchell.

“Novels written from the child’s point of view are never written by children; they are written by adults for whom this particular bliss has long been over. Something about that warping is now apparently known about and has prompted the writer to recreate it, to write more knowingly about a time of relative naivety. Children are not interested in childhood, but they can be used to say things in novels that no one else can say, things that are best said by children.
“

William Zinsser, author of On Writing Well, has this advice on writing a memoir.

You have to admire the tenacity of our fearsome leader. Like a dog chewing on a chain link fence, he’s tenaciously refused to let go of the guys who cause him the most political backwash. He resigned Andy Card, but in a fit of loyalty replaced him with Bolton, the presumably burned-out guy in charge of the national debt. And in a delicious display of stubborness, he’s holding on to Reichminister Rumsfeld, come what may.

I love it. No matter how deep the hole, he just keeps digging.

Soon, Mr. All Hat, No Catle may actually have hope for a positive legacy: Maybe, when he digs through to China, he’ll send back some of our manufacturing jobs.

Here’s one to file under Strange But True. This Colorado woman was taken to jail for installing a new garage door, on her own home. I hope she sues the Powers that Be until they can’t sit down without squealing.

TheDenverChannel.com – News

Domestic abuse protection extended to pets

“PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Spurred by growing evidence of a link between domestic violence and animal abuse, Maine has enacted a first-in-the-nation law that allows judges to include pets in protection orders for spouses and partners leaving abusive relationships.

In helping pets, advocates hope to help battered women and others who aren’t willing to abandon their animals to get out of a bad relationship.
“