Granholm's flag order for fallen soldiers draws fire
"It is unknowable how long that conflict will last. It could last six days, six weeks. I doubt six months."- Donald Rumsfeld 11/14/02.

What Don neglected to tell us is that this was the beginning of the perpetual "War on Terror", a war that will have no conceivable end. I wonder if Granholm knew that when she started lowering the flag for Michigan soldiers.

FLINT, Mich. (AP) - Criticism of Gov. Jennifer Granholm's order that U.S. and Michigan flags be flown at half-staff to honor soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan caught a top aide by surprise.

Granholm has ordered the flags lowered 67 times since December 2003. Governors in more than a dozen states, including Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Minnesota, have issued similar orders.

But critics say the policy violates the U.S. Flag Code, which they say was intended to honor only high-ranking government and elected officials, not soldiers or National Guard members.

"The world seems to be caught up in this frame of mind where it's not enough to say we're sorry (for a death) to show our compassion and our patriotism," said Bruce Butgereit of Kentwood, national patriotic instructor for the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.

"We are now taking it upon ourselves to use our national symbols to stretch the Flag Code to its limits," Butgereit told The Flint Journal for a story published Sunday.

Because to these folks, symbols are more important than people. After all, I'm not hearing a big protest about slashing veterans health benefits, giving them inadequate protection on the battlefield, or forcing them to do two or three or four tours of duty and then ignoring the mental and physical problems they might have when they come home, problems that drive some of them to live in the streets.

We won't speak of those things, because it's not the soldiers themselves that concern these people, it's that piece of cloth they hold above everything else, so much so that someone like Bill Frist thinks a flag burning amendment is job one for the US Senate right now. (Well, that and denying a certain group of Americans equal rights. I guess our soldiers are only fighting for some folks to be free.)

Granholm spokeswoman extraordinaire Liz Boyd seemed to be taken aback by all of this. I don't blame her. I doubt a Republican governor would have been questioned in this way. If the positions were reversed, Granholm would have been tarred as being "unpatriotic" or "unAmerican" or a "Saddam lover" or any of the other names that were bandied about when the war started. She would be looked at with disgust, and it would be said that she "didn't support the troops".

"The U.S. (flag) code provides the governor with that option, and the governor has chosen to exercise it," Boyd said. "Where is the controversy in honoring brave men and women who are fighting for our freedoms in Iraq and Afghanistan? The controversy is lost on me.

"We are not the flag police. Our focus has been in honoring the fallen heroes," Boyd said.

And, of course, Dick doesn't agree, and would change the policy. Seems Dick would only honor "important" people.

Granholm's Republican opponent, Dick DeVos, would reverse the governor's policy.

"Dick would take a more literal approach," DeVos campaign spokesman John Truscott said. "While he certainly believes that honoring veterans who have given their lives is extremely important, lowering the flag has typically been reserved for heads of state."

Because the "little guy" doesn't count in Dick's world. It never does. While Granholm is calling soldier's families as they fall and spending time with them this Memorial Day, Dick would take away their special day of state honor and reserve it only for the most powerful of this world.

She said there would be striking differences in this campaign- here is but one of them.

I wasn't even going to write about this in terms of the governor's race, but since Dick opened his yap, it's only fair that I point it out.

This next statement takes the prize for callousness though, and I am embarrassed that this is originating from my hometown.

History buff Jeannine Trybus of Grand Rapids said fallen soldiers deserve honor and respect, but not at the expense of tradition.

"I think every time that flag comes down it cheapens the gesture," said Trybus, a member of the Grand Rapids Civil War Roundtable. "I don't believe the soldiers expect this. There are so many people denigrating the United States. I don't think we should be part of that by denigrating one of our own symbols and its meaning."

Honoring a fallen soldier is "denigrating" to the flag.

Now I have heard everything.

This whole episode enraged me at first, but now I am only saddened by the fact that there are people who hold symbols more important than human beings. But I have to remember- these men and women died for that woman's right to speak her mind.

So be it.

I know I stop and think everytime I see that flag at half-staff. I remember that there is a kid behind it, a grieving family behind it, and I pause and silently thank them for their sacrifice, and I dream of a day when war is no more.

Given the nature of mankind, I don't think that day will ever come.