Flags

Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh said Sunday that he has directed the Justice Department to compile a list of federal prisoners convicted of burning the U.S. flag in anticipation that they will be freed under a recent Supreme Court decision. "If someone is entitled to relief, then all are entitled to relief," Thornburgh said, referring to the high court's 5-4 decision in a Texas case, in which the justices ruled that burning the American flag is a constitutionally protected form of political protest.

Lou Hongfei is playing tour guide. His girlfriend has just arrived in the capital from the provincial city of Chongqing and he wants to show her the urban wonders of Beijing. So he has brought her to Tiananmen Square for a patriotic experience many Chinese tourists liken to the thrill of walking the Great Wall or viewing the terra cotta warriors: the quiet majesty of the flag-handling ceremony in one of the world's largest public spaces. Twice a day, out-of-towners flock to the square's imposing expanse of concrete to watch the soldiers tend to China's iconic flag -- red with five yellow stars -- as it is unfurled at dawn and calmly taken down at dusk.

Nobody's in any hurry to get anywhere this rainy morning inside Buddy's Automotive on Mechanic Street. Cecil Padgett is dropping peanuts in his bottle of Coke and talking to his old friend, Robert Thompson. Robert, 73, is black. Cecil, 68, is white. That's not supposed to matter, not anymore anyway, except this is the cradle of the Confederacy, so it still does. "They can leave it up or they can take it down. Don't make no difference to me," Cecil grunts. Robert smiles and looks at his shoes.

As high school senior Saul Corona protested proposed immigration reforms in front of Los Angeles City Hall on Monday, he did so with a Mexican flag on his head. "It's my pride. It's my roots," Corona, 18, said in an interview Tuesday. "I want to express it and show to other people where I come from, what Mexico has done for the United States." That image -- protesters waving and wearing Mexican flags -- has angered anti-illegal immigration activists.

Red-and-blue Taiwanese flags were still fluttering in the most prominent places in Chinatown on Sunday, but a crowd of people loyal to the People's Republic of China raised split-finger victory signs as their one red-and-gold flag found a home on a small lane. "I feel real proud," said David Lee, 85, who owns the office building on Bamboo Lane where the flag now flies. "We're doing it nicely, quietly. We'll be in the center [of Chinatown], in time."

No one could raise a flag -- or a controversy -- quite like white-bearded Thomas "Ski" Demski. His Long Beach neighbors once took him to court, alleging to no avail that he violated a noise ordinance by flying a 30- by 60-foot U.S. flag at night in his frontyard. A gadfly at City Council meetings, Demski regularly ran for the council or for mayor, campaigning on a motorcycle with a macaw, Peppy, on his shoulder.

Even in death, controversy and Michael Jackson can't stay away from each other. The latest dust-up comes in Carson, a working-class city the singer may have never visited, a universe away from his pricey haunts in Los Olivos, Bahrain and Holmby Hills. The problem started when Mayor Jim Dear ordered the American flag outside City Hall lowered to half-staff the day of Jackson's funeral, an honor usually reserved for dead presidents, heroes and other prominent individuals.

Fearing an outbreak of violence, 200 police officers in riot gear faced hundreds of demonstrators Monday at a protest in Little Saigon over a merchant's intention to hang the Vietnamese flag and a photograph of Ho Chi Minh in his store window. The protest by more than 500 on the eve of Tet, the Lunar New Year celebration, took place without the presence of store owner Truong Van Tran. Police had urged him not to come to the Bolsa Avenue shopping center, citing the risks.

Balancing an extraordinary wave of American patriotism against international protocol, Olympic officials decided Wednesday that the torn and tattered U.S. flag recovered at ground zero on Sept. 11 will be carried at Friday night's Winter Olympics opening ceremony. Earlier in the week, a subcommittee of the International Olympic Committee inflamed U.S. passions by saying the flag could be raised at the ceremony--but not carried by American athletes during the parade of nations.

To Doan Dinh, 60, a South Vietnamese army officer who fought with the Americans for eight years and escaped by boat in 1975, the sight of Vietnam's national flag in U.S. schools and at international events stirs anger and pain. That flag, with a yellow star on a field of red, does not represent him as an American, he said. Once the flag of North Vietnam and now the flag of a nation reunified under communism, it's what he fought against.

Lou Hongfei is playing tour guide. His girlfriend has just arrived in the capital from the provincial city of Chongqing and he wants to show her the urban wonders of Beijing. So he has brought her to Tiananmen Square for a patriotic experience many Chinese tourists liken to the thrill of walking the Great Wall or viewing the terra cotta warriors: the quiet majesty of the flag-handling ceremony in one of the world's largest public spaces. Twice a day, out-of-towners flock to the square's imposing expanse of concrete to watch the soldiers tend to China's iconic flag -- red with five yellow stars -- as it is unfurled at dawn and calmly taken down at dusk.

Federal officials seem to have waved the white flag in their battle with a group of elderly former servicemen who fly the American flag upside down as a "distress symbol" to protest commercial activities at the VA's Brentwood medical center. The Department of Veterans Affairs last week dropped charges against Robert Rosebrock alleging that he and other former military men desecrated the U.S. flag by hanging it upside down on a fence outside the agency's Wilshire Boulevard property.

A new report by Human Rights Watch charges that Israeli soldiers killed 11 unarmed Palestinian civilians who were carrying white flags in seven separate incidents during Israel's offensive in Gaza in the winter. The report says the civilians included five women and four children. The group urged Israel to investigate the deaths, which it said occurred when the civilians were "in plain view and posed no apparent security threat." The group says at least three witnesses confirmed the details in each of the seven shootings.

Even in death, controversy and Michael Jackson can't stay away from each other. The latest dust-up comes in Carson, a working-class city the singer may have never visited, a universe away from his pricey haunts in Los Olivos, Bahrain and Holmby Hills. The problem started when Mayor Jim Dear ordered the American flag outside City Hall lowered to half-staff the day of Jackson's funeral, an honor usually reserved for dead presidents, heroes and other prominent individuals.

Residents on a quiet street awoke Friday to find that the American flags hanging outside their homes had been burned overnight, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Department. Four American flags were burned and one decorative flag was also destroyed, said Sgt. Sherrie Thompson. Another homeowner discovered that his flag, attached to a pole, was missing. The neighbors, all in the 28800 block of Placida Avenue, had put up the flags in observance of the Fourth of July, Thompson said.

This is one battle that will probably be decided by whichever side is most "distressed" -- officials of the VA Medical Center in West Los Angeles, or a group of protesting veterans. On Sunday, demonstrators plan to gather by the VA grounds and display an upside-down American flag "as a signal of dire distress." They contend that agency policies have placed the VA property in "extreme danger."

Thousands cheered Sunday as the blue-and-white Star of David flag was raised for the first time in front of the Israeli Consulate on Wilshire Boulevard. "As we mark 60 years of Israeli independence, as we paint Wilshire Boulevard blue and white, we must reaffirm in one voice our support for the Jewish state," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa told those gathered for the flag-raising ceremony.

The American flag has many labels: Stars and Stripes. Old Glory. And sometimes, made in China. Congress can't halt the flow of Chinese-made flags, but lawmakers can try to control where they are flown. The House declared that any flag flown on federal property should be made in the U.S. "It's not a major problem facing the nation," said Rep. Bob Filner (D-Chula Vista). "But it's an irritant." Filner, chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, wanted to force the government to buy only U.S.-made flags.

No one could raise a flag -- or a controversy -- quite like white-bearded Thomas "Ski" Demski. His Long Beach neighbors once took him to court, alleging to no avail that he violated a noise ordinance by flying a 30- by 60-foot U.S. flag at night in his frontyard. A gadfly at City Council meetings, Demski regularly ran for the council or for mayor, campaigning on a motorcycle with a macaw, Peppy, on his shoulder.

Being a Leader By Dorian, 5th Grade Wildwood School Los Angeles If you are around people who tease, hurt or try to embarrass kids, people will think you are part of that "crime" -- even if you are the nicest person in the world. If the people you spend your time with are like that, talk to them and see if they even understand what they are doing. If they change, then great. If not, don't hang out with them. At first you might feel like you don't have any friends. But as you try to find new friends, you'll find that people you thought would never be your friends are drawn to you. In fact, they had wanted to be friends ever since they've known you. After you've learned more about your new friends, you'll feel as proud as I did. -- Flags By Christina, 7 Kit Carson Elementary Lawndale Flags fly. Flags wave.