Capitol flag policy assailed

[rpp]

This is an interesting, though not surprising, turn of events.

A group of Republican lawmakers is demanding the architect of the U.S. Capitol reverse a policy that bans the use of the word “God” on flag certificates sent to constituents.

Rep. Michael R. Turner of Ohio said one of his constituents, Paul Larochelle, recently requested to receive a flag that had flown over the Capitol. Mr. Larochelle’s son had hoped to present the flag and the accompanying certificate to his grandfather, an Army veteran.

The Larochelles wanted the certificate’s inscription to read, in part: “In honor of my grandfather, Marcel Larochelle, and his dedication and love of God, country and family.” However, when the flag and the certificate arrived at Mr. Turner’s office from the architect of the U.S. Capitol’s office, which handles the Capitol flag program, the word “God” had been eliminated.

Full Story

 

[rpp]

And here is what the AFA has to say about it.

www3.capwiz.com/afanet/issues/alert/?alertid=10410271

 

[Digitonomy]

The second article claims that this prohibition is a new thing, but gives no evidence to support its claim. And since it’s more a solicitation of action than a news article, it’s hard to say how reliable the claim may be.

Nonetheless, I think Pelosi’s solution is probably the best way to go (from the first article):

The proposal would have the architect certify that the flag was flown, and then a member of Congress could add the constituent’s message separately, Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly said.

Otherwise, you’ll have the flags sporting certificates saying “in honor of our Lord and savior David Koresh.”

 

[gilliam]

From the first article:

A spokesman for Mrs. Pelosi said a Democratic proposal may help solve the problem.

The proposal would have the architect certify that the flag was flown, and then a member of Congress could add the constituent’s message separately, Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly said.

“It will be resolved in the near future,” he said.

Lawmakers receive more than 100,000 requests from constituents each year for flags that have flown over the Capitol.

washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071006/NATION/110060042/1001&template=nextpage

I like this idea.

 

[jc-servant]

This seems like a tempest in a teapot. It seems like people are always looking for something to complain about. I just read something in one of my government publications recently about this office and how they do the flags. It said that they have had the same policy for years about not placing a religious or personal message of any kind in their official certification of the flag.

It would make sense if they always use a standard form for certification that only states the basics such as this flag flew above the US capitol on such and such a day. I would not ever expect them to take the time to compose individual messages for each request.

It is the responsibility of the individual Congressperson from whose district the request for the flag originated to put in a personal message or not. If they want to put in something religious, they already can. There is no official policy preventing it. If I can find a link to the article, then I will post it.

 

[gilliam]

This seems like a tempest in a teapot. It seems like people are always looking for something to complain about. I just read something in one of my government publications recently about this office and how they do the flags. It said that they have had the same policy for years about not placing a religious or personal message of any kind in their official certification of the flag.

It would make sense if they always use a standard form for certification that only states the basics such as this flag flew above the US capitol on such and such a day. I would not ever expect them to take the time to compose individual messages for each request.

It is the responsibility of the individual Congressperson from whose district the request for the flag originated to put in a personal message or not. If they want to put in something religious, they already can. There is no official policy preventing it. If I can find a link to the article, then I will post it.

Here is the flag order form from Jon Kyl’s office:

kyl.senate.gov/constit_center/flag.pdf