Should flags be lowered for Whitney Houston?

Seriously???????? How did this even come up as an option? It's a disgrace.

http://usat.ly/yhaOwC

Either we are equal or we are not. Affirmative Re-Action!

Either we are equal or we are not. Affirmative Re-Action!

The governor can dip the New Jersey flag if he wants to. I don't think he gets to decide protocol for the US flag, in my opinion.

Unless there is some fitting precedent here that I haven't thought of, I don't think the governor should be setting it.

I don't know enough about Houston's public service life nor her relationship to New Jersey to warrant any other opinion.

NO! What the hell is going on? What are we trying to say? Put out a few records and suddenly you are more important that a soldier who dies for his country? They don't lower the flag every time we lose someone overseas. Also, her singing career is enough to cancel out her obvious rampant use of cocaine?

it's very sad when someone's daughter, mother, sister etc dies prematurely. she was a public figure and so it follows that her life/death be remembered in a more public fashion. but lowering the flag is supposed to be set aside for people who lived an honorable life dedicated to serving the public. in my opinion, Ms Houston does not fit that category and lowering the flag for her diminishes it's meaning for those for whom it was lowered before.

yz9890 said:

it's very sad when someone's daughter, mother, sister etc dies prematurely. she was a public figure and so it follows that her life/death be remembered in a more public fashion. but lowering the flag is supposed to be set aside for people who lived an honorable life dedicated to serving the public. in my opinion, Ms Houston does not fit that category and lowering the flag for her diminishes it's meaning for those for whom it was lowered before.

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Exactly!

In a word: "No".

Most of the people I've encountered and actually discussed flag code with are surprisingly ignorant to it. In some cases, it can actually be against the law to break flag code. It's a class B misdemeanor to burn the flag in Utah (http://le.utah.gov/~code/TITLE76/htm/76_09_060100.htm). What they don't know is that's the proper way to dispose of it. All those poor naughty boy scouts.

A bit ago, I read a story (I cannot find the link but, to my recollection whatever that's worth, this is what happened) where a fire house had dipped their flag in respect to one of theirs that they had lost. The governor freaked out and told them to raise it full staff since it was against the law.

Flag code is confusing, especially when you have so many people enforcing rules differently. I remember watching people gasp in horror when people from a foreign country would burn the US flag. How disrespectful, right? I'd chuckle and vocally thank them for disposing of the flag properly. Most people never understood that, nor do they care. Is it patriotic to wear a shirt with a flag on it? Nope, against flag code. Is it enforced? Obviously not. Should it be? That debate's for another time and date.

As for dipping the flag for Whitney, while it is against flag code and personally, not something I would do, I don't really care. I understand people hold traditions pretty close but, I don't think doing something like this lessens the respect some of us hold for our veterans, active duty, fire fighters, etc etc. I know I still respect our men and women in uniform just as much as I did yesterday and will continue to respect them the same tomorrow regardless of what anyone does to Ol' Glory.

yellowsport20 said:

They don't lower the flag every time we lose someone overseas.

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And I'd say that our military members deserve the honor more than an entertainer.

yz9890 said:

lowering the flag is supposed to be set aside for people who lived an honorable life dedicated to serving the public.

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That was my impression.

ThatOneChick said:

Is it patriotic to wear a shirt with a flag on it? Nope, against flag code.
Is it enforced? Obviously not.

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Ditto for things like paper plates, napkins, & cups that are so often used at 4th of July parties.
All against the flag code.

I don't think doing something like this lessens the respect some of us hold for our veterans, active duty, fire fighters, etc etc. I know I still respect our men and women in uniform just as much as I did yesterday and will continue to respect them the same tomorrow regardless of what anyone does to Ol' Glory.

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I see what you mean.
Sort of like how whomever you [generic person] choose to date / have sex with / marry has no impact on my relationship. My relationship is still mine & has whatever attributes I choose to believe it has. (Personally, I think the celeb "marriages" that last 3 weeks, & pet "marriages", as well as the high divorce rate, do more to cheapen the institution than do the "nontraditional" unions.)

Also, the flag is a symbol. Protestors in other countries think that they'll degrade us by degrading our symbol. Magical thinking. Doesn't change reality or how we feel about the US.

Wha-wha wha-WHAT!?!?!?!

Whitney Spears is dead?

OMG!

Where's my bong dude? Here's to you Whitney Spears! Hey. Are you gonna do that line?

They're lowing the bar, might as well lower the flag to match.

It is an outrage. I think we should lower the flag for people who serve this country (really anyone who serve, not just military, politicians, LEO, etc) before we lower the flag for just anyone.

I'll say the same thing I said when Michael Jackson died and people were literally crying in the aisles of the store where I worked.

I'm not going to get one less Christmas card this year, so wtf do I care?

I say collective America stops hero-worshipping dumbass celebs and resumes daily life.

Did they lower the flag for Michael Jackson? Not saying they should have, just wondering. He had a way bigger impact on music than Whitney did. Idol worship in this country has truly gone to the dogs. smh

f&%* no.

I'm cool with a candlelight vigil though.

Whitney who...???????

Outdoorsman1

As someone who served, I find this distasteful and disrespecting to public servants that earned the right to have a flag lowered in their memory. She has not earned that honor. So I am giving a big HELL NO!

Why would we lower the flag for a drug addict???

Politicians....we lower flags for politicians....why not Whitney?

A flag at half staff only represents a invisible flag of death. Your family might want to lower a flag out of respect for you or another family member's death. As far as a government entity honoring a citizen like this, it doesn't bother me. I find no disrespect.

ThatOneChick said:

It's a class B misdemeanor to burn the flag in Utah (http://le.utah.gov/~code/TITLE76/htm/76_09_060100.htm)

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Like any unconstitutional law, this one is of no effect. It is a legislative act, but it creates no misdemeanor. (At least in theory.)

Is it patriotic to wear a shirt with a flag on it? Nope, against flag code. Is it enforced? Obviously not. Should it be? That debate's for another time and date.

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See above.