Chapter 718A is a whopper. It reads: "Any person who in any manner, for exhibition or display, shall place or cause to be placed, any word, figure, mark, picture, design, drawing, or any advertisement of any nature, upon any flag, standard, color, ensign, shield, or other insignia of the United States, or upon any flag, ensign, great seal, or other insignia of this state, or shall expose or cause to be exposed to public view, any such flag, standard, color, ensign, shield, or other insignia of the United States, or any such flag, ensign, great seal, or other insignia of this state, upon which shall have been printed, painted, or otherwise placed, or to which shall be attached, appended, affixed, or annexed, any word, figure, mark, picture, design, or drawing, or any advertisement of any nature, or who shall expose to public view, manufacture, sell, expose for sale, give away, or have in possession for sale, or to give away, or for use for any purpose any article or substance, being an article of merchandise or a receptacle of merchandise or article or thing for carrying or transporting merchandise, upon which shall have been printed, painted, attached or otherwise placed, a representation of any such flag, standard, color, ensign, shield, or other insignia of the United States, or any such flag, ensign, great seal, or other insignia of this state, to advertise, call attention to, decorate, mark, or distinguish the article or substance on which so placed, or who shall publicly mutilate, deface, defile or defy, trample upon, cast contempt upon, satirize, deride or burlesque, either by words or act, such flag, standard, color, ensign, shield, or other insignia of the United States, or flag, ensign, great seal, or other insignia of this state, or who shall, for any purpose, place such flag, standard, color, ensign, shield, or other insignia of the United States, or flag, ensign, great seal, or other insignia of this state, upon the ground or where the same may be trod upon, shall be deemed guilty of a simple misdemeanor."
AlterNet: Rights and Liberties: Upside Down Flag turns Free Speech Upside Down
It's an excerpt from a state law dating back to 1900, and was just used by police in Ottumwa to arrest some kid rocker who was staging a protest in his front yard. Read the article.
The article's headline is misleading, IMO. My guess would be it wasn't necessarily the flag's upside downedness that caused the fuss. Nonetheless, the article correctly points out the real problem with this kind of law - it is invariably enforced selectively for political purposes. I'd have to bet there is a violation of this law on every block in Ottumwa and in every other Iowa city, but because these violations are, in the main, nothing but good old-fashioned American enthusiasm for war they are ignored.
And this is what the controversy over the so-called "flag desecration amendment" is all about.
I'll listen to what the Rs have to say about flag burning when they add putting it on bumper stickers to their list of evil desecrations. Until then, they can keep their hands off my flag.
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2 comments:
Wow! That's all one sentence? Do you suppose there's a special class in law school for that?
I don't know. But they are in Iowa, don't forget. And maybe that's just an average sentence to people who spend a lot of time watching corn grow.
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