Patriots for America - Ireland

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Comment by DJ "El Gato" Czerniejewski on September 28, 2009 at 8:15am

Flag Burner Pilloried by Veterans
September 28, 2009
Times Union, Albany, N.Y.

VALLEY FALLS, N.Y. -- This is a red, white and blue village that is still seeing red after a flag that flew over Iraq was burned by a 21-year-old.

The payback? He was publicly humiliated last Sunday by being duct-taped to the flagpole of Veterans of Foreign War 1938 say he desecrated Sept. 18.

Nick Normile, post commander and Vietnam War veteran, said he's been flooded with calls from media outlets since the events of last week received attention from local TV stations and newspapers. He's been asked to go live on a veterans radio show program from Tennessee, another radio show from Chicago and even received a call from NBC studios in New York City.

But Normile said he's not planning to let the story get any more attention and has declined appearances.

"I'm not trying to be some martyr or hero," Normile said. "I just did what I thought was right."

The 21-year-old appeared intoxicated when he entered the VFW post on the day of the alleged act, Normile said. When the man was refused service for not having a proper ID, he ran out in a fit of anger. He cut the rope of the flag, which had once flown over troops in Iraq, and ignited it with a cigarette lighter.

Two days later, Normile said the man was forced to sit in the sun pilloried for six hours as townspeople gathered across the street for a youth soccer picnic. A sign was hung around his neck detailing what he had done. It recalled the Middle Ages punishment, subjecting him to public humiliation and scorn.

"He'll never disrespect the flag again, I can tell you that," Normile said on Friday.

A week later villagers were hush-hush about the event, but patrons of the post bar gave a nod of agreement to the punishment, pointing proudly to a newspaper clipping of the event on a bulletin board.

Patriotism is on open display in this village of about 500, the walls of a defunct railroad bridge near it's entrance now brightly colored red, white and blue. Most of the historical homes have American flags of their own hanging from porches, some also adorned with the Don't Tread on Me flag, popular with Tea Party activists.

Normile said once he found out what the man had done, he knew he had to be taught a lesson. Normile said he went out hunting for him, but when he couldn't find him at his apartment, he sought the help of the man's uncle to bring him out.

"He manned up, he knew he had punishment coming, " said Normile, who described the young man he refused to identify as guilty and ashamed.

"I told him to think about those kids in the foxhole, and how they had no one to set them free, " Normile said. "It got to him, so I was satisfied. He showed a lot of remorse, no attitude."

Normile said the flag, whose pieces will be retired in a formal ceremony, had significant meaning. The villages auxiliary had been sending toiletries and other goods to Soldiers in Iraq, who then sent back the flag that had flown over their bunker. It was received with great attention and a ceremony.

State troopers and Rensselaer County sheriffs deputies said no charges had been filed by either the VFW post or the man.

Comment by DJ "El Gato" Czerniejewski on September 22, 2009 at 5:03am

Too many people spend money they haven't earned to buy things they don't want, to impress people they don't like.

- Will Rogers

Comment by DJ "El Gato" Czerniejewski on September 21, 2009 at 11:01am

"Man, once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind. With such persons, gullibility, which they call faith, takes the helm from the hand of reason and the mind becomes a wreck."

--Thomas Jefferson

Comment by DJ "El Gato" Czerniejewski on September 20, 2009 at 5:22am

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.

- Abraham Lincoln

Comment by DJ "El Gato" Czerniejewski on September 16, 2009 at 12:30pm

Shaking his head in disbelief, my husband broke the following news: The Army was making everyone on base -- from generals to cooks to chaplains -- take a class on ethics, which would be taught by someone in the Judge Advocate General's Corps (JAG). "Leave it to the Army," he said, "to have a lawyer teach ethics to a chaplain!"

-- Kimberly Cameron

Comment by DJ "El Gato" Czerniejewski on September 14, 2009 at 1:00pm

I'm proud of yas! Ya done good, let the nation, if not Barry "O", know we ain't gonna take no more. Geez, a million or more...imagine that! It may not worry the dumbshit in the whitehouse, but it showed the rest of conservative America that we are a force to be reckoned with. "GO AMERICA!!!"

Comment by DJ "El Gato" Czerniejewski on September 14, 2009 at 5:01am

A champion is someone who gets up, even when he can't.

- Jack Dempsey

Comment by DJ "El Gato" Czerniejewski on September 12, 2009 at 5:07pm

Folks, if I am still alive when the NWO starts in this country, your fave feline will not last long. I am reminded of a great American who uttered words that I live by everyday of my life when Patrick Henry said "Give me liberty or give me death!" I'm spoiled! I have lived far too long in a free land to be subjugated now. My mother's ancestors were, but not me.
"NEVER AGAIN!"

Comment by DJ "El Gato" Czerniejewski on September 11, 2009 at 12:21pm

"To judge from the history of mankind, we shall be compelled to conclude that the fiery and destructive passions of war reign in the human breast with much more powerful sway than the mild and beneficent sentiments of peace; and that to model our political systems upon speculations of lasting tranquillity would be to calculate on the weaker springs of human character."

--Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 34, 1788

Comment by DJ "El Gato" Czerniejewski on September 11, 2009 at 6:26am

In honor of the 9-11 victims

The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul:
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name' sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil: For thou art with me;
Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies;
Thou annointest my head with oil; My cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever.

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