In other words: A discussion of The Bush Administration
Iraq is Burning! Quick, let's design a new flag!
Iraq gets new flag, drops 'God is Great'
Yeah, you can't have the phrase "God is Great," because in Iraq we're going to set up a wall between church and state, something we should try (ummm.... what's that say on my money "in God we Trust?" I guess that isn't saying he is great or not... just that he is trust worthy).
Yes, I know, under Saddam there was a pretty strict separation of church and unjust totalitarian state. We've actually introduced church back into the laws of Iraq... we've just dropped religion from the flag... for some reason. Nothing better to do I guess.
The new flag is white, with two parallel blue strips across the bottom representing the rivers and a yellow stripe between them representing Iraq's Kurdish minority. Above the stripes is a blue crescent representing Islam.
Council spokesman, Hameed al-Kafaei, said the U.S.-picked council approved the design as the new official flag though the artist was asked to touch up the color of the crescent, perhaps to a darker blue or a different color.
They were also thinking that a little pink at the edges would emphasize the kinder softer Iraq, but then they thought that'd be gay. They also rejected the all seeing eye pyramid as just plain spooky, beside Sumerians built ziggurats, not pyramids. Bremer's folks drew up one with a light blue croissant, but sheepishly removed it from discussion when they realized everyone was talking about using a crescent.
The old Iraq flag had a red and white bands across the top and bottom, with a white band between them with three green stars. During the 1980s Iran-Iraq war, Saddam added the Arabic words "Allahu akbar", or "God is great", to boost the religious credentials of his secular regime.
Bah ha ha. Silly Iraqis, falling for that old "I am having a war for no legitimate reason so I'll pretend I am pious and connected to god to build support from religious zealots" trick. Sadly, that trick never gets old now does it.
Seriously though:
One council member said the Iraqi leadership should wait for an elected government before altering such a major national symbol.
"In my opinion, it should be not be passed until we have a parliament," Mahmoud Othman said. "I think there are issues more important to concentrate on now than the changing of the flag."
Really, if you're going to have a new national flag, perhaps a government the represents the nation, i.e. a "democratically" elected government, should be the one to choose it.
- rob 2:46 PM - [PermaLink] -
----
TCS Now offers a News Reader Feed
Subscribe to the TCS Feed
Having trouble with some of the poor English
on this site?
Imagine what it looks like when translated by a machine:
This is a "team" blog. We are a bunch of
Americans, whose rising distress
in our leader's decisions brought us together to make this site.
As Bush said, he's a "uniter." Many of us have never even met.
That's the internet for you.
Buy our cool stuff.
And tell everyone what you feel.
We have a little Store
you can visit.
Our store's selection of items is constantly growing. Come
see what we have.
We're also Amazon Associates, so if you want to buy something from Amazon, please search for it below, and we will get a few bucks from the sale.
Static Sky
Tin Foil Caps
The Free Speech Zone
The office of the independent blogger
Buzzflash
Tom The Dancing Bug
VerifiedVoting.org
Get Your War
On
This Modern World
Eschaton / Atrios
Daily Kos
meowpurrmeow
Contribute to America's Future
It is now more important then ever.
Donate to the Democractic Congressional Campaign Committee
Donate to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
Some More Site Mottos
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the
president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is
not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the
American people."
- Teddy Roosevelt
"Government has a final responsibility for the well-being of
its citizenship. If private cooperative endeavor fails to provide work
for willing hands and relief for the unfortunate, those suffering
hardship from no fault of their own have a right to call upon the
Government for aid; and a government worthy of its name must make
fitting response."
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt
"I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and Constitutions, but laws must and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."
- Thomas Jefferson
"The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home."
"All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain
degree."
- James Madison
"I believe in human dignity as the source of national purpose, in human liberty as the source of national action, in the human heart as the source of national compassion, and in the human mind as the source of our invention and our ideas. It is, I believe, the faith in our fellow citizens as individuals and as people that lies at the heart of the liberal faith. For liberalism is not so much a party creed or set of fixed platform promises as it is an attitude of mind and heart, a faith in man's ability through the experiences of his reason and judgment to increase for himself and his fellow men the amount of justice and freedom and brotherhood which all human life deserves."
- John F. Kennedy
"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are [a] few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
more coming...
