Lowering the flag has lost all its meaning if we don't do it for real heroes

I have not blogged about Whitney Houston's dead because most people that I know have saturated their blogs, Twitter feeds and Facebook Walls talking about her dead as it's the end of the world. Well, I am sorry, I liked her a lot, but it's not the end of the world.

But when you elevate Whitney, or any other celebrity to the level of a soldier, who fights for the freedom of a country, and sacrifices his life for it, that's disgusting. I would do have great respect for fire fighters, cops, and even some doctors, but not Whitney Houston. She died, as Jim West  has already said,

It cheapens the meaning of the respect duly shown to those who have died in service to others.  Whitney Houston died, and it's a tragedy, but she didn't die on some field of battle or fighting some horrible blaze: she died from excessive self indulgence.  That hardly merits the same respect soldiers and patriots are shown.

But read at what a parent of a fallen soldier did upon hearing what the Governor of New Jersey ordered to remember the death of Whitney Houston:

When John Burri heard that New Jersey ordered flags flown at half-staff to honor Whitney Houston, he drove to his local Flags Unlimited store, bought a New Jersey state flag, brought it to his Michigan home, and burned it on his outdoor grill. "It was $12.95 and it was the best money I ever spent," says the father of Army Spc. Eric Burri, who was killed in Iraq in 2005. Michigan's governor ordered that state's flags flown at half-staff for one day to honor Burri's son, and it's an honor that should be reserved for those who died in the line of service, Burri says.

This type of events should be guarded, so they don't lose their cultural meaning. If we start to lower the flag for someone who dies of a drug overdose, or too much drinking, or indulging themselves, we are cheapening the act. What did Whitney fight for? I liked her music, but I don't think she deserves to be put on par with those who have given the ultimate sacrifice.

For New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to order the same honor for Houston is "a slap in the face," Burri tells the Detroit News. "It cheapens the meaning of lowering that flag. They're watering down the meaning of a hero." His action was a legal one, a law professor notes, since the Supreme Court has ruled that the burning of a US flag is constitutionally protected speech—and those decisions would also apply to state flags. Christie was criticized by others for his decision, but he defended it last week, calling Houston a "cultural icon" of whom New Jersey residents are proud.

So "cultural icons" get the same honour as those who put their lives on the line? Despicable way of thinking, and Gov. Christie should apologize to those he has offended. 

Whitney, I liked you, but you have no place among the real heroes of this world.

Would you change your national flag to cave in to Muslims Immigrants? Multiculturalism gone wild

Hey, I am a migrant in Australia, but I have to embrace what the country holds dear, for example, its flag.

But if I am, for example, from Argentina (God spared me that "privilege"), and now living in Australia, and find the Union Jack in the flag, do I have the right to call for its removal? And to top it all, if I've been borne here, and I would be just continuing with my parents grudges from the past.

There are many of my family members (from my wife's side), who were borne here, but when you ask them where they are from, they answer "Chilean". Sorry, that country has not offered you nothing for your development, nothing for your studies, and nothing when you are sick, and nothing, nothing, when you are unemployed. Why do some people refuse the land that has given them everything, I am confused.

Some second generation Muslims are doing the same, wanting to get rid of the cross in the Swiss flag because they find it "offensive".

Here it's their take on the issue:

An immigrant group based in Bern has called for the emblematic white cross to be removed from the Swiss national flag because as a Christian symbol it "no longer corresponds to today's multicultural Switzerland."

Ivica Petrusic, the vice president of Second@s Plus, a lobbying group that represents mostly Muslim second-generation foreigners in Switzerland (who colloquially are known as secondos) says the group will launch a nationwide campaign in October to ask Swiss citizens to consider adopting a flag that is less offensive to Muslim immigrants.

In a September 18 interview with the Swiss newspaper Aargauer Zeitung, Petrusic said the cross has a Christian background and while the Christian roots of Switzerland should be respected, "it is necessary to separate church and state" because "Switzerland today has a great religious and cultural diversity. One has to ask if the State wants to continue building up a symbol in which many people no longer believe."

What, adopt a flag that is less offensive to Muslims? How about less offensive to the gays in the country? The Jehova Witnesses in the country who don't believe Jesus died on a cross? Where will this none sense end?

What I am really pleased, is that the Swiss have not taken this crazy suggestion lightly. Here are some of the responses to it:

The proposal to change the Swiss flag has been met with outrage across the political spectrum and is sure to fuel anti-immigrant sentiments in Switzerland.

Sylvia Flückiger a councillor with the conservative Swiss People's Party (SVP) said the demands are: "Totally unacceptable. With our Swiss flag there is nothing to change. The next thing you know, they will demand even more, that we change our constitution."

Marianne Binder, spokeswoman for the center-right Christian Democrats (CVP) said: "This is just what was missing, that we need to change our flag. The Swiss flag is part of Swiss identity, precisely because it is inviting for all to want to be involved...even the immigrants."

Stefan Brupbacher, general secretary of the libertarian Free Democrats (FDP) said: "This is utter nonsense. The Swiss cross is an extremely successful and valuable global brand. It is a symbol of success and quality. We will tightly hold on to it, out of love for Switzerland."

And if democracy is the rule of the majority, these muslims want to hold Switzerland hostage to their radical ideas. They are only 5% of the population:

The Muslim population in Switzerland has more than quintupled since 1980, and now numbers about 400,000, or roughly 5% of the population. Most Muslims living in Switzerland are of Turkish or Balkan origin, with a smaller minority from the Arab world. Many of them are second- and third-generation immigrants who are now firmly establishing themselves in Switzerland.

The new Muslim demographic reality is raising tensions across large parts of Swiss society, especially as Muslims become more assertive in their demands for greater recognition of their Islamic faith.

These people don't want to assimilate, and look what they want to carry on in their new found country:

In January 2011, a 66-year-old Turkish woman living in Bern was sentenced to three years and six months in prison for encouraging the father and brothers of her daughter-in-law to carry out an "honor" crime against her for her "risqué lifestyle."

What do you think? Here in Australia, as well as in the USA and the UK, we have seen how some Muslims refuse to assimilate to their new land. But if we go to their country, or want to change religion as what happened to pastor Yousef Nadarkhani, you will be put to death. Islamic intolerance can be worst than any perceived Western intolerance.

Let's open our eyes people.

Luis A. Jovel