Last May, I found a new American flag, still folded in its box, in a pile of trash on the curb. The instructions for flag etiquette in the box say, “The flag should never touch anything beneath it, such as the ground, the floor, or water.” Does that include trash?

I rescued it, of course. We’ve debated for years whether desecrating the flag should be a crime or is protected speech. But I doubt many would argue that it wasn’t disrespectful and wrong to put the flag on the trash pile.  Read more... (887 words, 2 images, estimated 3:33 mins reading time)