US town bars foreign flags in swipe at immigrants

[The Straight Story]

US town bars foreign flags in swipe at immigrants

PHOENIX (Reuters) - A Nevada town passed a law this week making it illegal to fly a foreign nation's flag by itself, the latest swipe by a U.S. community at illegal immigrants.

The town council of Pahrump, which lies in the Mojave Desert west of Las Vegas, voted 3-2 on Tuesday to make flying any foreign flag above the U.S. flag or alone an offense punishable by a $50 fine and 30 hours' community service.

The meeting also pushed through measures to deny services to illegal immigrants and make English the official language in Pahrump, a commuter town of 40,000 residents some 60 miles (97 km) west of Las Vegas.

Supporters said they passed the measure to hit back at Hispanic demonstrators who carried Mexican flags when they marched in U.S. cities earlier this year to press for rights for 10 million to 12 million illegal immigrants living in the shadows.

"All of the illegal alien protesters are waving Mexican flags, and we just got tired of it," town board clerk Paul Willis told Reuters in a telephone interview.

"This is the United States, and the Stars and Stripes should fly supreme," he added.

Hispanic groups slammed the flag ordinance as a blow to first-amendment rights to free speech but thought it unlikely that the community would enforce it.


http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyid=2006-11-16T203646Z_01_N16389559_RTRUKOC_0_US-USA-IMMIGRATION-FLAGS.xml&src=rss&rpc=22

[SoCalDem]

1. What's next? a Color chart?

You must be this light to stay here?

[devilgrrl]

2. Yeah, that'll solve everything!!!!!

:eyes:

[mmonk]

3. A little hate thrown into politics

unfortunately goes a long way.

[Richard Steele]

4. What bullshit. The First Amendment no longer applies there?

No need to guess which Party holds the majority
on that town council.

[Earth_First]

5. I'd be at Home Depot and Lowe's this weekend buying EVERY flag pole they had...

and I'd have a mini United Nations display in my FRONT lawn in protest of this.

[TheCowsCameHome]

6. What would you expect from a bunch of "rumps"?

[KamaAina]

7. Canadians, Brits, whoever, bring your flags to Pahrump!

Somehow I don't think the Maple Leaf or the Union Jack will get Pahrumpians' knickers into quite so much of a twist... :sarcasm:

[longship]

8. They just guaranteed to double the demonstrations.

First Amendment, not Frist Amendment.

[JeffR]

9. Pahrump was just featured in a 2-part episode of Studio 60

It didn't come off much better fictionally.

[POAS]

10. Does that include the "Stars and Bars"?

[Straight Shooter]

11. Everyone in Pahrump is of Aryan descent? "Pure" Caucasians?

Blonde-haired, blue-eyed, tall, fair skin, nice cheekbones? No second or third-generation of immigrants?

:eyes:

[northernsoul]

12. this won't pass constitutional muster

expect a decisive ACLU court victory on this one.

[quickesst]

13. You know....

the law of the broad brush. A woman abuses her child with beating, denial of nourishment, locked away from others, etc. That woman is a child abuser, and should face the full consequences of the law. Another woman is caught in the mall giving her child a swat or two for misbehaving. Guess what? To many, this woman is as guilty of child abuse as the first woman. It's a pathetic statement on the thought processes of many human beings. The illegal immigration issue is a mirror of the above anology. Thanks.
quickesst

[hobbit709]

14. I'll have to drive through there

with my Austrian flag on my truck. And dare them to do something about it.
I am an "American citizen by birth" even though I was born in Austria.

[Crunchy Frog]

15. Wish they'd pass a law like that in Miami...

Just kidding.

This doesn't seem like it would be constitutional. I guess we abandoned freedom of expression a long time ago.