Vandals burn flags on vets' graves, put swastikas on some

[Amianthus]

"We view this as a hate crime."
Tuesday, May 29, 2007 - 12:00 AM

By The Associated Press
ORCAS ISLAND, San Juan County — Vandals burned dozens of small American flags that decorated veterans' graves for Memorial Day and replaced many of them with hand-drawn swastikas, authorities said Monday.

Charred flag tatters were found still attached to 33 small flag standards at Woodlawn Cemetery, while 46 of the standards were found empty Sunday, authorities said.

Sheets of paper bearing swastikas drawn with what appeared to be red and black felt-tipped pens had been taped to 14 of the vandalized flag standards, Sheriff Bill Cumming said.

Members of the American Legion on this island in the San Juan Islands replaced the burned flags with new ones Sunday afternoon.

The vandals repeated their actions on Memorial Day after a guard left at dawn, replacing 33 of the small flags with more hand-drawn swastikas, the sheriff's office said.

Investigators believe there's more than one culprit, based on the number of flags vandalized, but they have no leads on any possible suspects, Cumming said by telephone.

The sheriff said deputies were trying to lift fingerprints off what little physical evidence they were able to recover and were asking people on this bucolic island to contact the sheriff's office.

"We don't view this as free speech," Cumming said. "We view this as a hate crime."
Article

[Michael Tee]

Can you say "provocateur?"  First place I'd look for culprits is inside the local FBI office.  They pulled all kinds of shit like this in the Sixties and they're just as dumb now as they were then.

Second place I'd look is inside the right-wing extremist parties, starting with the Nazis and ending with the Republicans.

Third place I'd look would be among Islamic organizations that are fed up with the crimes and atrocities committed by the U.S. military on innocent Muslims.

And last place on earth that I'd look would be inside the anti-war movement.

[Amianthus]

And last place on earth that I'd look would be inside the anti-war movement.

Yeah, because that group has never called the military "murdering, raping thugs" or compared them repeatedly to Nazis.

[Michael Tee]

<<Yeah, because that group has never called the military "murdering, raping thugs" or compared them repeatedly to Nazis.>>

I wouldn't take back a word of it.  That's exactly what they are.  Once you'll understand that, you'll understand what they're capable of, and you'll understand what their supporters are capable of.  They'll commit any crime - - torture, rape and murder included.  So grave vandalization to them is a small thing, not a big thing.  And if it works to discredit the anti-war movement, so much the better.

The anti-war movement is against crime and criminal acts.  We're against torture, against murder and against rape.  So only in your lunatic "reasoning" do the very people who stand against violent criminal acts of aggression suddenly become capable of vandalizing graves.  Wouldn't it make more sense to look for the criminals amongst the criminals and their supporters?  Particularly when they have shown a pattern of this kind of behaviour in the past?  (No, I guess not - - in the lunatic world of the far right, those who denounce crimes thereby become the criminals and past performance is no indication of anything.)

[Amianthus]

Wouldn't it make more sense to look for the criminals amongst the criminals and their supporters?  Particularly when they have shown a pattern of this kind of behaviour in the past?  (No, I guess not - - in the lunatic world of the far right, those who denounce crimes thereby become the criminals and past performance is no indication of anything.)

Well, the Democratic Party has shown a pattern of voter fraud going back at least a century in this country, yet you do not look at that party at all when looking for voter fraud.

Do you live in the "lunatic world of the far right"?

[Michael Tee]

<<Well, the Democratic Party has shown a pattern of voter fraud going back at least a century in this country, yet you do not look at that party at all when looking for voter fraud.>>

No, I think it should be looked at.  It just seems to me that the Republicans are much more active now in suppressing the black vote than the Democrats are in voter fraud.  But they're both crimes.  I wasn't as aware as I should have been about the Democrats' fraudulent activities, but this forum educated me on that pretty quickly.  Or relatively quickly.  That's what I like about the process.  We're all here to learn.  Or at least some of us are.

[Amianthus]

I wasn't as aware as I should have been about the Democrats' fraudulent activities, but this forum educated me on that pretty quickly.  Or relatively quickly.

Yeah, after you dismissed the first hundred or so times they were brought up as nothing more a disinformation campaign. Even claimed the physical evidence was planted, IIRC.

Besides, I would have thought it was common knowledge. The Democrats have committed voter fraud so many times that it's become tradition in Democratic strongholds like Baltimore and Chicago.

Even Poe died involved in voter fraud...

[sirs]

I'm stunned that Tee didn't include in his list of high priority suspects, the Christian Coalition, or some faction of the religious right.  And of course, where was Bush & Cheney when this all went down.  The fact that they cannot be placed at the scene, should be proof positive that Rove was behind it.  And of course the fact that it's not being brought up is an obvious cover-up/"looking the other way" by congress.     

[Michael Tee]

<<I'm stunned that Tee didn't include in his list of high priority suspects, the Christian Coalition, or some faction of the religious right.  >>

I would have thought that "right wing extremist parties starting with the Nazis and ending with the Republicans" would have included them, but I'm happy to give them special notice if sirs thinks they're deserving of it.  After all, from murdering abortion doctors and blowing up clinics and then sheltering the bombers and killers, grave vandalization is such a small thing for them, they probaby wouldn't give it a second thought.

<<And of course, where was Bush & Cheney when this all went down.  The fact that they cannot be placed at the scene, should be proof positive that Rove was behind it.  And of course the fact that it's not being brought up is an obvious cover-up/"looking the other way" by congress. >>

Too cowardly to expose themselves, their pattern is pay some schmuck to do the dirty work.  Sort of like the suicide bombing campaign, the leaders don't want any part of the big bang, that's strictly reserved for the peons.

[sirs]

<<I'm stunned that Tee didn't include in his list of high priority suspects, the Christian Coalition, or some faction of the religious right.  >>

I would have thought that "right wing extremist parties starting with the Nazis and ending with the Republicans" would have included them, but I'm happy to give them special notice if sirs thinks they're deserving of it. 

Actually, I was speaking as Tee.  Then again, I think you knew that.  I mean, you hit every conceivable organization that leans to the right, while giving a complete pass to the most obvious probability, those that hate the military, and call them and the administration nazis, because hey, it's your side.  Can't be believing that now.  Doesn't fit the template     

[fatman]

Actually, being as how I live somewhat near the San Juans, I would hazard a guess that your culprits are probably a bunch of bored kids.  The islands are a wealthy and somewhat eclectic community, the FBI, white supremacists, and the anti-war movement, while all could have possibly committed this act, seems somewhat unlikely.  The simplest answer is usually the right one.

[Michael Tee]

I'm going with fatman and revising my list of likeliest candidates - - it's the same as my old list but with bored white teenagers at the top.  Gotta trust the locals - - they know what's going down in their own hood.

[fatman]

There has been a problem for several months now with some people knocking over gravestones in the cemetary in Friday Harbor.  That's what brought bored kids to mind (and yes, I think like 95% of San Juan County is white).

[sirs]

Actually, being as how I live somewhat near the San Juans, I would hazard a guess that your culprits are probably a bunch of bored kids. 

Definate possibility.  Obviously they must lean right in their bored stances though     

[Michael Tee]

<<Obviously they must lean right in their bored stances though>>

Yeah, good thinking there, sirs.  I would definitely consider a swastika as evidence of "leaning right" and even of "Nazi-like" tendencies.  Did you know that Adolf Hitler wore a swastika?  And that he was a Nazi?