It is indeed a shame that we no longer teach flag ethics any longer. Growing up, my memory serves me that the flag was flown at 1/2 staff when ordered by the President. If a person was mourning a personal loss the proper flight was with a black ribbon the length of the flag and the width of the flag stripe.
To fly at 1/2 staff the flag is properly raised briskly to full staff the lowered to 1/2 staff. When lowering the flag at dusk, it is properly briskly raised to full staff then lowered slowly.
In the old days flags never touched the ground, never flew tattered, were not used as clothing and were ceremoniosly (sp) burned when retired.
I get all the free speech crap but they are things we should honor and I feel our flag is one of them.
