Let Your Freak Flag Fly

There are unintended consequences for any and all actions. The removal of all these Confederate flags will cause a flap, if you'll pardon the pun, in the flag-making industry. Those who made their living off supplying the Stars and Bars for the South Carolina capitol will now be forced to go out and find themselves a new client. It won't be NASCAR, since they have politely asked their fans to limit the display of the recently less than reputable banner. Since their plan to substitute American flags for Confederate flags for free at the Daytona 500 went mostly unnoticed, something tells me that there will still be a market for General Lee's battle flag for a while to come. Especially since it has been more than one hundred and fifty years since the Confederate states surrendered and since then this symbol has become linked with "Southern Pride." This probably explains why sales of the losing side continues to grow.  See what I mean about unintended consequences?
Which brings me to the case of another enduring symbol: The Ten Commandments. At the end of last month, the Oklahoma state Supreme Court ruled that its state constitution prevented governments from taking any action that benefits religion. The Ten Commandments monument in front of the Oklahoma capitol would seem to do just that. So that great big chunk of carved stone has to go. This was yet another victory for those who like their constitutionality, especially when it comes to those fans of the separation of church and state. Perhaps chief among these folks would be the Satanic Temple. Their website, by the way, includes what may be one of the most unintentionally amusing links "Friends of Satan." This is how Satanists stick together and stay in touch during such momentous times. And what will they be discussing currently? Well to start they will be celebrating the Oklahoma ruling and gloating over how all that God's Law stuff has to be hauled off. But they're also going to have to get together to figure out what they are going to do with their own statue, the nearly completed statue that cost their temple between twenty and a hundred thousand dollars, depending on who you talk to.
If that's the way you decide to exercise your freedom of speech.