View of the Week (W-End Edition): Saluting a Hero

Our team picked this up over the course of the week that we wanted to feature here in our "ordinary faces" channel to salute one "ordinary face" who tried to make a difference;

   Van T Barfoot died...

Remember the Guy who wouldn't take

The flag pole Down on his Virginia

Property a While back?

You might Remember the news story several

Months ago About a crotchety old man in

Virginia who Defied his local Homeowners

Association, And refused to take down the

Flag pole onHis property along with the large

American flag He flew on it.

Now we learn Who that old man was.

On June 15, 1919, Van T. Barfoot was born in

Edinburg, Texas . That probably didn't make

News back Then.
But 

Twenty-five years later, on May 23, 1944,

Near Carano , Italy ,
That same Van T. Barfoot,

Who had in 1940 enlisted in the U.S. Army, set

Out alone to Flank German machine gun

Positions From which gunfire was raining

Down on his Fellow soldiers.

His advance Took him through a minefield but

Having done So, he proceeded to single-handedly

Take out Three enemy machine gun positions,

Returning With 17 prisoners of war.

And if that Weren't enough for a day's work, 

 he Later took on and Destroyed three German tanks

Sent to Retake the machine gun positions.

That probably Didn't make much news either,

Given the Scope of the war, but it did earn

Van T. Barfoot, who retired as a Colonel after

Also serving In Korea and Vietnam,

a well Deserved  Congressional Medal of Honor.

What did make News...Was hisNeighborhood

Association’s Quibblewith how the 90-year-old

Veteran chose To fly the American flag outside

His suburban Virginia home. Seems the HOA rules

Said it was OK to fly a flag on a house-mounted

Bracket, but, For decorum, items such as

Barfoot’s 21-foot Flagpole were "unsuitable".

Van Barfoot Had been denied a permit for

The pole, but Erected it anyway and was facing

Court action Unless he agreed to take it down.

Then the HOA Story made national TV,

And the Neighborhood Association rethought

Its position And agreed to indulge this

Aging hero Who dwelt among them.

"In theTime I have left,” he said to the  Associated Press, "I plan to continue

To fly the American flag without interference."

As Well he should.

And if any of his neighbors had taken a Notion to

Contest him Further, they might have done well to

Read his Medal of Honor citation first. Seems it

Indicates Mr. Van Barfoot  wasn't
Particularly Good at Backing down.

   

 
WE ONLY LIVE IN THE LAND OF THE FREE BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE!

AND, BECAUSE OF OLD MEN

LIKE VAN BARFOOT!

View of the Week (Special Mid-Week Edition): On #DemandPressFreedom

Enough said..as we on behalf of all ordinary faces join this call:  

To those who demand that Al Jazeera be shut down. We too have demands. #DemandPressFreedom #JournalismIsNotACrime pic.twitter.com/9eFFhYhewC

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) July 3, 2017

View of the Week: On this #July4...

It is July 4 as our team has been gearing up for the 3rd Quarter.    Please enjoy this first edition of "View of the Week" for our Ordinary Faces Channel courtesy of the team at Common Dreams:

Howard Zinn’s July 4 Wisdom Stands the Test of Time by Howard Zinn'Is not nationalism—that devotion to a flag, an anthem, a boundary so fierce it engenders mass murder—one of the great evils of our time, along with racism, along with religious hatred?'         'Scary as Hell': Trump Response to North Korea Sparks Fear of Escalation by Jake Johnson"We are literally at the point were we have to hope that a guy who is obviously crazy, Kim Jong-un, is less crazy than the U.S. President."         Trump's Phony Patriotism Clashes With the Radical Roots of America the Beautiful and the Pledge of Allegiance by Peter Dreier & Dick Flacks"Most Americans are unaware that much of our patriotic culture—including many of the leading symbols and songs—was created by people with decidedly progressive sympathies."         Justice for Omar Khadr: Child Detainee to Receive Apology, at Least $10 Million From Canada by Jessica CorbettThe former child prisoner will be compensated for abuses he suffered while he was detained by the US in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay         Kobach Under Fire as Pushback to 'Repugnant' Voter Data Demand Swells by Andrea GermanosTrump's vice chair of "voting integrity" commission stands accused of violating Hatch Act         'We Will Be Fearless': Teachers Vow to Defend Students From Trump and Devos by Jake Johnson"I do not trust their motives. I do not believe their alternative facts. I see no reason to assume they will do what is best for our students and their families."         Patriotism in the Trump Era by Katrina vanden Huevel"Protest, too often, has been deemed unpatriotic."         Payroll Data Shows Wider-Than-Average Gender Pay Gap in Trump White House by Julia ConleyMost high-paying White House jobs are filled by men, report shows         Moral Injury of War and the Invisible Wound of Empire by Nozomi Hayase"Every time we shield memories of our own aggression upon our fellow man through historical revisionism, denial and deflection, we forsake the young whom our society sacrificed in its self-righteous suicide."         The Trump-Putin Meeting and the Fate of the Earth  by Norman Solomon"A war between the world's two nuclear superpowers could extinguish human life on a gigantic scale while plunging the Earth into cataclysmic 'nuclear winter.'"