Flagging Enthusiasm

On Monday night, Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.) proudly reports (in a press release that does not seem to be available online), the U.S. Senate unanimously approved his bill negating condominimum and homeowner association rules that prohibit members from flying American flags in front of their homes. President Bush is expected to sign it soon, thereby completing one item on the Republicans' "American Values" agenda. This is nothing short of scandalous. The House passed the bill on June 28, but because the Senate could not get its act together in time we still had to endure yet another Fourth of July on which stoops and porches across the land were tragically bereft of banners.