It was then that I carried you...

Hotel Royal Chiao Hsi Garden

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 12:37:14 GMT

Airsoft

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:55:54 GMT

I went airsofting for the first time over the weekend for a Bachelor's party. It was pretty fun. I ended up black and blue. What blows my mind is how so many young kids have better gear than I do...

Everything I ever needed to know in life I learned from South Park

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:29:01 GMT

The following is an article in Psychology Today by Satoshi Kanazawa. I found it very insightful as South Park has also shaped a lot of my views on the world.

I am a big fan of South Park. In my mind, the perspective of the creators of South Park (Matt Stone and Trey Parker) on every social and political issue of the day is right on the mark, and I proudly identify myself as a “South Park Republican,” which essentially means libertarian. I love South Park because, among other things, Stone and Parker have better understanding of human nature than supposed experts like Richard Dawkins.

Dawkins and his ilk (like Daniel Dennett, Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris) consider religion to be the root of all evil, and envision and advocate for an utopian society where there are no religions and everybody is an atheist. They believe that wars and violence will disappear if we eliminate religion from human society. Dawkins and Co. are wrong on at least two fronts.

First, as I explain in a previous two-part post “Why do we believe in God?”, religiosity – belief in higher powers – is likely a byproduct of an evolved psychological mechanism. It means that, most likely, we are evolutionarily designed to believe in God. We believe in God because we are paranoid and being paranoid often saved our lives. Belief in higher powers is part of our innate human nature. So it would be virtually impossible for all of humanity to abandon religion and be entirely atheist. Humans cannot completely abandon belief in higher powers any more than they can completely abandon any other part of innate human nature, such as compassion, love, or intelligence. It’s possible for some, but not for all.

South Park 2Second, as the two-part South Park episode “Go God Go” brilliantly shows, religion is not the root cause of all the violence in the world but merely an excuse. Just because most of the wars in human history have been predicated on and justified by religion does not mean that, without religion, these wars would not have happened. The true root cause of all human violence is maleness, not religion or anything else that men happen to use as an excuse or cause. Men fight, because they are violent and it is part of male human nature to fight. If you take away religion, men will find another excuse to fight.

In the episode “Go God Go,” Cartman finds himself in a future world where, thanks to Richard Dawkins, everyone is an atheist and there is no religion. Yet there is interminable violence and wars, because different groups of atheist men (and otters) fight each other over what to call themselves. Whether Stone and Parker are consciously aware of it or not, this is most likely what will happen in the world that Dawkins et al. envision. There will still be wars in a completely atheist world without religion. Men will find other reasons to wage wars against each other.

South Park 3And this is not just cartoon fiction. The current and ongoing civil war in Somalia, which began in 1988 but intensified in January 1991 when the central government of Mohammed Siad Barre fled Mogadishu and put the whole country into the state of nature, has been fought between subclans within the same clan within the same tribe within the same race and the same religion. To those involved in the war, the differences between the subclans (most likely imperceptible to outsiders) are sufficient and meaningful enough to kill each other for. Yet it would be absurd to argue that the existence of subclans is causing the violence or that there would be no war in Somalia if subclans didn’t exist. Men will always find an excuse to fight. Stone and Parker know that, but Dawkins doesn’t.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-scientific-fundamentalist/200906/everything-i-ever-needed-know-in-life-i-learned-south-park

Federal agents hunt for guns, one house at a time

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:10:08 GMT

In front of a run-down shack in north Houston, federal agents step from a government sedan into 102-degree heat and face a critical question: How can the woman living here buy four high-end handguns in one day?

The house is worth $35,000. A screen dangles by a wall-unit air conditioner. Porch swing slats are smashed, the smattering of grass is flattened by cars and burned yellow by sun.

“I’ll do the talking on this one,” agent Tim Sloan, of South Carolina, told partner Brian Tumiel, of New York.

Success on the front lines of a government blitz on gunrunners supplying Mexican drug cartels with Houston weaponry hinges on logging heavy miles and knocking on countless doors. Dozens of agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — sent here from around the country — are needed to follow what ATF acting director Kenneth Melson described as a “massive number of investigative leads.”

All told, Mexican officials in 2008 asked federal agents to trace the origins of more than 7,500 firearms recovered at crime scenes in Mexico. Most of them were traced back to Texas, California and Arizona.

Among other things, the agents are combing neighborhoods and asking people about suspicious purchases as well as seeking explanations as to how their guns ended up used in murders, kidnappings and other crimes in Mexico.

“Ever turning up the heat on cartels, our law enforcement and military partners in the government of Mexico have been working more closely with the ATF by sharing information and intelligence,” Melson said Tuesday during a firearms-trafficking summit in New Mexico.

Firearms dealers visited

The ATF recently dispatched 100 veteran agents to its Houston division, which reaches to the border.

The mission is especially challenging because, officials say, that while Houston is the number one point of origin for weapons traced back to the United States from Mexico, the government can’t compile databases on gun owners under federal law.

Agents instead review firearms dealers’ records in person.

People who are legally in the United States and have clean criminal records, but are facing economic problems are often recruited by traffickers to buy weapons on their behalf in order to shield themselves from scrutiny.

Knocks at the door of the shack that looked to be the definition of hard times went unanswered.

“I am out of here,” Sloan said a few moments later, as a pit bull lazily sauntered from the back yard. “I don’t like pit bulls walking up behind me.”

Best information source

On second thought, Sloan switched to Spanish and interviewed a neighbor.

The neighbor said the woman left a month ago after a fight with her husband or boyfriend, who still lived there with what she called “other degenerates.”

“An angry ex-girlfriend or wife is the best person in the world, the greatest source of information,” Sloan said.

The night before, the duo were in a stakeout where they watched a weapons sale.

They also combined efforts with the Drug Enforcement Administration for an aircraft to stealthily follow traffickers to the border.

On this day, agents weren’t wearing raid jackets or combat boots and weren’t armed with warrants.

Guns were hidden under civilian shirts.

Another tip took agents on a 30-minute drive from the shack to a sprawling home with a pool in the back and an American flag out front.

It turned out two handguns, of a type drug gangsters prefer, were bought by a pastor for target practice.

Some stories, they say, are hard to believe.

The lamest so far came from a police officer: He said he bought a few military-style rifles, left them in his car and — on the same night — forgot to lock a door. He couldn’t explain why he didn’t file a police report or why he visited Mexico the day after the alleged theft.

Good things never happen when the ATF comes knocking on your door...

Va. Man Did Machine Gun Conversions, ATF Alleges

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:41:58 GMT

Federal agents raided an Alexandria man's home and seized 75 guns after he sold three machine guns to an undercover agent beginning in April, authorities said yesterday.

John M. Walker, 50, was charged with illegally converting semiautomatic weapons into fully automatic ones, court records show. Fully automatic weapons are legal but heavily regulated. Walker was not a licensed dealer, according to Special Agent Mike Campbell of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Campbell said that people who buy such converted weapons on the black market are more likely to have criminal ideas for their use than legitimate collectors.

In March, an ATF agent met a longtime friend of Walker's who offered to connect the agent with the part-time gunsmith, according to an affidavit filed in federal court in Alexandria for search and arrest warrants. The friend approached Walker and asked whether he would convert a semiautomatic Uzi submachine gun to fully automatic for another man -- the undercover agent, the affidavit said.

Walker agreed but told his friend that he did not want to deal directly with the undercover agent because converting and selling the gun could bring him "fed time" -- a federal prison sentence, court records say.

A semiautomatic fires once each time the trigger is squeezed, without having to be recocked manually. A fully automatic weapon fires continuously with only one pull of the trigger, and those who legally own such guns must undergo a more extensive background check than those involved in standard weapons transactions, Campbell said.

Walker provided the converted Uzi to his friend outside a Prince William County auto repair shop in April, the affidavit states. The gun's serial number had been obliterated. The price was not listed.

Last month, Walker sold a second converted Uzi to his friend, to be delivered to the undercover agent, and the agent provided the middleman with $2,000 for the gun, the agent's affidavit alleges. The transaction occurred in the parking lot of the Safeway on South Van Dorn Street in Alexandria, and Walker reportedly told his friend that he could provide fully automatic AK-47 assault rifles more cheaply.

On June 3, the agent met Walker at the Fuddruckers restaurant on Duke Street in Alexandria, his affidavit states. Walker told the agent that "making machine guns is something Walker started doing because Walker was a collector. Walker said he has made himself a nice collection," the agent wrote.

The agent allegedly arranged to buy a fully automatic AK-47 for $1,800 that day. On Thursday morning, the two met at Fuddruckers again to complete the transaction, Campbell said, and Walker was arrested. He was charged with illegally converting the first Uzi from semiautomatic to automatic, court records show.

Agents entered Walker's house on a cul-de-sac in the 4300 block of Utica Avenue, just south of Duke Street in the west end of Alexandria. In addition to a variety of guns, agents also seized dozens of firearm parts, Campbell said.

Investigators do not know who else Walker might have been selling to, Campbell said, although the ATF is investigating "information he may have sold a couple of firearms to other people." No determination had been made whether any of the guns seized from his house Thursday were illegal.

Campbell did not think Walker posed a threat to the neighborhood, but he said investigators would try to track whether any guns that came from Walker were used in crimes. "The people that legally buy machine guns," Campbell said, "we don't find them going out and committing crimes."

Neat video of some pretty fat ATF agents hauling out a really impressive collection

Honeymoon Pictures

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:36:27 GMT

I'm too lazy to import a bajillion pictures into LJ. Direct links here:

Location: Athens, Paros, Idra, Mykonos, Santorini, Bangkok, Taipei, Jiaoxi

If I was in World War Two they'd call me spitfire.
God bless our troops. Especially the snipers.
You've summoned the fail whale!!!

Thoughts

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:31:39 GMT

I hereby invoke Godwin's law.

Mourning over MJ because of his musical talent despite his character flaws is like grieving for the loss of Hitler and his great leadership.

Soviet Union Era Ammunition Cans

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:40:44 GMT

I work from home everyday but don't turn on the air conditioning. This causes the temperature inside of the house to reach about 90 degrees. But one thing I noticed is that around 3pm everyday, I can hear a pop from my 7.62x54r airtight ammo cans expanding because of the temperature. Lately they have been a indicator to me that it is way too hot in here.

Fob Shots

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 01:41:50 GMT

Pictures we took in Taipei Taiwan.

Post-Honeymoon Thoughts

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 01:37:54 GMT

I'm back in the States now. Everyone is so fat and there is "excess" everywhere. In our cars, food, houses, etc.
United is the worst airline ever. I hate flying them. Too bad I have all of my mileage holed up with them. Greek hospitality leaves much to be desired. So does their food. I think that explains why you don't see Greek restaurants everywhere.
I think I finally figured out why everyone thinks Asians look the same. Here in the United States, each person only knows a handful of Asian people. Therefore, the number of necessary distinct physical traits to tell each apart is significantly lower than a demographic that has more people (White peoples). While we were in Asia, we thought we saw an identical version of pretty much every Asian person we knew back home. In short, people tend to remember the minimum amount of physical enough to differentiate others, but get confused when other similar people are added to the mix.
Also while overseas, it felt kinda like "home". Growing up here is a bit difficult, because you're not really American and you're not really Asian. You're stuck in a sub-culture: Asian-American. But I think I am more Asian than American. It felt good to be among people with similar physical traits (height, physiques) and similar thinking. And looking young was normal. I'm sick of white people always bringing up how young I look. It is NORMAL. I am ASIAN. I will flip shit the next time I get carded at the movie theater.
It felt great to put my xd45 back on again. But also at the same time, it felt kinda good not having to lug it around everywhere. I need to look for something lighter.
The marriage mentality in Asia is very different. Here in America, you are perceived as if something is "wrong" with you if you are old and not married. Americans tend to think that the good fish are the first ones to go and by the time you hit your old age, the secondary picks are the only ones that are left. However in Taiwan, the mentality seems to be that attractive people tend to get married at an older age. The more attractive you are, the pickier you are allowed to be and if you get married young, you are settling.
Traveling with Carolyn was like traveling with your best friend.

Olympic Airlines Baggage Claim For Damages

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 22:29:28 GMT

Wayne Chiang
XXXXXXXX
XXXXXXX, VA XXXX

June 22, 2009

Olympic Airlines
Reference #: XXXXXX
Customer Relations
70-00 Austin Street
Forest Hills, NY 11375

To Whom It May Concern

I recently had a very frustrating and extremely costly experience with your airline. I feel that I am owed compensation from Olympic Airlines for my expenses.

On June 5, 2009, I was flying aboard Business Class OA 412 from New York to Athens. This trip was the first time for both my wife and I to travel outside of the United States to celebrate our honeymoon. However during this trip, our luggage was lost in the process which caused us a great deal of stress and disappointment in what is supposed to be a very special time.

During this time, we were not able to take pictures or even use traveler’s cheques to buy basic toiletries/clothes because they were all lost in our baggage. Perhaps the most stressful aspect of this experience was losing our prescription medication while overseas. This experience with our baggage has caused us undue stress/disappointment and was not commensurate to the level of service that we expected when we booked our business class tickets. We were able to receive our luggage on the last day before we left Greece however the luggage was damaged on the exterior.

As compensation for my experience, I would like to have our expenses reimbursed for our toiletries/clothes that we had to purchase to cover our loss while overseas (350.94 Euros), as well as $90 USD to cover damages sustained to our luggage. In addition, I would like to be refunded in full for the price of both our tickets. Nothing can compensate us for the loss that we sustained because we were not able to enjoy our time due to the difficulty that this experience caused.

I have attached copies of our receipts, boarding passes, luggage claim, and evidence of damage to our luggage.

Please call me at (XXX) XXX-XXXX by July 1, 2009, to confirm that I will be compensated for this distressing experience. If I do not hear back from you by this time, I will take any further appropriate steps to be compensated for my loss.

I look forward to amicably resolving this issue. Both my wife and I had a great experience with the level of service provided by your flight service personnel as well as the hospitality of your customer support. We hope that we can use the outcome of this issue to determine our sustained business in the future.

Sincerely,

Wayne Chiang

Honeymoon

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:22:50 GMT

Still alive. Bangkok was awesome. We ate a gigantic meal for like $3 USD. We've been running around Taipei shopping and cam whoring. We've taken several thousand pictures and I don't think I will ever find the time to sort through them.

We've retreated to the mountainside of Taiwan and are finally settling down to enjoy the honeymoon. We're in the honeymoon suite and WOOOOOOOOOOW.... It is a whole ballpark of its own. What am I doing online...?

Edit: Oh yeah, Carolyn sprained her back and can't walk around. Loverlies.

Honeymoon

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 19:49:43 GMT

Day 3: Donkey accident. Ends with a trip to the hospital. Carolyn isn't too good with these Greek farm animals... At least my flex spending account works overseas. Best Honeymoon EVAR!!!

Honeymoon

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 19:49:14 GMT

Yeah, it's official. We have no luggage for our time in Greece. FFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!

Honeymoon

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 19:48:30 GMT

Flying first class was a hoot. Everyone was a lifeless zombie and we were the giddy to the max, annoying as hell, newly married couple. Honeymoon off to a great start. Our travelers cheques don't work and our luggage is lost somewhere in New York. Looks like we are wearing the same underwear for the entire honeymoon unless we can find some cash. Oh yeah, and Carolyn got bit by a horse. Seriously.

Honeymoon

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 01:05:11 GMT

Flying first class was a hoot. Everyone was a lifeless zombie and we were the giddy to the max, annoying as hell, newly married couple.

Honeymoon off to a great start. Our travelers cheques don't work and our luggage is lost somewhere in New York. Looks like we are wearing the same underwear for the entire honeymoon unless we can find some cash. Oh yeah, and Carolyn got bit by a horse. Seriously.

Guess who found a way to leech internet access. Win.

Night Exposure

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:38:49 GMT

Our house the emoticon: 0_o

Chicago Law Banning Handguns in City Upheld by Court

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:57:05 GMT

June 2 (Bloomberg) -- A Chicago ordinance banning handguns and automatic weapons within city limits was upheld by a U.S. Court of Appeals panel, which rejected a challenge by the National Rifle Association.

The unanimous three-judge panel ruled today that a U.S. Supreme Court decision last year, which recognized an individual right to bear arms under the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment, didn’t apply to states and municipalities.

“The Supreme Court has rebuffed requests to apply the second amendment to the states,” U.S. Circuit Judge Frank Easterbrook wrote, upholding lower court decisions last year to throw out suits against Chicago and its suburb of Oak Park, Illinois.

The Fairfax, Virginia-based NRA sued the municipalities in June 2008, one day after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in District of Columbia v. Heller struck down a hand-gun ban in the U.S. capital district encompassing Washington.

“We clearly disagree with the court’s conclusion,” NRA attorney William N. Howard, a partner in Chicago’s Freeborn & Peters LLP, said in a telephone interview. “The next step will be an appeal to the Supreme Court.”

“We recognize that this may not be the end of this litigation,” Jenny Hoyle, a spokeswoman for the city of Chicago’s law department said, acknowledging the likelihood the NRA would seek further review. “We’re certainly prepared for that if this happens. We’re prepared to aggressively defend our ordinance.”

Second Amendment

Adopted in 1791 as part of the Bill of Rights, the Second Amendment reads in its entirety: “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

In Heller, the high court struck down Washington’s 32-year- old gun law, which barred most residents of the city from owning handguns and required that all legal firearms be kept unloaded and either disassembled or under trigger lock. Six residents had challenged the law, saying they wanted firearms available in their homes for self-defense.

“Heller dealt with a law enacted under the authority of the national government,” Easterbrook wrote, “while Chicago and Oak Park are subordinate bodies of a state.”

Chicago’s law took effect in 1982, Hoyle said. While it allows ownership of long guns such as rifles, they must be registered annually with the city’s police department. Concealed weapons, semi-automatic and automatic weapons are not permitted.

Some exemptions apply to members of the military and law enforcement agencies.

Following Precedent

Chicago U.S. District Judge Milton Shadur on Dec. 4 rejected the NRA’s request that he apply the Heller ruling to the Chicago and Oak Park laws, stating he was bound to follow a 1982 appeals court ruling upholding a ban by the Illinois village of Morton Grove.

That decision came from the U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago, the same body that issued today’s opinion. The 15 judges of the Seventh Circuit hear appeals from the federal courts of Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.

Easterbrook, joined by Circuit Court Judges Richard Posner and William Bauer, said they, too, were bound to follow the precedent of a higher court, the U.S. Supreme Court, in its ruling on the Second Amendment not applying to states.

An appellate court departure from high court precedent “undermines the uniformity of national law,” Easterbrook wrote.

The judges rendered their ruling one week after hearing arguments.

Applicable Law

A San Francisco-based federal appeals court, with jurisdiction over cases from California, Oregon, Washington and six other Western U.S. states, in April ruled the Second Amendment can be read as applicable to states and counties.

Still, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in Nordyke v. King allowed to stand an Alameda County, California regulation that outlaws gun possession on county property.

Howard, the NRA’s lawyer, cited the Nordyke ruling as one of the reasons for his client’s challenge to the Chicago court outcome.

“This thing is headed for the Supreme Court,” University of Chicago Constitutional Law Professor Richard Epstein said in a phone interview.

“This is a question where you cannot run a split administration and there’s no way the circuits can resolve this amongst themselves,” he said.

The 7th Circuit case is National Rifle Association of America v. City of Chicago, 08-4241, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (Chicago). The 9th Circuit case is Nordyke v. King, 07-15763, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (San Francisco).

Using Deadly Force. What NOT To Do

Fri, 29 May 2009 18:53:38 GMT

Video: http://www.koco.com/video/19588552/index.html

Toledo police layoffs leading to gun buying

Thu, 28 May 2009 13:11:13 GMT

TOLEDO, OH (WTOL) - The first round of Toledo police layoffs, in which 75 officers were let go, may already be having an affect on gun ownership.

"I just don't feel safe with the amount they're laying off," says Jonna Ewing. "I think it's going to be a longer respond time."

She is spending the day at a conceal carry class. She's been thinking of getting a gun for awhile, but feels now's the time due to the recent layoffs.

She's not alone. Case in point, someone in Jonna's class wears one those infamous police t-shirts: "I called 911 and all I got was this lousy garbage can" that showed up soon after the TPD cuts.

Tom Urbanski runs Ski's Firearms Training & Consulting. He also teaches the conceal carry classes.

For him, the layoffs mean big business as people are taking safety into their own hands.

"People are panicking, they're figuring the only way they can protect themselves is for them to protect themselves," says Urbanski. "So yeah, my business is booming."

Urbanski says since the presidential election and the collapse of the economy, people have become more interested in owning guns.

He says locally the police layoffs and recent attacks on the elderly are only fueling the fire, especially for senior citizens.

"They don't have much support out there. Their family is not visiting as often so they're having to be their own protectors. I'm seeing an increase in the elderly."

For Toledoans like Jonna, having a gun and knowing how to use it means she'll sleep just a little better.

A Sneak Preview

Thu, 28 May 2009 12:58:06 GMT

Our photographer gave us a sneak preview:

Faith + 1

Blog Gossip

Thu, 28 May 2009 12:29:15 GMT

This is mainly for those who are curious and don't have Facebook. I figure I'll add some blog gossip worthy material.

This is my favorite picture out of the several trillion tagged pictures of me.

A house is just a place to keep your stuff while you go out and get more stuff.

Thu, 28 May 2009 12:17:26 GMT

Our little piece of surburbia.

Post-wedding Thoughts

Thu, 28 May 2009 11:39:52 GMT

-The food was gre,at especially the sushi which was a smash hit with the guests. Except for the eel.
-We're going to be eating wedding leftovers for the next several months.
-The guests like gin and Beam. Not so much the tequila.
-Just a quick blurb on the vendors and maybe a more in-depth review later: Mike our DJ did an excellent job and was very accomodating. J Plus Catering was fantastic with all of our hosting and bartending needs. The event center at Algonkian Regional Park was also very pleasant to work with. Not so much the grouchy golf course grounds keeper who wouldn't let us take pictures. (Note to self: destroy green on next visit) The photographer and videographer were in a ballpark of their own. A rave review to come later.
-It went by soooooooooo quick. I was balls to the wall stressing right before the ceremony but after the "I do's", everything was a whirlwind.
-Oh yeah, our cake was very cute and delicious.
-Can't wait to get the pictures. There are some classy 1911 pictures in there.
-Our last-minute hour-long first dance planning paid off.
-Carolyn and I enjoy the attention the "Just Married" car is getting. We have found that how couples perceive it is somewhat of a reflection of their own relationship. For example, we have found that the people who honk and wave tend to be more happy and extroverted couples. Then there are some people who just ignore us or they don't look too pleased.
-Planning for the wedding a bit stressful. At times we were tempted to just pull the trigger and get a wedding planner. We stuck it out and in the end, everything we got was because WE chose it and not because we were forced into it. And it seems like the most economical thing to do.
-All of those "wedding day complete meltdown" nightmares never came into fruition.
-Being the camwhore that I am, it was hard NOT to bring my camera.
-Wear a watch and stop carting around the Blackberry.

Supervisor Asks Woman To Take Down American Flag

Wed, 27 May 2009 14:26:37 GMT

(MANSFIELD (CBS 11 News) (cbs11tv.com) Is it okay to show your patriotism at the office?

For one Arlington woman, the answer was "no" after she hung an American flag in her office just before the Memorial Day weekend.

Debbie McLucas is one of four hospital supervisors at Kindred Hospital in Mansfield. Last week, she hung a three-by-five foot American flag in the office she shares with the other supervisors.

When McLucas came to work Friday, her boss told her another supervisor had found her flag offensive. "I was just totally speechless. I was like, 'You're kidding me,'" McLucas said.

McLucas' husband and sons are former military men. Her daughter is currently serving in Iraq as a combat medic.

Stifling a cry, McLucas said, "I just wonder if all those young men and women over there are really doing this for nothing."

McLucas said the supervisor who complained has been in the United States for 14 years and is formerly from Africa. McLucas said the supervisor took down Debbie's flag herself.

"The flag and the pole had been placed on the floor," McLucas said. But McLucas also said hospital higher ups had told her some patients' families and visitors had also complained.

"I was told it wouldn't matter if it was only one person," she said. "It would have to come down."

McLucas said hospital bosses told her as far as patriotism was concerned, the flag flying outside the hospital building would have to suffice.

Kindred Hospital Corporate Headquarters are located in Kentucky. They have yet to make a final decision on the matter. They have not returned our phone calls for comment.

The Kindred Hospital Corporation was chosen as Fortune's most admired for 2009. McLucas hopes they'll back her patriotism.

"I find it very frightening because if I can't display my flag, what other freedoms will I lose before all is said and done," McLucas asked.

Video: http://cbs11tv.com/local/patriotism.at.office.2.1020415.html