Well, I wore my flag shirt to church on Sunday. Then we had some commercializing to do in Centralia and Carlyle; no one else had either flag shirts on or other American decorations. Many people came by me with greetings of encouragement and congratulations for my flag shirt.

America has had years of watering down the greatness of our country -- by our schools, media, TV, movies, politicians -- to the point that America doesn't matter in many people's mind. I believe most people don't really believe that we are nothing special; they just have been conditioned to numbness.

The people who are trying to take America down are encouraging us to be sedated to a growingly mundane existence, whereby our patriotism is moot and a distant memory.

Where they error is not knowing there are a lot of Yankee Doodle guys and gals waiting to be awakened.

The old red, white and blue has been so abused by the Democrats, pushing us toward world government, where the United Nations, World Court and foreign laws have turned our red, white and blue into black and blue -- in fact with a greenish tinge, having been maligned for so long.

Well, as the Ziggy cartoon said, I am a Yankee Doodle kind of guy. I think there a lot of Yankee Doodle guys and gals out there. They just need to be encouraged to become active in our politics, clean up our image and return to our glorious red, white and blue heritage.

Adrian P. Heuermann

Carlyle