Quote Originally Posted by GlassMan
While I'm proud to be an American and I respect our flag because I love this country, I've always thought that artistically it's one of the ugliest flags around. It's far too busy and very unbalanced. I will always have one flying in front of my home because I believe in our American ideals but even if it weren't forbidden, I'd never make our flag into apparel. It's just not that good looking.

I somehow feel I ought to apologise for that - the fellow who helped finance one of the voyages of discovery - Cabot's I think - was called Americ - and he was armorigeous - his tomb is, I think, somewhere down in the West Country - of England, and you can visit it and see the stars and stripes on his shield.

I feel like a distant relative handing over an embarassing photo of he who went to make his fortune, 'this is the only one of great great uncle Xxxxx I could find...'

Though if you have a look at some of the possibilities in English heraldry maybe you'll agree that it was a lucky escape, to get start and stripes.