Run this one up and see who salutes

It seems the new Georgia flag just can’t get a break. The governor and legislators who helped push through a redesign earlier this year are as hated in some quarters as hotheaded Billy Sherman ever was, and a decidedly unscientific online poll last month found the not-so-bonnie blue banner dead last in popularity among state flags — even Ohio’s, and they’ve only got a slice of flag. (Did somebody say ballot-stuffing? Surely not).

Now a national magazine’s gotten into the act. Taking only a glancing poke at our new flag, the Utne Reader is sponsoring a flag-design contest. In order to get things rolling, it asked local design firm Banks Alberts Design to create a new Georgia flag.

The result? A red, white and blue flag featuring a cannon, a picture of the Rev. Martin Luther King, 13 stars and the “CIVIL” in large letters, with “WAR” and “RIGHTS” inserted into the vowels in the word ‘civil.’ The design, according to Scott Banks, reflected “a positive statement that uses historical reference.”

And it’s not too bad, in a coffee-table-bookjacket sort of fashion. But somehow, we just don’t see a big rush of Star-and-Bars devotees rushing to run this one up the flagpole, either.??