Re: Louisiana updates flag!
The "bleeding pelican" has been on the Louisiana flag all along, but apparently the blood drops were not mentioned in the existing state law. The new version also seems to have an updated depiction of the pelican itself (the wings are different). However, it seems like a bit of a stretch to call it a "new flag"!
Apparently, the symbol of the bleeding pelican has a long history, and was known in medieval heraldry as "the pelican in her piety." According to this discussion on FOTW
Arbois (Municipality, Jura, France)
it was a religous symbol of the Resurrection: The pelican was said to kill her own fledglings and resurrecting them three days later by slashing her chest and shedding the fledglings with her own blood, the same way God resurrected His Son on the Third Day.
Peter Ansoff
"We live by symbols, and what shall be symbolized by any image of the sight depends upon the mind of him who sees it."
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.