same position it would be if it were not holding anything. The Defense Authorization Act of 2009, signed by President Bush, contained a provision that gave veterans and active-duty service members not in uniform the right to salute during the playing of the national anthem. Previous legislation authorized saluting when not in uniform during the raising, lowering and passing of the flag. However, because a salute is a form of communication protected by the Free Speech clause of the First Amendment, legislative authorization is not technically required for any civilian—veteran or non-veteran—to salute the U.S. flag. Whatever the legal status, to salute wrongly is disapproved by veterans' organizations. Civilians in some other countries, like Italy, South Africa, Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, South Korea, Croatia, Poland, Kazakhstan, and Nigeria also render the same civilian salute as their U.S. counterparts when hearing their respective national anthems. Military salutes in popular culture Many artefacts of popular culture have created military salutes for fictional purposes, more often than not with a cynical or sarcastic purpose. In his 1953 comic book album Le dictateur et le champignon, which is part of the Spirou et Fantasio series, Belgian artist Franquin creates a silly salute, used in a fictional Latin American country named Palombia. When saluting, subordinates of General Zantas must raise their hands over their heads, with the palm facing forward, then point to the top of their heads with their thumbs. Franquin repeats this idea in his 1957 comic book album Z comme Zorglub, another episode of the Spirou et Fantasio series. Here, almighty science wizard Zorglub's conscripted soldiers salute their leader by pointing to their heads with their index fingers to cynically underline how much of a genius they consider him to be. In the Marvel Comics universe, members of the organisation Hydra salute in a similar way to a Nazi salute, but instead raise both hands with fists clenched. This is also accompanied by chanting "Hail Hydra". In the 1987 parodic science fiction film Spaceballs, directed by Mel Brooks, all subordinates of supreme leader President Skroob salute him by first bending their forearms over their opposed hands, as though they are about to give him the arm of honor salute, but at the last moment, use their raised hands to wave him goodbye, rather than showing him the middle finger. In the BBC TV science fiction comedy Red Dwarf, Arnold J. Rimmer continually