Published and edited by someone calling herself "Peggy Poor," The Upright Ostrich first appeared out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 1982. Decidedly libertarian in its outlook, the Ostrich's editorials, articles, letters, and reprints from other publications asserted thoughts such as that the writers of the US Constitution "did not have their heads buried in any collectivist-polluted sands of do-go oder delusions and Machiavellian deceptions, [and] knew that the best government is the least government." Though few copies remain today, the Ostrich appears to have lasted at least into the early 1990s.
An artist who identified him or herself as "Goot" liberally illustrated issues of the Ostrich, often using the newsletter’s eponymous mascot as a blank canvas on which to caricature a particular article or feature. Pictured as a single spread here are the front and back covers of the June-July 1983 issue. The ostrich image featured on the front cover changed for each issue, but this spread also shows three instances (one on the front cover, two on the back) of Goot’s use of an upside-down US flag. Almost as frequent as the ostrich image in the newsletter’s publication was this symbol, which it used because "the upside down flag is [an] internationally recognized signal of distress. USA is in distress."