Posted on 06/22/2006 9:34:21 AM PDT by IrishMike
If anyone needs further proof - not that anyone does these days - that the Republican leadership in Congress is both desperate and clueless, it's the election-year revival of that mother of all non-issues: flag desecration.
The U.S. House passed this tread-worn measure last year, and the Senate Judiciary Committee approved it last week. Even though Congress has no shortage of real issues, ranging from the war in Iraq to global warming, clamoring for its attention, the full Senate will begin debate next week on a proposed constitutional amendment to solve a problem that doesn't exist.
As if that weren't dismaying enough, here's worse news: Even though the proposal has repeatedly been defeated in the past, supporters are within just a vote or two of passing this great flapping albatross of an amendment. If that happens, it would go to the states for ratification, and it's unnerving to remember that legislatures in all 50 have adopted resolutions in support.
So, once more we rise wearily to point out the obvious - a constitutional amendment allowing Congress to criminally punish the "physical desecration" of the American flag isn't needed because no one is out there burning flags. Even if they were, the First Amendment states with unmistakable clarity that Congress shall "make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech." That applies to everything from Ku Klux Klan marchers to federal lawmakers who wear stars-and-stripes neckties.
(Excerpt) Read more at registerguard.com ...
Well, you seem pretty entrenched in your beliefs, and I respect them and where they come from. Soldier on!
"But buring that 'memento' does mean anything."
Doesn't!!
Sheese. Spell checker broke!
Stop hyperventilating. If a country is so weak that burning a bit of Chinese cloth causes it to crumble, it wasn't worth much anyway.
The US flag is not a Holy Relic. Feel free to marginalize people who insist on burning it, but outlawing that action is obscene.
Both Houses passed bills that were irreconcilable.
social security reform,
Dems cheered when it died, and for now it is dead
Medicare prescription drugs,
Passed last year
gas prices,
They proved that grandstanding won't bring the price down
and the annual appropriations,
As long as all the welfare queens don't experiece check interruptus, they won't care.
Burning is the only sanctioned way of disposing of a Flag no longer fit for service, so if I go to a Flag Day celebration and state an opinion like "I wish we would leave Iraq" or "Bush is an idiot when it comes to immigration" before I toss my worn out Old Glory on the fire, am I guilty of desecration?
Who was it that said "I do not agree with the things you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say them"?
Really ~ its my property. How about that. I own the copyright.
Heck, sounds like the Republicans should clean up this Fall. (/sarcasm)
Unlike the driveby media, I only expect them to lose net one Senate seat, and maybe lose 5 (net) House seats.
I've been pretty good on predictions in the past, but ususally wait until October - as a lot can happen between now and then.
Voltaire.
It is appalling that the Republicans are throwing out these unimportant gimmick issues while abdicating responsibility for the really serious issues they should be addressing. The Republicans are playing us for chumps.
yep, it shows how tone deaf they are about how bad things are getting out here in the "hinterlands"
I stated a fact about what you would call a 'flag', which I pointed out doesn't not fit the definition of a 'flag'.
I'm not here to argue with you or anyone else as to whether burning a flag is a right or not.
fair enough.
I'm just frustrated with all this silliness.
I sure hope you're right. But somehow it's beginning to feel a bit like 1994...in reverse. And I was optimistic in '04. If the Republicans lose either house, they will never again have the advantage they've had now for the past few years. Iraq is the most important thing we have going, and the polls reflect most Americans aren't happy with that.
Agreed.
I was in a class about how to teach Vacation Bible school the day when the last Supreme Court decision permitting it was announced. We went around the table, and all held that it was a horrible decision: except me.
I said "My Bible says that "You will have no other G-ds before me." Medieval law divided authority into the Sacred, the subject of Church Courts, and the Profane, the subject of various Government Courts. The Flag of the Government would be a Profane symbol, and could not be desecrated, as it was not Sacred."
Having said that, I will say that the proper way to burn the flag is to use scissors to separate the blue Union canton from the stripes. After that, it is no longer the national flag, and it should be burned respectfully, in memory of the symbol it once was.
Bravo! That was so well stated I had to send a response.
Rubbish! People absolutely do and should have the right to burn the flag in protest. We may not like it, but that is the price of freedom. We don't always like others opinions and we don't have the right not to be offended.
Really doesn't matter as long as its my flag.
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