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This is one of those 'can't win' discussions, because most folks aren't willing to listen to opposing points of view. If you're willing to listen, here is my take on this:

The American flag is a symbol, and nothing more. It's a piece of clothe ... burn it, tear it, throw it away ... I don't really care ... it's not the clothe that matters ... it's what the clothe stands for that matters.

I raised the American flag on fire base Davis in panama in 1989. It wasn't the flag that made us proud, it was the ability to raise it and fly it that made us proud. I still have that flag, but the flag itself doesn't hold any value, it's what that flag stands for that holds value to me.

I flew an American from my antenna in Desert Storm. It made me proud. I still have it ... it's dirty and oil fire smoke stained ... just like me ... it's worn ... ain't new anymore. I don't keep it for it, I keep it as a reminder of where I went, what I did, and maybe someday somebody will find it and wonder ... wonder why it is stained.

I disagree with the American Legion, the VFW, and anyone else who says the flag should not be desecrated. I say this: I didn't defend a flag, I didn't didn't fight for a flag ... a piece of clothe. I fought for and I stood for a an idea ... for a belief. I fought for and defended, to bone cold DMZ of S. Korea, to the tropics of Panama, to Germany, to the deserts of Southwest Asia ... I defended the idea of freedom ... freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the right to a free press, the right to assemble peaceable and speak my mind ... without fear of repression or retaliation.

I say this ... anybody ... any nation ... especially Americans ... if you want to burn the flag, of any nation, especially the Americans flag ... then you burn it, stomp on it, spit on it, raise it high into the sky, salute it, wave, or just ignore it ... cause you know what ...

YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO DO SO ... AND I AM DAMN PROUD OF THAT!

That's what I'm proud of, and nobody can burn that. That's what they had a valley forge, that's what they had in the Ardennes, that's what they had a Guadalcanal and Bouganville, that's what they had in the Chosen reservoir, and IA Drang valley, and that's what we have now. That's what we have in Afghanistan, Iraq, and 130 other countries where we have troops deployed. We have freedom. We have a belief that people should be free, and that's what makes my me proud to be American, not the flag itself, but what it stands for.

Any law, act, amendment to stop any one from speaking their mind, whether or not it involves a flag, would serve only to cheapen the ideals our flag represents, and that would be a sad day for America.

So ... long winded huh? If you took the time to read this, I thank you.