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Flag burning — again (MoonBats UNHINGED-election year revival of that mother of all non-issues)
Register-Guard ^ | Thursday, June 22, 2006

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 ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Philosophy; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 109th; 2006; 2008; congress; distraction; diversion; election; elections; govwatch; senate; smokescreen; ussenate
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To: Mazda3Fan
The price of freedom does not entail giving you the privilege of inviting everyone in to run rampant all over my property rights.

It's my flag and you will please forebear from giving it away to pigs and sluts.

41 posted on 06/22/2006 10:53:55 AM PDT by muawiyah (-)
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To: muawiyah
It is not up to you, or any other FReepers. If someone wants to take away my right, or anyone else's, to express political dissent, they will have to overcome my 2nd Amendment rights in order to do so.

Bunch of WATBs who want to amend our Constitution so we can join the ranks of authoritarian governments that criminally punish flag-burning. Great - let's be like Iran, Iraq, China, Cuba, the former USSR, etc.

As Boortz says, so well: My default position is freedom. Before you move to restrict that freedom, you better be able to demonstrate a damn good reason to do so. And playing pure politics with something that almost never occurs and which, when it does occur in any fashion covered by this legislation, is only punishable because of the INTENT involved does not even approach being a good reason.

42 posted on 06/22/2006 10:53:59 AM PDT by lugsoul (Livin' in fear is just another way of dying before your time. - Mike Cooley)
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To: lugsoul

My property rights combined with my second amendment rights gives me a larger bore and greater range. So, keep your s--hooks off my stuff.


43 posted on 06/22/2006 10:54:42 AM PDT by muawiyah (-)
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To: tortoise

Voltair was a foreigner ~ a Frenchman to be exact. He had no property right in the American flag to protect.


44 posted on 06/22/2006 10:55:32 AM PDT by muawiyah (-)
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To: muawiyah

My understanding is that most flag burners buy them from the store.

So it is normally their flag that they burn.


45 posted on 06/22/2006 10:56:03 AM PDT by donmeaker (Burn the UN flag publicly.)
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To: muawiyah
No one has a right to desecrate my flag, nor to give anyone else the permission to do so.
Flag desecration is an act of war. I fight only in self defense.

Er... a couple guys in dark sunglasses just dropped by wanting to have a chat with you....

46 posted on 06/22/2006 10:56:51 AM PDT by steve-b (Hoover Dam is every bit as "natural" as a beaver dam.)
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To: MACVSOG68
I've concered a reverse 1994, the main reason I don't see it happening is the results from the special election in CA-50. I know special elections can be strange but this one was so typical that I don't think it is a fluke. The Left gets 44-46% of the vote all the time, like (Gore+Nader in 2000 and Kerry in 2004. Busby, the Dem got 45.5%. If the culture of corruption worked anywhere it would be in CA-50 where the former congressman is behind bars.

As for the war in Iraq, apparently Republicans think it works for them - see the recent House and Senate votes. It's probably a lot like Nixon and 'Nam, a decent percentage of the sour people are probably upset that we ain't blowing enough stuff up. Most Americans, except the granola munching Left, hate losing more than they hate war.

Based on the CA-50 results among other things, I've rejected 1994 as a template and moved on to 1998 as my template.

Plus the Dems have offered no alternative. I did an experiment on a middle of the road voter, I said Speaker Nancy Pelosi and it scared her half to death.

Lastly the gerrymandering of the House and the fact that that GOP only has to defend 15 seats in the Senate, to the Dims 18 are structural GOP advantages.

47 posted on 06/22/2006 10:57:20 AM PDT by NeoCaveman (The Latest on the Ohio gov race http://blackwellvstrickland.blogspot.com)
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To: muawiyah

You don't own my flag. You don't own my neighbor's flag. Your idiotic statements about property rights would indicate that you think you own everyone's flag. What are you - some kind of communist?


48 posted on 06/22/2006 10:58:04 AM PDT by lugsoul (Livin' in fear is just another way of dying before your time. - Mike Cooley)
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To: lugsoul

First off, it's my flag, not yours, and I inherited it. It's simply not yours to give away. Not everybody in this country "owns" that flag either because it's not a case of simple presence or attendance that allows the claim of ownership.


49 posted on 06/22/2006 10:58:20 AM PDT by muawiyah (-)
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To: muawiyah

You don't own the flag. People now and in the past have defended what the flag represents not the flag itself!


50 posted on 06/22/2006 10:59:01 AM PDT by Mazda3Fan
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To: mugs99
Energy costs will be on the voters minds in November. The RP continues to drive voters away with this silly flag stunt.

If it were a vote loser, Hillary (and a few other Dems) wouldn't cross party lines to vote for it. If I were the Dems, I'd pass the thing to get it out off the table. If it's a bad idea, leave that to the states.

51 posted on 06/22/2006 10:59:33 AM PDT by NeoCaveman (The Latest on the Ohio gov race http://blackwellvstrickland.blogspot.com)
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To: agooga
But wouldn't it be hilarious to see one of them accidentally set himself on fire when he tries to burn the flag?
52 posted on 06/22/2006 10:59:54 AM PDT by Uncle Vlad
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To: donmeaker
In the infamous Supreme Court decision where the Justices gave away everybody else's property rights and cra**ed on our history and ancient liberties, the flag that was desecrated by the barbarian had been taken from a US Post Office.

The USSC doesn't particularly care how you came by a flag ~ they despise it nonetheless.

53 posted on 06/22/2006 11:00:17 AM PDT by muawiyah (-)
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To: steve-b

I am sure "W" can be satisfactory counseled. You, on the other hand, would appear to be a lost cause. I'd suggest you depart immediately for a country where the standards live up to your expectations ~ maybe Italy or something.


54 posted on 06/22/2006 11:02:07 AM PDT by muawiyah (-)
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To: muawiyah
Do you have the capability to state facts that make ownership of everyone's flag yours, and also to state facts that show that I have no ownership in the flag? Or can you just make childish unsupported statements?

If by 'inherited' you are referring to having ancestors fighting under that flag in times of war, mine did the same, all the way back to the first war (and they also fought against those carrying it, in one war). So what makes it "yours" and not any other American's?

55 posted on 06/22/2006 11:02:47 AM PDT by lugsoul (Livin' in fear is just another way of dying before your time. - Mike Cooley)
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To: lugsoul

It's my flag punk. I own it. You will respect my property.


56 posted on 06/22/2006 11:02:51 AM PDT by muawiyah (-)
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To: Mazda3Fan

You have a very narrow interpretation of things. It's my flag. It's existence precedes the authority of the current government that claims to operate the United states.


57 posted on 06/22/2006 11:04:05 AM PDT by muawiyah (-)
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To: muawiyah
I respect nothing about you, because you are demonstrating clearly that you are a child.

The flag that I bought, that I fly from my house, that my ancestors fought under, is mine. It is not yours. You couldn't articulate a claim to it if an adult did it for you. And if I want to burn it in grand celebration of the freedom to do so that we have in this great nation, I'll damn well do it.

58 posted on 06/22/2006 11:05:20 AM PDT by lugsoul (Livin' in fear is just another way of dying before your time. - Mike Cooley)
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To: muawiyah
I would never touch your flag.

I also have an American flag. It's not "the" American flag. It's my American flag. It's my property. I bought it 2 years ago.

If it was "our" American flag, I guess the money I paid for it was only rent. Hmmm...but they never asked me to sign a rental agreement.

Once when I was carrying it, one corner touched my driveway. I've heard it's a very bad thing to let "the" American flag touch the "ground". But I say my driveway is not the "ground". It's a masonry slab set on top of the ground.

My wife washes my flag in the washing machine when needed. Am I guilty of an act of war?

59 posted on 06/22/2006 11:05:20 AM PDT by repentant_pundit (For the Sons and Daughters of Every Planet on the Earth)
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To: lugsoul

btw, lugsoul, when you are in a business partnership, and have joint ownership of property, you must respect the other partner's property rights anyway ~ you can't just start dragging off the contents of the stockroom and tossing them in the trash.


60 posted on 06/22/2006 11:05:46 AM PDT by muawiyah (-)
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