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But all you making excuses for these kids I ask you one question. In your heart of hearts, and the depths of your soul, how do you feel when some waco burns the American flag, or gets on national television and tells us how terrible we are.

As an adult and a vet, I see people, regardless of intelligence, exercising their right to free speech. Histrionic emotional reactions have no place in either understanding or protecting the Constitution. Getting angry at someone else's opinion is not logical.

If seeing/hearing about these things doesn't make your blood absolutely boil, why then we're definately not on the same page.

I know what I fought and served for, and it wasn't the flag, but rather what it stands for. Here's a little quote from Mark Twain that ought to clear things right up:

"You see my kind of loyalty was loyalty to one's country, not to its to its institutions or its office-holders. The country is the real thing, the substantial thing, the eternal thing; it is the thing to watch over, and care for, and be loyal to; institutions are extraneous, they are its mere clothing, and clothing can wear out, become ragged, cease to be comfortable, cease to protect the body from winter, disease, and death. To be loyal to rags, to shout for rags, to worship rags, to die for rags -- that is a loyalty of unreason, it is pure animal; it belongs to monarchy, was invented by monarchy; let monarchy keep it."

Nice quote, but wasn't it Reagan who said (and I'm going from memory so stick with me) that this country is and always will be based on values. Policies, and politics come and go with the wind, but values, base line values always stay the same.

And as far as I'm concerned, the one piece of cloth that symbolizes our countries values is the American flag. So yes, when someone burns it, I don't see a great appreciation of freedom, I see it as saying that the American values are crap. And I don't like it one bit.

Bottom line, here's how I see it. Your all right in that our government has gotten way to big and out of control, I don't think you'll find anyone right-of-center that will not agree with you. Second, these punks had every right to wear their patches, and bash on the states. But if you assume that one, then you have to accept the right of this lady to do what she did, bottom line.

Oh, and my love of this country comes not from a love of a political branch, or of any one person, it comes from the cherished history behind our great country, and the potentional it has to make the world a great place.