Wednesday, June 21, 2006

desecrate or destroy the flag

* AL:
"According to the USA Today, the Senate is currently only one vote shy of the 67 votes needed to pass the "Flag Desecration Amendment." If so, I'm convinced the amendment will go down in history as the dumbest law ever written.
[]
Despite my natural disinclination (apathy?) toward burning flags, if the Flag Desecration Amendment passes, I'm going to be awfully tempted to burn one for the first time, if for no other reason than to protest the passage of such a mind-bogglingly stupid amendment. And I have a feeling I won't be alone. It seems likely, therefore, that the primary consequence of this amendment will be to dramatically increase the level of flag burning in this country."

* glenn:
"The USA Today editorialized quite strongly today against the Flag Desecration Amendment, and then provided space for an editorial in favor of the Amendment. Who wrote the editorial favoring this Amendment? The increasingly odious Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who insults everyone's intelligence with this inane "reasoning":
Some opponents of the Flag Protection Amendment argue that we must choose between trampling on the flag and trampling on the First Amendment. I strongly disagree.

There is no idea or thought expressed by the burning of the American flag that cannot be expressed equally well in another manner. This Amendment would leave both the flag and free speech safe."
* flashback: here's DiFi in march 2000:
""No other emblem or symbol in our nation carries with it such a specific code of conduct in it's protocol for display and handling," Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) countered. "Why then, should it be permissible conduct to burn, desecrate or destroy this symbol, this monument, this national symbol? That's not my definition of free speech.""
and as to AL's new-found desire to burn flags, as per calipendence's suggestion, i think we'll see a lot of flag burning on the blogs. definitely on mine.

(and it'd be remiss of me not to mention the wingnuts who wonder with amazement how muslims can be so crazy that they get upset if the koran is mal-treated)

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

on the flag thing-

what exactly is the purpose of this? will it have any teeth - will people go to prison for burning flags? if not, then what is the point? i don't get it.

- Jiminy Cricket

Don said...

In Bushite-ese:

Ugh. Me warhawk Dem, me make law, save flag from bad people. Me protect you good. You vote me, me make money from defence company, er, me mean protect you good.

lukery said...

lol - i was gonna put it in my post that maybe the flag-making lobby were behind the amendment cos they figured that lots of people would buy flags so that they could burn them.

or perhaps it's just a precedent-setter to prove that the first amendment isnt absolute... slippery slope and all that

Anonymous said...

Very interesting comments.

What can be more ironic than fortifying the law prohibiting the nonissue of flag burning when the accepted method for disposing of a tattered, worn flag is to burn it? Is it a comedy routine? This reminds me of when I called MSN to cancel my internet access and they told me their computer was down. Damned Kaypros, I say bring back the good old days when calculators and Fords had cranks.

So, while we're building new flag manufacturing plants, let's put up more prisons and fill them with the unwitting traitors who commit the constitutional outrage of disposing of a flag at the end of its life. I call dibs on the brownshirt concession.

lukery said...

I call dibs on the brownshirt concession.

i like it :-)

Anonymous said...

Thanks, buddy! I'm new here and this site rocks. Man, the fun never ends with the "puritanistic repressionists." I keep a pitchfork by the front door to drive 'em off.

lukery said...

glad you like it here. come back soon.

actually, i'm just out the door for a break for a day or two - but introduce yourself to the others in the new open thread. they're all pitchfork friendly :-)

and we all have a shared disgust for the degenerati...

out.