The Flag-Burning Amendment… again
2 Comments Published June 26th, 2006 in Political, Ridiculing StupidityIf at first you do not succeed, try, try again. Or realize you are wrong and stop wasting time. Without going too much into the details, since I already did an article on this, I’ll just sum it up. The flag is a symbol for our country, which is founded upon the ideals of the constitution and its amendments, one of which protects freedom of speech. The supreme court already ruled that burning the American flag is an expression of freedom of speech. That should be the end of story. Unfortunately, republicans are trying to grab a few “patriotic” votes by creating an amendment that would make it illegal to burn the flag. Why protect freedom of speech, when you can take it away and gain votes from it?
Since I am the apparent authority on ridiculing stupidity, I just have to say that the republicans are being really, really halfwitted with this. Why are they pushing this crap when North Korea is testing rockets that can not only hit the western United States, but that can carry nuclear warheadsâ€â€warheads that they’ve created since we began our “war on terror.”
Speaking of which, what were the reasons we attacked Iraq? They supposedly had weapons of mass destruction? We know for a fact that N. Korea does. They supposedly had terrorist ties? We know for a fact that N. Korea does. They wouldn’t let UN inspectors come in to inspect? N. Korea won’t either! What’s the difference here? Oil? Republican business interests? I’m not advocating war, but for being the party that called Kerry a “flip-flopper” in nearly every ad they bought, the republican party could sure use some consistency… and maybe give an explanation or two.
It’s particularly funny that if our American flags were made in America instead of China, then every time an anti-American burned one, it would just be feeding our economy… instead of a country that fully supports N. Korea… an “Axis of evil” that the President Bush no longer seems concerned about.
And, how, one might ask, is one supposed to dispose of an old flag?
Answer: By burning it!
So what happens when you make it illegal to burn the flag? Wll they make an exception for that?
The VFW Flag Disposal page:
http://www.vfw.org/index.cfm?fa=cmty.leveld&did=2477
I believe the wording for the amendment is more along the lines of giving congress the power to prevent “physical desecration,” so it might still be legal to burn it ceremoniously. Of course, that raises the question of when is it desecration? If a flag is draped over a coffin for a soldier and the whole thing is burned, is that okay? What if it is the same situation but, rather than a solider, it’s an anti-american? When a flag touches the ground for any reason, would that be desecration? What if a company producing the flags realizes that their stitches are not strong enough? How do they get rid of the flags that they don’t deem to be high enough quality to sell? This is just another case of vague wording and wasted time by the government. I don’t think the few hundred cases in our entire country’s history warrant more attention than the thousands of other issues that could have been discussed.