The issue is scheduled to come up for a vote in a couple of weeks:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washing...mendment_x.htm

I've written some in-depth thoughts at my blog:
http://midtopia.blogspot.com/2006/06...nt-burner.html

Such an amendment would trample on the meaning of the flag in the name of protecting its physical structure. That's the true desecration.

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Man up.

The desecration in burning our flag is not in the material burning but in the message it sends. The message is an hatred for America and what it stands for. When ever America would loose a battle in a war the enemy would take down, and sometimes burn, the American flag to send a message. Our enemies today, worthless terrorist burn our flag in many Islamic countries because they HATE America. Basically the burning of our flag is an act of treason. It says -- "America is evil and should be destroyed". That certainly is the message the radicals in the Arab world are sending with this act. Why would the message people got from this act be any different if someone residing in America does it?
I very much hope that they get that vote, better yet many more.

If you can't protest without burning the flag then I can't listen to you without setting you on fire.

I really hope this passes.

So? Shall we also outlaw simply saying "I hate America and what it stands for"?

So? And note that this amendment would have absolutely no effect outside our borders. So those foreign enemies would still be happily burning flags.

Fascinating. Do you think that burning the flag physically weakens America?

You know what I think? I think flag burnings *strengthen* America. Because it demonstrates that freedom is more than just words to us. It demonstrates that we live our principles, even when we don't like the actions involved. Most importantly, it demonstrates that we are strong enough not to be cowed or scared or defeated by something as puny as burning a flag.

Sad. Very sad.

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Man up.

If anyone can discern the logic in that sentence, please explain it to me.

I expected nothing less.

Do you care *at all* that outlawing flag burning desecrates the freedom for which the flag stands? That by attempting to honor the flag you are dishonoring it?

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Man up.

The truth is that people are either for it or against it for the very same reason. I suppose that's why I'm for it and against it.

Attached Images

l721flag.gif (285.0 KB, 6 views)

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"Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves." ~Ronald Reagan

Agreed, and understood.

For me it's like any free speech issue: free speech as a right only matters if it applies even to speech we dislike. Popular speech, by definition, requires no defense.

The fact that the flag represents the very freedom amendment supporters are trying to restrict only heightens the irony.

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Man up.

Why do we want to trivialize the constitution with junk like this? Sure, nobody wants the flag desecrated, but this issue does not merit a constitutional amendment. This is political pandering, just like the Gay marriage amendment.

It really doesn't matter one way or another, there are so many other things to worry about and this is not one of them. They throw this out in an election year to distract people from the real important issues that they have made a total mess of. Things like the total destruction of this country.