286 representatives show they are spineless pricks
The Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States.
Better stock up on images like this:
or brush up on the photoshop, if you want to express the idea. Maybe flash animation of flag burning would OK, too.
What is sad, is that, if it passes the Senate and the States, citizens of the *free-est* country on the planet cannot express themselves in the same way that everyone else on the planet can. Anybody – even the North Koreans – can burn a US flag. See the USA – where 6 billion furriners have more freedom.
What is the excuse THIS time?
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wait for it…
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9/11!!!
Supporters said the measure reflected patriotism that deepened after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and they accused detractors of being out of touch with public sentiment.
“Ask the men and women who stood on top of the (World) Trade Center,” said Rep. Randy (Duke) Cunningham, R-Calif. “Ask them and they will tell you: pass this amendment.”
BTW, what is physical desecration, exactly? And does the proposed amendment apply only to the actual flag or to a representation of a flag? Can I burn a picture of a flag? A flag window sticker? What about obsolete versions of the flag – does it apply only to the current one? What about a flag patch? Is that OK? What if someone throws a flag into a urinal, and I REALLY need to piss RIGHT NOW? Is this secondary desecration of an already desecrated object equally actionable, even with the defense of private emergency? What if I sew a flag patch on to the size 85 polyester stretch pants of some typical walmart trailer park wretch? Man, setting that shit on fire would be a public service, but no, I have to go to jail.
Tell your senators that what is more repulsive than burning the symbol of the country is eliminating the underlying right in order to *protect* the dignity of the symbol.
America isn’t easy. America is advanced citizenship. You’ve got to want it bad, because it’s gonna put up a fight. It’s gonna say, “You want free speech? Let’s see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil who is standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. You want to claim this land as the ‘land of the free’? Then the symbol of your country cannot just be a flag. The symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Now show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then you can stand up and sing about the ‘land of the free.'”
I think people who burn the flag are expressing a dumb idea, but taking away their right to do so is un-American. Unfortunately America has been very un-American lately.
BTW fuck the economy bail out, what happened to capitalism?
Capitalism rules apply when you want their money. You are a socialist and must be defeated. When they want yours, though, it is not socialism, it is the protection of capitalism by cash infusion or some other euphemism.
Live by the sword, die by the sword, although I would rather bail out Motown and let AIG and those other Wall Street bastards wither and die by the very market forces that made them rich, if I had to choose.