So You Wanna Burn the Flag?
The United States Senate rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that would have made it illegal to “desecrate” the American flag. The effort, led by the Republicans in the Senate, marked another failed attempt for the Grand Old Party to throw red meat at its base in an attempt to make them forget that, well, they’ve failed at leading this country over the past six years.
From the WaPo:
The 66 to 34 vote fell just short of the two-thirds majority required to approve a constitutional amendment and submit it to the states for ratification. It marked the latest setback for congressional attempts to supersede Supreme Court decisions in 1989 and 1990. Justices narrowly ruled that burning and other desecrations of the flag are protected as free speech under the First Amendment.
Personally, I am glad that the GOP is standing up and trying to make it illegal for Americans to deface the flag. The flag, after all, is a symbol of freedom and freedom (as you know) is on the march. It’s the Democrats who are the ones who want to burn their bras, flags, and bibles and that is just wrong.
Wait, hold on. One second…
Oh, ok. Breaking news from the GOP…
Ah, turns out they’re against defacing the flag UNLESS it’s Kid Rock who was invited to perform at the 2004 RNC convention in New York City!
Hypocrites.
June 28th, 2006 at 3:28 pm
Don’t forget this:
June 29th, 2006 at 7:53 am
According to wiki:
The basic design of the flag is specified by sections 1 and 2 of Title 4, United States Code (4 U.S.C. §§ 1, 2 (2004)). Executive Order 10834 which may be found as a note to section 1, specifies the proportions of the flag and the arrangement of the stars in the union. [1]. The specification gives the following values:
* Hoist (width) of flag: A = 1.0
* Fly (length) of flag: B = 1.9
* Hoist (width) of Union: C = 0.5385 (7/13, spanning seven stripes)
* Fly (length) of Union: D = 0.76 (1.9 × 2/5, two fifths of the flag length)
* E = F = 0.0538 (C/10, One tenth the width of the Union)
* G = H = 0.0633 (D/12, One twelfth the length of the Union)
* Diameter of star: K = 0.0616
* Width of stripe: L = 0.0769 (1/13)
So how would they enforce this law? If I burn a tapestry that has only 49 stars, is that still a flag? What if it only has 12 stripes? What if it’s square? Are they going to try and legislate intent (as in, he meant it was a flag even though it wasn’t)? This is the kind of argument the right trots out in order to avoid implementing hate crime bills, so what’s it gonna be?
What a spectacular waste of time.
The Hindsight Factor
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