Flag Burning Nonsense

At least the Senate saw some sense - barely - and defeated the flag burning amendment. Thank god.

The sanctimony that comes out of those in favour of the amendment is truly sickening. According to the Post, the proponents "said that burning a U.S. flag in public -- while rare these days -- is a reprehensible insult to the nation's founders and a dishonor to the Americans who died fighting tyranny."

Well. Doesn't that sound a lot like the nutjobs in the Middle East saying that some cartoons are reprehensible insults to Mohammed and such things should be banned?

America: Free Speech, unless, of course, the moral majority doesn't like it. Once you open up the Constitution to being amended to prohibit controversial speech (not harmful), where does it stop? What about criticizing the President? What about insulting the nation? These are popular sorts of laws in other countries, but conceptually, once you ban burning a symbol of the nation, you open a pandora's box.

The scary thing is that the Constitution is now considered a legitimate battleground for any particular group that wants to impose its way on others.