Flag flap fails
On June 27, Senate Joint Resolution 12 went down in the Senate. This bill would have put a constitutional amendment allowing Congress to criminalize the act of descrating the flag. The measure fell one vote short of the 67 needed to pass.
My most recent post shows the letter I sent the two senators from my state. Senator Burns (R-MT) replied only today:
I voted in support of this amendment, as I have in the past, because I feel the flag serves as a reminder of sacrifice of Americans who have fought and died for out freedoms. Our flag is a symbol of freedom for Americans and has long been a symbol of hope for our oppressed friends beyond our borders. The feelings that so many Americans have toward this symbol is enough to show that it is not just an inanimate object that should be subject to desecration at the whims of those who are upset with our nation. This symbol should be held with high esteem and protected to honor what so many brave Americans have done for their country and for what this great country has done for all of us.
Fortunately, the Senate – by a margin slightly larger than its collective IQ – has protected a bit of what this great country has done for all of us.
posted by Johnny Piano at 6/28/2006 01:15:00 PM
2 Comments:
Thank you Senator Lautenburg
http://dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/6/27/213351/726
Piano:
What I found ironic about the so-called Flag Burning Amendment is that it permitted Congress to establish a new federal crime for burning Old Glory, which would presumably increase the federal dockets, which would in turn force the federal courts the Republican Congress despises so much to request increased funding.
Next, the same Constitution these dopes wanted to amend would provide for the following in any federal flag burning persecution:
1. A free lawyer under the Fifth and Sixth Amendments;
2. A jury or bench trial under the Sixth Amendment;
3. Due Process under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments;
4. Reasonable bond under the Seventh Amendment;
5. The prohibition of self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment; and
6. The prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment.
This was political posturing at its worst. I really cannot stand the Democrat(ic?) Party, but I am beginning to feel that way about the Republicans too.
A third party will be a reality within the next 20 years. It will be a socially libertarian party, that is fiscally conservative and protectioinist, yet serious and logical about national defense.
RAM
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