View From The Porch: Politics: I'm sorry, but...

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Politics: I'm sorry, but...

...a flag you can't burn is a flag not worth protecting.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...: Damn, that's beautiful.; 10:35 AM, August 01, 2007
David Neylon said...: I agree. The flag is a symbol of freedom. Even the freedoms some don't approve of. Every time the government says "you can't" that's one less freedom.; 10:51 AM, August 01, 2007
Anonymous said...: As long as the particular flag you are burning is yours, go ahead. If it's mine expect to get the crap beat out of you.; 11:07 AM, August 01, 2007
Anonymous said...: Sorry, but until I can burn a koran without fear of legal action I believe the flag should not be impugned.

Free speech? Yeah, if you burn one, you burn the other.; 11:11 AM, August 01, 2007
Kevin said...: Yes, I agree. Asshats have the right to express themselves too. I might not like it, but there it is.; 11:12 AM, August 01, 2007
Tam said...: jerry,

"Sorry, but until I can burn a koran"

Have you lost your matches or something?; 11:21 AM, August 01, 2007
David Neylon said...: Jerry I believe that anything that doesn't do harm to someone else should be allowed. But as soon as you forbid one form of expression, such as burning the flag, then you've opened yourself to forbidding other forms of expression, such as burning the Koran.

Being offensive should not be illegal.; 11:54 AM, August 01, 2007
BobG said...: "Being offensive should not be illegal."

Very true; otherwise we would all be in jail at some time or the other.; 2:19 PM, August 01, 2007
Rustmeister said...: I know I'm not an Enlightened One, but law or no law, burning the flag is wrong.; 3:00 PM, August 01, 2007
Tam said...: "Wrong" and "illegal" should not automatically overlap. It is wrong to not be polite to your elders in civil conversation, but it should not be illegal.; 3:03 PM, August 01, 2007
Rustmeister said...: I know, and I really do wrestle with this issue.

I really get pissed off when I see someone burning our flag. I don't care if they knit it themselves from their own body hair.

I know it's their freedom of expression (wherever that is in the Constution), but if I were to freely express my outrage, I'd most certainly be in jail.; 4:09 PM, August 01, 2007
7.62x54r said...: The day that law passes I'll be down in front of the courthouse with my matches. Of course I'll have to stop and pick up a flag on the way since all mine have thirteen stars in a cross.; 4:43 PM, August 01, 2007
Anonymous said...: Tam said:
"
...a flag you can't burn is a flag not worth protecting.

"

While I acknowledge the sentiment...

Can't we have SOMETHING that is off-limits??!!; 5:52 PM, August 01, 2007
Tam said...: How about "Tyranny"? Let's put that off limits. Maybe "Oppression", too.

Matter of fact, we can write us up a big ol' document to see that they stay off limits, and guard our freedoms jealously, rather than frittering them away to appease the passions of the moment.

;); 6:03 PM, August 01, 2007
Anonymous said...: Uhhmmm Rustmeister, if I am not allowed to burn my flag, then what am I supposed to do with it if it gets soiled?

As I learned in the cub scouts, if the flag becomes soiled it is to be disposed of by burning.

Tam,
Yeah a document like that would be useful, but can we make it out of poison ivy or poison oak? That way when future politicians use it as tp they get a nasty rash .. you know, down there....

;-); 6:50 PM, August 01, 2007
Tracy said...: Damn, Tam, but that was well stated!; 10:26 PM, August 01, 2007
Feanaro said...: Our flag is a slip of cloth. The honors we render are not for the fabric, it's for the proud tradition it stands for. Fire can eat the threads but it can't stain what the flag stands for. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.

I'd like to see the dweebs that burn flags try that stunt in North Korea though.; 1:46 AM, August 02, 2007
Rustmeister said...: Gregg:

Actually, a soiled American flag can be washed and displayed.

Only when it becomes unfit for display should it be disposed of in a dignified manner, preferably by burning.

I don't consider burning one at an anti-American rally a dignified way to dispose of a flag.

I've also been told it's appropriate to cut the patch of blue away from the stripes first, thus "seperating the union".

I just see willful desecration of the flag as another example of us having our freedoms used against us by those who hate us.; 2:42 PM, August 02, 2007