Future Subject of Jucial Activism - Flag Burning

That damned House of Representatives has been real busy of late, this time approving and anti-flag-burning Constitutional Ammendment. Mind you, there is an Equal Rights Ammendment out there that has yet to pass after over 80 years of women fighting for their own rights, but the House says Flags are more important than women. So be it. However, Constitutional Ammendments are not immune from Judicial oversight. I mean if for some reason the Radical Right would get congress to pass a Constitutional Ammendment on say its ok to kill Arabs, the Supreme Court could still step in and say, nope! Thats a violation of basic human rights. So this flag burning ammendment may fall prey to the same thing.

I mean flag burning may not be the most patriotic of things, but it ain't treasonist either, its an excercise of your basic human right to free speech. A flag is nothing more than the eloquent intermingling of red, white, and blue fibers in a pattern that is the stars and stripes. Now it is either cotton, nylon, or plastic. In any case, its nothing more than a fancy piece of material. We burn materials like crazy in this country and in others.

As the article states, this isn't new ground for legislatures, and courts everywhere.

The measure was designed to overturn a 1989 decision by the Supreme Court, which ruled 5-4 that flag burning was a protected free-speech right. That ruling threw out a 1968 federal statute and flag-protection laws in 48 states. The law was a response to anti-Vietnam war protesters setting fire to the American flag at their demonstrations.

So the House and perhaps the Senate in this case are forcing the states to undergo this new ratification of an ammendment. Though this time they think they are smarter, for they changed the wording a bit:

The proposed one-line amendment to the Constitution reads, "The Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States." For the language to be added to the Constitution, it must be approved not only by two-thirds of each chamber but also by 38 states within seven years.

"Congress shall have the power"

Hmph, I guess there are many things Congress (as the fully elected representatives of the lobbyists people) should have the power to do. There are lots of things like, say oversight of the President's War Crimes, or checking out their own corrupt practices, or giving women their own equal rights.

But that flag is so goddamned important. Maybe there is a loop hole here, for it says "the flag of the United States." So what is THE flag? Where does said flag exhist? I mean THE is likely to be reffering to the one the only flag of the United States. Perhaps Flag should be capitalized, but I guess grammar is not Congress's strong point (indeed I have heard nucyalar mispronounced constantly in those halls).

So as long as the flag you choose to burn is not THE flag I think you can go ahead and practice your coolest zippo tricks. Or say you make your own flags. Make burnable flags. Say with only 49 stars or only like 45 stars so there really is no confusion. You can take a picture of your flag burning for evidence, clearly demonstrating that there is only 45 stars. I guess that flag while resembling THE flag of the United States, clearly cannot be considered even A flag let alone THE ONE THE ONLY.

So entrepreneurs, now that Congress is likely to send special interest groups scrambling to raise money, organize, and fight for flag burning rights in at least 38 states (diverting attention from equal rights for example, or other argueably more important things), while at the same time enjoying big anti-american hatred from the right for doing it, now is your chance. Start a burnable flag business. Register a domain name, like burnableflags.com (still available). Cuz if they found a loophole to get Congress to give up its authority to declare war on a sovereign country, I am sure the burnable flag of 45 stars loophole can hold just as much water. Besides, with all that fighting by state legislatures, special interest groups, and fundraisers, with this action alone it seems Congress has passed its first jobs program of the Bush Presidency.