Burning Issue for the American Legion
Right now we’re quagmired in two countries. Make that three if you count Pakistan. North Korea has the world on edge. We have tens of thousands of disabled and neglected soldiers and veterans.
With so much going on, guess what issue the American Legion is most worked up about. Right you are — a flag burning amendment.
[sigh]
How’s that for priorities?
Here’s a link to the American Legion Magazine. Most of their articles aren’t available online, including this one.
Here’s a link to part of the interview between the American Legion Magazine and Richard D. Parker, the Harvard Law professor who’s obsessed with amending the Constitution to “protect” the flag.
Nero fiddled while Rome burned.
cross-posted at Bring It On!
Labels: American Legion Magazine, Richard D. Parker flag burning amendment
posted by Tom Harper @ 6:52 PM
17 Comments:
I’m not sure of what I’m more afraid of, the American Legion or this guy. He talks about how we made fun of Palin, but how bout her “elitist” speeches on every American who isn’t white, rural and/or into Hockey?
Over the years I watched Republican Presidents promise to get a Supreme Court to overturn Roe, Brown, and Flag Burning. As we just got finished discussing populism with Gay Marriage - what he really wants is a system that agrees with him. Like all the other populist, conservative idiots. He must have loved Pleussy, which was a real radical decision that cut up constitutional law and nary a whimper out of the conservatives, past nor present!
If he gets his wish with Flag, Burning I can’t wait to see how he intends to take on the 13, 14, and 15th Amendments. Conservatives hate those.
Erik
Erik: I couldn't believe he actually felt sorry for Sarah Palin because of all the "disrespect" she got.
The rightwingers got so much mileage out of "Gay Marriage!" that I thought the flag-burning issue had just faded away. Both of those issues only serve one purpose: to rile up the masses, to cause millions of dolts to have an unthinking knee-jerk reaction.
I really would feel more comfortable having a bestiality site come up instead of this American Legion one. And I assure you, that isn't a high level of comfort but far more bearable.
Ricardo: Bestiality, hmmm...At least those people aren't trying to force their views onto everybody else.
I've always thought of flag burning as a simple-minded, shabby and ultimately self-defeating way to try to make a point. Self-defeating because flag burning becomes the issue, not whatever the dim-bulb protester was protesting.
I'm not much for flag motif bikinis, aprons, folding chairs, etc. It's ripping off something that deserves respect.
Even so, a law banning flag burning or flag-styled beachwear clearly violates the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of expression. Public disapproval is the better remedy for some things.
And yes, considering all the wrongs that need righting, all the policies and regulatory things that desperately need reforming, plus our collection of wars and occupations, we need to get wrought up about the possibility of some dipstick burning the flag like we need Dick Cheney's (arrrgghh) sage advice.
That professor should go soak his fevered head.
I always thought the swine flu hype was a way to get our minds off the economic downfall and the escalation of the Afghan war--yeah, right--we will win that one when no other country couldn't...I got land in Florida too.
The flag burning business is nothing new, but it does always come up when the Repuks are down. It is a desperate ploy for relevance when we are losing jobs, homes and health care.
Of course, because most of the people stationed in those countries will end up in the VFW anyway so why would they care.
SW: I certainly agree that flag burning is "a simple-minded, shabby and ultimately self-defeating way to try to make a point." In addition, the person doing the flag burning stands a good chance of getting beaten to a pulp by angry bystanders.
That's why this whole thing is such a non-issue. Flag-burning is pointless and self-defeating, and a law against it would clearly violate the First Amendment.
Enemy: That's true, the flag-burning issue is sort of a barometer of how things are going for conservatives. They probably don't realize that when they start screaming about a flag-burning amendment, they're actually announcing to the world "we have absolutely nothing to offer."
Thomas: True, today's soldier is tomorrow's VFW/American Legion member.
I much prefer burning persons in effigy. Makes a much better statement.
Hell, I never once flew an american flag until November 5, 2008.
Bee: November 5, 2008 -- hmmm, was there something special about that date :)
If people were taught from an early age about what it means to have respect for the flag, there would be no issue.
When I was in (gasp!) Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts we learned a lot of things about how to treat the flag that don't jive with the way it gets treated by a lot of the knuckle-dragger "patriots" who fly it from their cars, or who leave it out on display 24/7 so it can get rained on and tattered by the wind.
"Burn it? Oh my god, no!!! But I will leave it out in the rain, no problem."
I love the flag, but I view it as a symbol. It isn't something to be worshipped, it is simply a symbol of America. A flag in itself is not America, but it's a big part of what America is for me. I love America, and because of this, I would never, ever burn a flag. If someone else wants to burn a flag, that's their problem.
Again, if more people were educated on how to properly treat our flag from the time they were young, there wouldn't be any need for trying to get all the mouth-breathers riled up... nobody would be burning flags.
But wait a minute... how much flag-burning is going on in our country today?
Not that many people burn flags. If a lot of it was going on, we would see pictures of it in the news, and often. If it was an activity engaged in by a lot of Americans, don't you think FOX "News" would have a field day? I don't think they have been talking much about flag-burning on FOX lately, have they?
This American Legion dude's heart is in the right place, but his head is a dark part of his body that probably doesn't smell too good. He needs to breathe some fresh air and see some sunshine, and he probably needs to take the flag down from his front porch and carefully fold it every night to keep it out of the elements, all the time making sure it never touches the ground.
And then he should get good and militant about health care and other services for needy veterans.
"Vote for Guy Fawkes, the only man ever to enter Parliament with honest intentions."
When I read what Snave said about respecting flag (which I was going to write about - the treatment of the flag by all the patriots after 9/11) I am also reminded in 1976 in Boston when whites were protesting the busing for immigration order, a black lawyer stepped out of the courthouse and was assaulted by two white men carrying the flag WITH the flag!
Sure they got hit with assault but I heard no right wing scream about hitting them with desecration charges as well.
Must have been the righteous cause
Erik
Snave: That's funny how these superpatriots will leave their flags out in the rain and wind, or have them flapping from their car on the freeway. There's a local barber who has two flags flying from the back of his car, like he's trying to be twice as patriotic as the next patriot. And just to remove any doubt, he has a bumpersticker that says "Thank God for the Red States."
This whole flag burning issue is so phony and so transparent. I suspect most rightwing politicians don't really want a flag-burning amendment, because then they wouldn't have this phony hotbutton issue for rallying their base.
Erik: I never heard about that case. I was out of the country from 1975-77; I hope that story got lots of coverage. Rednecks using a flag to assault somebody, LOL. Funny how the "patriots" don't mind if the flag is defiled as long as it's for a noble cause.
way to keep the important issues burning. as it were.
Mike: Or keeping the home fires burning, or something.
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