Is there anyone here who truly gives 2 shits about flag burning?

[Tyler Durden]

Really. C'mon.

This is getting really fucking stupid.

Hey, It's a nice country some of the time. You can even argue that most of us get a pretty good deal compared to, say, Morocco or Iran, or Uganda.

But the FLAG? C'mon. This is the year 2007 A.C.E. or maybe 6,492,863,122 post Solar System coalescence, or maybe 12,441,073,005 Post Big Bang. No country or empire has lasted longer than we have so far, and it can be argued that the USA is living on borrowed time in its current incarnation. Let's put this into perspective, kids.

Who really is ready to DIE for the FLAG? In the Navy I went into compartments where there might have been exposed nuclear materials, but I did it for the casualties and my shipmates; do it for the FLAG? Give me a break.

A gaudy rectangle of muslin is a SYMBOL, and as George Carlin so eloquently put it, "Symbols are for the 'Symbol Minded'." One must face the fact that even in war, given the choice between dying for a word, "Freedom" loses to "Poontang" every single time: "Full Metal Jacket" was based on "The Short Timers," a memoir written by a Vietnam Vet, and that concept figures STRONGLY in that war according to the author.

Time to grow up. The situation today cannot hinge on such claptrap as "desecration of the flag." Mirriam-Webster's first meaning of "desecrate" says: 1 : to violate the sanctity of : PROFANE. What on earth is SACRED about the flag? How many Dead Soldiers buys one flag? The concept of the sacred symbol is obsolete compared to the starving billions, and the dying millions. You want to be greatful for the crapshoot that got your DNA planted here, so be it. I'm pretty damned greatful m'self, but not greatful enough to send some deluded fool to jail for burning a muslin rectangle.

Sorry if this offends, but it's how I feel.


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[TahitiNut]

1. It's easy to surrender other people's freedoms of political dissent, huh?

Fuck it - I got mine! Uh-huh. :puke:

[Tyler Durden]

In St. Clair Michigan, close to 500 flags were bought...

...by the city.

The stuck them in fairly solid aluminum poles and planted them along the richest boulevard.

They cost about $50 each. That's $25000 bucks. Sure would have bought a lot of FOOD, or at the rate I pay for insurance, healthcare for more than 50 families for a year.

Those are some damned expensive symbols.

[Philosoraptor]

2. You could burn every damn one of them & it wouldn't make a diff.

Not one, not ten, not ten thousand burnt flags. No, I don't give even one shit about it.

[Epiphany4z]

3. me

the smoke smells..ugg..no really nope..make the dam things fire proof .... and move on..

ya just gotta love it.... today the Supreme Court struck down a Vermont law that strictly limits how much money candidates for state office can raise and spend on their political campaigns By a 6-3 vote, the high court ruled that the restrictions on contributions and spending VIOLATED CONSTITUTIONAL FREE-SPEECH RIGHTS

but burning the flag...is a no no..

[Solly Mack]

4. I can't even work up a little gas over it

[dolo amber]

5. ...

:thumbsup:

[SoonerPride]

6. Here's a secret for you

The leaders on the right don't care about flag burning.

They don't care about gay marriage either.

Or school prayer.

Or placing the 10 Commandments in courtrooms.

Or nativity displays in December.

They trot out these non-issues to stir up the hicks, the bible belt rabble, the toothless mongrels and neanderthals whom get riled up about these touchstone topics just enough to slog their way from their cave to the polling place. Then these issues are forgotten, not acted upon, and left to fester for another election cycle when the leaders of the right trot these issues out once again to rile up the masses once again.

The only way the left can end this cycle is to point out how it is all a friggin lie. Do not argue the merits of protecting flag burning as political speech. Do not let the right define the debate. The response should be "you don't care about this crap and you know it."

[Tyler Durden]

7. Oh I get that.

But does anyone spouting the lie on the STREET get that? The propaganda is so perfect, it's blinding.

[Bill McBlueState]

16. and that's our challenge

--to get those "toothless mongrels" more interested in the Democratic vision, which might include free dental insurance for their kids, than in hot-button emotional issues. Unless they want their kids to be toothless, too...

[Tyler Durden]

17. Works for ME.

I would LOVE to start getting real value for my taxes. Not that it's ever going to happen...

[RethugAssKicker]

19. Not my challenge.... You can't change a pigs stripes...

especially toothless ones!

[Warpy]

8. A lot of people out there are symbolic thinkers

In other words, show them a flag and they feel patriotism. Show them pictures of peaceful demonstrations, and they IMAGINE that flag being burned in protest. That is just how they are, and the GOP has been playing them for several decades.

There is nothing you can do to convince these people with facts, that flags aren't burned in protest in this country because it's a stupid, counterproductive tactic and that the amendment won't do a damned thing about US flags being burned in other countries. That is just not how these people think or react.

The GOP is desperate to get this amendment on the ballot in 2006 because it's desperate to get the symbolic types who turned out so reliably for the homophobic initiatives in 2004 to get off the couch and rally around bad leadership once again to protect their symbols.

It's a disgusting, craven political grandstanding act and it just might work.

[karlrschneider]

9. Not even one shit.

:D

[Tyler Durden]

18. C'mon, be generous!

I'll give two shits m'self if I can throw them at the Pig Bush.

[soothsayer]

10. Don't they teach that the flag is like a person, has to be given a

burial or burning when it gets old and dead? So those folks who take that to heart---they prolly care about it. Me, I wouldn't let someone get under my skin with something that stupid.

[Tyler Durden]

11. My house HAD a flagpole bracket.

The house was built in 1905, and one of the columns flanking the front door HAD a flagpole bracket. This has been removed by me, the screw holes puttied, and the column repainted.

[AndyTiedye]

12. More to the Point, Burning a Flag IS NOT Descration, per US Flag Code

"The Flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be disposed of in a dignified manner, preferably by burning." U.S. Flag Code

It is significant that when protestors chose to destroy an American flag in protest, they always do so by burning it and with at least as much ceremony as any VFW post can muster for a "Flag retirement ceremony". Regrettably, we have a shortage of buglers, so "Taps" is usually omitted. Those planning flag burnings in future protests may wish
to play a suitable sound recording thereof, and generally adopt the form of a formal "Flag Retirement ceremony" as much as possible.

We have great respect for the Flag, and even more for the Republic for which it stands, and we want our Republic back!

(edit: @#!! sticky keyboard)

[bowens43]

13. Any flag you can't burn isn't worth fighting for......

[annabanana]

14. (and we have a winner). . . . . eom

[novalib]

15. NO. And I Don't Give Two Burns About

No. And I do NOT give two burns about flag shitting, either!