Kudos
To Georgia Senators Chambliss and Isakson for their votes to amend the Constitution of the United States to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States. I’ve been so worried about the proliferation of violent flag-burning protesters and how their expression of freedom of speech might affect the health and well-being of my family. What a worthwhile use of the time and money of Georgia taxpayers! Much more important than, say, improving the public schools that my children will attend.
We do have the best Senators in the world, don’t we?
They can’t be beat. Just phenomenal.
“Much more important than, say, improving the public schools that my children will attend.”
By doing what? Throwing more money at the problem. Parental involvement is and will remain a solution. The other is to get the kids into good private education and out of government education.
BTW, at least the 1st amendment won this time.
Tony, we are actually in agreement. i am all for school choice. My point was simply that the whole flag amendment thing was a complete and total waste of time. At least it can be argued that a vote on an education issue would really help or harm me personally, in some way. The flag issue? Whether or not someone burns a flag next door to me has NO bearing on my life whatsoever.
my $.02, i would rather have our senate wasting their time on election-year antics that have no shot of passing like the flag burning amendment, than actually passing legisltion that might make my life worse.
and a as a civil and economic libertartian i can think of many states with worse senators than ours. texas and new york spring immediately to mind.
again, glad the first amendment won, but it was never going to pass anyway. this was more about senators and representatives being able to wrap themselves in the flag come november.
I totally agree that this is nothing but pandering to voters in an election year. And while i consider myself an Independent, I have definite Libertarian leanings, and the Libertarian in me definitely has a problem with wasteful, pointless spending. This, in my opinion, falls under the wasteful and pointless category.
Isn’t it sad that their constituency is glad that they are putting effort into something pointless that won’t affect the people, rather than making laws that might make your life worse? Ideally, our Senators would be representing the will of the people, rather than simply wasting money in an attempt to keep themselves in power. Isn’t serving their constituency their job?
No. If we had Ted Stevens and Ricky Santorum we’d have the best senators in the world.
I was relieved to detect the sarcasm in Annie’s opening statement. Although I was excited, during the first sentence, at the prospect of going off on you for being a fool. Oh well. I’ll just go off in general.
It’s really messed up that the conservative, ultra-patriotic crowd would outlaw all the things that really make us special as a nation. Even worse that there are so many people who would agree with them. The countries of the world that have laws against such things as insulting the state, a woman’s right to choose, separation of church and state, etc., are all at the bottom of the ladder. Great progress doesn’t come out of places that restrict expression. In this country, you can stand on the street corner and preach hate and bigotry… until somebody knocks you the f*ck out. Its not the state’s place. It’s the people’s responsibility to control and shame the fanatics. Otherwise, any little law restricting an idiots right to say or do offensive things, ultimately will result in politicians using that to protect themselves from all sorts of criticism. It’s a very slippery slope. These men that wrap themselves in the flag would undo America to fit their ideology. We would then be a relaxed version of Saudi Arabia. They don’t get that. They think they know what’s best for everybody else… just like the theocracies of the Middle East. They don’t get that safeguards like the 1st amendment were put in place to protect us from men like themselves. I respect their right to their beliefs and would never demand that they adhere to mine. All I ask is the same in return.
If ever they do ban burning the flag, then, and only then, would I burn one. I would consider it my patriotic duty… like dumping a bunch of over-taxed tea into a river and starting a war to free us from tyranny. I’d owe the great men that started this country, in which I have the opportunity to pursue MY definition of happiness, at least that much.
One more thing.
Although it appears to just be pandering, the measure lost by one vote. Had that vote been there and the amendment passed, they would have hailed it as a huge victory for the country against the “blame America first” crowd. Well, when things are not going right, it is wise to first examine one’s own contribution to the problem before blaming others. Pathetic demagogues. All of them. They forget what the men who died fighting under the flag, fought and died for.
I know I’m taking some liberties with the topic… but its a free country.
Back on topic: Yes, what a waste of time and money. These buffoons disrespect the hard working people of this country everyday. Public Education here is way off the mark. I grew up here, so I know. I know people from European countries who got higher education in high school. Parents have to supplement their children’s education at home, otherwise, they will miss a lot. Science classes in my freshman year in college kicked my ass… and I was in advanced placement classes in high school. So, uh, there ya go. AP English classes adequately prepared me, but Math and Science classes did not. Math and Science came easy to me, and then it was like I missed a year and had to catch up. Shame on these demagogue for not knowing what really matters.