In order to save America and the world from the idiocy that is the proposed flag-burning amendment, I have an alternative proposal. The USA should instead pass a different law:
Henceforth, we shall require micro-encoding of passages from the Koran in the material and/or weave of every legitimate American flag. These passages would be invisible to the naked eye.
My modest proposal would have a number of beneficial consequences:
- The multicult Left would finally be forced to treat the American flag with reverence, and would begin to advocate forced "re-education" for those who did not.
- The U.S. could advertise widely in the Mideast that American agents were working to insert software viruses into the machines of local flag producers, and secretly substitute some of these micro-encoded materials as well. It's exactly the sort of thing their conspiracy culture would believe, and flag-burnings there would drop almost to zero. After all, one could never be sure one wasn't burning passages from the Koran.
- It would get rid of this dumb constitutional amendment idea.
My first real laugh of the day.
Thanks.
Now that's common sense!! Out of the box, you bet!
Sunni wisdom? Maybe. A hundred camels in your courtyard?
Thank You and all the other bloggers here and at Command Post and all the threads I follow.
I have been an on-going reader for a little over a year now. I really appreciate the quality of thought and expression and links. You all do your journalism just fine - you really make me think.
Tom
I suspect that the arabs would be outraged and burn every US flag in sight because of the sacrilege..congrats for lacking any sense..
e m butler... speaking of sense, kindly google the term "modest proposal".
Ah, Joe, the lack of an education in the classics, eh?
Joe, you are a genius and I genuflect in your general direction. This is much more humane than my idea of making flags out of high-velocity explosive fiber that detonates at 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Once existing stocks have been sold, there will be no more of that.
Similar inscriptions could be used to protect INS offices from vandalism, and maybe even control anarchist street mobs. The possibilities are endless.
It wouldn't deter Islamifascists from burning american flags - they don't hesitate to blow up buildings with Korans in them.
No, Joe. We should make flags out of children. Then no one could burn a flag without harming a child. I'm not sure where we'd come up with blue children for the blue parts- we may have to use a dye.
And, of course, if it became necessary, the flags would be edible.
I'm not seeing a downside here.
Good humour always has a bit of truth behind it, in this case a serious problem Americans are beginning (clumsily) to deal with. In the case of the "flag-burning amendment," Congress many years ago passed a law--as ought to have been their right, be it a wise or a stupid law--later overturned by the Supreme Court as an unconstitutional restraint on 'free speech.'
The same court, including mostly the same justices, only recently upheld a law greatly restricting actual political speech during an election campaign. So if I wish to gather a group of like-minded people, pool our resources to buy flags and burn them, that is acceptable "free speech," but if instead we wish to spend our pooled moneys to take out an advert pointing out the flaws in a candidate's political position -- that is not acceptable free speech. Crazy.
I could list dozens--maybe hundreds--of arbitrary and inconsistent court decisions at all levels, and that is the essence of the problem. Even if it were a good idea (it isn't), we can't pass constitutional amendments fast enough to keep up with a judiciary now dedicated to making (not interpreting) law. Here in Kansas, the courts are telling the Legislature to spend specific dollar amounts for particular budget items.
For decades the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution has been ways that increasingly protect the rights of the individual ... criminal. Now, the one section of that amendment written to protect the property rights of law-abiding citizens has been thrown to the winds of (usually corrupt) local and state politics.
In the face of this rising judicial chaos, one has to wonder if there is too much respect for the law.
Public response to rampant judicial activism, from both ends of the political spectrum -- though primarily from the left (because their ideas are consistently defeated when put to a vote) -- remains, to date, inchoate and splintered.
The flag amendment, like its cousins the marriage amendment and (now) the property amendment, are some of the elements of a quiet but deepening rage on the part of ordinary, decent, hard-working citizens. I don't know what it will take, but when that quiet rage has a clear focus, coalesces, and is harnessed by an identifiable leader, the results are likely to have some significant historical impact.
It isn't really about the flag at all.
"It isn't really about the flag at all."
Probably true, in which case its a silly waste of resources. The property amendment seems more promising, the only downfall being that it couldnt be much more clear in the 5th Amendement as is and that didnt stop the Court. They simply have zero respect for the document.
One from column A and one from column B:
Have the Koran encoded into the flag along with the inflammatory materials. Gotcha coming and going.
I didn't notice the "modest proposal" in the title until you pointed it out. Very funny. Now, that means that somehow you have to work into this idea something about Irish children. Something tasty. Or maybe that was Tony from WV's allusion?
~D
Dymphna,
I think you mean "explosively inflammable" rather than "inflammatory," which is material designed to incite hatred and negative emotions. Then again, an argument could be made that we'd already have "inflammatory" covered.
And children are overused. Though given the Muslim ummah deep attachment to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion et. al., I suppose we could always add the claim that the Koran passages are micro-encoded on the hairs of Muslim children, which is then used to make the flag materials in question.
If we don't add that in time, however, don't worry: I'm sure the "anti-war" left can and will do so on our behalf.
Accoring to the Nashville police, damage to an unknown person's koran is far more important than a home invasion resulting in more than a thousand dollars worth of property is stolen. Don't Believe me?
Yehudit - they don't hesitate to blow up buildings with Korans in them.
I wonder if the destroyed cultural center in Jalalabad included any copies of the earliest Korans. Around 650 AD, Uthman ibn Affan (the last Caliph of All Islam) "reformed" the Koran and ordered all previous copies burned. Only a few survived.
If Uthman had done this thing in Virginia, he'd currently be under an FBI investigation for a hate crime (they are currently investigating burned Korans found at a Backsburg Islamic Center).
Think of how a flag burning law could be used against patriots:
1. Every little desecration or child dragging a flag on the gound will be reported to police.
2. People will stop using the flag because who wants the hassle?
By burning the flag ang getting the usual stupid response from Congress, the flag burners will have suceeded beyond their wildest imaginations.
Unless the Supreme Court comes to the rescue by declaring Free Speech inalienable.
In any case the law will have side effects.