Have you read about the proposed flag burning amendment? I'm not a fan. What it actually says is that Congress shall have the power to prohibit the physical desecration of of the flag....

Beyond the obvious freedom of expression outrage I'm feeling, there's also a sense of fear of appropriating even more power to the Federal legislature. My fear is compounded by the ambiguousness of the wording. We see every day how the Supreme Court manages to find new ways of reading the Constitution to justify previously unconstitutional laws or regulations. Who is to define physical desecration? What if you allow your pet to poop on it, or turn it in to a shirt, use it for a bedspread, a bikini, an armband? Who defines what a flag is? Is it only a real, live, made to be flown flag, or does an image count? In what ways is Congress allowed to prohibit it? Can Congress decide that townships should use eminent domain to seize the property of desecrators because it serves the public interest to take these elements out of society?

Is the flag really important enough to merit a constitutional ammendment? Are people burning all that many now? Make it an ammendment, and suddenly it will become the tactic of choice for activists of all sorts, from naive college hippies to Islamic fundamentalists, from PETA freaks to union strikers.

It's a very bad idea in every way I can think of. A bordering on evil idea. I'd have to guess that elements of the GOP are behind this, and I'm ashamed. Good thing I'm not really a Republican, the social conservatism keeps me from carrying a card. I'm just waiting for one of the South Park guys to run for office. I'd take Arnold, but I'm not yet willing to remove the domestically-born provision we have.