U.S. Constitution 1, Insanity 0

The Flag Burning Amendment failed in the U.S. Senate. The Senate could muster only 66 votes as predicted, not the 67 required.

There are some new senators we can elect this November, including James Webb, Jon Tester, and Claire McCaskell, among others. Webb has already said he'd vote against this ridiculous amendment if it ever came up again, in agreement with Colin Powell. Not sure about the others yet. I'd really like to see this dumb idea sink well below 50 votes and then disappear for good, and evicting their "yea" vote opponents in Virginia, Montana, and Missouri, respectively, would be a great start.

Along the same lines, could the good people of Connecticut please, please get rid of Joe Lieberman? I voted against Lieberman the one chance I had, in 1988 when I lived in Connecticut. (I preferred Lowell Weicker. Note, please, that this Democrat voted for the Republican in that race — proudly and without hesitation.) Sadly, Lieberman won. However, on August 8th, Lieberman faces Ned Lamont, and if I could I'd vote for Lamont. In recent polls Lamont seems to be pulling even with the country's most obnoxious, sanctimonious senator (Lieberman). One poll had the race at 46% Lieberman to 40% Lamont, 7 point margin of error. Please, any Connecticut readers: please vote for Lamont. Lieberman voted to have the federal government meddle in the private end life affairs of Terry and Michael Schiavo. Lieberman voted for the second Iraq War and still supports it. Lieberman told Connecticut women that it's no problem if you're raped and your local hospital refuses to give you emergency contraception — just get in a taxi and go to another hospital. I could go on.

Lieberman disgusts me. Lamont seems like a decent man, he supports Connecticut's views on a wide range of issues, and he's got political experience as an elected official combined with business acumen. He's also running a great campaign, and, at least from what I can observe, he's serious but with a sense of humor. He certainly doesn't have Lieberman's ego.

Lamont, yes, Lamont.

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

The bosses — well, the ones in Asia, anyway — would like me to stay another year, through June, 2007. Currently the end date for this assignment is July 31, 2006, although everyone (including me) agreed to an extension until September 30, 2006.

If anyone has any thoughts on the matter, feel free to post.

Burn the Flag Burning Amendment

In a few days the U.S. Senate is voting wasting its time on the Flag Burning Amendment to the U.S. Constitution — the only amendment that would actually curtail freedoms granted by the Bill of Rights. Apparently the American Legion has lined up 66 senators to vote for the amendment, including some senators who should know better like Senator Clinton. That's just one vote shy of the two thirds needed for passage.

Here are some random thoughts and questions that should help illustrate why this amendment is a dumber idea than even Prohibition:

1. Does the American Legion want incidents of flag burning to increase? That's surely what will happen if flag burning becomes an act of civil disobedience. Maybe flag burning helps their fundraising? I guess it's much harder to, you know, get better healthcare and pensions for veterans after supporting a presidential candidate who got into office and then cut them.
   
2. What happens when some entrepreneur launches a 24 hour live flag burning TV channel on the Internet, based outside the United States? Will there be a constitutional amendment to shut off the Internet? I can just imagine this channel's program schedule: "Slow Burn," "Stars and Stripes Not Forever," and "These Colors Do Run with Geraldo Rivera."
   
3. If someone burns a flag with 48 stars, does that count? How about 51, to protest the lack of D.C. statehood? How about 14 stripes? How about if the red stripes are not quite Pantone color matched?
   
4. As everybody with half a brain knows, the proper way to dispose of an old, worn out U.S. flag is to burn it. How exactly are the police supposed to distinguish between lawful and unlawful flag burning — whether the person(s) doing the burning have long hair or not?
   
5. Will the police be able to shoot if a suspect holds a cigarette lighter near a U.S. flag and refuses to drop it?
   
6. Will it still be legal to have U.S. flag toilet paper, toilet seats, bikinis, hankerchiefs, underwear, doormats, cow manure shovels, diapers, toothpicks, or condoms?
   
7. Most U.S. flags are manufactured in China. Why shouldn't it be legal to burn Chinese made flags — and at the same time raise lots of domestically manufactured flags — to protest the loss of U.S. manufacturing?
   
8. Why not add some more items to the do-not-burn list that are at least as deserving of respect and honor? How about the Christian cross, the Star of David, and, especially, the U.S. Constitution to start? But why stop there? How about banning the burning of any image depicting the President (except for Bill Clinton), the Vice President, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Pope? Should it also be illegal to burn the Bible?
   
9. This morning some bread caught fire inside my toaster. If my apartment or house catches on fire, and a neighbor's U.S. flag gets burned, will I have to defend against another charge of reckless flag burning? If it's just before the 4th of July holiday and the U.S. flag paper plates burn up, will there be a separate count for each plate?
   
10. Will there be a new legal specialty for flag burning cases? Which specific tax should Congress raise to pay for law enforcement?
    
11. What's the penalty going to be for flag burning? If you burn a flag three times, could you get life in prison under "three strikes and you're out" laws?
    
12. If you burn a flag, can you be denied federal student aid? How about SBA loans or, ironically, veterans benefits?
    
13. Is burning a flag, like being gay, cause for military discharge — and a nice, quick way out of Iraq? (Recruits swear to defend the Constitution.)
    

For the record, I have never burned a U.S. flag. OK, it's possible that I tossed a back issue of National Geographic into a trash incinerator, and that issue may have had a U.S. flag pictured on page 76. But, like all except approximately two wacky Americans, I'd much rather clean my toenails than burn a U.S. flag.

I have a better idea: how about if the U.S. Senate votes against this bad joke 100 to 0, and how about we all simply ignore flag burners? (Are there any?) The only thing flag burners want is attention, and this amendment is the surest way to lavish it on them.

UPDATE: Time to throw the President in jail.