Flag Desecration Amendment Passed By House

"The Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States."

This one line Amendment passed in the House by a vote of 286-130 on 6/22/05. Now, it is up to the Senate to decide whether this line will be made into law. A 1989 decision by the Supreme Court, which ruled 5-4 that flag burning was a protected free-speech right, overturned a 1968 federal statute and flag-protection laws that had been ratified in 48 states. The 1968 law had been a response to anti-Vietnam war protesters setting fire to the American flag at their demonstrations.

Over the sixteen years since the Supreme Court overturned the law, citing the burning of the flag was protected under the First Amendment, lawmakers have tried repeatedly to undo the Supreme Court's ruling. Each time the House passed the Amendment, but the Senate was unable to come up with the two/thirds majority to make it law. Now, with a Republican majority in the Senate there is a very good chance that it will be passed. The Senate will vote on the Amendment (H.J. Res 10) after the 4th of July holiday.

Talking about burning the flag is freedom of speech, the act of burning the flag is an act of renouncing citizenship. To those detractors who believe it is OK to burn the flag, I remind you of this:

"I pledge allegiance to the flag, of the United States of America...".

Just because you were born here doesn't mean this oath of allegiance doesn't hold true. It is an oath sworn to by anyone wishing to be a United States citizen.


Taking the Oath of Allegiance

"Even after your application is approved, you will not become a United States citizen until you have taken the Oath of Allegiance, swearing allegiance to the United States and renouncing all allegiances to any foreign country. At this time you will return your Permanent Residence Card (Green Card), and will receive a Certificate of Naturalization."

I am not going to back up or apologize on this one - or make excuses for anybody that doesn't take this oath seriously - burning the flag is an act of non-allegiance and should be treated as such.

Contact your Senators today and encourage them to vote in favor of H.J. Res 10.

The following is an exerpt from STOP THE ACLU Thursday Blogburst -

Read what the ACLU thinks about the issue of burning our flag:

From aclu.org

For more than a decade, the Citizen's Flag Alliance and others have expended seemingly endless resources lobbying candidates and members of Congress to pass a constitutional amendment giving the government the power to prohibit the physical desecration of the American flag. Civil libertarians have fought back hard, organizing coalitions of veterans, religious leaders and other Americans who believe that such a constitutional amendment would undermine the very principles for which the American flag stands.

While our fight against the proposed amendment has made headway in recent years, the margins of our victories remain precariously thin. Recent calls for patriotic unity threaten to bolster the cause of those who wish to protect the symbol of our freedoms at the expense of the freedoms themselves.

We urge you to read about the history of the flag amendment and why Americans across the country oppose this amendment. Then make your voice heard! (source)

Read the entire Blogburst contributed by Gribbit this week at Stop the ACLU. Join us in our fight to stop the lunacy created by the ACLU that is tearing our country apart by demoralizing our citizens and taking away all meaning from honoring our flag, honoring our country, and the religious history it is so richly built upon.

As for my feelings, I have made them perfectly clear... I refer you back to the "Pledge of Allegiance" and what it stands for. Burning the flag (as I said before) is an act of non-allegiance and Americans desecrating the flag should be held accountable for their actions.