no flag, no country. those are the rules.... that i just made up.

kie: same as before
kiel: eh
kio: there is so much background noise in this lab it is unbelievable.

*WARNING* POLITICS AHEAD!

i was a boy scout. troop 625, schuylkill haven, pa. we met at jerusalem lutheran church gathering hall. (even when there was no church. see, the building had burned down many years before, but the hall, which was a separate building, remained and was pretty much ours. then they rebuilt the church in the last 2 or 3 years i was there.) anyway, as a boy scout (i think to get your tenderfoot rank) you must "6. Demonstrate how to display, raise, lower, and fold the American flag." and that is fine. it's something a kid that's 11 should know and he should be taught respect for the american flag and the ideals it represents. once, on a camping trip cecil (the scoutmaster) retired an old american flag by burning it in a furnace. there was a little ceremony beforehand and we all were in class A (khaki shirt, green shorts, merit badges and rank displayed) uniform. it was like a funeral for an old friend.

in fifth grade, after the pledge of allegiance to the flag, almost every day we would sing "you're a grand, old flag", from george cohan's broadway musical george washintgon, jr.

You're a grand old flag,
You're a high-flying flag,
And forever in peace may you wave.
You're the emblem of
The land I love,
The home of the free and the brave.
Ev'ry heart beats true
Under Red, White and Blue,
Where there's never a boast or brag.
But should auld acquaintance be forgot,
Keep your eye on the grand old flag.

since 1949, june 14 (flag day) has been a national holiday. there's no mail, no court, no government functions. all for our "grand, old flag".

last week, the house of representatives passed a bill proposing a constitutional amendment to ban "physical desecration" of the flag of the united states. about 69% of house members voted yea on this bill, giving it the 2/3 majority it needs in the house. now it must pass through 2/3 of the senate and be ratified by 3/4 of the state legislatures. if this happens, amendment 28 to the constitution will give congress the power to make desecration of the flag illegal.

desecration (n.) : blasphemous behavior; the act of depriving something of its sacred character; "desecration of the Holy Sabbath" [syn: profanation, blasphemy, sacrilege].

sacred character? the pledge does say that we are one nation under God. how did it get this way? how is a sheet of cloth with strategically placed stars and stripes such a revered "sacred" symbol in our society?

it used to be that when you were in power, you killed whoever else was in power, got rid of their flag and put yours up. just like the union jack was replaced with the stars and stripes so many years ago. the flag is the symbol of whoever is in power. nowadays, in the era of peaceful transfer of power, the symbolism is gone. the flag now is above the transience of presidents and congressmen. it now symbolizes the ideals on which the country was founded: liberty, freedom, equality, etc. democrats or republicans, no matter who is in the oval office, the same flag hangs overhead. people see the entire country in the flag.

after september 11, everyone had a flag. tiny american flags adorned the lapels of every government worker, including ada jack mccoy on "law & order". flags went up everywhere from car antennas to front porches. every once in a while you'd see a flag on the road that had fallen off of a car mount or one on a car that was so tattered and faded (from all that flapping) that it was barely recognizable.

congressmen and senators are in a tricky position here. whoever votes yea on the amendment is seen as pro-flag and therefore pro-america. those who vote nay are seen as anti-flag, and placed in the same category as the flag-burners themselves! it's practically political suicide! especially in this country, where (as we saw in the 2004 elections) voters tend to single out the issues they feel are most important and vote based on them, ignoring the big picture (e.g. bush led us and our troops into a war under false pretenses, but he is against gay marriage so i'll vote for him). when it comes to the 2006 election, voters who find out their representative voted against the flag of the united states that mrs. johnson-down-the-street's son recently died defending will not be pleased with said representative.

here's the point i'm trying to make. a flag is a thing. making the jump from the flag to the blood of american soldiers who have fought in various wars is NO DIFFERENT than a catholic making the jump from communion wafer and wine to physical body and blood of christ. not that there's anything wrong with either of these things, but it is and should be perfectly legal to take consecrated communion wafers and toss them in the street.

so should it be with the flag. the first amendment says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." what an anti-flag-burning amendment does is not only establish a flag-based religion (where flags are sacred objects not to be defiled), but quash the freedom of speech of those who choose to burn the flag, the very symbol of the ideals of free speech and religion.

i hope this amendment does not pass the senate (11 democrats, or 1/4 of the democratic population of the senate) would have to cross the line and vote for it. if it does, it is likely that the states will ratify it. honestly, if it does reach the constitution, my life will not be affected all that much. i'm no flag-burner. but i will await the day that the "desecration" of some other symbol of american "patriotism" is outlawed, like photos of the flag-raising at ground zero, or effigies of defense secretary rumsfeld.

i'll leave you with this quote from an editorial in the new york world from december 13, 1913. it's on a poster that i bought at the yuengling brewery.

"Yesterday 2,000 representatives of the Anti-Saloon League and the Women's Christian Temperance Union marched to the capitol in Washington to demand NATIONAL PROHIBITION BY AN AMENDMENT to the Constitution of the United States.

"To-morrow it is likely that the Anti-Cigarette League that is clamoring for a constitutional amendment to prohibit cigarette smoking, or the Anti-Profanity League, that insists on a constitutional amendment to prevent swearing, or a Eugenics Society, that advocates a constitutional amendment to stop the birth of imperfect babies.

"Eventually there will be no need of laws or courts or churches or schools or preachers or charities or prisons. Everybody will have been made wise and good and pure and industrious and healthy and prosperous by amendments to the consitution."

ed: the most recent attempt at a flag-burning amendment failed by one vote on june 26, 2006 - 9/5/06