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Posted on 07/04/2006 3:31:16 PM PDT by RetroSexual
About 25 revelers celebrated their freedom of speech and welcomed the Fourth of July on Monday night with the "2nd Annual Old Time American Flag Burn."
Around a burn barrel at Seabright State Beach, organizer Brent Adams, 41, of Santa Cruz, declared flag burning not a protest, but a celebration of the Constitution's First Amendment.
"It seemed like a good idea to burn some flags just because we can," added fellow organizer Sha Lar, 32, of Santa Cruz.
The festivities were especially relevant after a constitutional amendment allowing Congress to ban flag desecration died in the Senate last week.
That proposal came in response to Supreme Court rulings in 1989 and 1990 that burning and other desecrations of the flag are protected as free speech by the First Amendment.
But it failed by one vote in the Senate to reach the two-thirds approval required before going to the states for ratification.
"The Senate overruled it by one vote, and let's celebrate it," Lar said. Some at the celebration noted that in other countries, they could be shot for torching the national flag.
Poison Oak, 35, of Aptos, said he wanted to "reclaim the flag. Not only those who support President George W. Bush can wave the red white and blue."
Still, not everyone on the beach appreciated stars and stripes melting over the fire.
"I think they should keep it to themselves," said Bill Crawford, 16, of Aptos, who was on the beach with buddies Elijah Manchester and Jacob Kendall, both 16 and from Santa Cruz.
The trio looked away as flames consumed the large and small flags.
"To me this is what represents our nation and what represents our freedom," Manchester said. He questioned why the group would want to burn the symbol of free speech.
Despite their different views, those who didn't agree with flag burning were still welcome at the event, said Igliashon Jones, 23, of Santa Cruz. Free speech is what it was all about.
"I don't think this would be what it is without debate," Jones said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Thankyou DC, had a nice day doing what I like best, lol.
Hope you had a good one too!
Thanks for sharing a great poem, potlatch.
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I posted it last year too. I love that poem.
I can't believe you did it!! LOL, too funny. Nice little plasma TV he has up there!
Such lovely colored medals! A great improvement!
I always enjoy seeing the Whipple flag, too.
potlatch put a lot of hours on those
authentic colors and detailing
I'm sure Kerry will be thrilled to see them
Breakfast in Hanoi?
LOL, it's beer belly time!
Just because you can is no reason you should.
On many days I burn a little paper flag or two, Mexican flags though.
Thanks SA, just a quick cutout job for laughs.
Note the names of the flag burners, Brent, Sha Lar, and Poison Oak.
Burning another country's flag doesn't have anything to do with free speech in the U.S., and wouldn't get much press. And no, burning an American flag is the perfect demonstration of free speech, because no police or army showed up to disappere them. That's the point. I wish you people would realize you don't have to be a liberal to defend free speech. If it was the second amendemnt, would you be singing the same tune? Or do you even know what the second amendment is?
If you spend some time dissecting what I said, you'll see that I mostly agree with you.
I didn't say that burning the American flag should be illegal. I pointed out that burning the flag of a country (our country) that supports free speech is not a valid demonstration for or of free speech. I said what I said because it would make more sense to burn Cuba's flag, Iran's flag, and North Korea's flag. Those are places where such actions are expressly forbidden, and the acts will anger those governments - who are not friends of ours. Whereas, burning our flag in a pointless act of free speech only makes our enemies feel warm and fuzzy.
Ah yes, a libertarian with a little sense. Why waste our time on this? And why say so much stupid stuff? IMHO, this is all about church and state. The flag is not a holy symbol. I personally date my U.S. of A. back to 1776, not to Plymouth Rock. Defending freedom of speech is fine - but who cares? Apparently people want to make flag burning illegal. Why? WHO CARES? People who equate the flag with a holy symbol - and not with freedom of speech, like these harmless liberals - piss me off; if you want a holy symbol, try the constitution - including the BILL OF RIGHTS. Would any of you people even bother posting on this if it were the bill of rights being burned? No - no one would even notice.
The point is that burning some other country's flag wouldn't be a question of free speech in this country. The right of civilians in North Korea to bear arms hardly has any impact on us here in the U.S. What makes this an issue of free speech is that Congress has been trying to AMEND the FIRST AMENDMENT. It's a stupid idea. Why bother? So you can get the redneck vote? (Yes, that's probably it.)
As I keep telling my liberal friends, conservatives are smart, dammit! Debate, not censorship! The right side will win, I guarantee it.
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