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COLUMBUS, Ohio — A state appeals court has overturned a lower court ruling that a flag-burning was protected by the Constitution, saying a city has a right to regulate open burning. The 10th Ohio District Court of Appeals ruled March 20 in the case of two men who burned a gay-pride flag during a parade in Columbus in 2001. The men, Charles Spingola, 47, and Thomas Meyer, 49, both of Newark, had been charged with open burning, a first-degree misdemeanor punishable by as much as six months in jail. But former Franklin County Environmental Judge Richard Pfeiffer ruled that the...

Allen believes that flag desecration is conduct and not an exercise of speech, and therefore, should be prohibited.

The Great Immigration debate of ‘06 has inadvertently put one of our most stringent debates of the Vietnam era back on the table: flag burning and the mistreatment of the American flag. The anti-war, hate-America crowd argues that burning the United States flag is merely free speech, showing how violently someone disagrees with something this nation is doing. When New York’s twin towers collapsed on 9-11 and 3,000 of our brightest and best were slaughtered, we saw gleeful flag burning in some middle-East cities, but we also saw anti-war and hate-America activists burn the American flag again here at home....

WASHINGTON - A constitutional amendment to outlaw flag burning cleared the House Wednesday but faced an uphill battle in the Senate. An informal survey by The Associated Press suggested the measure doesn't have enough Senate votes to pass. The 286-130 outcome was never in doubt in the House, which had passed the measure or one like it five times in recent years. The amendment's supporters expressed optimism that a Republican gain of four seats in last November's election could produce the two-thirds approval needed in the Senate as well after four failed attempts since 1989. But an AP survey Wednesday...

A newly released independent poll confirms that the vast majority of Americans want the U.S. Flag protected from acts of desecration. The random poll of 1,004 adults nation-wide was conducted by the Opinion Research Corporation June 16-19. In responding to the question how important do you think it is to make flag desecration against the law, 81 percent said it was somewhat to extremely important. Another 75 percent said they wanted Congress to pass a flag protection constitutional amendment. The poll echoes numerous others conducted since a 1989 U.S. Supreme Court decision overturned five previous courts and made flag desecration...

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KING VOTES TO PROTECT AMERICAN FLAG Americans’ Duty to Protect Symbol of Freedom Washington, D.C. — Leading up to Memorial Day, with the support of Iowa Congressman Steve King, the House Judiciary Committee passed a Constitutional amendment that would allow Congress to make it a crime to burn the American flag. Although almost eighty percent of Americans support a Constitutional amendment banning desecration of the American flag, in 1989 and 1990 the Supreme Court ruled that laws passed by Congress violated the First Amendment. Passing a constitutional amendment is the only way to protect the American flag from acts of...

Allegiance, with the Boy Scouts and with marriage. The results of the Nov. 2 election tell us the majority of Americans want our laws to reflect the moral values which govern our lives. We live in a nation governed by law. A society governed by law. Our U.S. Constitution is the supreme law of our land, our society. Without law, a bloody riot could have taken place in Dallas that day when something so dear to the heart and soul of all true patriots was spit upon and burned. However, our emotions, no matter how strong and right they are,...

American Legion Commander Thomas P. Cadmus has excoriated U. S. Senate leaders for failure to schedule a vote on a constitutional amendment to protect the flag. “Your inaction sends a message,” he wrote in an open letter. “The flag you are willing to drape over the caskets of our heroes, military and civilian alike, isn’t important enough to protect on our own soil.” Action is considered unlikely during the lame-duck session, but the story could be different next year with a new party alignment. Partly because of his opposition to the amendment and charges of obstructing Senate votes, Sen. Thomas...

News Veterans notes Last week we showed you the strong words American Legion National Commander, Tom Cadmus, had for Congress and their inaction during this session. Now Commander Cadmus has additional strong words for the leadership of the U.S. Senate on both sides of the aisle. As most citizens know The American Legion has been working to see that the American Flag is protected from desecration by enactment of a constitutional amendment. All 50 states have voted to ask Congress for a chance to vote on a constitutional amendment to protect the flag. Public opinion polls taken yearly have shown...

For some Republicans it is the perfect political storm: a Senate vote on a constitutional amendment to protect the U.S. flag that would put Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kerry, running mate John Edwards and Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle on the spot just a few weeks before the Nov. 2 elections. The Senate GOP leadership has not scheduled a vote on the proposed amendment, but Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) noted last week that it is a high priority for veterans groups. Other Republicans say a vote is likely before the Senate's Oct. 8 target date for adjournment. As...

For some Republicans it is the perfect political storm: a Senate vote on a constitutional amendment to protect the U.S. flag that would put Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kerry, running mate John Edwards and Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle on the spot just a few weeks before the Nov. 2 elections.