Stop the Amendment to Desecrate Our Constitution

There is a very good chance that Senate Democrats will cave in the face of faux patriotic pressure to be real Americans. Contact your Senator and tell them not to desecrate the Constitution.

Here is MSNBC's Flag burning story. Here is CNN's Flag burning story. USA Today says it's a cliffhanger vote. Notice the inflamatory pictures of a roaring bonfire burning a flag? Here's the status of the bill:

By most counts, 65 current senators have voted for or said they intend to support the amendment, two shy of the crucial tally. More than a quarter of current senators were not members of that chamber during the last vote.

The Senate is expected to consider the measure after the July 4 holiday.

This is the wingnut Schiavo issue du jour. The wingnuts are two votes short of sending this amendment to all fifty states so they can continue to ignore the real issues. Sen. Clinton is on record opposing the amendment and Sen. Salazar is undecided.

More in Extended Entry

This is such a burning issue and of vital importance to the American people because someone has burned the flag 38 times since 2000. USA Today had this rundown of prospective Senate votes:

But this time may be different. Amendment supporters say last year's election expanding the Senate Republican majority to 55 has buoyed their hopes for passage. Five freshmen senators -- Richard Burr of North Carolina, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Jim DeMint of South Carolina, John Thune of South Dakota and David Vitter of Louisiana -- voted for the amendment as House members and plan to do so again.

They will be joined by at least five Democrats who have co-sponsored the resolution, including Dianne Feinstein of California and Ben Nelson of Nebraska. Both are up for re-election next year

Big surprise! Frist wants to redeem his wingnut reputation and Senate Democrats are nervous nellies:

Norm Ornstein, a political analyst at the business-oriented American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, says he expects "a cliffhanger." He says Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., is eager to bring up the issue, and some Democrats may be too nervous to oppose it.

Here's the Senate Joint Resolution and co-sponsors. I hope our five brave Democrats are proud of the sleazy company they are in:

Mr. HATCH (for himself, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. THUNE, Mr. TALENT, Mr. ALEXANDER, Mr. ALLARD, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. BAUCUS, Mr. BROWNBACK, Mr. BURNS, Mr. BURR, Mr. CHAMBLISS, Mr. COBURN, Mr. COLEMAN, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. CORNYN, Mr. CRAIG, Mr. CRAPO, Mr. DEWINE, Mr. DOMENICI, Mr. ENSIGN, Mr. ENZI, Mr. FRIST, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. INHOFE, Mr. KYL, Mrs. LINCOLN, Mr. LOTT, Mr. LUGAR, Mr. MCCAIN, Mr. ROBERTS, Mr. SANTORUM, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. SHELBY, Mr. THOMAS, Mr. VITTER, Mr. WARNER, Mr. BOND, Mr. BUNNING, Mr. DEMINT, Mrs. DOLE, Mr. GREGG, Mr. HAGEL, Mrs. HUTCHISON, Mr. JOHNSON, Mr. MARTINEZ, Mr. NELSON of Nebraska, Ms. SNOWE, Mr. SPECTER, and Mr. STEVENS)

Which side do you want your Senator on?

"Ask the men and women who stood on top of the [World] Trade Center," said Rep. Randy [Duke] Cunningham, R-California. "Ask them and they will tell you: pass this amendment."

But Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-New York, said, "If the flag needs protection at all, it needs protection from members of Congress who value the symbol more than the freedoms that the flag represents."

Protect the American flag and the Constitution of the United States from desecraton. Contact your Senator and tell them to join Rep. Nadler and Vote No.

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Comments

8 Comments

I agree it will be close
I think the reason why is that the Democrats are not willing to die on this hill.  One has to choose their battles, and the party is really gearing up for the social security battle that looks to take place this fall, and that is one they will die for.

Their are people on blog who wish to fight and die for everything all the time, it is not practical, and will not happen, but getting 2/3 of the vote is a very tall order.

by THE MODERATE 2005-06-30 06:35AM | 0 recs
Re: I agree it will be close
I know what you mean, but this issue is gigantic...If you're gonna roll over, do it on a piece of legislation... NOT on amending the constitution... that is reserved as the absolute last resort on a matter...any dem who doesn't realize that is dead with me... and what's the issue here anyway? what's so repugnant, say like slavery or the black codes, that it deserves last-resort attention? .... NOTHING...

Like you, I'm somewhat moderate, and I've been pushing Bayh on these blogs... but if he continues his past support, I will NOT vote for him if he's the candidate... Anybody who fails to understand the basic test for changing the constitution doesn't deserve to be president...

For all the blind nationalists out there, the answer is simple on this issue: use your FREEDOM to bash the flag burners (are there even any?).... Speak out against them; ridicule them... win the public debate in an open forum as to why they're "anti-American"... running to change the constitution because someone disagrees with a form of expression is the absolute WORST thing we can do...

hank

by HKingsley 2005-06-30 07:38AM | 0 recs
Re: I agree it will be close
Apparently there was 1 this year... 1... and he may destroy the fabric of the country by doing something legal.  
by yitbos96bb 2005-06-30 11:02AM | 0 recs
Democrats are being set up
I don't think they even know it. This amendment is 2 votes away from passage. This is the next big issue for the Republicans in the 2006 election.

Either way the vote goes they are going to use it to beat up on Democrats for hating America, hating the troops and hating God.

If this amendment passes it goes to all fifty states, where state elections and the M$M will be talking about the next big issue of why Democrats hate America and hate the flag. This is 9/11 and Schiavo wrapped up into one and I don't think the Democratic party even knows it.

I didn't realize it until I read dhonig's diary this morning and found the pictures of burning flags at CNN, MSNBC and USA Today. That's the symbol of the 2006 election if we let them get away with it. Why do Democrats hate the flag?

The only way to stop it is to stop it dead in its tracks in the Senate. Once this goes to all fifty states for ratification, it will be the next big issue for the next ten years in every state election and every state legislature.

Will Senate Democrats follow their typical approach of taking the easy way out and pass this on to the states? Do they even see it coming? You obviously don't.

Does the Democratic party want flag burning to be the next big issue in all fifty states for the next ten years?

by Gary Boatwright 2005-06-30 08:08AM | 0 recs
Re: Democrats are being set up
I disagree, only because if it does pass it will be ratified by 2006... if the polls I am seeing are accurate.  But it still needs to be stopped.
by yitbos96bb 2005-06-30 11:03AM | 0 recs
My letter to my Senators
Here's the letter I sent to Washington Senators Murray and Cantwell:


Dear Senator ____:

I'm writing with regard to the Amendment to outlaw burning the American flag.  Please do all you can to prevent this desecration of our Constitution from taking place.

What makes the flag a powerful symbol is the very fact that we can legally burn it if we choose to--and we choose not to.  To take away that right is to weaken the symbol.

The Bush administration and his supporters in Congress have already attempted to steal the flag from us.  They have tried to make it a symbol of support for this misguided war they are fighting in Iraq.  John Kerry, in his speech at the Democratic Convention last year, reminded us that it's our flag too.

Please don't let them take it away from us.

Thank you.

Feel free to borrow any or all of this and send it to your Senators.

by nocloset 2005-06-30 08:57AM | 0 recs
Letters are a great idea nocloset
We tend to get obsessed with campaigns for massive emails because they are so easy. The problem is that it takes about 30 seconds to delete thousands of spam emails.

It's not so easy to ignore bags of mail. We need to get back to writing letters and sending post cards to our elected Representatives. They have a bigger impact and are far more difficult to ignore.

I've got a slow day at work today. I'm going to take 15 minutes to write a letter to Senator Boxer and a different letter to Senator Feinstein. Feinstein is a co-sponsor, so she won't change her mind, but I still want to let her know how I feel.

Thanks again for the reminder nocloset. Nothing says "this is really important to me" like a letter.

by Gary Boatwright 2005-06-30 09:30AM | 0 recs
Re: Letters are a great idea nocloset
I'm not sure emails aren't the better way to go.

This was posted on Patty Murray's web site:


NOTE: Due to the Ricin incident in the Dirksen Senate Office Building last year, procedures are in place to include the opening and testing of all Senate mail at an offsite facility. As a result, any letter you send to the Senate takes an extra 1-2 weeks to reach us.

In the past, emails I've sent to Murray, Cantwell, and my Congressional Rep, Jim McDermott, have gotten personal replies that referred to the content of my email.  So it would seem that there's no mass delete going on.

I definitely would urge people to write personal emails instead of or in addition to signing big petitions.

by nocloset 2005-06-30 11:05AM | 0 recs

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