Happily, Senate Deputy Majority Whip John Thune is not only working to keep our marriages save from homosexuals, he's going to keep our United States flag save from pyromaniacs.

Today's Aberdeen American News (golly, I like their immediate news feed from AP) reports that John is behind some goofy bill in Congress to protect Old Glory.

An excerpt:

Thune said that he, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and others will introduce the amendment soon and that both Democrats and Republicans have agreed to co-sponsor it.

"What it does is, it gives Congress the power, essentially, to protect the flag through legislation," Thune said.

"It doesn't necessarily in the Constitution ban it, but it allows Congress to have the power that then could be, if it were ever challenged in court, if Congress enacts legislation that would protect the flag, it would make that legislation constitutional."

Two flag amendments were introduced in the U.S. House in January. Supporters point out that the House has passed a flag amendment five times with well over the required two-thirds majority but that the Senate has not gotten the two-thirds votes necessary to send it to the states for ratification.

Thune was a co-sponsor of a measure to ban flag burning when he was in the House in 1997-2002.

In his campaign to unseat then-Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle last year, Thune often mentioned flag burning as an example Daschle's position being out of touch with most South Dakotans.

That last paragraph is the most important one in the story as it shows the real motivation: it is a cheap political thrill. 

While South Dakota takes rights away from women and their right to an abortion and the rights of consenting adults to enter into a civil union, Sen. Thune thinks that inanimate objects should have more rights.  I find this interesting.

Now, before the Rightwingers accuse me of being a flag burning advocate, let me say this.  I too get a good feeling when I see our flag.  It reminds me of all the sacrifice that has gone into the building and defense of our nation.  My father served under the flag in the U.S. Army as a Korean War era veteran.  I have been sworn in as a lawyer in Kansas and South Dakota with the U.S. flag present.  It means a lot to me too.  I have sworn oaths to uphold what the flag represents.

The flag has even more meaning when you are overseas.  In the summer of 1983, I was a student at East China Normal University in Shanghai, China.  (No, I did not get brainwashed ala "The Manchurian Candidate" and kill one of my classmates on the command of Chou Enlai.)  We had a picnic at the U.S. Consulate on the 4th of July with all the U.S. expatriates in the area.  Among the hot dogs, Cokes, football games, and rock and roll, seeing that flag fly over the well manicured lawn of the colonial era consulate gave me goose bumps.

What I see when I see our flag is an embodiment of our RIGHTS as free Americans, including the right to free speech.  And free speech means speech we do not approve of--like most of what Sibby writes.  (Sibby, I kid because I love.)  Burning a U.S. flag is a powerful statement of political frustration that is only usually displayed when a person or a group in our society feels that have no other way to express their anger and frustration. 

I have actually witnessed the burning of an American flag, or perhaps more accurately, an effigy of an American flag.  I was in a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip in July of 1988 and came upon a demonstration of young Palestinian men.  They were ticked off about Israel (which is an everyday occurrence) and the United States, or perhaps more precisely, President Reagan's policies toward Israel.  (In retrospect, they seem quite enlightened compared to President George W. Bush's.  Sec. of State George Schultz made great progress toward peace in the region, in my opinion.) 

The young men burned an effigy of an Israeli flag.  Then they burned an effigy of the U.S. flag.  While I sympathized with the Palestinians and their plight, I was also disturbed when our flag was burned.  On the other hand, it was better than the Palestinian boys taking out their frustrations on me.

A burning U.S. flag is a painful scene, but much less painful than other forms of expression--and action--could take. 

In the U.S., it is also a rare scene.  When was the last flag burned in South Dakota?  In the United States?  Is this a big problem?

I understand our returning soldiers need to be honored for their service and sacrifice in Iraq and the Gulf.  But isn't a better way to honoring them by giving them parades, lauding their sacrifice, making sure their jobs are available, and by making sure they have adequate V.A. health care and other veteran services?

But, alas, that takes real work and real legislation.  It's not easy like a cheap law against burning Old Glory.

Oh, and yes, my Rightwing friends, I understand Rep. Stephanie Herseth, a fellow Democrat, supports some legislation banning flag burning.  I am telling her the same thing I'm telling Thune: don't save a flag by burning our Constitution.
 

 Flags courtesy of http://www.theodora.com/flags/, ace-clipart, and Free Photo.  Photo of U.S. Soldiers in Iraq courtesy the Dept. of Defense.