Miss America & baseball player implore Congress to "protect our flag"

[Bluebear]

....To demonstrate the kind of desecration the bill would address, baseball Hall of Famer Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., introduced Rick Monday, who as a Chicago Cubs outfielder snatched a flag from two protesters who were about to burn it in the Dodger Stadium outfield. Yesterday, Monday displayed that faded but unmarred flag. "Rick snatched the flag right from under their noses to thunderous applause. The crowd burst into God Bless America. It was arguably one of the greatest moments in the game," Bunning said.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said, "We're stepping in on Flag Day to say 'no more.'"

Frist said Senate leadership would work to finally get the bill out of the Senate.

McConnell, the Senate majority whip, did not attend the press conference. He has said that, on free-speech grounds, he will not support a constitutional amendment to ban flag-burning. McConnell's office did not return calls for comment yesterday morning. Miss America 2000 Heather French Henry, who has made veterans' affairs her platform, particularly implored McConnell "to help protect our flag."

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/14817127.htm

[AngryAmish]

1. I have a Rick Monday autographed baseball

[paparush]

12. Maybe you should throw it at him (and Mrs. America)

[niyad]

2. is there any proof that the attempted flag-burning actually took place?

why is it so hard for some people to understand that the flag also stands for the right to protest, INCLUDING burning said symbol.

[Ishoutandscream2]

3. Oh, good grief

Flag burning and gay marriage. That's all they fucking got.

Would you bastards please do some REAL WORK that will help all of our citizens? Damn, I'm so sick of this crap.

[ComerPerro]

5. and the networks are falling all over themselves to be the first

to praise republicans.

[jedicord]

11. Hey, what better work could they be doing?

After all, banning flag burning will help the flag making companies make more flags, making them more money, hence they'll hire more people, helping make jobs.

And protecting the "sanctity" of marriage will give more divorce cases to the lawyers, making more money for their firms, hence they'll hire more people, helping to make jobs. :sarcasm:

[shadowknows69]

4. Protect the flag

piss on the constitution.

[bullimiami]

6. this guy stole someones flag? did they file charges?

[htuttle]

7. I suggest we organize 'Flag Washings' instead...

...to try to get all the bloodstains out.

[Mnemosyne]

16. Best answer I've read htuttle. Thanks! n/t

:toast:

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

8. This issue is crucial to the nation.

Right up there with Gay Marriage, and Illegal Immigrants, and saving the corporations from rampaging tree-huggers. Yessirree, I lay awake nights fretting about somebody taking their Bic to Old Glory (made in Guatamala).

“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” H.L. Mencken

[Doctor_J]

9. When is the last time someone burned a flag?

[AlCzervik]

10. no kidding, i was just thinking the same thing, although at the vfw they

will dispose of your tattered flag the correct way---by burning it.

[regnaD kciN]

25. It would be pretty hard, nowadays...

...seeing as most flags are made of nylon, and won't burn easily.

The "Branch FredPhelpsians" (Westboro Baptist Church of "God hates fags" infamy) found that out the hard way when they went to Canada to protest that country's tolerance of gays. They planned to burn a Canadian flag on the steps of Parliament, only to find out that, although flag-burning is perfectly legal in Canada, it didn't matter, because they couldn't set the nylon flag on fire. Finally, a Mountie informed them that they were far more in danger of burning themselves than the flag, although he added that, had they managed to injure themselves in their protest, they would have been able to get free medical care under Canada's "socialized medicine" system...
:rofl:

[Judi Lynn]

32. I've never seen it happen. It's been decades since I even saw a PHOTO

of a burning flag.

Oh, why would anyone even think of burning a flag?????


Booo hooooooo.

[SidDithers]

13. As an Expos fan...

Rick Monday is a name synonymous with heartbreak and despair.

Makes me feel a bit better to know he's a fucknut.

Sid

[bleedingheart]

14. Protecting veterans by protecting a piece of cloth???

seems like Miss America doesn't have many neurons firing.

[bleedingheart]

15. Protecting veterans by protecting a piece of cloth???

seems like Miss America doesn't have many neurons firing.

[Bluebear]

20. Just don't let here drive and I am happy

I suppose this is unfair, but what the hell...

Heather French Henry seemed to live a charmed life—she was crowned Miss America in 1999, married the man of her dreams, Kentucky's lieutenant governor, Steven Henry, and had two beautiful daughters.

But recently, the fairytale was changed forever. While driving home from a charity event, Heather made a legal turn at a light, and a woman on a bicycle darted in front of her car. Heather tried to swerve, but her car struck Karola Steed, a mother of four visiting from Germany. Karola was critically injured, and later died in the hospital.

The accident left Heather shattered. "I'll never forget seeing the way that she looked up to the sky. I did not think she would die...I was praying so hard."

http://www.oprah.com/tows/slide/200311/20031114/tows_slide_20031114_04.jhtml

[tinfoil tiaras]

17. This is screwed logic

If the flag ever touches the ground, you know what you're supposed to do with it? You're supposed to burn it. Simple flag etiquitte people. I'm surprised they didn't know that...:crazy:

[Johonny]

18. The Monday story

always reminds me why such a amendment isn't needed. Rick saves flag, thousands cheer. So why again do we need it? Seems like Americans can protect the flag perfectly well already.

[zulchzulu]

19. Let's also support the "Freedom to Destroy Dissent" bill

Better yet, let's frame these thugs as "Constitution Haters".

[Fleshdancer]

21. is there a sudden epidemic of Americans burning flags lately?

Seriously? THIS is an issue right now? :eyes:

Why not just do what Randi Rhodes suggested and just make flags out of the same flame resistant material used to make baby pajamas? :D

[Lefty48197]

34. Yes. It happens 3 weeks prior to the 4th of July EVERY SINGLE YEAR

Or at least it seems that way considering that the Republicans bring this issues up every single June. Good thing there's never anything important for Congress to do during June.

[Benhurst]

22. The Miss America Pagent -- it's past time for

that tits and ass show to go.

[Mnemosyne]

23. Then they better take it off their friggin advertising, napkins,

clothing, lunch-boxes, etc.

I see that crap everywhere and it is against the flag code to use flags in such a manner as I understand it.

What a bunch of fucking ignorants asses.

[Quantess]

24. This is such a non-issue. Just a distraction.

Last night while flipping radio stations, I listened to a few minutes of Mike Gallagher, whom I had never heard of. He was all fired up about how important it is to protect the flag frome being "desecrated", and blahdyblah going on and on for several minutes. Then he quoted Robert Redford saying that the * Administration is stuck in the 1950s, and said that was actually a compliment, since we were so much better off in the 1950s, with our strong families and belief in god. This Gallagher windbag went on to say that he thinks it's great that the * Administration is encouraging America to be more like it was in the '50s.

Are all right wingers this out-of-touch?

[tinfoil tiaras]

26. He must think McCarthy was a good man

...like my dad does (kinda) :puke:
Also, I'm guessing that he thinks that women shouldn't work outside the home, because that was a part of the 1950's too....

[Quantess]

29. the fictitious good ol' days

When gays married hetero spouses, and had extramarital gay lovers on the side.
Child abuse didn't happen (well, it did, but was never reported!)
Black people knew their place.
Women weren't uppity, lippy, broads like they are nowadays.
DUII laws didn't exist, then.
People were largely ignorant about birth control.

The 1950s were perfect.:sarcasm:

[niyad]

31. the Fifties Sound

Kristin Lems
» The Fifties Sound

They say the fifties are comin again!
Get out my bobby socks and run to the gym!
The fifties band has got them out on the floor -
Hey wait! I been through this nightmare before!
Those olden days were not so golden you know
Girls who got in trouble, they had nowhere to go
Couldn't take their lives into their own hands
Spent their time a swoonin over rock n roll bands
In those days colored people knew their place
Didn't try to barge into the human race
But Elvis and the others picked up all their cues
And made a million dollars singing white boy blues
Whoa Whoa - whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa
They're dancing to what oppressed us 20 years ago.
Girls wore thick makeup, boys wore thick grease
If you didn't have a steady, you were never at east
Swearin and sex, they were mortal sins -
Why the hell you think we brought the sixties in?
Everybody looked and thought and talked the same
And learned all of the details of the dating game
Boys, they were lettermen or else they were queer
If they were small or shy they lived in constant fear
chorus
Think of all the folks who miss the fifties sound
The millionaires whose profits have been going down
For the ku klux klan, those were the good ole' days
And back then, women really knew their place
Administrators missed the days when students obeyed
Didn't meddle in the world the grownups had made
The Pentagon's nostalgic for the days of yore
When every kid would rush to join their latest war!
So all you kids soakin up the scene
Sorry to break in on your American dream
But we lived through it and it ain't no fun:
No one's gonna take back what we won!
Chorus
Teen angel, teen angel, rest in pieces!
words and music by Kristin Lems c MCMLXXXIII Kleine Ding Music (BMI)

[fooj]

27. You mean like this...

[Solly Mack]

28. protect "the" flag from what?

If you voted for the Patriot Act, I can't imagine you caring what "the" flag represents..since a vote for the P.A. was a vote against everything the flag supposedly represents.

What's the point in protecting the symbol when you attack the ideas behind the symbol?

People rally to symbols...people can get all choked up and emotional about a symbol....so you sway people with symbols...you manipulate them with symbols...the symbol then becomes more important than the ideas...protect the flag, the symbol...a piece of material(made in China)...but forget "with liberty and justice for ALL"

My rainbow flag is just a flag...what it represents is far superior...is far greater. Burn the rainbow flag and the idea still lives on...because the idea is worth more than the symbol...the idea is more important than the symbol will ever be...I'd rather protect the idea. I'd rather nurture the idea. I'd rather strive to make the idea the reality....I'd rather not just wave a meaningless flag....for without the idea,waving/protecting the flag is just an empty gesture.

You can't vote to deny.... equality...justice...liberty...to others... and claim you respect the flag. Not without being a liar and a hypocrite.

[SoCalDem]

30. So THAT'S what's causing the air pollution.

It's the smoke from millions of flags being burned in the streets daily...

wait... never seen many burn except in a foreign country..as a signal to show how much they hate us..

It must be the smokescreen sent up from the burning flags, that has blinded our politicians to the REAL issues Americans worry about:

Losing jobs
Losing medical insurance/care
Losing a secure retirement
Losing a home through job loss
Losing a chance at a college education due to increasing costs
Losing a chance to be well-fed, though frankenfoodization
Losing a loved one to an illegal war
Losing the right to speak out against injustice
Losing the right of self-determination (especially women)
Losing a chance to be legally tied to a loved one of our choosing
Losing a favorable world-view
Losing control over elections..methods AND the people who emerge victorious
Losing the truth..(who even tells it these days?)...not the media, not our leaders
Losing control of our futures, blinded by our past, and marching numbingly through the present

[Lefty48197]

33. Hey Frist! Yer boys have failed to pass that amendment for the last 25 yrs

I think you're impotent.

[SmokingJacket]

35. Burning the flag shows more respect for it

than wrapping your gut in a flag tee-shirt, for example.

[pinto]

36. Protect it from what?

Agggh.

[ikojo]

37. I've been to many demonstrations over the years

and have not seen any flag burnings. I can't believe the bushbots take this as government doing something! Don't they see their fellow citizens suffering under the weight of six years of George W Bush's policies? Increased food lines, more foreclosures, less saving, lower wages....the list is endless.

Rick Monday makes me ashamed to be a Cubs fan.