Cracking down on flag burning; it's about time

Well, praise the Lord. The House of Representatives, led by our own F. Jim Sensenbrenner, has voted once again to do something about the outbreak of flag-burning in this country.

I don't know about your neighborhood, but there are parts of Milwaukee I hate to walk through, for fear of getting scorched by one of those flaming flags. They seem to be everywhere. And the closer we get to the 4th of July, the more flags they burn.

It's a relief to know we are on the way toward fixing that -- if the U.S. Senate can get its head out of its behind, get its priorities straight, and do the right thing for once.

The House has voted for a constitutional amendment on flag burning seven times now, but the Senate has never given it the two-thirds vote it needs. Maybe this is the time. Then, all of the states would get to have a referendum on flag burning, giving the yahoos something to get excited about when they go to the polls, besides voting against gays, poor people, liberals and other assorted trash.

It's the will of the people, Sensenbrenner says, and, "While our courts have authority to interpret the constitution, the American people should and must have the ultimate authority to amend it."

That "majority rules" theory usually isn't applied to the constitution, but it does have some appeal. Maybe we could have a constitutional amendment preventing anyone from interfering with stem cell research, since a large majority supports that. Unlike flag-burning, some people are actually doing stem cell research.

Wisconsin Republicans Mark (The Man Who Would be Governor) Green and Paul (Who Would be Senator) Ryan both voted with Sensenbrenner for the resolution. Tom Petri, who frequently seems to be the only Republican in our delegation with a conscience, voted no, along with all four Democrats -- Baldwin, Moore, Obey, and Kind. Story.

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If the Supreme Court hadn't ruled that a Texas law against flag burning was unconstitutional, there wouldn't be any need for the constitutional amendment.

Just to make sure the judicial bases were covered, though, Sensenbrenner was one of a small group of Congressmen who had a private meal and meeting last week with all nine Supreme Court justices, a move Roll Call termed "highly unusual." Roll Call said the only agenda appeared to be "creating better relations between the two branches of federal government."

"Despite the strong possibility that the first vacancy in 11 years looms and a host of other critical issues are facing the federal judiciary, the justices hosted the meeting, although attendees said they were not seeking to make a pitch on any particular topic. Instead, lawmakers said, it was merely an attempt at getting to know each other better,"Roll Call said.

One smart move in that direction was leaving the two Texans, Rep. Tom DeLay and Sen. John Cronyn, at home. Both have threatened to impeach judges, burn down the federal courthouses, or something like that if judges don't shape up. (Do we need a constitutional amendment on threatening judges?)

Anyway, among those attending, besides F. Jim, were Sens. Reid, McConnell, Frist, Durbin, and Specter.