THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 25, 1995 TAG: 9503240074
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Maddry
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
I HAVE BEEN SO busy watching NCAA basketball that the doings in Congress slipped past me.
Now I have learned that a fast break is in progress in Congress to dunk a constitutional amendment on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Yes, the congressmen - having failed to muster enough votes for a constitutional amendment requiring them to do their duty and balance the budget - called a time-out to go over their offense.
Coach Gingrich chalked in the amendment to ban flag burning on the blackboard.
As every representative on the floor was aware, the play was guaranteed to do an in-your-face dunk on the Supreme Court. The court had previously ruled that burning the American flag, while offensive to most Americans, was defensed by the First Amendment.
The flag-protection amendment is gaining support in both the Senate and House from both Democrats and Republicans. It looms as large as Big Country, the well-fed, 280-pound center for the Oklahoma State basketball team.
As I said, I have been so involved with NCAA basketball that there hasn't been much time to think about that amendment.
However, it strikes me as a very good thing, although I only speak from personal experience.
I don't know about you, but everywhere I go in my neighborhood, people are burning flags.
And a lot of them are my friends. The other afternoon I phoned Al to ask if he'd like to come over and watch the ODU-Tulsa game.
He thanked me but said he had to go to a barbecue. ``My neighbor has a new barbecue grill in his backyard and invited us over,'' he said. ``I promised my wife I'd take her. The host has a half-dozen American flags from Kansas City that are real beauties. We're going to drink beer and roast those flags.''
I hate flag-burning myself. But no matter where I go, there seem to be people either burning flags, planning to burn them or finding new ways to do it.
Take my neighbor Quentin Crisp, for instance. Quentin has stopped using fire logs at his house. He uses flags instead. He rolls up the flags, soaks them in kerosene, dips them in wax and burns them in his fireplace on cold nights.
``A good flag will burn twice as long as oak log,'' he told me. Last Christmas, the Crisps boxed up the flags - Red Glare Rockets - he calls them. Gave them to friends as gifts. Disgusting.
The children in our neighborhood used to catch lightening bugs on warm summer nights but have pretty much stopped now that flag burning has taken over. They buy flags on tiny staffs, light them and run through the neighborhood with them like little communists before the Berlin wall fell.
Several of us have complained about the flag burning children, but their parents tell us to mind our own business. ``Besides, the smoke from the flags drives away mosquitoes,'' they say. Can you imagine?
It doesn't get any better in the fall either. Used to be the only smoke you saw was from burning leaves piled up in the neighborhood yards. But the flag burning has become so pervasive that it's nearly impossible to drive home and find your way because of the thick clouds of smoke from burning flags. Terrible.
People are burning so many flags around where I live that you can hardly find a flag in a store. People hoard them for burning.
I guess this flag-burning situation is about as bad where you live. No doubt that flag burning is one of the country's biggest problems.
That's why I think Congress is right on with that amendment to ban flag burning.
And once that's done, they should pass an amendment making it illegal to burn supper. by CNB