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UPDATE: ACTION ALERT! 65 Senators ready to criminalize freedom of political speech with flag burning amendment
UPDATE : Not satisfied with the original information that appeared with the bill at Thomas.gov, I did more snooping and found the voting record at the House Clerk's site. That bill information is broken up into two places is beyond my comprehension. Apologies for the confusion. The final vote is here : http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2005/roll296.xml
Do yourself and your country a favor. Call your NY Congressman and your Senators and tell them you support them 100% in their refusal to compromise democracy for the sake of patriotism.
[via House Approves Move to Outlaw Flag Burning - Yahoo! News]:
Late Wednesday, Sen.
Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., a possible presidential candidate in 2008, revealed that she would vote against the measure. "As I have said in the past, I support federal legislation that would outlaw flag desecration, much like laws that currently prohibit the burning of crosses, but I don't believe a constitutional amendment is the answer," she said in a statement.Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., remained undecided, a spokesman said.
The House debate fell along familiar lines over whether the amendment strengthened the Constitution or ran afoul of its free-speech protections.
Supporters said there was more public support than ever because of emotions following the 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. They said detractors are out of touch with public sentiment.
"Ask the men and women who stood on top of the Trade Center," said Rep. Randy (Duke) Cunningham, R-Calif. "Ask them and they will tell you: pass this amendment."
Critics accused the amendment's supporters of exploiting the attacks to trample the right to free speech.
"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." said Rep. Jerrold Nadler (news, bio, voting record), D-N.Y., whose district includes the site of the former World Trade Center.
Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer are against it. Go give them a telephone hug and tell them The Daily Gotham sent y'all.
I did some more reserch because was troubled with the idea that Conyers, Rangel, Wiener and other Democrats might have backed this bill. Well, they introduced resolutions and that's the information I had previously posted. The final vote for NY Representatives, as per the Congressional Record is as follows:
H.R.1974
Title: To provide for protection of the flag of the United States.
Sponsor: Rep Boucher, Rick [VA-9] (introduced 4/28/2005) Cosponsors (2)
Latest Major Action: 4/28/2005 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. SUMMARY AS OF:
4/28/2005--Introduced.Flag Protection Act of 2005 - Amends the Federal criminal code to revise provisions regarding desecration of the flag to set penalties with respect to persons who: (1) destroy or damage a U.S. flag with intent to provoke, and in circumstances reasonably likely to produce, imminent violence or a breach of the peace; (2) steal or knowingly convert to their use, or the use of another, a U.S. flag belonging to the United States and intentionally destroy or damage that flag; and (3) within any lands reserved for the use of the United States, or under the exclusive or concurrent jurisdiction thereof, steal or knowingly convert to their use, or the use of another, a U.S. flag belonging to another person and intentionally destroy or damage that flag.
Expresses the sense of Congress that the States should enact prohibitions similar to the provisions of this Act.
Here's the final vote by our New York Congresspeople:
YEAS
Bishop
Boehlert
Crowley
Fossella
Higgins
King
Kelly
Kuhl
Reynolds
McCartney
McHugh
McNulty
Sweeney
Towns
Walsh
NAYS
Ackerman
Engel
Hinchey
Israel
Lowey
Maloney
Meeks
Nadler
Owens
Serrano
Slaughter
Velázquez
Weiner
NOT VOTING
Rangel
Needless to say CONYERS voted against the measure.
jackasses
what else is there to say
They've been listening to too much Johnny Cash
what a stupid bill. Maybe next they'll make it illegal to photoshop chimpy ears onto Dubya.
"It's a sad little wreck of a chromosome."
--JA Marshall-Graves on the hamster Y chromosome
no such thing as too much johnny cash
not sure were that came from.
but this is the man in black who stood for prisoners rights before that term even existed.
this is the man who sung about injustice and brotherhood and 100 other progressive values. if you recall from the rnc, the Man in Black Bloc where the anti-bush crowd proclaimed "whose cash? our cash" and sang social justice classics like "the man in black".
so do explain how johnny cash has anything to do with crazy republicans who hate the constitution?
Anthony Weiner voted against the flag burning amendment
Hello. I am the Communications Director of Anthony Weiner’s campaign for Mayor.
I enjoy reading your blog, but noticed a few inaccuracies in your coverage of the flag burning amendment voted on yesterday in Congress that I wanted to correct.
First, contrary to what you say, Anthony Weiner voted against the amendment. Congressman Weiner opposes a constitutional amendment to ban flag burning.
As you correctly note, Serrano and Slaughter voted against the amendment too. But contrary to what you say, so did many other members from New York including Ackerman, Engel, Maloney, Owens, Nadler, Meeks, Velazquez and, as I said, my boss, Anthony Weiner. (You say Reynolds voted against the amendment, but he voted for it.)
Also, the information on the amendment you pasted into the blog actually describes an entirely different bill (called the Flag Protection Act.). That bill has never been voted on—it is languishing in the Judiciary Committee.
You include my boss in the section on cosponsors of the Flag Protection Act, but he is a cosponsor of neither the bill nor the amendment. He opposes both measures.
The bill number you reference as evidence of his cosponsorship, H.R. 676, is actually the United States National Health Insurance Act, which is a universal health insurance bill.
Anthony Weiner is a proud cosponsor of that measure.
You posted this as I was making corrections
Please feel free to make any other necessary corrections.
BTW
If you are serious about reading this blog and following what we do here, then you may want to use this as an opportunity to get the word out what Weiner is working in Capitol Hill BEFORE he votes for it.
Some of the work here is editorial. Some of it is citizen journalism, like reports from the community board meetings. But the mission is all about activism. It would be of great help that you and all the communications directors of our state representatives and senators helped us in putting out the word out about what your doing in the Hill and how may we help.
Remember, we are doing this voluntary reporting as part of our activist work because we are committed to getting the Democratic party back in City Hall, back in the State House and back in the White House. Nobody is paying us. As you can see, we barely have any advertising money coming. It does not even cover my hosting costs.
So throw us a bone here. We're working our asses off to help you. Show us the love and give us a hand.
Mark Steyn has had the best t
Mark Steyn has had the best to say against the Flag Burning Amendment I have seen so far. This shouldn't be a left or right issue. Anyone who takes pride in America and the values of freedom should be against this amendment.
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J.Kende
Lower The Vote
Eye Dream Awake