[QUOTE=MTI]How many American flags are burned annually in the United States anyway? QUOTE]

2005 : 2
2004 : 3
2003 : 6
2002 : 11
2001 : 14
2000 : 2

* Source: http://www.cfa-inc.org/

That's about 7 per year. Clearly a grave danger to our nation.

Wait -- if I burned a flag right now, how would they know?

[QUOTE=JMela]Too many...................and too few Korans are getting flushed and burned....or burned and flushed.

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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

BHD, as I may have said before, I (and the ACLU) will defend to the death, your right to be politically incorrect. Heck, we'll even send you the match and lighter fluid.

the ACLU are the ones trying to prosecute Koran Burners...

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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Fact check please . . .

The ACLU uncovered prisoner abuse which included the psychological use of mishandling the Koran at the detainment "camp" . . . or is the distiniction to fine for your broad brush?

Recent case where burned korans were left at a Mosque.....

ACLU is after them to charge them for a hate crime....

These people might have just been returning them to a for a proper disposal....

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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Burned texts left at Islamic Center
Thursday, June 16, 2005

Blacksburg police have not determined if the Qurans were burned as a hate crime.

BLACKSBURG - Members of the Islamic Center of Blacksburg were stunned when they arrived at the building for prayers Saturday afternoon.

Outside the building, a plastic shopping bag filled with burned copies of the Quran sat in front of the door. Blacksburg police say they do not have any leads on who left the burned religious books, but they are investi gating the incident as a possible hate crime.

On Tuesday afternoon, as a group of men gathered at the center, 20-year-old Idris Adjerid said he was disgusted about what happened to the sacred books.

"I think it is a shame that people are so ignorant," he said.

Adjerid said he has attended the center since 1997 and nothing like this has ever happened before. He said an e-mail is being circulated among Muslims in the New River Valley discussing the incident and how they should react to it.

"People are just very disappointed," he said.

Blacksburg police Lt. Donnie Goodman said he reported the incident to the Virginia State Police, which compiles hate crime statistics, but he also said the department is not sure whether the Quran burning is a hate crime or not.

To be considered a hate crime, Goodman said police must be able to show that the act was meant to intimidate or harass. He said police are trying to find out if that is the case here.

"We have to look at all possibilities. We are not trying to discount anything, we are just trying to find out what happened," he said.

Laila Al-Qatami, a spokeswoman for the American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday questioned how police could consider the act anything other than a hate crime.

"Let's face it, books don't burn themselves and end up outside of a mosque. It's a willful act," she said.

Al-Qatami said hate crimes against Muslims have increased steadily since 9/11 and spike whenever a national anti-Muslim act is covered by the media.

She said recent reports of Quran desecration have set off copy-cat acts across the country.

"We have seen similar things where rocks are thrown through windows, graffiti is sprayed on walls and prayers are disrupted. We see this both in large cities and small towns," she said.

Al-Qatami said the best way police can help stop hate crimes against Muslims is to treat all religions equally. "I think if someone burned pages from the Bible there would be a certain reaction. This should be the same across the board."

Goodman said that is exactly how Blacksburg police are treating this case.

"I've got two detectives working on this. We are trying to do everything we can to get some leads to help us find a conclusion to this," he said.

John Harrison, a law professor at the University of Virginia, said defining an act as a hate crime is not as easy as people outside law enforcement might imagine.

For example, if a person is assaulted, it is a crime. If that crime is motivated by race, religion or ethnic origin it becomes a hate crime, which carries a greater penalty.

If it is unclear whether or not the act is a crime - as could be the case in dropping off burned copies of the Quran in front of a building - Harrison said police have to show that the act was done to intimidate or harass an individual or group because of their race, religion or national origin.

And that can be the hard part, Harrison said.

But the legal questions didn't mean much to Adjerid, who called the Quran burning hateful and wrong.

"People should open their minds to new ideas and be more tolerant of others."

By Joe Eaton
381-1665
The Roanoke Times

Hate crime vs. Freedom of Expression ends with the intent to intimidate or harass.

Thats it...I new it was in virginia..but couldn't remember exactly where..

funny how Burning a koran is a hate crime but burning the US flag isn't....or the bible.

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1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

BHD, instead of jumping to conclusions . . . is there an elevated escarpment in your locale . . .

DC is liberal central......you can easily spot the liberals they are the ones wearing blinders so they don't see things the DNC don't want them to see.

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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Before my thread gets fully hijacked(I create so few), does anyone here have any answers to my questions above?
Would this Disney/Towel/Flag be considered a desecrated flag? There are folks out there who are against Disney, you know.
The flag also doesn't have the correct number of stars. What if there were someone else more objectionable superimposed on the flag?
I'm just seeing this whole thing as something that opens up more questions and bank accounts for lawyers than is really worth the effort in the first place,
...as if our society needed to be more litigious than it already is.

What happens when a news channel broadcasts the image of burning a flag as a news item under this? Are they guilty?
What about websites showing images of such things? Call the police Martha!!!

P.S. Medmech's new avatar ...I approve.

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. . . and while we're at it, lock up the mofo's that aren't illuminating the American flags that aren't taken down at night . . . or those folks too stupid to doff their caps during the Star Spangled Banner . . .

What twists my gonadal apparatus is that these dickheads in Congress are abusing freedom to cynically suck-up to nitwits who attach more meaning to the flag than they do 'for which it stands'.

Look, I love that flag and the country for which it stands. When I say the pledge, I mean it. But I sure ass hell don't mean abridge the second most important amendment in the constitution so as not to offend a bunch of numbskulls.

You're right, I shouldn't get purple in the phase and prose. But it really does pi$$ me off.

Well said, although I might disagree with which amendment is the most important. Certainly in a tie for first place are the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. On the other hand, the Fifth Amendment isn't much good without the Sixth, so I think we have to put the First, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth in a tie for first place.