Wrapping up more than packages!

With the wind down of 2005, there is cause to celebrate despite the state of the State. After all, fingers on the nuclear buttons haven't pushed 'em yet (okay, I know there's still almost two weeks of the year left, but so far so good--we might make it).

Always one of the last to catch the holiday spirit (make that "Christmas spirit" for you radical militant jihadist Christian fundalmentalists) and first to lose it, things are getting busy with less than a week til the 25th. So I've come up with this idea that might free up some time to write Christmas cards. For those of you reading this, if you don't receive yours by January 7th you can stop holding your breaths.

Anyway, with that in mind I thought I might highlight a couple of the best of Dada's Dally since its inception last June. For openers, I've chosen one of my earliest entries, "Latest distraction from *real* attrocities," from Thursday, June 23, 2005.

It deals with the perennial issue of flag burning that was just raised again earlier this month by Sen. Hillary Clinton ("it takes a village to raise a child", it takes a bomb to raze a village, THAT Sen. Clinton) in her vote grovelling efforts for the 2008 Republocratic presidential nomination. She, along with Republican Sen. Bob Bennett of Utah are co-sponsoring new legislation to criminalize desecration of the United States flag.

Here, in its entirety, is that blog entry (updated with the additional 455+ American GI's deaths since I wrote it):

Congress is on the move to ban flag burning, again!

This is a touchy subject. One that raises passions to flash points. Before I add my two cents worth, let me relate another point of view from a real outsider. It comes from a disimpassioned observer. Someone not of this earth, but rather outside it. An alien! Before you reject that, consider it. It makes sense to me.

It's something I found in a little book entitled E.T. 101: The Cosmic Instruction Manual, by Diana Luppi. It describes how life forms outside this world view Earth's cultures, i.e., they're all dysfunctional. It's the one characteristic they all have in common. But cultures differ in the dysfunctional traits they wish to embrace. Once decided, each culture proudly designs and waves a flag to represent its particular dysfunctionality. It's then promoted to its citizenry at home and globally as their truth. This qualifies, in effect, the richer cultures to exploit the poorer cultures and poorer cultures to resent the richer cultures with most of them providing arms for armies with which to protect their flags while killing people of other cultures under theirs.

Okay, having said that, no one knows for sure how many U.S. flags are burned each year. Congressional estimates range as high as seven! (I'd had no idea the number was this high. I was absolutely appalled!!)

One Fourth of July, I contemplated igniting the barbeque with--instead of charcoal lighter--a U.S. flag. It was all in the spirit of the holiday. But the thought of bunting tainted weenies made me opt for the lighter fluid.

Thousands of flags are burned by Boy Scouts each year to retire them respectfully. About 7 are burned out of protest. It's these 7 that congress is seeking to ban because they consider it a desecration.

That's where I have some difficulty. Isn't it the intention of the flag burner that we're really trying to stop, i.e.what he's thinking? And banning that is a ban on freedom of expression.

If we're to accept desecration as an act of disrespect or impiety toward something regarded as sacred then I'm really offended! Not by the burning of a flag in protest of our nation's actions so much, but by our nation's desecration of over 2,155 American and 100,000 Iraqi lives.

If you accept life is sacred, then how is it we can get so upset by the burning of a symbol while the object which it represents has disrepected and desecrated over 102,155 American and Iraqis fraudulently? I find this far more outrageous.