whither now, first amendment...

[acroyear]

Commentary: Town makes it illegal to fly a foreign flag - CNN.com:

This is where we've arrived in this country: You have the constitutional right to burn an American flag, but you can get into trouble for simply flying a foreign one.

At least you can in the 30,000-person town of Pahrump, Nevada, which is close to Las Vegas and even closer to stepping over the line with an idiotic, intolerant and insulting ban on foreign (read: Mexican) flags. The town council voted last week, 3-2, to approve an ordinance that makes it illegal to display a foreign flag -- unless an American flag is flown above it. Scofflaws face a $50 fine and 30 hours of community service.

Pahrump resident Michael Miraglia proposed the ban because, he said, he got upset when he saw immigrant activists marching through U.S. cities last spring, waving Mexican flags. Mr. Miraglia told USA Today that he was especially miffed that "we had Mexican restaurants closed that day."

So that's what started all this -- the fact that some guy couldn't get his burrito fix.

[... rest of article is good to read, too...]

At moments like this, I barely recognize my own country. Americans confronted slavery, the Great Depression, the Third Reich, and racial injustice here at home. Now some of us tremble at the sight of a piece of cloth. How sad. We're a bigger people than that. Even if some of us, now and then, tend to forget it.

Comments

[blueeowyn.livejournal.com]

Wanna bet the day last spring was Cinco de Mayo?

Oh unintentional irony

[margoeve.livejournal.com]

Pahrump Nevada was recently featured on "Studio 60."

They were trying to make a case that not every small town was filled with idiots.

... well, Aaron Sorkin TRIED anyway.

[voltbang.livejournal.com]

We're a bigger people than that? We were a bigger people than that. You seem to have modern america confused with america sometime in the past, when we actually were number 1.