Today in the closest of votes the senate decided not to ammend the constitution to pohibit flag burning.  I feel very srongly about this amendment.  In a nation that is so blessed to protect the liberty of individuals it would be very dangerous to add such a rule into our fundamental law.  I would never burn the flag, but I would be unhappy living in a country where people could not burn flags.  We are so blessed to be able to petition our government for a redress of grievances.  While very disrespectful, flag desecration is a form of speech.  Amending our constitution to void a certain area of free speech is a dangerous move.  Where would protection of the flag stop?  Could one be violating fundamental law if he or she desecrated other symbols of the United States?  Our courts have proved to have interesting interpretations of various laws.

This amendment was proposed by my very own Senator, Orrin Hatch.  I was extremely happy to see that my other Senator, Bob Bennett stood up to the challenge and protected my liberties.  We should always be careful when changing our fundamental law, and we should only do so in times of great need.  Flag protection does not meet this high standard.

General George Casey outlined a plan for troop withdrawl from Iraq, just in time for the election.  All of this comes with the caviat that conditions on the ground with dictate what happens.  I think it is interesting that the Democrats proposed to do just this, and now the General seems to be planning the same thing.

Cannon, I am probably more concerned about John Jacob.  Jacob who is challenging Cannon in the June Republican primary has made this election about illegal immigration.  Jacob is capitalizing on a growing anti-immigrant attitude that pervades Utah.  John Jacob is a single issue candidate who is on the wrong side of that issue, as he just wants to put his head in the ground, close the borders, and forget about dealing with the real problems of illegal immigration.

 On the other side of things, Jacob’s detractors are not doing a very good job of defaming him.  Some one posted a link to this neighbor of John Jacob.  David Liffereth accuses John Jacob of being a liberal because Jacob supports the arts and public utilities.  Liffereth also claims that, “As far as I have been able to determine, not a single Republican state delegate from Eagle Mountain (or Saratoga Springs where they know John very well also) voted for John at the State Republican conventions.”  If this is the best case that one can make not to support a candidiate, I am not convinced.  Look at what John Jacob says, and how he compares to Chris Cannon.  Don’t base one’s popularity and political elect-ability on an informal straw poll of your LDS Ward.

In a probable effort to keep his name in the news, Dell Schanze (Superdell) flew a paraglider dangerously close to I-15 near Draper, Utah. Police in Draper are considering to press charges. I encourage the Draper police to pursue Dell. I only want to hear news about Dell that is bad news. Some day Dell is going to “accidentally” kill someone in Utah. Will someone please stop that bastard?