Well, seriously. Ive got two trees in my yard that the city will not allow me to drop because they abut a street and so I have to maintain them (fine, they are both older then 50 years, and not bad.. but also kinda ugly and partially dying). Its also against the law for me to burn limbs. So, I have to haul them out to the dump (at a cost of gas + $20 a visit)
Now, if I were to pile up the limbs, and burn them in my backyard as a protest of the city government, Id still get a ticket (and probably rightly so, as that kind of fire would be a bit of a hazard). But the limbs burning would emit no direct poison.. definitely not the same as burning something that is a dyed cloth. I get the point, yes, yes, you hate the government or whatever, you've got the signs on your car, etc. etc. etc. Fine. But seriously, is there a need to burn something? Not just the flag, but anything? I mean, if you're going to burn something, I've got some limbs I'll give you.. let you have the ticket. Is your political message any more powerful because you decide to fill the air with pollutants and have a mini-firehazard? Would you get the same political effect if instead of standing in front of the city offices and burning a flag, instead, you broke out super soakers and made the ground a slipping hazard? I'm trying to think of what other man-made actions like fire you could induce that would have the same political resonance. Protest the government by bringing a skunk to county forum meetings? I believe you have every right to speech. It's debatable to me as to whether burning anything is speech, though. But if you are set on burning a flag, can you burn one made at home, on a brown paper bag, using food coloring? It'll burn much cleaner then cloth, it's still a flag for you, and it's over a lot quicker.. but you still get your point across. Or, better yet, just cook a cake of the flag and leave it in for an extra hour or whatever it takes to make it a charcoal brickette. That will sure show them! CW ________________________________________ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of G.Waleed Kavalec Sent: Friday, June 24, 2005 2:38 PM To: The Hardware List Subject: Re: [H] [OT] Early Friday off-topic I love the smell of dioxin in the morning...! On 6/24/05, CW <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: I have no problems with whatever you want to do with the flag. At the same time, I have a big problem with any use of public fire. Burning cloth, or really anything, though, bothers me alot. Hell, I can't burn trash. With fair reason. When you burn cloth, you release benzine, formaldehyde, and other crap into the air. Great, I get your protest, you can do the same thing with a giant sign or whatever.. but don't burn stuff, damn, I can get your point without you sending me running for an inhaler. -----Original message-----
