I'm so glad the US House of Representatives today addressed such a scourge upon this country. Ossama is still hiding in the hills of Afghanistan while every day more soldiers are being killed in Iraq. AIDS is killing people every day. Health care is unaffordable for a large number of Americans. But yet these congressmen were able to approve a constitutional amendment that would allow Congress to prohibit the desecration of the American flag.

Thank God. I was wondering when all this flag burning was ever going to end!

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Yes, it's a strong statement to make by burning the flag. Yes, it's offensive to burn the flag. Yes, it's a mockery of the government to burn the flag. However, the Constitution gives anyone to right to make a strong, offensive or mocking statement as a form of protest.

Luckily, this still has a long way to go. The bill moves to the senate. It still could have a tough fight there. Each time it has gone to vote it has died there. Even with Republican gains recent surveys of senators shows not enough votes for passage.

And, yes the ghosts of 9/11 come into play and some on Capitol Hill are ready to use these martyrs as political tools. "Ask the men and women who stood on top of the Trade Center," said Rep. Randy (Duke) Cunningham. "Ask them and they will tell you: pass this amendment."

Give me a break, Randy. Touting the memories of those who died in the Trade Center attacks for a sound bite is a million time more offensive than burning a flag.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, whose district includes the site of the former World Trade Center, said it best, "If the flag needs protection at all, it needs protection from members of Congress who value the symbol more than the freedoms that the flag represents."

Even if it were to pass the senate and move to the states for ratification there is comfort in poll released last week by the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center in Nashville which found 63% oppose a flag amendment, up from 53% last year.

This country is not a flag. It is what that flag represents. It's those who died at Lexington and Concord, at Little Big Horn, in the Arden, at Pearl Harbor and in the twin towers. We should fight strong to preserve the freedoms which make our country the envy of the rest of the world. It is those freedoms which Mohammad Atta hated so much. We should be more worried about defending those freedoms instead of a piece of cloth.