the rix mix

Senator Menendez (D-NJ) voted for the flag desecration amendment because "the flag is a sacred symbol that transcends politics and personality." Now it'll transcend becoming a campaign issue. I won't dispute his belief, hundreds of thousands have sacrificed their lives for what the flag symbolizes in wars that Augustine of Hippo would have considered just. But in the United States we must be free to use even a "sacred symbol" as a object of dissent, however distasteful that act of dissent may be to the majority of Americans, including myself. I dislike protest burning of symbols & effigies generally. It reminds me of Nazi book burnings, & angry preachers inviting kids to melt Elvis & Beatles records. The Ku Klux Klan is free to burn the Cross of Jesus Christ. An artist has the right to immerse a cross in a bucket of urine. One can tear up a copy of the Quran or the Bible in public in the United States if one is willing to take that risk. If we must speak of our flag as a religious symbol in order to proscribe the burning of it, we are in a dangerous place. This is not a "flag" issue; how many flag desecrations within our borders have we seen lately? For me, it's a free speech issue. But it's emotionally manipulated as a patriotic & religious matter by the right wing to divide people otherwise in basic agreement on showing respect for the flag.

On Sunday night at WFMU I was unable to play many of the strongest songs off the CD rerelease of poet Allen Ginsberg's "First Blues" - unless I trusted a fast & accurate edit finger on the control board. Two decades ago I could air just about anything by Allen if I prefaced it with a language disclaimer.

Chuck Currie posted Barack Obama's major speech on religion & diversity at the Call to Action Conference in Washington DC.