Observations on the flag burning amendment

US Code, Title 4, Chapter 1, Section 8 (k):

The flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning.

Jonah Goldberg:

Any respect for the flag that requires a constitutional amendment or congressional statute is respect in name only.

Quote of the day. (It's summertime; has anyone seen my flip flops?)

You'll never guess who was bemoaning that politicians were

considering what is tantamount to a cut-and-run strategy. Their sudden embrace of accelerated Iraqification and American troop withdrawal dates, without adequate stability, is an invitation to failure. The hard work of rebuilding Iraq must not be dictated by the schedule of the next American election.

It was John Kerry, addressing the Council on Foreign Relations.

(Hat tip: Taranto.)

Summer reading

Just read NRO's summer reading list (or in the case of Daniel Casse, a summer avoidance list).

I then ordered

• America: The Last Best Hope (Volume I): From the Age of Discovery to a World at War by William Bennett,
• Baseball Between the Numbers by the Baseball Prospectus folks and
• The Nick Adams Stories by Ernest Hemingway.

First usage of fisk as a verb: Tim Blair

Note from Aussie blogger Tim Blair:

Re the first use of "fisking" as a verb, I believe I may possibly have some claim.

He's right. Blair used the term in this Dec 19, 2001 post, the first use of "fisk" as a verb to my knowledge. Here's the quote:

He deserves a righteous kicking, and I think Natalie might be first in line with the Fisking boots.

Note that Blair's post predates Glenn Reynolds' first use of the term by five days. Between Blair's Dec. 19 post and Reynolds' Dec. 24 post, the term began to migrate in meaning from physical pommelling to oratorical pommelling. The source of the term is British journalist Robert Fisk. Fisk was beaten by a gang of Afghani thugs and then wrote sympathetically about his attackers. The blogoshere proceded to rip apart Fisk's work.

For more complete background, see my history of the term, which I have updated to include Blair's contribution.

By way of background, Blair is my favorite Australian blogger. His exceptional coverage of the 2003 Bali terror was second to none. He blogs here now.

FMA

Two good reasons for conservatives to oppose the Federal Marriage Amendment:

Second, a constitutional amendment defining marriage would be a radical intrusion on the nation's founding commitment to federalism in an area traditionally reserved for state regulation, family law. There has been no showing that federalism has been unworkable in the area of family law.

Third, a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage would be an unprecedented form of amendment, cutting short an ongoing national debate over what privileges and benefits, if any, ought to be conferred on same-sex couples and preventing democratic processes from recognizing more individual rights.

(Hat tip.)

What is a progressive?

By most of these definitions of progressive, I qualify.