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November 04, 2007
Crime of the Century
In the United States of America, it is not a crime to burn our Nation's flag. In fact, you can do damn near anything you want to it, including defecate on it in public, its all well and good and part of your free speech.
However, it appears that in the United States of America it is a crime to burn the Mexican flag:
It caused some controversy, but it was supposed to. Now, one man is headed to municipal court for burning a Mexican flag in protest in front of the Alamo.
The city is charging 46-year old David Bohmfalk with burning without a permit, even though no one gives permits to burn a flag.
All the rallies and talk of amnesty for undocumented immigrants in May 2006 lit the fires of patriotism for Bohmfalk, he said.
"I just got angry," he said. "I decided I had to do something, make my statement, and that's what I did."
Bohmfalk had his own protest in front of a building known for revolution, where Davy Crockett and James Bowie made a stand. So did Bohmfalk but he used a lighter instead of gunfighter. Park police cited Bohmfalk for illegal burning of rubbish, even it was a Mexican flag he set ablaze.
"Because of what it's made out of, it took a little while to burn it. It took me two minutes, but I got it lit."
Bohmfalk says while he was detained by police, he was harassed, his life was threatened, and he was even assaulted by some tourists who spit on him. Ironically, all these offenses are punishable by law. Jakob says flag burning is not.
"In America, every day we see people burning the American flag and it's become desensitized," Jakob said. "If we can allow that, we can certainly say that the Mexican flag can be burned."
As a former Texas police chief and military veteran, Bohmfalk says he knows his rights, and is fighting for them.
"Why should a foreign flag get any better protection than the American flag?" he said.
An interesting tidbit from Bohmfalk's description of what happened that day:
"At this point, the two officers, both Hispanic, began talking to each other about what felonies they could charge me with, and asking me questions, although I had not been advised of my rights under Miranda v. Arizona. The male police officer, I believe his name was Ramirez, advised me that I had not only committed arson, but that I had violated several state and federal Homeland Security laws and that I should now consider myself a “domestic terrorist”. Numerous times while he was questioning me, he repeated that I had committed an act of domestic terrorism, due to post-9-11 laws.
Domestic terrorist? For burning the mexican flag? WTF???
First thing Monday morning, I'm sending a check to his lawyer, to help pay for his defense.
UPDATE: Once the story made the news, the City dropped the charges.
His attorney, Jason Jakob, says officers detained the former peace officer that May Day trying to find something to charge Bohmfalk with. All the while, he says, his client took some heat of his own.
"They tried to call him a domestic terrorist. They tried to get him for arson. They detained him for an hour and a half worth of his time. They allowed him to be spit on," Jakob said.
His brush with the law and his attorney's fees now have Bohmfalk considering more legal action against the city.
Good. If he decides to go forward against the city, I'll support it.
Posted by LindaSoG at November 4, 2007 03:00 PM
Comments
Now we should concentrate our efforts on making sure that Columbia student who threw a couple of Korans in the toilet doesn't face a life-ruining felony charge for a simple act of property destruction.
Posted by: Scorpius at November 4, 2007 07:31 PM
I have absolutely no use for these people. WTF'ingF?
Spit on Wollf if you will. Wollf will then go to jail.
Contentedly clutching the teeth that he removed from your face.
grrrrrrrrr....(no sigh)
Posted by: howlsatmoon at November 4, 2007 09:36 PM
One year the San Diego Padres tried to honor it's fans from Mexico with hats that had the Mexican flag on them with the Padres' "SD" across the flag.
They ended up throwing out 40,000 hats. Why? Because it's against Mexican law to depict the Mexican flag in such a manner. Not that these hats were to be sold or handed out in Mexico.
Personally, I have Mexican flag toilet paper. I'd tell you where I got it, but I don't want to be arrested...
Posted by: Nigel at November 5, 2007 02:22 AM
Fifteen-plus years ago, shortly after the Supreme Court ruled that burning the flag was protected by the Constitution, some college kid, here in Gainesville, did exactly that -- burned an American flag as political "performance art." And the police arrested him for burning without a permit.
I don't remember the final disposition of the case. But I've long thought that's how the police should deal with burning an American Flag as a protest.
Posted by: Celtjew at November 5, 2007 02:58 AM