Will the senate stand up for the First Amendment?

U.S. lawmakers said Sunday they would consider a request by Afghan President Hamid Karzai to formally condemn a Florida pastor's decision to burn the Koran, after the act triggered deadly riots in Afghanistan.

The protests entered their third day Sunday as demonstrators battled police in the southern city of Kandahar and, in the eastern city of Jalalabad, blocked a highway and burned an effigy of President Obama.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid repudiated pastor Terry Jones for touching off the chaos with what he called a "publicity stunt." Jones had earlier threatened to burn the Koran, but then shelved the plan until last month. The burning attracted little U.S. attention at the time but was used as a rallying cry in Afghanistan.

"This was an effort to get some publicity for him. He got it. But in the process, 10-20 people have been killed," Reid said on CBS' "Face the Nation."

Asked whether Congress could pass a resolution condemning it, he said, "We'll take a look at this."

Note that even Fox News has fallen into line by claiming the Koran burning "triggered" the violence. What triggered the violence was ignorance, fear, extremism, and the curious proclivity of people who worship Allah to lose their minds at every slight directed against their faith - real or imagined.

There is no doubt that Koran burning is extreme speech. It is protected by the First Amendment however, and holding hearings on Terry Jones and his publicity seeking only serves to beg the question: if hearings on Koran burning, why not flag burning? Or "Piss Christ?" Or any other extreme acts and speech by liberals?

Harry Reid is a dangerous, doltish example of the kind of casual authoritarianism found in today's Congress. So is SC Senator Lindsey Graham who said "Free speech is a great idea, but we're in a war." And your point, Mr. Graham? He has no legitimate argument except the Koran burning upset our Muslim allies in Afghanistan.

Tough. There is absolutely no reason we should trim our principles to suit benighted 15th century savages who go off like a bomb every time someone looks sideways at their prophet or their holy book. I am all for voluntary restraint when it comes to burning Korans, as I am for flag burning, disrespecting Christianity or any other religion. Such actions are hurtful to followers of Islam, Jesus Christ, and American patriots and accomplish nothing except inflicting psychic pain on those being targeted.

But that doesn't mean it's not protected speech. And Harry Reid, Lindsey Graham, and the rest of the mob on  Capitol Hill should remember that.