Those interested in the ethics of genetic screening of embryos should head over to hyper-textual ontology or Technoprogressive, where Robn’s started an interesting thread. I’ve already started commenting in the h-t o thread, so I’ll just point you over there and encourage you to join in.
So the Senate has once again attempted to pass a Constitutional amendment that would allow Congress to pass a law against burning the American flag, and this time it came up one vote short. I will repost the following excerpt from the linked article without comment:
“Is this the most important thing the Senate could be doing at this time? I can tell you: You’re darned right it is,” said Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch (news, bio, voting record), the measure’s sponsor.
More generally, I think this issue matters more in symbolic terms than practical terms. But symbols have their effect, and I personally don’t like the symbol of elevating the flag (a symbol itself) above the principle of the right to free speech. I’m glad this failed, I hope it fails the next time it comes up, and I hope it fails by a wider margin.