Before ratifying the United States Constitution, the Founders in their wisdom insisted on drafting and passing a list of necessary rights to act as a barrier against the overweaning power of government to limit the freedoms of its citizens. In the 200-plus years since, this Bill of Rights, has been a cornerstone of the experiment which we call American democracy.

Now, using more stealth than the B-2 bomber, a group of United States Senators, led by that paragon of virtue and erudition, Republican Senator Orrin Hatch, means to pass an amendment to the Constitution which would change the Bill of Rights for the first time in our history.

Are they concerned with the gun violence that is turning our children into "Natural Born Killers?" Not on your life. What these ideologues are after --- and get ready, because I'm sure you thought this issue had been decided by repudiation during the Administration of former-President George Bush --- what they are after is a Constitutional amendment that would make burning the U.S. flag a crime, rather than a form of protest protected under Freedom of Speech.

Yup! In case you hadn't guessed it by now, there are a lot of people in the United States government who think Freedom of Speech is a huge threat. Look what they tried to do to the Internet last year.

I don't know about you, Gentle Reader, but I can't remember the last time I saw somebody burning a flag. On the other hand, it seems like going to, or working at, a public school in this country means you have to posess the bullet-dodging skills of an Olympian almost every other month. Does this bother Orrin Hatch? Apparently not. But the memory of somebody in some distant protest who happened to burn a flag is driving the august Senator nuts!

NOW GET READY FOR THE SCARY PART: The clock is ticking on this amendment even as you read this. It has already passed Newt Gingrinch's House of Representatives with an overwhelming majority. A number of state houses have also signed onto the bandwagon ages ago, figuring, I'd venture, that it was only a symbolic vote good to roll out during campaign season to show your true-blue patriotism. But now, according to a recent press e-mail from the Society of Professional Journalists:

"Because this proposal visits Congress with regularity and has been defeated before, we have grown complacent. We seem unmindful that the House of Representatives approved the latest proposal by an overwhelming majority.

"We seem unimpressed that 49 states already have passed resolutions in support of the amendment. We seem to forget that the last time around, the flag amendment failed congressional approval by a slim three-vote margin in the Senate, and that those votes are wavering this time around.

"Now, as this amendment makes its way quietly through the U.S. Senate, time and votes are slipping away. Before we know it, we could have an amendment to the Constitution that would put beyond the reach of reason or the courts the question of whether those in power can prohibit and punish the political speech of those not in power."

The long and short? There are three, maybe four votes standing against this heinous power-grab passing the current United States Senate....and they are wavering!