So it's okay to burn the Mexican flag?

Conservatives have tried to argue for years that we should amend the United States Constitution to ban burning of our country's flag. But apparently it's okay to burn flags, so long as none of them are American:

An anti-illegal immigration activist is unlikely to get a permit to burn a Mexican flag on the steps of the state Capitol because of air pollution concerns.

Nick Bradford, of Tacoma, said he wants to burn the flag when the legislative session opens in January to encourage the state to do more to crack down on illegal immigrants, including allowing local police to arrest people who enter the U.S. illegally.

"Obviously, the protest is intended to get the attention of the public, but also the politicians here, in Washington," Bradford said. "We can't always bark at the other Washington and George Bush. We can do things locally here."

So it is okay to burn the Mexican flag as a form of protest, but not the American flag? Is that what conservatives think?

While the actual destruction of a flag - any flag - does not infringe on anyone else's freedom, releasing dioxins and harmful pollutants into the air does, and so the negative impact to our environment constitutes acceptable grounds for barring the ignition of a fire to burn flags.

Conservatives, of course, have a different idea of what freedom means, and they have argued that flag burning (and other forms of destruction) should be banned because flag desecration is an offensive gesture. So what they're really trying to ban is the expression of particular political views - which is ironic given how fiercely and regularly they invoke the First Amendment.

We believe changing the Constitution to specifically suppress the First Amendment is morally reprehensible. As Justice Brennan wrote in Texas v. Johnson:

We do not consecrate the flag by punishing its desecration, for in doing so we dilute the freedom that this cherished emblem represents.

So here's a question for those of you who support restricting free expression by prohibiting flag desecration: do you believe in a ban against the desecration of any nation's flag, or just the Stars and Stripes?