This would be relevant if there were any sort of political motivation behind it. The kid took a flag and burned it while drunk. He wasn't making any sort of statement, he wasn't protesting anything. His action was no different than if he had taken a pair of pants from a clothesline and lit them on fire.

As for people getting so upset about the flag being burned, if you love freedom and what the flag stands for so much, then think about what you're saying. Freedom of expression is granted to us as a right in the Constitution, freedom from being offended is not. To me, my own action of saluting the flag is as meaningful as saluting that pair of pants on the clothesline. Others may percieve it differently, but I do not feel any sort of duty to a piece of cloth beyond demonstrating to others what I feel. I love my country, I will defend it to my death, but there's no way I'm going to hold a piece of cloth sacred because of it. The country isn't going anywhere, and if seeing a flag burned scares you, then you need to think about reality and realize that someone protesting by destroying your graven images isn't going to hurt you or your country in any way. If people want change, it will happen regardless of how they express it. If most people don't, then a bunch of angry people burning a piece of fabric isn't going to change anything.

this is the belief i was brought up with as well. my dad is army and i remember a discussion with him when i was little and there was something on tv about flag burning. i got upset (because everyone on tv was upset) and he told me that he fought not just to preserve our flag and what it represents, but also to make sure people had the right to burn it. trying to take away the right to burn the flag lessens the rights and freedoms so many have fought to preserve.

though in regards to this article--i agree with the majority, nothing to do burning a flag and everything to do with getting smashed and destroying someone else's property.