Note carefully folks:

In Jalalabad, the largest city in the east, hundreds of people blocked the main highway for three hours, shouting for U.S. troops to leave, burning an effigy of President Barack Obama and stomping on a drawing of a U.S. flag.

That is freedom of speech.

The Taliban said in a statement emailed to media outlets that the U.S. and other Western countries had wrongly excused the burning of the Koran on March 20 as freedom of speech and that Afghans "cannot accept this un-Islamic act."

This, however, is not?

Hmmm....

I can't count the number of times that I've watched Muslims burn an American flag.  Here's a nice link to find a few examples.  Well, ok, about 1.78 million examples, if you take Google's word for it.

Can I also find examples of burning Korans?  Sure.  But far fewer of them, again, if I accept Google's word for it.

The truth?  If I own a book I have a right to burn it.  Just like I have a right to burn a flag if I own that flag.  Both are intentional acts of speech, both are abrasive and both are lawful exercises of The First Amendment.

Let's remember that these very same Muslims demand the right to burn images of President Bush in effigy, President Obama, and our flag.  We have seen over a decade of exactly that, almost-literally on a daily basis, including cheering Muslims the day the towers fell.  All of it is an exercise of Free Speech and all of that, while repugnant to certain people (including myself) is lawful under our Constitution.

As a consequence I don't give a damn whether the Taliban - or any other Muslim - accepts that the very same standard applies to someone in the US burning a thing that causes them to take offense.

Stand on your principles America, or you will have proved that you have none.