Quran burning sighted.

Uh-oh. Quran burning is in the news again.

It's perfectly legal to burn a copy of the Quran (or is it "Koran") - or the United States flag - in the U.S. I wouldn't do either, out of respect for those who follow the Quran and out of respect for my own country.

So why does it always seem like an exercise in walking on egg shells whenever there's talk about burning a copy of the Quran in the U.S. or elsewhere (aside from countries who follow the teachings of the Quran)? Enough so that the President and the FBI get involved? What's with the "oh no - they're gonna burn a Quran" attitude that follows? Why do alarms go off whenever there's a chance that a culture might be offended?

Perhaps the more pointed question is why does one culture get bent out of shape when their sacred object is burned/desecrated and yet people burn the U.S. flag all over the world (and yes I take offense to it) but I don't swear out a death warrant for the person who torched it.

I'm not saying it's a smart thing to do. I wouldn't. But explain it to me like I'm a four-year-old. What about our right to free speech? I mean, free speech enabled thousands of people to protest against Governor Scott Walker's budget proposal in Madison, Wisconsin. And I doubt many of those protestors had any respect for the governor while holding signs that said,
" Walker's mother should've swallowed that load".

What's the difference?