Isn’t it, though?

I mean, that the sometimes unpredictable O. Snow and O. Bama were jointly involved in something as important as this, even though in Obama’s case, as always, I fear that it was motivated by election year politics (him signing off on this), though you must admit that given his track record, one can only assume that the current president doesn’t even go to the bathroom without there being some ulterior political motive.

Nonetheless, I was happy, as I know Seth, Wolf and Chuck will be, to see that this has been done.

Congress took action where the Supreme Court didn’t to curb Westbooro Baptist Church’s followers from protesting the funerals of fallen troops and veterans.

President Obama signed into law Monday the Honoring America’s Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act that includes language aimed at protecting service members funerals. The church based in Kansas is best known for staging protests at service members funerals to protest the service of homosexuals in the military.

In 2011, the Supreme Court ruled the First Amendment protected Westboro’s right to protest the funerals. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion that “as a nation we have chosen … to protect even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate.”

Sen. Olympia Snow, R-Maine, introduced legislation three months following the Court’s ruling that gives the government the right to further protect the funerals. The act argues that ensuring fallen troops have respectful burials is important to maintaining a strong military and protecting national security.

The new law extends bans on picketing funeral services of troops and veterans from 150 feet to 300 feet, and prohibits protests from being conducted up to two hours before and after a funeral. Previously the ban was for an hour before and after.

Violations are punishable by a fine and up to a year in jail.

“The graves of our veterans are hallowed ground, and obviously we all defend our Constitution and the First Amendment and free speech,” Obama said at the White House ceremony Monday. “But we also believe that when men and women die in the service of their country and are laid to rest, it should be done with the utmost honor and respect.”

Nice going, and as the title of this post says, It’s about time!

Had my Wolf been returned deceased to me after one of his Ops and these Westboro freaks showed up at his funeral, I would have no qualms about giving them a large dose of another kind of First Amendment…

As we know, this is Memorial Day weekend.

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service. There are many stories as to its actual beginnings, with over two dozen cities and towns laying claim to being the birthplace of Memorial Day. There is also evidence that organized women’s groups in the South were decorating graves before the end of the Civil War: a hymn published in 1867, “Kneel Where Our Loves are Sleeping” by Nella L. Sweet carried the dedication “To The Ladies of the South who are Decorating the Graves of the Confederate Dead” Duke University’s (Source: Historic American Sheet Music, 1850-1920). While Waterloo N.Y. was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, it’s difficult to prove conclusively the origins of the day. It is more likely that it had many separate beginnings; each of those towns and every planned or spontaneous gathering of people to honor the war dead in the 1860’s tapped into the general human need to honor our dead, each contributed honorably to the growing movement that culminated in Gen Logan giving his official proclamation in 1868. It is not important who was the very first, what is important is that Memorial Day was established. Memorial Day is not about division. It is about reconciliation; it is about coming together to honor those who gave their all.

Those who gave their all.

General John A. Logan
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, [LC-B8172- 6403 DLC (b&w film neg.)]

Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war). It is now celebrated in almost every State on the last Monday in May (passed by Congress with the National Holiday Act of 1971 (P.L. 90 - 363) to ensure a three day weekend for Federal holidays), though several southern states have an additional separate day for honoring the Confederate war dead: January 19 in Texas, April 26 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10 in South Carolina; and June 3 (Jefferson Davis’ birthday) in Louisiana and Tennessee.

In 1915, inspired by the poem “In Flanders Fields,” Moina Michael replied with her own poem:

We cherish too, the Poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led,
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies.

Let us remember our fallen heroes, the members of our military forces who, throughout the history of our great nation, have laid down their lives so the rest of us can live in freedom.

From Move America Forward we now have purely donation-sponsored(how to donate is linked below in the email alert) national TV and radio ad campaigns whose target is to get out the complete truth about our troops’ activities in Iraq and in the War On Terror as a whole, not just the whining, spun, often uncorroborated, ever-negative, one sided, politically screened “reports” we receive from the mainstream media. Most importantly, the ads will let our troops, and the families of our troops, who are fighting the War on Terror know that, despite all the Bee Ess coming from the lefty media, marxist stooges like Michael Moore and Jane Fonda, wingnuts like Cindy Shirthead — damn, how’d that ‘r’ get in there? — and an alarming number of hungry career politicians on the Hill, from both sides of the aisle, who seem to have forgotten both that they work for us, the American Taxpayer, not for themselves, and that it greatly behooves not only them, but all their constituents, when senators and representatives are patriots — that the American people are profoundly grateful to our troops for what they are voluntarily doing on our behalf, for the risks they take every day and the hardships they endure, and for their often brutal sacrifices, and to their families.

The kind of money Move America Forward has had to raise for these projects so far, especially the T.V. ads, has more than demonstrated that there are a huge number of American individuals, companies and foundations that support our military personnel and the War on Terror. To read the New York Times or watch CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN or NPR (spit), you’d think there were only a few isolated pockets of right thinkers in this country, most in hiding, and that everyone else is a staunch liberal who hates the President and condemns the War on Terror, the fact of the Bush reelection notwithstanding.

The television spot begins airing tomorrow {Thursday, 22 June}.

National TV Campaign:

“America Says Thank You”

DEBUTING THURSDAY, JUNE 22nd:

Television & Radio Ad Campaign Thanks U.S. Troops

for Service & Sacrifice in Iraq & Afghanistan

(SAN FRANCISCO) – A major multi-media advertising blitz thanking American troops for a “job well done” in the war against terrorism will begin on Thursday, June 22, 2006.

The “America Says Thank You” ad campaign is a project of the pro-troop organization, Move America Forward (website: www.MoveAmericaForward.org). The first television ads will air on the Fox News Channel television network. The debut 60-second TV spot features a listing of major terrorist figures killed, captured or arrested as a result of the U.S.-led war against terrorism.

The ad campaign will then expand to CNN/Headline News and then on to local affiliates of the major television networks (NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, WB, UPN).

Total expenditures for the ad campaign are expected to run well into six figures, and this funding is being provided by individuals, organizations and institutions who wish to see more balanced and positive media coverage on the war against terrorism. To date more than 1,000 individuals have contributed to this specific advertising effort.

Pro-Troop Message Must Be Purchased – Media Bias Alleged

“We’re broadcasting these ads because somebody has to tell the other side of the story that’s not being reported by the news media. Our troops are making great progress in the war on terrorism, and there is a steady stream of positive developments taking place in Iraq,” said Melanie Morgan, Chairman of Move America Forward.

“Many journalists have gotten so bad in obsessing on any and all negative developments in Iraq – at the exclusion of coverage of any positive accomplishments being made – that supporters of U.S. troops are forced to buy the airtime to tell the public about the progress being made by our troops.

“We understand the mission in Iraq is a challenging one and we recognize that there are obstacles that must be overcome. However, can’t the news media tell the American people about all the good things being done there in addition to the bad stories? The good news coming out of Iraq is almost never reported,” said Melanie Morgan.

“So, until it does, Move America Forward will rally the American public to stand together and get that message out. We owe it to our troops and the military families to make sure that the efforts being made by the men and women of the United States military receive fair and proper coverage,” Morgan concluded.

The first television and radio advertisements can be seen online at Move America Forward’s website: www.MoveAmericaForward.org

The following is a description of the above-mentioned commercial advertisements.

———————————————————————————-

TV Ad: “America Says Thank You”

Description: Details the terrorist leaders who have been killed, captured or arrested by the United States and our allies in the war against terrorism. Points out that U.S. Troops are also actively involved in helping to build a free and secure Iraq. 60-second television advertisement.

View it Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvfRCwk8edg

———————————————————————————-

Radio Ad 1: “Winning the War Against Terrorism”

Description: Features Joseph Williams, father of Marine Michael Jason Williams who died in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Williams asserts that the war in Iraq has helped to make America safer. Also features Deborah Johns, mother of Marine William Johns, who is returning to Iraq for his THIRD tour of duty. Urges the American people to pull together as a nation to show the terrorists that we are in this fight to win. 60-second radio advertisement.

Listen to it Here: http://websrvr80il.audiovideoweb.com/il80web20028/MAF-7452_REV.mp3

———————————————————————————-

Radio Ad 2: “America Thanks You”

Description: Similar audio track to “America Says Thank You” television ad. 60-second radio advertisement.

Listen to it Here: http://websrvr80il.audiovideoweb.com/il80web20028/MAF-7456_Mix.mp3

A tip of my hat to Joe Wierzbicki.

From Move America Forward.

H/T Robert Dixon

I hope everyone has taken the time today, during barbecue, beach and beverage, to honor those who have fallen in battle while taking the ultimate risk to preserve freedom for America and our friends.

I watched the flag pass by one day,
It fluttered in the breeze.

A young Marine saluted it,
And then he stood at ease..

I looked at him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud,
With hair cut square and eyes alert
He’d stand out in any crowd.

I thought how many men like him
Had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil
How many mothers’ tears?

How many pilots’ planes shot down?
How many died at sea
How many foxholes were soldiers’ graves?
No, freedom isn’t free.

I heard the sound of Taps one night,
When everything was still,
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times
That Taps had meant “Amen,”

When a flag had draped a coffin.
Of a brother or a friend.

I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives.

I thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea

Of unmarked graves in Arlington.
No, freedom isn’t free.

– H/T Brenda

And this oh so good one can be found at the blog of my friend Kat, of Cathouse Chat.

Melanie Morgan, conservative San Francisco (don’t hold that against the great lady, I myself moved to Charlotte from San Francisco some five months ago and didn’t hold having lived there against myself, in fact I rather compared myself in some small way with Job, except my torments came in the form of suffering being surrounded by and having to deal with lots and lots of unbelievably “out there” liberal wingnuts on a day-to-day basis) talk show host and Chairman of the non-profit organization Move America Forward, a truly patriotic organization that supports our military people fighting the War On Terror overseas, has written an inspiring column for this Memorial Day which I would like to share.

You can read it here.

Then, move along to my friend GM Roper’s blog for a celebration of Memorial Day in photos.

Notice a really excellent pic, while you’re there, of the U.S.S. Constitution.

And while you’re enjoying the long weekend in whichever way you do, be it barbeque, beach, beer, booze, a combination of all the above or a visit with those relatives who dwell ‘way out there in the sticks, please take some time out to honor those who have fallen in battle on behalf of our great nation, and to pray for those who are presently putting it all on the line fighting tyranny, oppression and terrorism in our name in other parts of the world.