Supreme Court: Cross can stay at veterans memorial

The Supreme Court has ruled that a cross put up as a memorial to WWI veterans can stay.

A federal court had earlier ruled that the cross had to come down due to religion. That argument does not hold water. Nothing religious about the cross or the memorial. This thing has stood for seventy plus years. Seventy years. Then suddenly someone does not like it and tries to take it down. Silly.

Besides, the congress had actually passed a law that transferred the land that the cross was on to private hands. No matter. When some people get a lawsuit in their minds, there's no stopping them.


The ruling was 5-4.

The cross was erected by the Veterans of Foreign Wars 75 years ago in the Mojave National Preserve.

One more stupid thing. The cross has been covered up with plywood so not to offend anybody until the ruling was over.

Justice Anthony Kennedy:
"Here one Latin cross in the desert evokes far more than religion. It evokes thousands of small crosses in foreign fields marking the graves of Americans who fell in battles, battles whose tragedies are compounded if the fallen are forgotten."

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Veterans and jobs

It's tough enough returning as a veteran. Toss in being wounded and it gets doubly tough. This is especially true if you are a veteran looking for a job. We have just become aware of two programs that help veterans get jobs.

Operation Impact by Northrop.
Here is a quote from their website: "Operation IMPACT (Injured Military Pursuing Assisted Career Transition) is a Northrop Grumman initiative designed to provide career transition support to military service members and their families who have been severely injured in the global war on terror."

Hire Heroes USA. Here is a quote from their website: "HHUSA's mission is to provide career placement assistance to all of our returning service men and women. The HHUSA program focuses on providing transition assistance to Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom veterans, specializing in the career placement of those injured or with any level of disability. HHUSA serves veterans from all branches of the military: Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, National Guard, Reservists and Coast Guard.">

We salute these programs in helping our veterans get jobs.

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Navy Seal Cleared

A US Navy Seal has been cleared of any wrongdoing in Iraq. Common sense prevails.
Petty Officer 1st Class Julio Huertas has been found not guilty. This Petty Officer was a Navy Seal and never should have been brought to any trial anyway.

The stupidity was created by someone high up thinking beating a terrorist in the heat of the Iraq war is somehow wrong. What were they thinking? What do they want our military to do? Eventually, we will have no real military at all if things like this are allowed to go forward. We would like to meet the person who gave some directive as: "When taking a terrorist down, please use no force." Yeah right.

The trial was held in Iraq. Petty Officer 1st Class Julio Huertas was declared not guilty by a 6 man jury. The jury apparently decided there was just too much conflicting evidence. Sure. Perhaps that's what they had to say to be politically correct. What they really meant was that this is ridiculous and never should have been wasting their time.

Hopefully, with this episode behind him, Petty Officer 1st Class Julio Huertas can rejoin the Seals and get on with his military career.

Sadly, this was just the first case done. There are three other seals facing disciplinary action.

We applaud the 20 congressmen who have called for all charges against all the Seals to be dropped. Contact you congressman and let them know they need to put a stop to this nonsense.

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Tea Party Marine

A Marine has created a facebook page that has been critical of President Obama. Although he no longer runs the facebook group, this Marine still stays outspoken.

The facebook group is called "Armed Forces Tea Party Patriots" by Sgt. Gary Stein as a way to get his opposition views published. Stein, 24, has been on TV and was instructed to review the military directives on such political matters. He no longer runs the group, but stays on as an administrator. The group has over 9,000 members.

Military personnel are not supposed to be an active sponsor of a political group that in any way talks about votes for a candidates of political causes. The prohibition goes pretty far in keep military personnel from participating in political activities. Sgt. Stein had posted his opposition to the financial overhaul and regulation bill being argued in congress.

Sgt. Stein pointed out by name Republican senators who were not fully against the bill. One of his posts reads:

""Once again it's up to us, you and your fellow Tea Party Patriots, to defend America from out of control government."

Stein's facebook group does have a disclaimer saying that any views he expresses are not any official views of the military.

Sgt. Stein is with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, stationed at Camp Pendleton, California.

While we don't necessarily support military personnel doing political things like this, we would like to point out that for years, the mainstream media has encouraged soldiers to express their views on the Iraq war. Many times we have heard editorials talk about how soldiers are upset at Bush. We wonder why now the media takes a different view when a soldier criticizes Obama.

Armed Forces Tea Party Patriots join them!

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US Navy Captures Pirates

The DOD has issued the following statement:

By Navy Chief Petty Officer Michael Lewis
U.S. 6th Fleet
INDIAN OCEAN, April 1, 2010 – The crew of the USS Nicholas captured suspected pirates today after exchanging fire, sinking a skiff and confiscating a suspected mother ship.

While operating west of the Seychelles in international waters, the Nicholas crew reported taking fire at 12:27 a.m. local time from a suspected pirate skiff and returned fire, pursuing the vessel until the disabled skiff stopped.

At about 2 a.m., personnel from Nicholas boarded the disabled skiff and detained three people. The boarding team found ammunition and multiple cans of fuel on board.

After taking the suspected pirates on board, the Nicholas crew sank the disabled skiff at about 3 a.m.

Two more suspected pirates were captured on the confiscated mother ship.

The suspects will remain in U.S. custody on board Nicholas until a determination is made regarding their disposition, officials said.

The USS Nicholas, an Oliver Hazard Perry class frigate home-ported in Norfolk, Va., is supporting U.S. Naval Forces Africa, the naval component of U.S. Africa Command.

We salute the sailors aboard the USS Nicholas! Good job!

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