Another American Censorship?

September 5, 2006

Opinion

Introduction

by Housewife4Palestine

Like Palestine pictures of Martyr’s are seen not as an insult to what happened to them, but to show respect with the hope it would show the world what happened to these dear people and that what is happening to the Palestinian people for instance is a travesty.

I am wondering if this anti-war web site is attempting to do the same, with the regards that the military invading Iraq always was a mistake.

Sometimes to honor people you talk about them and sometimes even show pictures of them because they died for the unjust reason's.

What happened to Freedom of Speech, it is being trashed towards the common citizen in the United States, I am waiting for the government to start handing out gage orders?

Freedom of Speech





Anti-war protesters' sales aren't un-American


I thank commentary writer Jonathan Turley for defending my right to sell T-shirts that bear the words "Bush Lied ... They Died" overlaid on the names of U.S. troops who have died in Iraq. It is important to keep the names and faces of the fallen at the forefront of our discussions about the war ("A war with flags but no faces," The Forum, Aug. 17).

But as Rep. Dan Boren, D-Okla., explains in his letter, he does not support my right to sell anti-war shirts bearing the names of the fallen. He has introduced legislation to stop my sales (" 'Fallen Heroes' bill would stop exploitation," Letters, Aug. 24).

He says he supports the right to use the names of the fallen in anti-war protests, but he draws the line at selling merchandise bearing the names of the fallen troops.

It is the effort to make a profit he opposes, as if trying to make a profit were an un-American activity. Is he saying no anti-war protests should be strengthened by the energy of capitalism? Should Michael Moore have let everyone see Fahrenheit 9/11 for free?

Many anti-war protesters, including Cindy Sheehan, have seen the value of using the names of the fallen to spread their message. But when we are talking about thousands of names, there is no practical way to incorporate those names into anti-war gear unless some money changes hands. Very few anti-war protesters are prepared to write 2,600 names on a T-shirt by hand. But many are prepared to pay $18 for a T-shirt.

Dan Frazier

Flagstaff, Ariz.

Death doesn't erode privacy

As a member of the military, I must protest the use of the name of a fallen soldier, sailor, airman or Marine as a method of profit for someone other than his of her family. If I died in service, I surely wouldn't want anyone to profit from the use of my name without family permission, whether it be in protest of the war I died in or for any other purpose.

Americans place great value on privacy, and death should not take that right away from the deceased or his or her family. I don't think the words "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech or of the press" grants a person the freedom to make a buck on a T-shirt that takes my dead name in vain if I died in a controversial war, possibly using my name to support a cause contrary to my beliefs.

I serve in support of the Constitution and the First Amendment; I support the press's right to publicize the war dead as well as take photos of caskets returning from Iraq. But what gives anyone the right to photograph my funeral without my family's consent? And how could the First Amendment extend so far as to allow someone to profit because I died while serving my country?

Yvonne Levardi

Honolulu

Not without permission

My son, Army Capt. Matthew J. August, was killed in action in Iraq in January 2004. That year, Cindy Sheehan and her ilk were protesting the war in Iraq near the president's ranch in Crawford, Texas.

Around that time, my wife took a plane trip. The lady in the seat next to her was gushing about how brave Ms. Sheehan was and wasn't it wonderful how she put up all those crosses with the names of the fallen. My wife softly explained that her son and three of his sergeants had been killed by an improvised explosive device, and that no one had ever asked her permission to use his name in a protest. Her fellow passenger was, needless to say, speechless for the rest of the flight.

In one of his few calls home, our son said he and his soldiers were trying to help the majority of Iraqi people overcome the effects of 30 years under a brutal dictator and fighting terrorists then and there so his nephews and nieces would not have to fight them somewhere else.

As for me, if I see an anti-war protester wearing my son's image on a T-shirt, he or she runs the risk of becoming an unintended casualty of war.

Richard J. August

North Kingstown, R.I.