If this doesn't take the cake!!!
May 29th 2005, 12:31 am
#1
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Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 8,266
If this doesn't take the cake!!!
Updated: 4:36 p.m. ET May 28, 2005WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. - Everyone agrees that Ligaya Lagman is a Gold Star mother, part of the long line of mournful women whose sons or daughters gave their lives for their country.
Her 27-year-old son, Army Staff Sgt. Anthony Lagman, was killed last year in Afghanistan when his unit came under fire during a mission to drive out remnants of Taliban and al-Qaida forces.
But the largest organization of these women, the American Gold Star Mothers Inc., has rejected Lagman, a Filipino, for membership because — though a permanent resident and a taxpayer — she is not a U.S. citizen.
“There’s nothing we can do because that’s what our organization says: You have to be an American citizen,� national President Ann Herd said Thursday. “We can’t go changing the rules every time the wind blows.�
That explanation isn’t satisfying the war veterans who sponsored Lagman’s application, some other members of the mothers’ group or several members of Congress.
“It is disheartening that any mother of a soldier, sailor, airman or Marine who has died in the line of duty would be denied membership in an organization that honors the memory of fallen service men and women,� said Rep. Nita Lowey, whose district includes Lagman’s home in Yonkers.
Rule 'smacks of xenophobia'
Rep. Eliot Engel, who represents an adjoining district, said the group should change its rules immediately.
Read the rest here : http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8014030/
Her 27-year-old son, Army Staff Sgt. Anthony Lagman, was killed last year in Afghanistan when his unit came under fire during a mission to drive out remnants of Taliban and al-Qaida forces.
But the largest organization of these women, the American Gold Star Mothers Inc., has rejected Lagman, a Filipino, for membership because — though a permanent resident and a taxpayer — she is not a U.S. citizen.
“There’s nothing we can do because that’s what our organization says: You have to be an American citizen,� national President Ann Herd said Thursday. “We can’t go changing the rules every time the wind blows.�
That explanation isn’t satisfying the war veterans who sponsored Lagman’s application, some other members of the mothers’ group or several members of Congress.
“It is disheartening that any mother of a soldier, sailor, airman or Marine who has died in the line of duty would be denied membership in an organization that honors the memory of fallen service men and women,� said Rep. Nita Lowey, whose district includes Lagman’s home in Yonkers.
Rule 'smacks of xenophobia'
Rep. Eliot Engel, who represents an adjoining district, said the group should change its rules immediately.
Read the rest here : http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8014030/
May 29th 2005, 12:40 am
#2
BE Site Lead
Joined: Aug 2004
Location: MA, USA
Posts: 92,170
Re: If this doesn't take the cake!!!
Does smack of extreme rules and racism doesn't it...it's not like the mother requires a security clearance to be a member 
May 29th 2005, 1:07 am
#3
Pagan Sex God
Joined: May 2002
Location: Living in Oblivion
Posts: 3,668
Re: If this doesn't take the cake!!!
You really are missing the point, her son died so that these people are now free to be racist. Gosh, if they actually had to let citizens in their club we might as well all be in Cuba, whats the point of freedom if you aren't free to yield your power to stop foreigners who are not white joining honorable institutions! Land of Free and home of the Bigots!
