Pentagon Makes 'Magnificent Gesture' To Honor Veterans

SAN DIEGO -- It's been almost 60 years since James McEachin returned home with a bullet still lodged in his chest, finding an America indifferent toward the troops who fought in Korea. Now he will get the homecoming parade he had expected.

The Defense Department for the first time will put a float in Pasadena's Tournament of Roses ' one of the most watched parades ' to commemorate the veterans from a conflict that still casts a shadow over the world.

"I think it's a magnificent gesture and it cures a lot of ills," said McEachin, who will be among six veterans who will ride on the float Tuesday. The 82-year-old author and actor starred in Perry Mason TV movies, among other things.

The $247,000 flower-covered float will be a replica of the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

The Pentagon's debut comes ahead of events marking the 60th anniversary of the July 1953 armistice that halted the bloodshed but did not declare peace.

Col. David Clark said the Pentagon decided to seize the opportunity to sponsor one of the 42 floats in the 124-year-old New Year's Day parade to raise awareness about what has been called "The Forgotten War."

It has taken decades for the success of the war's efforts to be recognized, and the department wanted to remind Americans about the sacrifices that were made by the veterans, most of whom are now in their 80s, Clark said.

The war resulted in South Korea developing into a thriving democratic ally in sharp contrast to its bitterly poor, communist neighbor that is seen as a global threat.

"As a nation, this may be our last opportunity to say `thank you' to them and honor their service," said Clark, director of the department's 60th Anniversary of the Korean War Commemoration Committee.

The war began when North Korea invaded the South to try to reunify the nation, a liberated Japanese colony sliced in two in 1945 by the U.S. and Soviet victors of World War II.

North Korea had the upper hand at first, almost pushing a weak South Korean-U.S. force off the peninsula, but then U.S. reinforcements poured in and pushed them back.

Then, in late 1950, communist China stepped in and the Americans and South Koreans were forced back to the peninsula's midsection. The two sides battled there for two years before ending with a stalemate.

"We didn't march home in victory. We did what we were supposed to do, which is stop this aggressive force called communism," said McEachin, a Silver Star recipient.

Edward Chang, director of the Young Oak Kim Center for Korean American Studies at the University of California, Riverside, said U.S. intervention gave South Korea the opportunity to become one of the world's major economies.

"Most Americans simply are not aware of what is happening in Korea and how it happened," he said.

More than 36,000 U.S. service members were killed in the conflict, and millions overall.

The government did not talk to troops at the time about how pivotal the war was in stopping communism. After the victory in World War II, the Korean conflict seemed to almost provoke shame for Americans, McEachin said.

The American public also felt no connection to the fighting in a faraway Asian country unlike during World War II when airwaves filled with patriotic fight songs, he said.

McEachin not only returned to indifference but discrimination as an African American soldier.

After the plane carrying returning troops was delayed in Montana by snow, he was turned away from a hotel where his fellow white soldiers were staying.

Korea was the first conflict in which all U.S. military units were integrated racially. Clark said the float's veterans reflect that important historical milestone.

Clark said it's important Americans learn the war's history because the problem is ever present, a point driven home by the heavily mined armistice line, a 4-kilometer-wide (2.5-mile-wide) demilitarized strip stretching 220 kilometers (135 miles) across the peninsula.

"This serves as a reminder that there is unfinished business on the Korean peninsula," he said.

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And Now, A Poem From Ted Poe

From Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas): <i>It came on two pages, It has withstood the ages. / The word "shall,'' is only 10 times mentioned, But enough to get one's attention. / No taxes did this law raise, To this day it continues to create much praise; / Two great religions does it claim, The "Law of the Ten Commandments'' is its name. / A current writing, 1,990 pages long, Has a socialist philosophy that is all wrong; / Difficult for the people to understand, And troubling what big government doth demand. / Over 3,445 "shalls'' it does loudly shout, New massive taxes does it proudly tout; / Written in secret by the bureaucrats, For exclusive use of the taxacrats. / The Congressional bill called "Health Care Reform," Is illusionary, the authors are still ill-informed; / Government ought not take over America's health biz. / And that's just the way it is."</i> And so, America, this is why you should have to die of easily treated medical conditions.

Eva M. Clayton: Together We Must Show Leadership for Safe Schools and Communities

For many young people across America, especially in communities of color, gun violence is sadly a normal way of life. In both urban and rural cities and towns from Henderson, NC or Laredo, TX to Chicago or South Central Los Angeles our young people too often die as a result of gun violence. While the massacre of elementary-aged students and a few dedicated adults in Newtown, CT is a national tragedy, we should see it as one example of the failure of our nation's policymakers to be serious about gun safety.

Shortly after the Newtown tragedy, President Barack Obama directed Vice President Joseph Biden to lead an interagency effort to develop "a multifaceted approach... to preventing mass shootings in the future." This is welcomed leadership on a critical issue affecting thousands of lives each year. Consider these facts: There are 129,817 federally licensed firearms in the United States, the most heavily armed country compared to other democratic and industrialized countries, with close to 89 guns for every 100 Americans. In the UK, on the other hand, there are just six guns per 100 citizens.

What's more, every day 87 people die from gun violence. In 2011, my state of North Carolina reported 335 deaths by firearms, which represents an increase of 17 percent over the previous year. This is simply unacceptable -- and we need to take action to ensure these statistics improve and to ensure the safety of our children. With that in mind, it is my sincere hope that Vice President Biden's effort will result in bringing a wide spectrum of our electorate, including those who hold the Second Amendment as sacrosanct, closer together as a community focused on safety first and will ultimately help us all accept that having more guns does not ensure our security and freedom as a nation. As the vice p resident pulls together his team, the focus should be on gun safety and the tangential issues that are part and parcel to increased gun violence.

The Second Amendment should not be used as a deterrent to finding ways to make gun ownership more secure for our society. Our goal must be to reduce the likelihood of future shootings and tragedies. I believe most gun owners, especially our sportsmen, respect and welcome reasonable gun safety regulations and background checks. They understand that a handgun or rifle in the hands of the wrong person is the difference between controlled security and uncontrolled violence and terror.

However, the onus is not on the gun lobby alone. Individually and collectively we will need to make a commitment to examining the role of mental health, our fascination with violent entertainment on television as well as in movies and video games, as the root cause of gun violence in cities and towns across America. For that reason, the approach by the administration must be holistic, engaging all interests to identify actionable goals toward gun safety.

Hopefully, as Americans we will do more than just talk, and will demonstrate a commitment of working together for the common good, of a more safe and more secure neighborhood, community and nation. We need to emerge from our reflection with renewed determination to address the challenges of the tragic and horrific act of violence which occurred in Newtown. We all pray that the loss of lives of those young, innocent children and those dedicated adults will be honored by serious dialogue and as a result concrete action by our elected officials to prevent more mass shootings from becoming a regular occurrence.

Now is the time for all citizens to come together to find a policy solution that makes us all a little safer. Let's not wait for another violent shooting by an unstable or violent person wielding an assault weapon to take and destroy more innocent lives. As citizens, we have to play our parts by holding our elected and organizational leaders accountable. The SOS is clear: we must begin this dialogue and take action now.

Follow Eva M. Clayton on Twitter: www.twitter.com/evamclayton

Greg Lukianoff: Censorship on Campus in 2012: From Benghazi to Free Speech Zones at the University of Missouri

Looking back at what 2012 had in store for the fight for free speech and basic rights on campus, the best I can say is that it was a mixed bag. There were some encouraging signs along the way, but also many setbacks. For instance, for the fifth straight year, my organization (the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, or FIRE) found a decrease in the number of campus speech codes. This is good news. However, it sounds a little less exciting when you realize that a pretty miserable 62 percent of top colleges maintain what FIRE dubs "red light" (read: very bad) speech codes. So, some progress has been made, but there is much work still to be done.

One of the more distressing developments of this year was the speed and verve with which some academics decried America's strong commitment to the First Amendment and our substantial free-speech protections in the wake of the Benghazi attack. In the days immediately following the tragedy, many believed the attack was a direct response to a controversial YouTube video. Some academics, including Eric Posner and Anthea Butler, wasted no time seizing this opportunity to proclaim that Americans value free speech too highly.

I spent some time taking these arguments apart in my columns "We Are All Blasphemers" and "Free Speech: Just a Recent Fad?" And certain academics joined me in defending the First Amendment with gusto, including Georgetown law professor David Cole in his piece "More Speech is Better" in The New York Review of Books. But I ended my campaign when it became increasingly clear that the video was not the cause of the Benghazi attacks. Given that even the CIA admits that the attacks on the compound were not a response to that video, I hope professors like Posner and Butler will reconsider their stance. Sadly, I doubt they will; as I have discovered in my work, the idea that we must curtail that nasty First Amendment in the name of other (often shifting) values has a surprising amount of currency in academia -- the very institution that, perhaps, most relies on free speech in our society.

What concerns me even more, however, are the attitudes and beliefs of today's college students about freedom of speech. Here, once again, 2012 brought some good news and some bad news. One of the more distressing moments, for me, came when I appeared on Central Standard, a National Public Radio show on KCUR out of Kansas City, to discuss my new book Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate. The host invited a student panel to join us and they talked about their concerns regarding speech-restrictive policies and practices at their colleges. I became pretty distressed when I listened to Roze Brooks, a clearly intelligent, plugged-in, and thoughtful student at University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC), share her thoughts on free speech on campus in general.

What upset me wasn't just her discussion of UMKC's "free speech zone" policies, which not only restricted demonstrations and other free speech activities to small parts of campus, but also required that students obtain 10 days' advance permission in order to use those zones. After all, such rights violations are quite common on campuses across America. I was distressed because Brooks seemed to matter-of-factly accept the requirement of advance state permission to express oneself -- despite the fact that zones like these have been immediately overturned every single time they have been challenged in court.

Her words were just another confirmation of a fear that has plagued me for years: that no matter how strong our First Amendment protections might be, and no matter how wise the reasons for those strong protections are, they don't matter very much if students don't know what their rights are in the first place, and don't understand when they're being violated.

That is why I was extremely pleased to see that Brooks later wrote an article for UMKC's student paper that was highly critical of her university's speech policies, especially its absurd and, in my opinion, flatly unconstitutional free speech zone policy.

But the cases we see at FIRE seem to indicate that voices like Brooks' are beginning to grow less common as the attitudes that college students hold about free speech rights shift toward acceptance of repression, in some cases even championing censorship.

The battle to protect free speech on campus rests upon making sure that students are educated about and engaged in protecting their rights. That is why I think it is only fitting to end my last post of 2012 with some words from a student that inspired some real hope in me. This is how Danielle Charette, a student at Swarthmore College concluded a recent column about the issue of free speech on campus in Swarthmore's The Phoenix:

"Everyone here at Swarthmore, I'm willing to say, desires a safe and respectful learning environment. Part of that entails not wishing to be personally offended or to willingly offend others. But we cannot be so paralyzed by fear of offensiveness that we instead paralyze free speech. There is no guarantee against being offended in this world, especially not in a place like Swarthmore which purports to engage and debate some of life's most heated questions in a rigorous academic setting.

As John Stuart Mill eloquently reminds us, '[T]he peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation, those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error.' Speak your mind, Swatties."

Follow Greg Lukianoff on Twitter: www.twitter.com/glukianoff

Liberal Democrat On Fiscal Cliff Talks: 'This Looks Like A Very Bad Deal'

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), one of the leading liberal voices in the Senate, went after his fellow Democrats on Monday for possibly caving on their promise to keep Bush tax cuts for only those earning $250,000 or less, saying "the direction they're headed is just absolutely the wrong direction for our country" and "grossly unfair" to the middle class in a speech on the Senate floor.

Harkin referenced reports that a "fiscal cliff" deal could include extending tax cuts implemented under President George W. Bush for those making less than $450,000 per year, rather than the $250,000 per year President Barack Obama promised as the cutoff.

Harkin said the $250,000 level already seems like a compromise. He called that cutoff a "tough pill to swallow," as that income level is already far above the income of middle-class Americans.

"As I see this thing developing -- quite frankly, as I've said before -- no deal is better than a bad deal, and this looks like a very bad deal, the way this is shaking up," he said.

"This is one point in time where decisions that are made on this so-called deal, decisions that are made could lock in for the next 10 years what kind of a country we're going to be, what kind of a society we're going to be," he added. "So we better be darn careful."

Harkin hedged later when asked whether he would filibuster such a deal, according to Fox News' Chad Pergram, saying, "Well, there might be some extended debate."

If no deal is reached by midnight on Monday, taxes will go back to those enacted under President Bill Clinton in 1993. Harkin said he isn't too worried about that outcome.

"I ask, what's so bad about that? It worked pretty darn well," Harkin said. "The economy was going well, we were paying down the deficit ... I, for one, do not fear going back to a system of taxation that basically worked very well for our country. It was only the Bush tax cuts that messed everything up."

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• The Stimulus Cost Much Less Than Bush's Wars, Tax Cuts

  Republicans frequently have blamed <a href="http://projects.nytimes.com/44th_president/stimulus" target="_hplink">the $787 billion stimulus</a> for the national debt, but, when all government spending is taken into account, the stimulus frankly wasn't that big. In contrast, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/29/cost-of-war-iraq-afghanistan_n_887084.html" target="_hplink">the U.S. will have spent nearly $4 trillion</a> on wars in the Middle East by the time those conflicts end, according to a recent report by Brown University. <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/revisiting-the-cost-of-the-bush-tax-cuts/2011/05/09/AFxTFtbG_blog.html" target="_hplink">The Bush tax cuts have cost nearly $1.3 trillion</a> over 10 years.

• The Deficit Grew Under George W. Bush

  When George W. Bush took office, <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Historicals" target="_hplink">the federal government was running a surplus</a> of $86 billion. When he left, that had turned into a $642 billion deficit.

• The Deficit Is Shrinking

  <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Historicals" target="_hplink">Last year's federal budget deficit</a> was 12 percent lower than in 2009, according to the Office of Management and Budget.<a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Historicals" target="_hplink">The deficit is projected to shrink</a> even more over the next several years.

• Investors Are Paying Us To Borrow Money

  <a href="http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/interest-rates/Pages/TextView.aspx?data=realyield" target="_hplink">The interest rate on 10-year Treasury bonds</a> is <em>negative</em>, according to the Treasury Department. Investors are even paying us for 30-year Treasury bonds, when adjusted for inflation.

• Investors Are Not Running Away

  <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/niall-ferguson-has-been-wrong-on-economics-2012-8" target="_hplink">Conservative commentators</a> have been warning for years that investors will run away from Treasury bonds because of the national debt. So far it's not happening. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/30/treasury-yield-record-low_n_1555975.html" target="_hplink">Interest rates on Treasury bonds</a> continue to hover at historic lows.

• Health Care Reform Reduces The Deficit

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/04/republican-platform-2012-factual-mistakes_n_1840795.html#slide=1461142" target="_hplink">Republicans have blasted the Affordable Care Act</a> as "budget-busting." But <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/04/republican-platform-2012-factual-mistakes_n_1840795.html#slide=1461142" target="_hplink">health care reform actually reduces the deficit</a>, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

• The U.S. Is Borrowing Less From China

  <a href="http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/30/fear-of-china-syndrome/" target="_hplink">The U.S. government is borrowing much less from foreign countries</a> than before the recession, according to government data cited by Paul Krugman. That is because the U.S. private sector is financing our bigger deficits.

• We Spend A Lot On Defense

  <a href="http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=1258" target="_hplink">Defense spending constituted 20 percent</a> of federal spending last year, or $718 billion, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. This adds up to <a href="https://twitter.com/AJInsight/statuses/241269134996959234" target="_hplink">41 percent of the world's defense spending</a>, according to Bloomberg TV anchor Adam Johnson. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/19/mitt-romney-military-budget_n_1687601.html" target="_hplink">Mitt Romney has vowed</a> to not cut defense spending if elected president.

• We Spend A Lot On Health Care

  <a href="http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=1258" target="_hplink">Health insurance, including Medicare and Medicaid, constituted 21 percent</a> of federal spending last year. In contrast, education constituted 2 percent of federal spending. Meanwhile, <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/19/2956609/middle-aged-blues-over-paul-ryans.html" target="_hplink">Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have promised not to change Medicare</a> for Americans age 55 and older.

• Republicans May Want Large Deficits For Now

  <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/corporate-taxes-deficits-and-labor-vs-capital-during-reagans-first-term-2012-7" target="_hplink">The federal budget deficit ballooned</a> under Ronald Reagan, and that may be just the way Republicans like it. <a href="http://www.forbes.com/2010/05/06/tax-cuts-republicans-starve-the-beast-columnists-bruce-bartlett.html" target="_hplink">Some Republican thinkers</a> have proposed <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/22/opinion/22krugman.html" target="_hplink">"starving the beast"</a>: that is, cutting taxes in order to use larger deficits to justify spending cuts later. Since Republicans ultimately want lower taxes and a smaller government, what better way is there to cut spending than to make it look urgent and necessary?

Marijuana Legalization Campaign Looks To Expand After 2012 Victories

By Alex Dobuzinskis
LOS ANGELES, Dec 30 (Reuters) - After a decades-long campaign to legalize marijuana hit a high mark in 2012 with victories in Washington state and Colorado, its energized and deep-pocketed backers are mapping out a strategy for the next round of ballot-box battles.
They have their sights set on possible ballot measures in 2014 or 2016 in states such as California and Oregon, which were among the first in the country to allow marijuana for medical use. Although those states more recently rejected broader legalization, drug-law reform groups remain undeterred.
"Legalization is more or less repeating the history of medical marijuana," said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance. "If you want to know which states are most likely to legalize marijuana, then look at the states that were the first to legalize medical marijuana."
A political arm of the alliance spent more than $1.6 million as one of the main funders of the Washington state campaign.
The passage of the ballot measures in Colorado and Washington state in November allowed personal possession of the drug for people 21 and older. That same age group will be allowed to buy the drug at special marijuana stores under rules set to be finalized next year.
No other states have legalized marijuana, America's most widely used illicit drug, for recreational use. The drug remains illegal under federal law. Connecticut and Massachusetts also approved medical marijuana in 2012.
A big question mark hangs over whether the pro-legalization momentum could be slowed if the federal government takes an aggressive stance against the new laws.
The U.S. Department of Justice has been mostly silent on the issue. President Barack Obama said in a TV interview this month it did not make sense for the federal government to "focus on recreational drug users in a state that has already said that, under state law, that's legal."

CHANGING TIDE?
In 1996, California became the first state to allow medical marijuana by a popular vote, and Oregon and Washington state were among the second wave in 1998. But Oregon rejected a marijuana legalization ballot measure in November, while California voters did the same in 1972 and 2010.
The 2010 ballot measure in California failed to sway voters because it would have left regulation to a hodgepodge of local governments, instead of a uniform set of state rules, said Dale Gieringer, director of the California branch of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
This month, California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom became one of America's top state officials to call for reform of marijuana laws when he told the New York Times that laws against the drug "just don't make sense anymore."
Activists say they see demographic changes as giving them an advantage.
"We know that the younger generation is more supportive and the opposition really comes from the older generation. And as time goes on there's more of the younger generation and less of the older generation," Gieringer said.
"The second factor is we have these results in Colorado and Washington under our belt, so that sort of fertilizes the ground," he added.
One key point marijuana advocates are thrashing out is whether to pursue any ballot initiative in 2014, or wait until the presidential election of 2016, when the turnout of their reliable base of youth voters will likely be higher.
Regardless of when a ballot initiative might come to California, the nation's most populous state, groups opposing legalization vow to defeat it.
One of those is the California Police Chiefs Association.
"I have yet to hear a legalization proponent talk about how society will be enhanced, how the real social problems facing our country will be improved by legalizing yet another substance that compromises people's five senses," said John Lovell, government relations manager for the group.
A number of addiction specialists say that where marijuana is legalized, teenagers will come to believe the drug is harmless and more will use it.
Medical marijuana is already big business in California. The state Board of Equalization in its most recent analysis from 2009 estimated medical cannabis dispensaries ring up sales of $1.3 billion a year, and pay sales taxes of $105 million. (Reporting By Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Edith Honan and David Brunnstrom)

Also on HuffPost:

• Alaska

  <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/alanasise/6847095796/" target="_hplink">Flickr: alana sise</a>

• Arizona

  <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/billward/110338154/" target="_hplink">Flickr: Bill Ward's Brickpile</a>

• California

  <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gerbache/2260207829/" target="_hplink">Flickr: gerbache</a>

• Colorado

  Also legalized possession by non-medical users. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dok1/520845832/" target="_hplink">Flickr: dok1</a>

• Connecticut

• District Of Columbia

  <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigberto/2770838680/" target="_hplink">Flickr: ~MVI~ (off to coron)</a>

• Delaware

  Flickr: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dougtone/7749689644/">Doug Kerr</a>

• Hawaii

  <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ricardo_mangual/6006230817/" target="_hplink">Flickr: Ricymar Fine Art Photography</a>

• Maine

  <a href="www.flickr.com/photos/indywriter/2683524563/" target="_hplink">Flickr: indywriter</a>

• Massachusetts

  Passed ballot initiative in 2012.

• Michigan

  <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kayoticblue/213316452/" target="_hplink">Flickr: ckay</a>

• Montana

  <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/csbarnhill/2633187564/" target="_hplink">Flickr: csbarnhill</a>

• Nevada

  <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/http2007/4699361533/" target="_hplink">Flickr: http2007</a>

• New Jersey

  <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulflannery/4021996652/" target="_hplink">Flickr: psflannery</a>

• New Mexico

  <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/everyskyline/3134662783/" target="_hplink">Flickr: michaelwhitney</a>

• Oregon

  <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/d-powell/2099638403/" target="_hplink">Flickr: digging90650</a>

• Rhode Island

  <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dlthurston/3967126839/" target="_hplink">Flickr: thurdl01</a>

• Vermont

  <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryanalexander/6129117/" target="_hplink">Flickr: BryanAlexander</a>

• Washington

  Also legalized possession by non-medical users. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/rose_braverman/6924724331/sizes/l/in/photostream/" target="_hplink">Flickr: Rose Braverman</a>

• Medical Marijuana Restaurant in Colorado

  From La Ganja to Ganja Ganoush, find out about an eatery that incorporates medical marijuana in its recipes.