All 14 games played this year at Avista Stadium will be available for live viewing online at www.legion.org. Fans tuning in will hear play-by-play announcements from former Major League Baseballl star Jeff Kent, as well as longtime Legion Baseball supporter Jim Darby. 

Last year’s World Series in Fargo, N.D., marked the Legion’s first-ever web streaming of games. Nearly 19,000 unique visitors from 15 different countries tuned in to watch a total of 2.4 million minutes of play throughout the four-day tournament.

Fans who missed last year’s live streaming of the championship, or who simply want to see the highlights, can still watch the webcasts from the 2009 American Legion Baseball World Series. Go to www.legion.org/legiontv and click on “Baseball.”

In the meantime, remember to tune in to www.legion.org/baseball Aug. 13-17 to watch live coverage, free of charge, of the 2010 American Legion Baseball World Series.

Celebrate Flag Day by Protecting Old Glory

By Clarence E. Hill

One sure way to light up The American Legion’s switchboards is for an overzealous homeowners association to ban the display of Old Glory within its community. While these disturbing incidents seem to be on the rise in recent years, I find it completely ironic that while a ban can exist on flying the flag of our country, no such ban is allowed to exist on desecrating it.

“Sorry, Mr. Veteran, you’re not allowed to fly the flag on your private property, but the Constitution says you can urinate on it, spit on it, and burn it all you want,” is what the government seems to be telling us.

The American Legion finds this unacceptable. In fact, for 21 years now, dating back to the Supreme Court’s flawed Texas v. Johnson decision, we’ve been pretty fired up about it. In that case, a narrow 5-4 majority ruled that flag desecration was permitted by the First Amendment. Essentially, a margin consisting of one Supreme Court Justice invalidated flag protection laws enacted by 48 states and the federal government. The high court removed from the people the right to protect their nation’s foremost symbol – a right that the people have enjoyed since the birth of this nation.

Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens and the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist usually voted on opposite sides, but they were both right about flag desecration. “In my considered judgment, sanctioning the public desecration of the flag will tarnish its value – both for those who cherish the ideals for which it waves and for those who desire to don the robes of martyrdom by burning it” Stevens said. “That tarnish is not justified by the trivial burden on free expression occasioned by requiring that an available, alternative mode of expression – including uttering words critical of the flag … be employed.”

Rather than “free expression,” Rehnquist compared flag desecration to an “inarticulate grunt,” and wrote, “I cannot agree that the First Amendment invalidates the Act of Congress, and the laws of 48 of the 50 states, which make criminal the burning of the flag.”

Fortunately, there is something we can do about it. Measures sit in both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives that would allow for a narrowly drawn constitutional amendment which would return to the people the right to protect Old Glory. It simply says “The Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States.”

Flag protection amendments have passed the House of Representative six times in the past, only to fall short of the necessary two-thirds supermajority required in the Senate.

Flag Day during an election year represents the perfect opportunity to urge your congressional delegation to vote to protect our flag, the embodiment of what Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf called our “national identity.”

While the Constitution is supposed to protect us from the tyranny of the majority, a strong case can be made that protecting flag desecration as free speech represents a “tyranny of the minority.” Polls repeatedly show that Americans support this amendment. Fifty state legislatures have called for the amendment’s passage.  Overwhelming majorities in Congress have passed it in the past and the amendment fell only one vote short last time in the Senate. When is the last time that 66 percent of the Senate agreed on anything of substance?

Don’t be swayed by phony arguments about desecrating red, white and blue neckties, underwear or beach towels. These are not flags. Would anyone consider putting these items on the caskets of our fallen heroes? Would you run a scarf up a flagpole? The beauty of the flag amendment is its narrowness – it covers the flag, not its likenesses. It also covers “desecration,” not the respectful “burning” of it during its retirement, as opponents would have you believe.

The amendment is worth repeating:  “The Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States.”  Nothing more, nothing less.

By encouraging Congress to support House Joint Resolution 47 and Senate Joint Resolution 15, we can make the statement that our flag is important and that “We the people” matter.  You can reach your members of Congress by calling the U.S. Capitol, toll free, at 1-877-762-8762. It’s time to make somebody else’s switchboard light up.

American Legion welcomes new measure to

improve GI Bill benefits

WASHINGTON (June 3, 2010) – The American Legion welcomed the introduction of a Senate bill last week that would substantially improve and expand education benefits for veterans.

Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, is sponsoring the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Improvements Act of 2010, which he introduced in the Senate on May 27.

“This new legislation would realize some of the changes we’ve been suggesting to Congress for the past couple of years,” said Clarence Hill, national commander of The American Legion. “We’re especially happy to see that Senator Akaka’s bill would extend benefits to those veterans attending vocational schools, on-the-job training and apprenticeships.”

Hill said the original 1944 GI Bill – authored and championed by The American Legion – paid for the education of about 16 million veterans. “And half of them went to some type of vocational institution after World War II, so it’s most appropriate to expand today’s benefits beyond traditional colleges and universities.”

Robert Madden, assistant director of The American Legion’s economic division, said that if Akaka’s bill (S. 3447) becomes law, “every veteran would be free to choose any type of education and employment path that he or she happens to desire.

“Veterans have served America with pride and dedication. With bipartisan support, Congress can show its gratitude to them and their families by creating a GI Bill that is much more equitable,” Madden said.

If passed, Akaka’s legislation would upgrade veterans education benefits with several new provisions, including:

• Veterans attending vocational schools would receive the national yearly average for tuition/fee payments, plus housing stipend based upon regular rate of the military’s BHA (basic housing allowance).

• On-the-job training and apprenticeships will be paid for on a prorated schedule:

• 75 percent of costs for the first six months, 55 percent for the next six months, and 35 percent for each subsequent month up to 24 additional months; benefits also include housing stipend and $1,000 annual book stipend.

• 60 percent of charges for flight training  and 55 percent for correspondence courses will be covered, based on the national average of established cost at all institutions of higher learning.

• Servicemembers who retired after Sept. 11, 2001 but before the Post-9/11 GI Bill went into effect would be able to transfer current veterans education benefits to their family members (this provision would be paid for by DoD and other federal agencies).

• Housing allowance: distance-learning students and those attending schools overseas will receive 50 percent of the established rate (which would become prorated, based on a veteran’s actual course load).

• Instead of paying up to $2,000 for a one-time test for licensure or certification, an unlimited number of tests will be allowed, with charges being deducted from a veteran’s monthly benefits.

During a hearing before the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee on April 21, Madden urged Congress to cover non-degree education programs with GI Bill benefits, saying that such a disparity “has caused much concern.”

At that same hearing, Akaka promised to introduce legislation before Memorial Day to help improve veterans education benefits. He delivered on that promise last week.

POWMIA (61.02 kB)

This new version provides some excellent new functionality.  Members can now enroll online for any of the “core” LIT programs including Accidental Death & Dismemberment (NO COST and Expanded), Cancer, Hospital Indemnity, and Travel Accident. No paper application is required, but the member still will receive confirmation of their enrollment and a Certificate for all but the NO COST coverage.

Information on other programs is also available and some of these are also available for online enrollment.

Respectfully, All The Members 

• Eastern Shore American Legion Post # 199
• Vietnam Veterans Of America, Baldwin County, Chapter # 864, P. O. Box 473, Fairhope, Alabama, USA 36533

• 173rd Airborne Brigrade Association, Ray Payne OAM, Presidents Laison-Southern Hemisphere, 2 Flemington Street, Banora Point NSW 2486

INDIANAPOLIS (May 3, 2010) – The American Legion Legacy Scholarship Fund is competing for a $250,000 grant to be awarded by the Pepsi Beverage Company as part of its Refresh Everything Project this month. The winning charities are determined by the amount of votes received on the Refresh Everything Web site. The American Legion’s Operation Comfort Warriors finished in first place during February’s voting and has already been awarded the top grant of $250,000.

“I was very proud of those who supported us in February and enabled us to fund a program that directly supports our wounded heroes,” said The American Legion National Commander Clarence E. Hill. “Now it’s time to come to the aid of another group of deserving people, those whose parents paid the ultimate price and sacrificed their lives while serving in our military during the War on Terrorism. The American Legion Legacy Scholarship Fund ensures that the children of these fallen heroes will be able to attend college and not have to worry about the rising cost of higher education. We can support the children of these heroes simply by voting every day throughout the month of May. The process will cost you nothing, but the reward can truly make a difference.”

Visitors can cast their votes at www.refresheverything.com/theamericanlegionlegacyscholarship

Hill also recommended that Legionnaires, Legion family members, friends and supporters of The American Legion spread the message to vote for The American Legion Legacy Scholarship Fund.

“Individual voting alone will not win this competition,” Hill said. “We need people to post it on their web sites,  Facebook and Twitter accounts. They should use all social media methods at their disposal. Operation Comfort Warriors was able to win because American Legion posts, Auxiliary units, Sons of the American Legion squadrons and American Legion Riders chapters all came together and worked toward a common goal. Spreading the word in newsletters and the mainstream media can also help us replicate our earlier success.”

With a current membership of 2.5-million wartime veterans, The American Legion was founded in 1919 on the four pillars of a strong national security, veterans affairs, Americanism, and youth programs. Legionnaires work for the betterment of their communities through more than 14,000 posts across the nation.