A Gold Star Is Not Worth What Once It Was

This unfortunate fellow, a naturalized U.S. citizen from the Philippines, Staff Sgt Anthony Lagman, lost his life in military action in Afghanistan. His mother was denied a "Gold Star" by an organization called "American Gold Star Mothers", a national organization of mothers of fallen servicemen. While Mrs. Lagman had certainly met the requirement of having suffered the tremendous loss of her son in battle, since she is not a U.S. citizen (she is a legal permanent resident) she was denied membership by the organization. Stories here, here, and here.

I say "shame on you" to the people who made this foolish decision. Email your opinion to them, at: goldstarmoms@yahoo.com

The Manila Times ran a feature on Sgt. Lagman about a month ago. I have great respect for him and his service to our country.

Now, while I condemn this organization's leaders for their actions, I do recognize their right to the freedom of association. As a private organization (if, in fact, they are such), they have the right to exclude anyone they'd like, I suppose. But I also have the right to hope they all get explosive, painful, bloody diarrhea if they deny membership to Mrs. Lagman.