Obama to sign bill to stop military protests at funerals

Congress came up with a bill that will protect families and still protect free speech rights of a hate group. So far, free speech has been protected and gave more rights to the hate group and took away the rights of a family to grieve in peace. Now they can say whatever hateful thing they want but the families do not have to be forced to listen to them or see them.

President Obama to sign veterans bill restricting protests at military funerals
Examiner.com
AUGUST 2, 2012
BY: ROBERT SOBEL

President Obama is set to sign a new bill that has just passed congress restricting the ability to protest at military funerals.

After years of dealing with the Westboro Baptist Church showing up at military funerals, a new veterans bill is looking to put an end to their antics. Earlier this week, Congress passed "The Honoring America's Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012." In the bill, protesters won't be able to hold demonstrations two hours before and after a military funeral. The bill also notes that the protesters will have to be at least 300 feet away from the funeral and family members.
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Patriot Guard Leads Solemn Procession for Fallen Army Sgt. Eric Williams

Patriot Guard Leads Solemn Procession for Fallen Army Sgt. Eric Williams
Fort Bragg-based paratrooper killed in Afghanistan arrives at Pendleton for return to Murrieta.
By Maggie Avants and Chris Stone
August 2, 2012

Only weeks before his deployment was to end, Army Sgt. Eric Williams was killed July 23 in Logar Province, Afghanistan—south of Kabul.

Thursday afternoon, his flag-draped casket arrived via private jet at Camp Pendleton with his wife and family present.

On a sun-splashed Tarmac, they witnessed an angels ceremony, followed by a procession of Patriot Guard Riders, a Murrieta Fire Department engine and American Medical Response ambulances to his hometown of Murrieta.

Williams, 27, was a special forces operative deployed with the 3rd Battalion, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division based at Fort Bragg, NC.

A flight medic for the Army, Williams kept up a blog that he started in 2008. According to his last blog post dated July 17, he was to be heading home soon.

“This deployment is coming to an end, in a few days we will be on a plane back to the United States to rejoin our family and friends and to try to readjust to a certain semblance of what we think life should be,” Williams wrote. “Cannot begin to describe the things we’ve seen, felt, or heard. We have lost brothers and colleagues.”
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Camp Pendleton Marine to get Navy Cross posthumously

MILITARY: Camp Pendleton Marine to get Navy Cross posthumously
By TERI FIGUEROA
North County Times

A Camp Pendleton Marine will be posthumously awarded the Navy Cross ---- the nation's second-highest award for combat heroism ---- for his efforts, while under enemy fire, to save three injured service members in Afghanistan's Sangin province in 2010, a military spokesman said Thursday.

Sgt. Matthew T. Abbate's family will accept the award on his behalf at a ceremony at Camp Pendleton next week, said Capt. Justin Smith, spokesman for the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit.
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President Obama rallies at Rollins College

President Obama rallies at Rollins College
By Amanda Evans, Scott McDonnell and Kelli Cook, Team Coverage
News 13
Last Updated: Friday, August 03, 2012
WINTER PARK

President Barack Obama made good on his promise to come back to Central Florida for a campaign stop he had to cancel two weeks earlier.

Obama was supposed to speak at Rollins College on July 20, but after news broke about the deadly massacre at a Colorado movie theater, the president cancelled his campaign plans for the day and headed back to the White House.

The crowd sang "Happy Birthday" to the president as he opened his rally in Rollins College in Winter Park. His 51st birthday is Saturday.

The president also talked about the Olympic games, saying that "we come together when we have to present ourselves to the world."
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Thousands of Florida ex-felons may not know they can vote

There are a lot of ex-felons in Florida. They did their time for crimes they committed and some of them were arrested after they served in the military but never received the help they needed after war. They think they lost their rights to vote in this state but they haven't.

Thousands of Florida ex-felons may not know they can vote
By Michael Peltier
TALLAHASSEE, Florida
Fri Aug 3, 2012

(Reuters) - More than 13,000 ex-felons may be eligible to vote in Florida but don't know it because the notices the parole board mailed to them were returned as undeliverable, the American Civil Liberties Union said Wednesday.

The civil rights group raised the concern after analyzing more than 17,000 names of ex-felons who had their voting rights automatically restored by the Florida Parole Commission.

The list was obtained under the state's public records law and included ex-felons whose Restoration of Civil Rights certificates were returned undelivered to the parole commission.

Florida is one of a minority of U.S. states that does not automatically restore civil rights once a felon has completed a sentence.

The certificates were sent between 2007 and March 2011 under a short-lived policy that automatically restored civil rights to nonviolent offenders.

The policy was repealed in March 2011 by Florida Governor Rick Scott and a newly elected Florida Cabinet, which voted to make it more difficult for ex-felons to get their civil rights back.

After reviewing 17,604 names of those who had their rights restored, the ACLU said it found 13,517 who were not registered to vote.
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