Topic: Every year the single day established by Congress to Honor the sacrificial contributions of our military dead, Memorial Day, becomes increasingly commercial. Once upon a time retailers devoted at least a full page of their advertising brochures to America's dead. Today there is rarely a mention in Memorial Day advertising to the lives lost to protect our Freedom and Democracy. The only private industry mentioned in and protected by our Constitution is equally preoccupied with making a buck on America's dead. Only a few of the leading newspapers and broadcast media companies display the names of our country's war dead in Iraq. However, none of the websites maintained for the display of photos or information on our war dead is commercial free. CNN, for example, displays tiny photos of American's killed in action but the foreheads or chins of the faces displayed are cropped to make room for the countless ads displayed on CNN's website. The Los Angeles Times, citing another example, displays the full faces of America's Iraq dead but viewing of only 10 photos per page is permitted to make room for half of each webpage devoted to commercial advertising. As of today, not a single Veterans Organization has protested the commercialization of America's war dead by the news media.
America's war dead have paid the ultimate price. America's news agencies and retailers should not require additional payment to Honor our dead.
REFERENCES:
Bonus March II
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