U.S. Marine faces boot for anti-Obama Facebook posts

Marine sergeant who started a Facebook group that is openly critical of President Obama and posted comments saying he will not follow the unlawful orders of the commander in chief is facing possible dismissal from the Corps.

The Marines on Wednesday told Sgt. Gary Stein — a Camp Pendleton Marine who started the Facebook page called Armed Forces Tea Party — that he is in violation of Pentagon policy barring troops from political activities.

Stein, a nine-year member of the Corps, said he started the page to encourage fellow service members to exercise their free speech rights. He has also criticized U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta for his comments on Syria.

USA-TODA

This is an interesting turn of events and since the policy he signed when he entered prohibits him from voicing his political opinion then i guess the free speech scenario is a non-existent theory. In my opinion if he wanted to voice his political beliefs he should have resigned from the armed forces and entered the civilian life that allows such conduct as a civilian.

The Marines, and the rest of the armed forces, swore an oath to defend the Constitution, not the president. The real question is why aren't they marching on D.C. instead of the middle east.

Originally posted by TreadUpon
The Marines, and the rest of the armed forces, swore an oath to defend the Constitution, not the president. The real question is why aren't they marching on D.C. instead of the middle east.

I understand your point, but isn't it correct that when one enters the military he cannot voice his or her political views or opinion ?

Good he deserves what he gets and probably more imo. The disrespect this president gets daily from the american people is truly amazing. The out right bold face lies told about the president daily border on treason imo. If this was the 1940-50 people would be tried for some of the things said and thrown under the jail. people may not like his policy's but he is still our president and deserves respect he was elected by the majority of people in this country.

reply to post by cerebralassassins


It is a real shame when the people supposedly protecting our freedom from the "evil terrorists" aren't allowed to exercise those same freedoms they are supposedly protecting for themselves.

I guess the US doesn't want soldiers who actually think and are smart enough to figure out that the real threats to our freedom all come from Capitol Hill.

There are some activities that the US military are not allowed to do. These activities are very clearly outlined and stated, and posting online, while on active duty, on any political point is one of them.

But take this out of the context of the military and go a bit further into the other half of the country, the civilian part, and it becomes very clear, what the marine did, was clearly wrong. A person can not bad mouth or even wish ill on their supervisor, even when not on the clock, even on a social media, such as face book. There are no laws that prohibit employers from viewing and even taking action, if they view such to be against company policy. Many companies have it clearly stated, that such is forbidden, as there could be the issue of conflict of interest and quite possibly divulging of proprietary information. So there have been cases of people being terminated for doing such. This is no different, except that the Marine did not just post about 2 people holding 2 positions in office, but in short posted about 2 people who are in short his bosses.

This is like a person going online to publicly complain about the CEO and vice president of a company. You just don’t do it, and as sad as it is, the US military has rules about such.

Right now there are court cases that are travelling through the system about such, namely if a company has the right to review a persons social media network site or not.

reply to post by pez1975


LOL....... he doesnt respect you, why should you respect him.

No brainer here the president is the commander and chief of the armed forces. This guy had to of known this was going to get him booted.

Yep the OP and SD got it right, No matter what you think you cannot talk bad about your commander and Chief, seems to me this marine is not trying to prove a point, he's just trying to cause trouble, follow the rules Marine.

Originally posted by pez1975
he is still our president and deserves respect

Says who?
You?

reply to post by cerebralassassins

Originally posted by cerebralassassins
...he should have resigned from the armed forces and entered the civilian life that allows such conduct as a civilian.

Not necessarily.

Confronting The VP May Be Impolite. Is It A Crime?

The U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments Wednesday in a case involving the arrest of a Colorado man who was thrown in jail after telling Vice President Cheney in 2006 that the Bush administration's policies in Iraq were "disgusting."

Environmental consultant Steven Howards is suing the Secret Service agents who arrested him, contending that the arrest violated his First Amendment rights because it was nothing more than retaliation for the views he expressed to the vice president. The case pits the need for protecting public officials against the rights of citizens to express their views to the people elected to represent them.

I suggest you read the full article, then reconsider your statement.

Originally posted by cerebralassassins

I understand your point, but isn't it correct that when one enters the military he cannot voice his or her political views or opinion ?

You are allowed to voice your opinion.

But

You cannot use your rank, position, or official email (dot.mil) accounts to voice said opinion.

I just don't understand this.. as stated earlier he takes an oath to defend the Constitution.. he DOESN'T take an oath to agree with the President, and certainly not when said President is violating the constitution!???

What this marine probably doesnt understand is, he is not in a democracy where you can exercise your freedom of expression. You in the military, the military by nature is a wholly totalitarian feudal enterprise and dissent, no matter how valid is not tolerated.

A good point was made above, the U.S military should have marched on D.C a long long time ago, however as the vast majority of generals, admirals and chiefs of staff reside on the boards of the corporations that control the U.S government this is not going to happen anytime soon.

The U,S military has become the defacto military wing of Americas corporations and having soldiers undermine whatever moral justification they fabricate for there wars will never in any way be acceptable.

Sad but true.

reply to post by beezzer


Right.

If he hadn't associated it with his rank, status or branch of service then he'd have likely been fine ... just as would joe blow from idaho. Instead he used his rank, status and branch of service as a means to draw further attentions to 'his cause', effectively making him a 'representative' of The Corps.

All this oath nonsense...

Politicians take oaths too, but the standards applied to their adherence are substantially different in comparison, don't you think?

Such paint-by-numbers dribble.

Originally posted by 12m8keall2c
reply to post by beezzer

 

Right.

If he hadn't associated it with his rank, status or branch of service then he'd have likely been fine ... just as would joe blow from idaho. Instead he used his rank, status and branch of service as a means to draw further attentions to 'his cause', effectively making him a 'representative' of The Corps.

Originally posted by hapablab

wow I didn't know that, I thought while you serve under no circumstances can you do that, regardless if you show your rank or not.

Why do you think I go by the moniker of "beezzer"?

reply to post by 12m8keall2c


I thought this was a FB posting?

Originally posted by pez1975
Good he deserves what he gets and probably more imo. The disrespect this president gets daily from the american people is truly amazing. The out right bold face lies told about the president daily border on treason imo. If this was the 1940-50 people would be tried for some of the things said and thrown under the jail. people may not like his policy's but he is still our president and deserves respect he was elected by the majority of people in this country.

edit on 22-3-2012 by pez1975 because: (no reason given)

WOW. I don't even know where to begin. I suppose you said the same about Bush? I bet not. No one deserves respect, it needs to be earned and obama has done nothing, in my opinion, to earn it. And since you mentioned treason, lets talk about the legitimate reasons this president should be tried for that same thing not to mention that pesky freedom of speech thing that gives citizens that right to speak poorly of a president because the two are not the same thing. Obama seems like he is actively trying to destroy the constitution which is a treasonable offense. NDAA , SOPA, PIpa.....these are designed to take away our rights. Not to mention the great apology tour or the millions of tax payers' dollars he and has family have spent taking vacations while at the same time telling us to batten the hatches and be frugal. At the very least that is just plain hypocrisy which is ridiculous coming from our supposed leader. Of course, his bowing down to foreign leaders is probably ok with you too.