# No more Taps at Funerals **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 4, 2012, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608 "2012-09-04T02:38:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/61 "2012-09-06T15:58:33Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > Ya think?! > > Dude, You are the fucking ckickenhawk here. You are trying to use fucking _funerals for veterans_ to disguise your political displeasure. That’s a chickenhawk. Screw you. > > I’m no fan of Romney. I’m voting for Obama just like I did last time, but you are a piece of shit if you think anybody’s going to buy you “American Overlord” crap. Screw you. Just, because I can’t say “fuck” - screw you. > > This isn’t about TAPS for you, is it? As a “fighting ignorance” aside, Chickenhawk is usually the term for pro-war people who never were willing to fight in war themselves. If **Paul** did his _yahbone_ time (what Airborne sounds like when they yell it in groups), then he is not a chickenhawk. Paul - sorry about your loss. I will say that I will take the fake bugle to the crap bugling I have heard at many a Scout event. The truth is that there are few people who can be trusted to do a Taps solo on command at a solemn event like a funeral. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/62 "2012-09-06T16:02:20Z")
There are few topics that expose the deep schizophrenia in America than our sentimentality about the military as compared to our bland indifference to the people actually in it. Its a maudlin sentimentality, a dead and lifeless mush that expresses itself as deep concern about the dead and utter disregard for the living. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/63 "2012-09-06T16:11:11Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > We’ve established that it was never about the bugles. > You fucking piece of shit. Panties in a bunch… release. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/64 "2012-09-06T16:39:15Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > There are few topics that expose the deep schizophrenia in America than our sentimentality about the military as compared to our bland indifference to the people actually in it. Its a maudlin sentimentality, a dead and lifeless mush that expresses itself as deep concern about the dead and utter disregard for the living. _Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori_, or so I’ve heard. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2012, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/65 "2012-09-06T17:22:04Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Panties in a bunch… release. c’mon, the guy’s an asshole. He’s using funerals to opine politics. I don’t like that. I fight. _Don’t spare idle chivalry, The back that cowers, the loins quake._ I hope _VinylTurnip_ gets that, my Ovid is a little rusty ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/66 "2012-09-07T00:04:38Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > I have a couple hundred jumps while an airborne infantry officer. Big whoop. That was you job while in the Army. It doesn’t make you any better or any worse than another person. In short: it’s irrelevant to the issue at hand. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveroptic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiveroptic/32/8257_2.png) [@Fiveroptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveroptic)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/67 "2012-09-07T02:55:14Z")
**Paul in Qatar** is an idiot. In other news… My mother was a veteran of the US Navy back when they still were WAVs, and she always said they were the best years of her life. The Navy Hymn was the processional at her funeral. Both she and my dad were members of the American Legion down in a suburb of Detroit. Her casket was covered with the American Flag, but there was no military ceremony to speak of. Turns out that this was an oversight of the funeral director. When my dad, a veteran Marine who served during the Korean Conflict, died, we had a different funeral director who somehow arranged to have not only three Marines on hand to fake-play taps and do the gun firing thing, they _retroactively_ did the same for my mother, with three members of the Navy who folded the flag in honor of my mother, on behalf of a grateful nation, and passed it to my oldest sister. So we had two ceremonies. I believe they were from the recruiting office. I was absolutely impressed with their professionalism and compassion. I’m really sorry that this practice is going away but you know what? I’d rather have that money going to adequate food, housing, equipment, and anything else that’s desperately needed in a time when the economy sucks. The American Legion would have also done something to honor them…albeit much less impressive. But it’s the thought that counts. ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/68 "2012-09-07T03:22:22Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Big whoop. That was you job while in the Army. It doesn’t make you any better or any worse than another person. In short: it’s irrelevant to the issue at hand. Once again - it appeared to me to be a response to **Monkey** calling him a _chickenhawk_. There might be plenty of other insults appropriate, but if he served he is not a _chickenhawk_ by any of the typical definitions. This is the fucking pit people - get your insults right. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/69 "2012-09-18T03:12:32Z")
Thanks for the clarification, **Algher**. Now, [here](http://www.military.com/military-report/taps-kept-in-new-york-state?ESRC=miltrep.nl) is an update on the situation described in he OP: > [@](#): > > ‘Taps’ Kept in New York State > Week of September 17, 2012 > > Stars and Stripes reports that a planned budget cut that would have eliminated the playing of taps live at military funerals on Long Island and across the state of New York has been scrapped after sparking political opposition. _More at the link._ ---
**Author:** ![fumster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/70 "2012-09-19T15:54:10Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > And don’t talk to me about how many jumps you did. I don’t care. Boy, you sure got him there. Actually served in the military and jumped out of god damned planes and he is still a chicken hawk because he thinks that maybe we shouldn’t let millionaires start trumped up wars that get a bunch of working class kids killed. It would be nice if some day a politician had the guts to start a Veterans Day speech with a plea to stop creating so many dead soldiers. ---
**Author:** ![fumster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/71 "2012-09-19T15:58:46Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > WTF are you rambling about here? You wouldn’t happen to have anything even remotely substantial evidence for this assertion that Romney considers soldiers to be moochers, would you? Not all of them, just 47% of them. Personally, I think we should tax veteran’s benefits and get rid of capital gains taxes. How many jobs do dead veterans create? ETA: And to be honest, we should cut Mitt a break. Trying to talk the French into converting to LDS sounds like a rough job: “OK, I git zee multiple wives part, but sacre bleu, I need to give up zee wine?” ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2012, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/72 "2012-09-19T16:23:46Z")
> [@fumster](#): > > Boy, you sure got him there. Actually served in the military and jumped out of god damned planes and he is still a chicken hawk because he thinks that maybe we shouldn’t let millionaires start trumped up wars that get a bunch of working class kids killed. In fairness, it’s still possible to be a chickenhawk even if you were in the military. Robert Mason was a chopper pilot in Vietnam and called \*himself \*a chickenhawk. I’m not saying Paul is one; IIRC, he is generally anti-war. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/73 "2012-09-20T14:03:51Z")
> [@fumster](#): > > Not all of them, just 47% of them. Personally, I think we should tax veteran’s benefits and get rid of capital gains taxes. How many jobs do dead veterans create? > > ETA: And to be honest, we should cut Mitt a break. Trying to talk the French into converting to LDS sounds like a rough job: “OK, I git zee multiple wives part, but sacre bleu, I need to give up zee wine?” You edited the post and you still didn’t answer the question? Good job. Your rant is lamer than the OP’s. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/74 "2012-09-20T14:52:12Z")
Most soldiers are part of the 47%, either because of their low salaries or tax exemptions on certain types of military pay, or both. ---
**Author:** ![Kearsen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/82dd89/32.png) [@Kearsen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kearsen)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2012, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/75 "2012-09-20T16:28:01Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > The state of New York has a custom of paying for a musician to play Taps the funerals of military veterans. In order to save money, the musician will be replaced with a [recording.](http://www.stripes.com/news/us/budget-cuts-mean-no-live-taps-at-n-y-military-funerals-1.187868) Can’t ask rich people to pay for this. That would be class warfare, maybe Socialism. > > I suppose we will have to start going with the discount coffins for Mr. Romney’s war wherever that will be. > > Oh well, it is just another entitlement program. > > I swear the US has gone to Hell in a handbasket. This is hilarious to me. The military is cutting spending and you bitch? Rich people? Romney? What the fuck are you droning about? ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2012, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/76 "2012-09-22T05:22:55Z")
I missed something. > [@fumster](#): > > Trying to talk the French into converting to LDS sounds like a rough job: “OK, I git zee multiple wives part, but sacre bleu, I need to give up zee wine?” You’re an unmitigated idiot. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2012, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/77 "2012-09-23T20:14:28Z")
> [@Lucretia](#): > > **aruvqan** , odds are very good there was an mp3 player inside the bugle at your Dad’s funeral, too. It’s pretty standard practice across all military honor guards these days. It’s pretty rare to find an actual bugle player. I find this to be utterly nauseating. What’s next? Taking back the flag after handing it to the grieving widow because you have a 4:45 funeral and have to present it all day??? So much for honor. So much for valor. So much for Honesty. The decline of the Republic, indeed. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Simple\_Linctus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Simple\_Linctus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simple_Linctus)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2012, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608/78 "2012-09-23T20:37:56Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > I missed something. > > You’re an unmitigated idiot. Not as idiotic as people who believe a word of the book of Mormon. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-more-taps-at-funerals/633608.md?page=3)