Showing posts with label nightmare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nightmare. Show all posts
Monday, January 5, 2009
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Vandals egg house of local atheist
Normally, I'd get really worried and upset about an article like this. But as imaginative as I am, I cannot make this stuff up!
Going house Egging
Brought out my chalk, criss crossing
Jesus Mis-spelt? How???
Vandals egg house of local atheist
Daily Herald Staff Reports
Published: 9/23/2007 3:00 AM
The home of a local outspoken atheist was vandalized overnight Friday, police said -- with eggs tossed at the house and cars, and crosses and religious words scrawled in chalk on the driveway.
A church bulletin also was stuck on the front door.
The incident comes days after Rob Sherman's daughter, Dawn, led a successful effort to have the song "God Bless America" yanked from Buffalo Grove High School's homecoming celebration. Dawn Sherman is a freshman on the student council.
The vandalism likely was the retaliatory work of youngsters, police Sgt. Mike Millett said -- since it came on the heels of the school incident and because one of the chalked words, "Jesus," was misspelled.
Going house Egging
Brought out my chalk, criss crossing
Jesus Mis-spelt? How???
Vandals egg house of local atheist
Daily Herald Staff Reports
Published: 9/23/2007 3:00 AM
The home of a local outspoken atheist was vandalized overnight Friday, police said -- with eggs tossed at the house and cars, and crosses and religious words scrawled in chalk on the driveway.
A church bulletin also was stuck on the front door.
The incident comes days after Rob Sherman's daughter, Dawn, led a successful effort to have the song "God Bless America" yanked from Buffalo Grove High School's homecoming celebration. Dawn Sherman is a freshman on the student council.
The vandalism likely was the retaliatory work of youngsters, police Sgt. Mike Millett said -- since it came on the heels of the school incident and because one of the chalked words, "Jesus," was misspelled.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Back from the dead, the fear of being buried alive, etc.
"Dead" man wakes up under autopsy knife
Mon Sep 17, 8:53 AM ET
CARACAS (Reuters) - A Venezuelan man who had been declared dead woke up in the morgue in excruciating pain after medical examiners began their autopsy.
Carlos Camejo, 33, was declared dead after a highway accident and taken to the morgue, where examiners began an autopsy only to realize something was amiss when he started bleeding.
They quickly sought to stitch up the incision on his face.
"I woke up because the pain was unbearable," Camejo said, according to a report on Friday in leading local newspaper El Universal.
His grieving wife turned up at the morgue to identify her husband's body only to find him moved into a corridor -- and alive.
Reuters could not immediately reach hospital officials to confirm the events. But Camejo showed the newspaper his facial scar and a document ordering the autopsy.
Mon Sep 17, 8:53 AM ET
CARACAS (Reuters) - A Venezuelan man who had been declared dead woke up in the morgue in excruciating pain after medical examiners began their autopsy.
Carlos Camejo, 33, was declared dead after a highway accident and taken to the morgue, where examiners began an autopsy only to realize something was amiss when he started bleeding.
They quickly sought to stitch up the incision on his face.
"I woke up because the pain was unbearable," Camejo said, according to a report on Friday in leading local newspaper El Universal.
His grieving wife turned up at the morgue to identify her husband's body only to find him moved into a corridor -- and alive.
Reuters could not immediately reach hospital officials to confirm the events. But Camejo showed the newspaper his facial scar and a document ordering the autopsy.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Global Climate Change How drought and hunger allow bears to hibernate less!
SOME GREAT IRONIES HERE! SEE COLORED TEXT!!!
My uncle died a while back, I think it was 1989. My sister, her baby and I, drove from Connecticutt to DC for the services drove back the same night.
On the return trip, I hit a deer in the NJ Turnpike. That's a long story all by itself, for another place and time.
My point here is, I had the Officers sign off on the fact that "The deer hit my car" and not the other way around!
There is a similar perspective within the words of this article: Bears are a "plague"!
Hungry bears plague US west after record drought
by Judith Crosson Sat Sep 15, 11:03 AM ET
DENVER, United States (AFP) - They hosed the black bear with water, threw things at it and yelled, but the stubborn animal refused to move from its perch in a tree above a quiet neighborhood in Boulder, Colorado.
Pushed from their homelands by a drought and pulled by the scent of human food, black bears across western US states are breaking into homes and tearing up garbage cans in a desperate search for nourishment ahead of hibernation.
Fires across the west also destroyed bear habitat, and the animals face the continuing peril of losing their living space to urban development.
The bear in the Boulder neighborhood finally came down from the tree and fled. The animal was lucky -- it wore an ear tag, meaning a previous run in with authorities.
Authorities would have killed the bear if they had caught it, said Tyler Baskfield, spokesman for the Colorado Division of Wildlife.
This year is on target for approaching the 2002 record of 404 bears killed or euthanized, Baskfield said. Colorado has a population of between 8,000 and 12,000 bears.
"We had a late freeze in June which killed the acorns and berry crop. We had a very dry mid-summer and grasses in the high country dried up. That pushed the bears down into the valleys where we have people," Baskfield said.
It is a similar story in much of the western United States.
"Just everybody is seeing bears everywhere. That's the unusual part of it -- in places where they haven't been seen before," said state of Idaho Fish and Game wildlife biologist Bret Stansberry.
"It's a fairly severe drought and that's essentially the root of the problem. There is very little natural food for them to eat. They're coming into orchards, getting into apple trees," Stansberry said.
Adult male black bears, which weigh between 68 and 160 kilos (150 and 350 pounds), usually eat for up to 20 hours a day just before hibernation in November.
State wildlife agencies are constantly urge residents to use bear-proof garbage cans and make sure no food is left outdoors, with mixed results.
Chris Healy, spokesman for the state of Nevada Department of Wildlife, said bears are posing increasing problems. "We had one up a tree today near the university," he said.
Any area that has trees and shrubs resembles a bear's natural habitat, and when the bear spots a human it usually flees up a tree, Healy said.
Nevada has a small population of black bears, mostly concentrated in the Lake Tahoe region near the California border.
"In Tahoe people are not taking care of their garbage. Once the bears start breaking into houses it's a danger to humans," Healy said.
Bear attacks on people are rare, although there was a fatal attack in July when a bear dragged an 11 year-old boy out of his tent during a camping trip in the state of Utah.
Bears are causing plenty of trouble in California, said the state's Department of Fish and Game wildlife biologist Jason Holley.
"They can blow the door off the hinges. This time of year we're having at least three break-ins a night around Lake Tahoe," Holley said.
Eating human food such as donuts, hamburgers, or ice cream fattens the bears up and allows them to have more cubs. "We're developing an alarming trend -- ten percent are not
hibernating," Holley said.
Black bears in California have not faced competition from their natural rival, the larger grizzly bear, for nearly a century. The last known grizzly in California was shot dead in 1922. California however still has a grizzly bear on its state flag.
There are about 30,000 black bears in California today, up from 12,500 bears 12 years ago, Holley said.
In Montana, a non-profit group has come up with an original way to chase bears away from camping areas.
The Wind River Bear Institute trains Karelian dogs, a species from northern Europe, to use their scent to detect bears, program biologist Russ Talmo said. "The dogs are barking, we're yelling at the bears, we use noisemakers," Talmo said. The dogs, which resemble huskies, are nimble and can herd a bear away from the area, although the dogs are always close to humans.
My uncle died a while back, I think it was 1989. My sister, her baby and I, drove from Connecticutt to DC for the services drove back the same night.
On the return trip, I hit a deer in the NJ Turnpike. That's a long story all by itself, for another place and time.
My point here is, I had the Officers sign off on the fact that "The deer hit my car" and not the other way around!
There is a similar perspective within the words of this article: Bears are a "plague"!
Hungry bears plague US west after record drought
by Judith Crosson Sat Sep 15, 11:03 AM ET
DENVER, United States (AFP) - They hosed the black bear with water, threw things at it and yelled, but the stubborn animal refused to move from its perch in a tree above a quiet neighborhood in Boulder, Colorado.
Pushed from their homelands by a drought and pulled by the scent of human food, black bears across western US states are breaking into homes and tearing up garbage cans in a desperate search for nourishment ahead of hibernation.
Fires across the west also destroyed bear habitat, and the animals face the continuing peril of losing their living space to urban development.
The bear in the Boulder neighborhood finally came down from the tree and fled. The animal was lucky -- it wore an ear tag, meaning a previous run in with authorities.
Authorities would have killed the bear if they had caught it, said Tyler Baskfield, spokesman for the Colorado Division of Wildlife.
This year is on target for approaching the 2002 record of 404 bears killed or euthanized, Baskfield said. Colorado has a population of between 8,000 and 12,000 bears.
"We had a late freeze in June which killed the acorns and berry crop. We had a very dry mid-summer and grasses in the high country dried up. That pushed the bears down into the valleys where we have people," Baskfield said.
It is a similar story in much of the western United States.
"Just everybody is seeing bears everywhere. That's the unusual part of it -- in places where they haven't been seen before," said state of Idaho Fish and Game wildlife biologist Bret Stansberry.
"It's a fairly severe drought and that's essentially the root of the problem. There is very little natural food for them to eat. They're coming into orchards, getting into apple trees," Stansberry said.
Adult male black bears, which weigh between 68 and 160 kilos (150 and 350 pounds), usually eat for up to 20 hours a day just before hibernation in November.
State wildlife agencies are constantly urge residents to use bear-proof garbage cans and make sure no food is left outdoors, with mixed results.
Chris Healy, spokesman for the state of Nevada Department of Wildlife, said bears are posing increasing problems. "We had one up a tree today near the university," he said.
Any area that has trees and shrubs resembles a bear's natural habitat, and when the bear spots a human it usually flees up a tree, Healy said.
Nevada has a small population of black bears, mostly concentrated in the Lake Tahoe region near the California border.
"In Tahoe people are not taking care of their garbage. Once the bears start breaking into houses it's a danger to humans," Healy said.
Bear attacks on people are rare, although there was a fatal attack in July when a bear dragged an 11 year-old boy out of his tent during a camping trip in the state of Utah.
Bears are causing plenty of trouble in California, said the state's Department of Fish and Game wildlife biologist Jason Holley.
"They can blow the door off the hinges. This time of year we're having at least three break-ins a night around Lake Tahoe," Holley said.
Eating human food such as donuts, hamburgers, or ice cream fattens the bears up and allows them to have more cubs. "We're developing an alarming trend -- ten percent are not
hibernating," Holley said.
Black bears in California have not faced competition from their natural rival, the larger grizzly bear, for nearly a century. The last known grizzly in California was shot dead in 1922. California however still has a grizzly bear on its state flag.
There are about 30,000 black bears in California today, up from 12,500 bears 12 years ago, Holley said.
In Montana, a non-profit group has come up with an original way to chase bears away from camping areas.
The Wind River Bear Institute trains Karelian dogs, a species from northern Europe, to use their scent to detect bears, program biologist Russ Talmo said. "The dogs are barking, we're yelling at the bears, we use noisemakers," Talmo said. The dogs, which resemble huskies, are nimble and can herd a bear away from the area, although the dogs are always close to humans.
Monday, September 3, 2007
"Do you no Hindi?"
Chat ID: 4cd127-1a42-43cd71d2182
Problem : priority code 4344889765 Someone said they'd call us back in 2 minutes, 20 minutes ago. Your download failed midstream. therefore we have NO ANTI-VIRUS on our system. Help Rafraff : Hello Frish. My name is Rafraff .
Rafraff : Welcome to Symantec Customer Service
Rafraff : Hello Sue, How are you doing today?
Frish: don't even ask that. I've been hassling your software for 4 hours now, and your promises are useless
Rafraff : Sue, May I please confirm that the issue you have described is that you need help in downloading the product. Is that correct?
Frish: yes
Frish: download failed, and so, now what?
Rafraff : What is the exact error message that appears on your screen?
Frish: the download simply stopped, the button said resume so we did...it stopped again, then eventually, it said that our run.exe or some such was corrupt and that was it.
Frish: downloaded about 52MB when it eventually totally failed.
Rafraff : I really apolozies for the inconvenience caused.
Frish: just fix it
Rafraff : May I know the operating system you are using?
Frish: xp
Rafraff : Is your internet connection a high speed DSL/ cable or dial up?
Frish: dsl
Rafraff : May I know whether it is Xp sp1 or Xp sp2?
Frish: sp2
Rafraff : Thank you for confirming your details. Please make a note of this case no. 3714392755 for your future reference.
Rafraff : May I know whether you have disabled the firewall and tried to download the product?
Frish: by the way, I've done this already today with someone elwse. and I have a case number and a priority number that I typed in. I also used to work down the hall from John Thompson, the CEO of Symantec...lol
Frish: 3714392734
Frish: was my other number
Rafraff : Okay.
Rafraff : Please follow steps..........
Rafraff : Please log on to the www.symantecstore.com/trialware and select Norton Internet Security 2008 - 15 Day Trialware
Rafraff : 1.Please download the 15 days trial ware from the link.
Rafraff : 2. After 15 days, Norton product will prompt you with three options. Check mark the option "I have already purchased a product and have a product key"
Rafraff : 3. You can enter the product key JQ7JPYRUUDYYTTBCJPDJCIIYEMMMS999#
Frish: fascinating.
Rafraff : It is a trailware product. You can use the product for 15 days and at the end of the 15 day it will ask the product key to enter, then please enter the product key you have and activate it ..
Rafraff : Please download the product on your computer and save it on your desktop.
Rafraff : And after downloading it you will get a Norton Icon tab on your desktop.
Rafraff : Please double click on it.
Rafraff : You will get the option Run.
Rafraff : Please click on it.
Rafraff : The product will be installed on your computer.
Rafraff : Once the product is installed on your computer the older products on your computer will be uninstalled automatically.
Rafraff : And then activate your product.
Rafraff : Please try with the steps and if you have any issues please contact us again with the above case ID.
Frish: ok
Frish: I'll try it
Frish: ciao
Frish: namaste
Rafraff : Do you no Hindi?
Problem : priority code 4344889765 Someone said they'd call us back in 2 minutes, 20 minutes ago. Your download failed midstream. therefore we have NO ANTI-VIRUS on our system. Help Rafraff : Hello Frish. My name is Rafraff .
Rafraff : Welcome to Symantec Customer Service
Rafraff : Hello Sue, How are you doing today?
Frish: don't even ask that. I've been hassling your software for 4 hours now, and your promises are useless
Rafraff : Sue, May I please confirm that the issue you have described is that you need help in downloading the product. Is that correct?
Frish: yes
Frish: download failed, and so, now what?
Rafraff : What is the exact error message that appears on your screen?
Frish: the download simply stopped, the button said resume so we did...it stopped again, then eventually, it said that our run.exe or some such was corrupt and that was it.
Frish: downloaded about 52MB when it eventually totally failed.
Rafraff : I really apolozies for the inconvenience caused.
Frish: just fix it
Rafraff : May I know the operating system you are using?
Frish: xp
Rafraff : Is your internet connection a high speed DSL/ cable or dial up?
Frish: dsl
Rafraff : May I know whether it is Xp sp1 or Xp sp2?
Frish: sp2
Rafraff : Thank you for confirming your details. Please make a note of this case no. 3714392755 for your future reference.
Rafraff : May I know whether you have disabled the firewall and tried to download the product?
Frish: by the way, I've done this already today with someone elwse. and I have a case number and a priority number that I typed in. I also used to work down the hall from John Thompson, the CEO of Symantec...lol
Frish: 3714392734
Frish: was my other number
Rafraff : Okay.
Rafraff : Please follow steps..........
Rafraff : Please log on to the www.symantecstore.com/trialware and select Norton Internet Security 2008 - 15 Day Trialware
Rafraff : 1.Please download the 15 days trial ware from the link.
Rafraff : 2. After 15 days, Norton product will prompt you with three options. Check mark the option "I have already purchased a product and have a product key"
Rafraff : 3. You can enter the product key JQ7JPYRUUDYYTTBCJPDJCIIYEMMMS999#
Frish: fascinating.
Rafraff : It is a trailware product. You can use the product for 15 days and at the end of the 15 day it will ask the product key to enter, then please enter the product key you have and activate it ..
Rafraff : Please download the product on your computer and save it on your desktop.
Rafraff : And after downloading it you will get a Norton Icon tab on your desktop.
Rafraff : Please double click on it.
Rafraff : You will get the option Run.
Rafraff : Please click on it.
Rafraff : The product will be installed on your computer.
Rafraff : Once the product is installed on your computer the older products on your computer will be uninstalled automatically.
Rafraff : And then activate your product.
Rafraff : Please try with the steps and if you have any issues please contact us again with the above case ID.
Frish: ok
Frish: I'll try it
Frish: ciao
Frish: namaste
Rafraff : Do you no Hindi?
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Lenovo, the Chinese Company that owns IBM's PC line has a set of really weird videos...
http://www.lenovovision.com/lv2/mediaplayer.php?fid=water_tank&locale=en-ca
This is one weird video, there are more of them.
They want to be the "Chrysler" of PC's - Best Engineered!
What a losing proposition, ah, the tech marketers of today, making the same mistakes as their forebears, since, history repeats itself, and old men like me are let go from the ivory towers of marketing...
I warned the PC guys they were on the wrong path in 1993, in St. Louis, at an IBM program for field sales reps and techies...
This is one weird video, there are more of them.
They want to be the "Chrysler" of PC's - Best Engineered!
What a losing proposition, ah, the tech marketers of today, making the same mistakes as their forebears, since, history repeats itself, and old men like me are let go from the ivory towers of marketing...
I warned the PC guys they were on the wrong path in 1993, in St. Louis, at an IBM program for field sales reps and techies...
Friday, August 31, 2007
My First Car
My very first car was a 1961 Buick Invicta. My father and I drove up north of Minneapolis somewhere and bought it from some old geezer (summer of 1971) for $125.
It was long and wide. Two full bench seats front and rear, easily sat 6. It was like a living room on wheels, very loose steering, it didn't really drive as much as it floated down the road.
I drove it 2 miles to work and back every day. Mom made me promise I wouldn't drive it anywhere else, since it was a real rust bucket. Body was in PERFECT condition however, it was totally rusty underneath and it wasn't in good shape.
So, of course, Schultz, PugEye, Walleye, Airebabes, and Rich and I went out in my Buick one day. We had a case of bud long necks in the back and were driving and drinking when, suddenly, and for no apparent reason, the universal joint gave way...the transmission literally fell out of the car...the rear drive shaft got stuck in the road, lifting the back of the car about 3 feet in the air. The boys in back weren't too pleased as they compressed their vertebrae when their heads banged the roof and then again when the their butts smashed back down on the seats.
WallEye crept out of the car, and, bent over like an 95 year old arthritis patient he started swearing at me. What the fuck, how was it my fault? I had told these guys I wasn't supposed to drive in the first place.
Anyway, we stood outside the car, and drank the beers as fast as we could, since we figured cops would come by and we were all underage. Got the thing towed back to my place, and it was parked the wrong direction for about 2 weeks.
About that time, my dad had really bad kidney stones, so my having taken the car out on a road trip wasn't a problem...for a while. Then the cops put a ticket on my car since it was facing the wrong way.
Mom called the police and they took away the ticket after she used Dad's kidneys as an excuse.
She made me sell the car, it was an emotional thing. I had only owned it about 6 weeks. Anyway, a junk car dealer came by the house and gave me 25 bucks for it...
It was long and wide. Two full bench seats front and rear, easily sat 6. It was like a living room on wheels, very loose steering, it didn't really drive as much as it floated down the road.
I drove it 2 miles to work and back every day. Mom made me promise I wouldn't drive it anywhere else, since it was a real rust bucket. Body was in PERFECT condition however, it was totally rusty underneath and it wasn't in good shape.
So, of course, Schultz, PugEye, Walleye, Airebabes, and Rich and I went out in my Buick one day. We had a case of bud long necks in the back and were driving and drinking when, suddenly, and for no apparent reason, the universal joint gave way...the transmission literally fell out of the car...the rear drive shaft got stuck in the road, lifting the back of the car about 3 feet in the air. The boys in back weren't too pleased as they compressed their vertebrae when their heads banged the roof and then again when the their butts smashed back down on the seats.
WallEye crept out of the car, and, bent over like an 95 year old arthritis patient he started swearing at me. What the fuck, how was it my fault? I had told these guys I wasn't supposed to drive in the first place.
Anyway, we stood outside the car, and drank the beers as fast as we could, since we figured cops would come by and we were all underage. Got the thing towed back to my place, and it was parked the wrong direction for about 2 weeks.
About that time, my dad had really bad kidney stones, so my having taken the car out on a road trip wasn't a problem...for a while. Then the cops put a ticket on my car since it was facing the wrong way.
Mom called the police and they took away the ticket after she used Dad's kidneys as an excuse.
She made me sell the car, it was an emotional thing. I had only owned it about 6 weeks. Anyway, a junk car dealer came by the house and gave me 25 bucks for it...
Thursday, August 30, 2007
This was a comment on an Alternet article concerning nutrition and depression and violence...and how fishoil seems to help.
The Completely Nutrition less Diet!
Posted by: williameon on Aug 28, 2007 6:31 AM
In this fake society.
Where we let a Cor‘pirates’ ruin everything
They have ruined our diet also.
For Greed!
There is no accountability
They know that poor diet, pollutants and stress causes disease.
What is, is.
That’s the way
That’s the way
On Ha!
They like it.
Sick people make them happy and rich.
Raking in huge profits for theAMAPharmaceuticalsAndFaux Food Companies.
It’s so easy to make and completely nutrition less also!
The Nutrition less diet!
Boxes filled with fullers and poison,
Never meant to be eaten by man!
Read the label!
In this situation less is more.
The shorter the list of ingredients
The better it is!
In fact fresh fruits, vegetables and foods without any labels are best of all!
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Flax Seed Oil.
Brown rice.
Stone Ground Flour
Whole Grains
Rolled oats.
Dried fruits and nuts.
These are all Manna.
Food of the Gods!
The Corpirates want sick ignorant peons.
To pillage and plunder.
Where’s the Information?
Where’s the BEEF?
That:Hydrogenated oils
High Fructose Corn syrup
And
Overly refined White flour
Are
POISON.
Clogging the minds,
bodies and arteries of our friends.
Nobody seems to know why our country
Is being over run with FAT people.
Child hood diabetes is epidemic!
Kindergartens are Fat farms!
People are literally eating themselves to death
Looking for the Nutrients,
For a healthy life.
Inside every fat person is a skinny person,
Starving to death.
Eating garbage!
---------------------------------------------
Wow, what else can one say...
www.vhemt.org
Sure, there are corpirates, but I don't put much "direction" to their actions. It is inevitable, it is greed, we are all driven by our tastes (sugar, fat, alcohol, drugs, whatever), and the marketing crowd take advantage of our weaknesses, while their manufacturing brethern serve us their muck...to make a buck not to keep our class powerlessness from being evident.
Posted by: williameon on Aug 28, 2007 6:31 AM
In this fake society.
Where we let a Cor‘pirates’ ruin everything
They have ruined our diet also.
For Greed!
There is no accountability
They know that poor diet, pollutants and stress causes disease.
What is, is.
That’s the way
That’s the way
On Ha!
They like it.
Sick people make them happy and rich.
Raking in huge profits for theAMAPharmaceuticalsAndFaux Food Companies.
It’s so easy to make and completely nutrition less also!
The Nutrition less diet!
Boxes filled with fullers and poison,
Never meant to be eaten by man!
Read the label!
In this situation less is more.
The shorter the list of ingredients
The better it is!
In fact fresh fruits, vegetables and foods without any labels are best of all!
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Flax Seed Oil.
Brown rice.
Stone Ground Flour
Whole Grains
Rolled oats.
Dried fruits and nuts.
These are all Manna.
Food of the Gods!
The Corpirates want sick ignorant peons.
To pillage and plunder.
Where’s the Information?
Where’s the BEEF?
That:Hydrogenated oils
High Fructose Corn syrup
And
Overly refined White flour
Are
POISON.
Clogging the minds,
bodies and arteries of our friends.
Nobody seems to know why our country
Is being over run with FAT people.
Child hood diabetes is epidemic!
Kindergartens are Fat farms!
People are literally eating themselves to death
Looking for the Nutrients,
For a healthy life.
Inside every fat person is a skinny person,
Starving to death.
Eating garbage!
---------------------------------------------
Wow, what else can one say...
www.vhemt.org
Sure, there are corpirates, but I don't put much "direction" to their actions. It is inevitable, it is greed, we are all driven by our tastes (sugar, fat, alcohol, drugs, whatever), and the marketing crowd take advantage of our weaknesses, while their manufacturing brethern serve us their muck...to make a buck not to keep our class powerlessness from being evident.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Evangelism and The Military - "We are confronting the Christian Taliban, period!"
The U.S. Military has been a place where necessity overcame societal norms. Blacks served, then civil rights happened...currently gays are being examined as the next group to have their pariah status lifted, both recognizing the changes in society, and preceeding them to some degree.
This article details a very very disturbing trend, an evangelistic bent within the U.S. Military.
When a force as unstoppable as the US Military is even potenitally controlled or even influenced by a philosophy that sees the imminent end of the world as a real possibility that is a problem...
Fringe Evangelicals Distort US Military Policy
By Thomas D. Williams and JP Briggs II, Ph.D. t r u t h o u t Special Report
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082407R.shtml
"He shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide for strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more;"
- Micah, Chapter 4, The Bible
"And make not Allah because of your swearing (by Him) an obstacle to your doing good and guarding (against evil) and making peace between men, and Allah is Hearing, Knowing."
- The Koran
For decades, especially since the end of the Vietnam War, the US military has been wrestling with aggressive sects of doomsday Christians demanding control and conversions of those of other faiths as well as nonbelievers within the armed forces.
Even beyond this high-pressure hard sell, those Judgment Day, apocalyptic Christian leaders, with followings estimated at 40 million parishioners, have urged public officials on all levels to wage war with Israel's enemies. Sometimes they and others even send their followers into dangerous war zones to preach their faith and risk lives. In at least one case, the Pentagon is supporting a Christian evangelistic group's efforts to promote itself inside the Muslim-dominated Iraq war zone.
The end-time evangelists' aggressive domestic and foreign relations stances have frequently caught the ears of President George W. Bush and those within his administration, as well as a large cadre of influential congressmen.
"The rise of evangelicalism in today's armed forces can trace its roots to the Viet Nam War," writes US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel William Millonig. "Public support for the war declined steadily as the years wore on, but evangelical Christians remained generally supportive of the war throughout. Over the course of the war, they found themselves progressively more aligned with the military - a military which increasingly found itself isolated from the general population." Millonig's March 2006 US Army War College piece is titled: "The Impact of Religious and Political Affiliation on Strategic Military Decisions and Policy Recommendations."
Initially willing to be interviewed, Millonig ultimately refused to discuss his article. His refusal came after he spoke with an Air Force superior who said it is inappropriate for Millonig to comment about anything unrelated to his current job, said a US Army War College spokeswoman, Carol Kerr.
"After the Vietnam War, there was disenchantment with military service by the mainline religions, because the war began to look like an unjust war," said retired US Army Chaplain Herman Keizer Jr. "The military chaplains were not talking about that, and the churches thought they should," explained Keizer, chairman of the National Conference on Ministry to the Armed Forces. Then, he explained, with the advent of the all-volunteer Army, evangelical military chaplains began to increase, because their faith encouraged young people into the ministry and a vocation like military service to actively proclaim their beliefs to others.
Keizer, however, emphasized that more moderate evangelicals, as represented by the powerful National Evangelical Association, have been an influential voice for wartime justice for enemy prisoners. And, to promote peace, in late July the organization agreed to hold discussions in the nation's capital with Muslim leaders, with 14 evangelical preachers on one side and 12 US-based Arab diplomats on the other, The Washington Post reported. More than a year earlier, the organization called for religious freedom within the military.
On the other hand, the promotion of powerful Christian religious fundamentalist voices and religious conversions within the Armed Forces, especially encouraged and engineered by end-time evangelical Christians, has become a focus of concern among many other religious leaders. That concern heightened particularly after 9/11, when Islamic terrorists attacked New York City's World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. Less than a month later, on October 7, 2001, President George W. Bush launched the so-called war on terror with attacks on al-Qaeda camps and Taliban installations in Afghanistan. And, as the heated conflict in Afghanistan temporarily subsided, the Bush administration extended the "terror war" by invading Iraq on March 20, 2003.
Since 9/11, US officials, religious leaders, the press and the public have focused a continuous stream of criticism at religious Muslim fundamentalists. But, what has been largely glossed over by some in the public, media and government are the unrelenting cries for aggressive US military attacks by end-time US evangelicals such as Pastor John Hagee, not only against Islamic extremists, but also against Iran, Syria and the Palestinians threatening Israel.
This pressure for warlike behavior comes from two types of end-time Christians. The "dispensationalists" insist that true believers will be "raptured" into heaven just before a catastrophic war between "left behind" believers and the forces of the Antichrist. "Dominionist" end-timers presuppose that the United States, as a Christian nation, will act as a special representative of God in the final battles. The Dominionists forge on toward the construction, or "reconstruction," of an American theocracy to fulfill God's end-time plan. The two brands cross over and blend. Collectively, they call themselves Christian Zionists to affirm their support of Israel's control over the holy lands.
As war cries from Islamic terrorists and end-time Christians create a danger for ever-expanding religious battles in the Middle East, a small cadre of Christian and Muslim leaders has become alarmed.
"The most basic Christian commitment ... is that we say we believe in the Lordship of Jesus. But, if we claim that, how can a Muslim or Jew trust us, if we say Jesus is the Lord of all Lords?" asked Professor Lee Camp, a Lipscomb University theologian, last November at an interfaith gathering in Nashville, Tenn. "We need to forsake the Christendom model," Camp said. In its place, he explained, should be an international ideal, allowing leaders and members of all faiths to live in peace and communicate.
In February, Louis Farrakhan, 73, leader of The Nation of Islam, insisted the world was at war because followers of contrasting faiths did not understand one another. Jesus Christ and Muhammad would embrace with love if they were on the stage behind him today, he exclaimed. "Our lips are full of praise, but our hearts are far removed from the prophets we all claim," Al Jazeera quoted Farrakhan as saying.
Proselytizing by end-time Christians and others within the military has become a crucial issue within the armed forces, especially during the past half decade. And, US military leadership, influenced by war-encouraging, right-wing evangelists, endangers complex Middle East diplomacy efforts.
"To proselytize in this (military) environment is not allowed except as the individual asks (for it), said retired US Navy Chaplain Victor Smith, a Christian Scientist. "For example, the use of the name of Jesus in public prayers with a mixed congregation such as at a command or official function is prohibited," he said. "Most of the chaplains who pray, and rightly so, pray on behalf of the congregation, as well as with the congregation," said Smith. "Every single person in the military should be protected in every way, physically, sexually and spiritually, while they are serving their country. They already put their lives on the line in warfare. The damage from forcing religion on the unwilling is very deep emotionally. Well, have you ever talked to a rape victim? It's not quite that physical, but it sure is spiritually."
Smith pointed out, "There is a small subset of these faith groups that foster some more extreme views to others and sometimes punish those who don't follow their faith stances." He added, "They include some conservative wings of Baptists and others. These individuals, both lay and apparently some chaplains, say: 'You are not a good soldier unless you believe in my preachings and my faith. '"
While Smith confined religious aggressors to that "small subset," others watching closely for military religious territorial scuffles feel the right-wing evangelical clique is larger and more powerful.
Small or large, officials of the Department of Defense, at least in one telltale instance, are promoting an aggressive Christian group that promises to bring its views in a "crusade" to Iraq. Operation Straight Up "is working to help military children and families become stronger through faith-based entertainment," wrote The American Forces Press Service in April. The story appeared on the America Supports You Internet site sponsored by the Pentagon. It was initially reported in an outside publication by The Nation.
Operation Straight Up is evangelical. Its leaders are former boxer and kick boxer Jonathan Spinks and Hollywood actor Stephen Baldwin.
Here's what Spinks's website said about its potential operations in Iraq: "On the most dangerous soil in our world, we're taking a team of performers, professional athletes, and evangelists on a mission that will be both entertaining, as well as lend tremendous solitude to our men and women stationed in this war-torn country of Iraq. We are most excited about this crusade and yes we are willing to go to the front lines with a very encouraging word straight from God, to our troops. We feel the forces of heaven have encouraged us to perform multiple crusades that will sweep through this war-torn region. We'll hold the only religious crusade of its size in the dangerous land of Iraq." The link, describing these "crusade" plans, became difficult to fetch after emails questioning the "crusade" were sent to its advertised contact: admin@jspinks.org and to the Defense Department. The Spinks site, which does not have a telephone contact number, did not answer repeated emails with queries for this article.
Asked if the Pentagon is lending support or security for these crusading efforts, a Defense Department health records public affairs spokesman, who declined to be identified, said: "There are none. OSU has stated its desire to go and we have suggested ways in which they can arrange that for themselves." Asked whether the Defense Department's announced public support for the Christian evangelistic Operation Straight Up in the Defense Department site, in light of its announced "crusade" inside Iraq, is in violation of federal separation of church and state guidelines, he said: "The Department of Defense is committed to upholding the Constitution of the United States. My oath of office swears me to uphold it." Department rules prevent its officials from sanctioning personal participation with a non-governmental organization. They forbid granting a selective benefit or preferential treatment to any organization. Its officials are constrained by federal law from promoting any specific religious group.
The spokesman also explained the department's support for Operation Straight up by saying: "America Supports You connects Americans supportive of our troops with organizations that are devoted to helping the troops and their families, while also providing a one-stop location on the Internet at www.AmericaSupportsYou.mil where our military and their families can find hundreds of support organizations eager to help our heroes when they need it most. More than 250 home front groups, representing communities from coast to coast, have joined the America Supports You team to support the troops in many ways, including writing letters and emails, sending care packages and assisting military families or helping the wounded when they return home."
However, after an ABC segment on Operation Straight Up, the Defense Department prevented the sending of a controversial video game promoted by the evangelical group to service members in Iraq. The game depicts a film about the battle of Armageddon, in which believers of Jesus Christ fight the Antichrist.
Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, an Air Force Academy graduate and former assistant general counsel for former President Ronald Reagan, said his organization intends to sue the Defense Department over its support of Operation Straight Up. He is vociferous about what he considers such saturated fundamentalist domination within the military.
"What we are seeing is an imperious, fascistic contagion of unconstitutional religious triumphalism that represents a national security threat internally to this country," he said.
"This is every bit as significant in magnitude as that presented externally by the now resurgent Taliban and al-Qaida. Let's call a spade a spade: We are confronting the Christian Taliban, period!"
Weinstein has worked intensively through his foundation to battle the influential forces of Christian end-timers and other religious zealots. His foundation recently announced it is filing a federal lawsuit challenging alleged US military participation in a three-day evangelical Christian gathering in Georgia. It quotes the organizers, Task Force Patriot USA's Internet web site as saying it exists "for the purpose of sharing the fullness of life in Jesus Christ with all US military, military veterans and families," and exclaiming that "Christ is our Commander-in-Chief."
Jim Freeman, the Task Force's founder, said Weinstein "is driving a 'wedge' within the military ranks that will ultimately weaken the strength of our military forces. If Task Force Patriot set out to do the same things he is doing, he would scream violently and file more complaints. Our organization has done nothing of a clandestine nature. Our web site has been up for nearly nine years, clearly stating our position as a Christian Veteran To Veteran Outreach. My question is simply this: Does Mikey Weinstein have enough troops that support his exemption of Christians in the US military to defend America against her enemies? I think not. My organization is supported by a very large majority of America's 27 million-plus US military veterans, along with their families."
Late last year, Weinstein filed a complaint with the Defense Department's Inspector General, demanding an investigation of the Christian Embassy, whose Internet video showed "senior military officers, dressed in uniform and in their Pentagon offices, openly discussing their religious commitment and their strategy to bring religion into the military." Last month, the Inspector General concluded some high-ranking officers indeed violated military regulations by participating in the Christian promotional video in uniform and within the Pentagon's offices.
The IG recommended that "the Secretary of the Air Force and the Chief of Staff of the Army consider appropriate corrective action with respect to the military officers concerned; the administrative assistant to the Secretary of the Army and the Pentagon Force Protection Agency initiate inquiries into the manner; and the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs review procedures to ensure that film crews operating within the Pentagon are appropriately escorted and monitored."
Other individual outrageous violations of the principles of the separation of church and state within the government, says Weinstein's foundation, include: "blatant displays of religious symbolism on military garb by the 523rd Fighter Squadron; placement of a biblical quotation above the door of the Air and Space Basic Course classroom at Maxwell Air Force Base; illegal use of official military email accounts to send emails containing religious rhetoric, and attempts by missionary organizations such as Force Ministries and the Officers' Christian Fellowship to create 'Christian soldiers' by training active-duty military personnel to evangelize their subordinates and peers."
Asked how strictly the Pentagon controls promotion of religious fundamentalism in the armed forces, Jonathan Withington, a Defense Department spokesman, said: "A basic principle of our nation is free exercise of religion. The Department of Defense places a high value on the rights of members of the armed forces to observe the tenets of their respective religions. It is DOD policy that requests for accommodation of religious practices should be approved by commanders when accommodation will not have an adverse impact on military readiness, unit cohesion, standards, or discipline."
The concerns of some within the military are that not only do fundamentalist Christian public pronouncements seep into top-ranking military officials, but their beliefs can infect the decision-making of those officials. For instance: evangelical Army Lt. Gen. William "Jerry" Boykin made headlines in 2003 when he said he believed America was engaged in a holy war as a "Christian nation" battling Satan. Adversaries can be defeated, he said, "Only if we come against them in the name of Jesus."
Despite his highly publicized rhetoric, Boykin remains Bush's deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence. Last February, Army Gen. Peter Pace joined with President Bush and the Fellowship Foundation, "a low-profile group that promotes Christian evangelism," to conduct a reading at the Washington, DC prayer breakfast.
With Christian evangelism at this level of the government, some worry about subconscious or even conscious decision making by these leaders at a time when the United States is "at war with Islamic extremists."
"If the armed forces' culture is allowed to stifle creativity and diversity of thought, then the strategic leader's difficult and often time-sensitive decision process may find itself with fewer courses of action from which to choose," wrote Colonel Millonig in discussing public religious proselytizing by military leadership. "Fewer choices are more easily influenced by a select group of individuals and can lead to disastrous consequences in the short term. Left unchecked, the credibility of the military's decision making and policy advice to senior civilians could steadily erode over the long term."
Millonig said his purpose in writing the academic paper "is not to analyze the validity of any individual beliefs, but to show how the rise of conservative Christian and Republican values have affected the military's decision making and policy recommendations. Whether right, wrong or indifferent - the conservative Christian voice has impacted our military. America's strategic thinkers, both military and civilian, must be aware of this trend and its potential implications on policy formulation. The role of intuition on subconscious biases and perceptions can dramatically impact the decision process."
On the other hand, Chaplain Keizer expressed full faith in the military leadership to weed out religious bias in crucial decision making and to prosecute those who force their faith on others.
"In the military, I am not sure the evangelicals pose any more of a danger than any other religion on decision making. It is the political neocons who are pushing the US to become more supportive of Israel. The military leadership appears more pragmatic, while the politicians are more activist than reflective."
He cited what he considered crucial examples of this contrast. In one instance, he said, it was Army Gen. Eric Shinseki, then chief of staff, who went against the grain of former Assistant Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz in suggesting troop strengths should be much higher in the Iraq war than the Bush administration did. He was heavily criticized by the Bush administration and retired. And, during the scandals over US military treatment of Iraqi prisoners, Keizer said, it was those within the military leadership, not US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who insisted prisoners should be treated humanely under the international Geneva Convention. In one instance, a dozen retired generals wrote the US Senate Judicial Committee to oppose torture tactics by the Central Intelligence Agency and the military.
Nevertheless, Colonel Millonig warns that the dangers of religious influences within the military are substantial. "America's military leaders must ensure preconceived notions based on religious or political ideology do not adversely shape the decision-making process, nor can it allow intuition based on 'automated expertise' to override an objective evaluation of relevant possibilities," he wrote. "Failure to do so can lead to an erosion of trust with civilian leadership and degrade national policy decisions."
"One of the biggest changes in politics in my lifetime is that the delusional is no longer marginal," said Bill Moyers, a journalist-commentator for the Public Broadcasting Service in a speech to Harvard Medical School in December 2004. "It has come in from the fringe, to sit in the seat of power in the Oval Office and in Congress. For the first time in our history, ideology and theology hold a monopoly of power in Washington. Theology asserts propositions that cannot be proven true; ideologues hold stoutly to a world view despite being contradicted by what is generally accepted as reality. When ideology and theology couple, their offspring are not always bad but they are always blind. And there is the danger: voters and politicians alike, oblivious to the facts." Moyers is an ordained Baptist minister.
*************
JP Briggs II, Ph.D. is a Distinguished CSU professor at Western Connecticut State University, specializing in creative process. A former reporter for the Hartford Courant and coordinator of the journalism program at WCSU, he is currently senior editor of the intellectual journal "The Connecticut Review." His books include "Fire in the Crucible" (St. Martins Press); "Fractals, the Patterns of Chaos" Simon and Schuster), and "Trickster Tales" (Fine Tooth Press), among others. Email: profbriggs@comcast.net.
Thomas "Dennie" Williams is a former state and federal court reporter, specializing in investigations, for the Hartford Courant. Since the 1970s, he has written extensively about irregularities in the Connecticut Superior Court, Probate Court systems for disciplining both judges and lawyers for misconduct and the failures of the Pentagon and the VA to assist sick veterans returning from war. He can be reached at denniew@optonline.net.
This article details a very very disturbing trend, an evangelistic bent within the U.S. Military.
When a force as unstoppable as the US Military is even potenitally controlled or even influenced by a philosophy that sees the imminent end of the world as a real possibility that is a problem...
Fringe Evangelicals Distort US Military Policy
By Thomas D. Williams and JP Briggs II, Ph.D. t r u t h o u t Special Report
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082407R.shtml
"He shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide for strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more;"
- Micah, Chapter 4, The Bible
"And make not Allah because of your swearing (by Him) an obstacle to your doing good and guarding (against evil) and making peace between men, and Allah is Hearing, Knowing."
- The Koran
For decades, especially since the end of the Vietnam War, the US military has been wrestling with aggressive sects of doomsday Christians demanding control and conversions of those of other faiths as well as nonbelievers within the armed forces.
Even beyond this high-pressure hard sell, those Judgment Day, apocalyptic Christian leaders, with followings estimated at 40 million parishioners, have urged public officials on all levels to wage war with Israel's enemies. Sometimes they and others even send their followers into dangerous war zones to preach their faith and risk lives. In at least one case, the Pentagon is supporting a Christian evangelistic group's efforts to promote itself inside the Muslim-dominated Iraq war zone.
The end-time evangelists' aggressive domestic and foreign relations stances have frequently caught the ears of President George W. Bush and those within his administration, as well as a large cadre of influential congressmen.
"The rise of evangelicalism in today's armed forces can trace its roots to the Viet Nam War," writes US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel William Millonig. "Public support for the war declined steadily as the years wore on, but evangelical Christians remained generally supportive of the war throughout. Over the course of the war, they found themselves progressively more aligned with the military - a military which increasingly found itself isolated from the general population." Millonig's March 2006 US Army War College piece is titled: "The Impact of Religious and Political Affiliation on Strategic Military Decisions and Policy Recommendations."
Initially willing to be interviewed, Millonig ultimately refused to discuss his article. His refusal came after he spoke with an Air Force superior who said it is inappropriate for Millonig to comment about anything unrelated to his current job, said a US Army War College spokeswoman, Carol Kerr.
"After the Vietnam War, there was disenchantment with military service by the mainline religions, because the war began to look like an unjust war," said retired US Army Chaplain Herman Keizer Jr. "The military chaplains were not talking about that, and the churches thought they should," explained Keizer, chairman of the National Conference on Ministry to the Armed Forces. Then, he explained, with the advent of the all-volunteer Army, evangelical military chaplains began to increase, because their faith encouraged young people into the ministry and a vocation like military service to actively proclaim their beliefs to others.
Keizer, however, emphasized that more moderate evangelicals, as represented by the powerful National Evangelical Association, have been an influential voice for wartime justice for enemy prisoners. And, to promote peace, in late July the organization agreed to hold discussions in the nation's capital with Muslim leaders, with 14 evangelical preachers on one side and 12 US-based Arab diplomats on the other, The Washington Post reported. More than a year earlier, the organization called for religious freedom within the military.
On the other hand, the promotion of powerful Christian religious fundamentalist voices and religious conversions within the Armed Forces, especially encouraged and engineered by end-time evangelical Christians, has become a focus of concern among many other religious leaders. That concern heightened particularly after 9/11, when Islamic terrorists attacked New York City's World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. Less than a month later, on October 7, 2001, President George W. Bush launched the so-called war on terror with attacks on al-Qaeda camps and Taliban installations in Afghanistan. And, as the heated conflict in Afghanistan temporarily subsided, the Bush administration extended the "terror war" by invading Iraq on March 20, 2003.
Since 9/11, US officials, religious leaders, the press and the public have focused a continuous stream of criticism at religious Muslim fundamentalists. But, what has been largely glossed over by some in the public, media and government are the unrelenting cries for aggressive US military attacks by end-time US evangelicals such as Pastor John Hagee, not only against Islamic extremists, but also against Iran, Syria and the Palestinians threatening Israel.
This pressure for warlike behavior comes from two types of end-time Christians. The "dispensationalists" insist that true believers will be "raptured" into heaven just before a catastrophic war between "left behind" believers and the forces of the Antichrist. "Dominionist" end-timers presuppose that the United States, as a Christian nation, will act as a special representative of God in the final battles. The Dominionists forge on toward the construction, or "reconstruction," of an American theocracy to fulfill God's end-time plan. The two brands cross over and blend. Collectively, they call themselves Christian Zionists to affirm their support of Israel's control over the holy lands.
As war cries from Islamic terrorists and end-time Christians create a danger for ever-expanding religious battles in the Middle East, a small cadre of Christian and Muslim leaders has become alarmed.
"The most basic Christian commitment ... is that we say we believe in the Lordship of Jesus. But, if we claim that, how can a Muslim or Jew trust us, if we say Jesus is the Lord of all Lords?" asked Professor Lee Camp, a Lipscomb University theologian, last November at an interfaith gathering in Nashville, Tenn. "We need to forsake the Christendom model," Camp said. In its place, he explained, should be an international ideal, allowing leaders and members of all faiths to live in peace and communicate.
In February, Louis Farrakhan, 73, leader of The Nation of Islam, insisted the world was at war because followers of contrasting faiths did not understand one another. Jesus Christ and Muhammad would embrace with love if they were on the stage behind him today, he exclaimed. "Our lips are full of praise, but our hearts are far removed from the prophets we all claim," Al Jazeera quoted Farrakhan as saying.
Proselytizing by end-time Christians and others within the military has become a crucial issue within the armed forces, especially during the past half decade. And, US military leadership, influenced by war-encouraging, right-wing evangelists, endangers complex Middle East diplomacy efforts.
"To proselytize in this (military) environment is not allowed except as the individual asks (for it), said retired US Navy Chaplain Victor Smith, a Christian Scientist. "For example, the use of the name of Jesus in public prayers with a mixed congregation such as at a command or official function is prohibited," he said. "Most of the chaplains who pray, and rightly so, pray on behalf of the congregation, as well as with the congregation," said Smith. "Every single person in the military should be protected in every way, physically, sexually and spiritually, while they are serving their country. They already put their lives on the line in warfare. The damage from forcing religion on the unwilling is very deep emotionally. Well, have you ever talked to a rape victim? It's not quite that physical, but it sure is spiritually."
Smith pointed out, "There is a small subset of these faith groups that foster some more extreme views to others and sometimes punish those who don't follow their faith stances." He added, "They include some conservative wings of Baptists and others. These individuals, both lay and apparently some chaplains, say: 'You are not a good soldier unless you believe in my preachings and my faith. '"
While Smith confined religious aggressors to that "small subset," others watching closely for military religious territorial scuffles feel the right-wing evangelical clique is larger and more powerful.
Small or large, officials of the Department of Defense, at least in one telltale instance, are promoting an aggressive Christian group that promises to bring its views in a "crusade" to Iraq. Operation Straight Up "is working to help military children and families become stronger through faith-based entertainment," wrote The American Forces Press Service in April. The story appeared on the America Supports You Internet site sponsored by the Pentagon. It was initially reported in an outside publication by The Nation.
Operation Straight Up is evangelical. Its leaders are former boxer and kick boxer Jonathan Spinks and Hollywood actor Stephen Baldwin.
Here's what Spinks's website said about its potential operations in Iraq: "On the most dangerous soil in our world, we're taking a team of performers, professional athletes, and evangelists on a mission that will be both entertaining, as well as lend tremendous solitude to our men and women stationed in this war-torn country of Iraq. We are most excited about this crusade and yes we are willing to go to the front lines with a very encouraging word straight from God, to our troops. We feel the forces of heaven have encouraged us to perform multiple crusades that will sweep through this war-torn region. We'll hold the only religious crusade of its size in the dangerous land of Iraq." The link, describing these "crusade" plans, became difficult to fetch after emails questioning the "crusade" were sent to its advertised contact: admin@jspinks.org and to the Defense Department. The Spinks site, which does not have a telephone contact number, did not answer repeated emails with queries for this article.
Asked if the Pentagon is lending support or security for these crusading efforts, a Defense Department health records public affairs spokesman, who declined to be identified, said: "There are none. OSU has stated its desire to go and we have suggested ways in which they can arrange that for themselves." Asked whether the Defense Department's announced public support for the Christian evangelistic Operation Straight Up in the Defense Department site, in light of its announced "crusade" inside Iraq, is in violation of federal separation of church and state guidelines, he said: "The Department of Defense is committed to upholding the Constitution of the United States. My oath of office swears me to uphold it." Department rules prevent its officials from sanctioning personal participation with a non-governmental organization. They forbid granting a selective benefit or preferential treatment to any organization. Its officials are constrained by federal law from promoting any specific religious group.
The spokesman also explained the department's support for Operation Straight up by saying: "America Supports You connects Americans supportive of our troops with organizations that are devoted to helping the troops and their families, while also providing a one-stop location on the Internet at www.AmericaSupportsYou.mil where our military and their families can find hundreds of support organizations eager to help our heroes when they need it most. More than 250 home front groups, representing communities from coast to coast, have joined the America Supports You team to support the troops in many ways, including writing letters and emails, sending care packages and assisting military families or helping the wounded when they return home."
However, after an ABC segment on Operation Straight Up, the Defense Department prevented the sending of a controversial video game promoted by the evangelical group to service members in Iraq. The game depicts a film about the battle of Armageddon, in which believers of Jesus Christ fight the Antichrist.
Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, an Air Force Academy graduate and former assistant general counsel for former President Ronald Reagan, said his organization intends to sue the Defense Department over its support of Operation Straight Up. He is vociferous about what he considers such saturated fundamentalist domination within the military.
"What we are seeing is an imperious, fascistic contagion of unconstitutional religious triumphalism that represents a national security threat internally to this country," he said.
"This is every bit as significant in magnitude as that presented externally by the now resurgent Taliban and al-Qaida. Let's call a spade a spade: We are confronting the Christian Taliban, period!"
Weinstein has worked intensively through his foundation to battle the influential forces of Christian end-timers and other religious zealots. His foundation recently announced it is filing a federal lawsuit challenging alleged US military participation in a three-day evangelical Christian gathering in Georgia. It quotes the organizers, Task Force Patriot USA's Internet web site as saying it exists "for the purpose of sharing the fullness of life in Jesus Christ with all US military, military veterans and families," and exclaiming that "Christ is our Commander-in-Chief."
Jim Freeman, the Task Force's founder, said Weinstein "is driving a 'wedge' within the military ranks that will ultimately weaken the strength of our military forces. If Task Force Patriot set out to do the same things he is doing, he would scream violently and file more complaints. Our organization has done nothing of a clandestine nature. Our web site has been up for nearly nine years, clearly stating our position as a Christian Veteran To Veteran Outreach. My question is simply this: Does Mikey Weinstein have enough troops that support his exemption of Christians in the US military to defend America against her enemies? I think not. My organization is supported by a very large majority of America's 27 million-plus US military veterans, along with their families."
Late last year, Weinstein filed a complaint with the Defense Department's Inspector General, demanding an investigation of the Christian Embassy, whose Internet video showed "senior military officers, dressed in uniform and in their Pentagon offices, openly discussing their religious commitment and their strategy to bring religion into the military." Last month, the Inspector General concluded some high-ranking officers indeed violated military regulations by participating in the Christian promotional video in uniform and within the Pentagon's offices.
The IG recommended that "the Secretary of the Air Force and the Chief of Staff of the Army consider appropriate corrective action with respect to the military officers concerned; the administrative assistant to the Secretary of the Army and the Pentagon Force Protection Agency initiate inquiries into the manner; and the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs review procedures to ensure that film crews operating within the Pentagon are appropriately escorted and monitored."
Other individual outrageous violations of the principles of the separation of church and state within the government, says Weinstein's foundation, include: "blatant displays of religious symbolism on military garb by the 523rd Fighter Squadron; placement of a biblical quotation above the door of the Air and Space Basic Course classroom at Maxwell Air Force Base; illegal use of official military email accounts to send emails containing religious rhetoric, and attempts by missionary organizations such as Force Ministries and the Officers' Christian Fellowship to create 'Christian soldiers' by training active-duty military personnel to evangelize their subordinates and peers."
Asked how strictly the Pentagon controls promotion of religious fundamentalism in the armed forces, Jonathan Withington, a Defense Department spokesman, said: "A basic principle of our nation is free exercise of religion. The Department of Defense places a high value on the rights of members of the armed forces to observe the tenets of their respective religions. It is DOD policy that requests for accommodation of religious practices should be approved by commanders when accommodation will not have an adverse impact on military readiness, unit cohesion, standards, or discipline."
The concerns of some within the military are that not only do fundamentalist Christian public pronouncements seep into top-ranking military officials, but their beliefs can infect the decision-making of those officials. For instance: evangelical Army Lt. Gen. William "Jerry" Boykin made headlines in 2003 when he said he believed America was engaged in a holy war as a "Christian nation" battling Satan. Adversaries can be defeated, he said, "Only if we come against them in the name of Jesus."
Despite his highly publicized rhetoric, Boykin remains Bush's deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence. Last February, Army Gen. Peter Pace joined with President Bush and the Fellowship Foundation, "a low-profile group that promotes Christian evangelism," to conduct a reading at the Washington, DC prayer breakfast.
With Christian evangelism at this level of the government, some worry about subconscious or even conscious decision making by these leaders at a time when the United States is "at war with Islamic extremists."
"If the armed forces' culture is allowed to stifle creativity and diversity of thought, then the strategic leader's difficult and often time-sensitive decision process may find itself with fewer courses of action from which to choose," wrote Colonel Millonig in discussing public religious proselytizing by military leadership. "Fewer choices are more easily influenced by a select group of individuals and can lead to disastrous consequences in the short term. Left unchecked, the credibility of the military's decision making and policy advice to senior civilians could steadily erode over the long term."
Millonig said his purpose in writing the academic paper "is not to analyze the validity of any individual beliefs, but to show how the rise of conservative Christian and Republican values have affected the military's decision making and policy recommendations. Whether right, wrong or indifferent - the conservative Christian voice has impacted our military. America's strategic thinkers, both military and civilian, must be aware of this trend and its potential implications on policy formulation. The role of intuition on subconscious biases and perceptions can dramatically impact the decision process."
On the other hand, Chaplain Keizer expressed full faith in the military leadership to weed out religious bias in crucial decision making and to prosecute those who force their faith on others.
"In the military, I am not sure the evangelicals pose any more of a danger than any other religion on decision making. It is the political neocons who are pushing the US to become more supportive of Israel. The military leadership appears more pragmatic, while the politicians are more activist than reflective."
He cited what he considered crucial examples of this contrast. In one instance, he said, it was Army Gen. Eric Shinseki, then chief of staff, who went against the grain of former Assistant Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz in suggesting troop strengths should be much higher in the Iraq war than the Bush administration did. He was heavily criticized by the Bush administration and retired. And, during the scandals over US military treatment of Iraqi prisoners, Keizer said, it was those within the military leadership, not US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who insisted prisoners should be treated humanely under the international Geneva Convention. In one instance, a dozen retired generals wrote the US Senate Judicial Committee to oppose torture tactics by the Central Intelligence Agency and the military.
Nevertheless, Colonel Millonig warns that the dangers of religious influences within the military are substantial. "America's military leaders must ensure preconceived notions based on religious or political ideology do not adversely shape the decision-making process, nor can it allow intuition based on 'automated expertise' to override an objective evaluation of relevant possibilities," he wrote. "Failure to do so can lead to an erosion of trust with civilian leadership and degrade national policy decisions."
"One of the biggest changes in politics in my lifetime is that the delusional is no longer marginal," said Bill Moyers, a journalist-commentator for the Public Broadcasting Service in a speech to Harvard Medical School in December 2004. "It has come in from the fringe, to sit in the seat of power in the Oval Office and in Congress. For the first time in our history, ideology and theology hold a monopoly of power in Washington. Theology asserts propositions that cannot be proven true; ideologues hold stoutly to a world view despite being contradicted by what is generally accepted as reality. When ideology and theology couple, their offspring are not always bad but they are always blind. And there is the danger: voters and politicians alike, oblivious to the facts." Moyers is an ordained Baptist minister.
*************
JP Briggs II, Ph.D. is a Distinguished CSU professor at Western Connecticut State University, specializing in creative process. A former reporter for the Hartford Courant and coordinator of the journalism program at WCSU, he is currently senior editor of the intellectual journal "The Connecticut Review." His books include "Fire in the Crucible" (St. Martins Press); "Fractals, the Patterns of Chaos" Simon and Schuster), and "Trickster Tales" (Fine Tooth Press), among others. Email: profbriggs@comcast.net.
Thomas "Dennie" Williams is a former state and federal court reporter, specializing in investigations, for the Hartford Courant. Since the 1970s, he has written extensively about irregularities in the Connecticut Superior Court, Probate Court systems for disciplining both judges and lawyers for misconduct and the failures of the Pentagon and the VA to assist sick veterans returning from war. He can be reached at denniew@optonline.net.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Bushes Should Not Have Children!!!
http://news.yahoo.com/comics/uclickcomics/20070823/cx_tr_uc/tr20070823
Jenna's kid will be 40 just about the time the world's fisheries totally fail.
He'll make a great president...
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Bush's man says draft worth a look! (SEE LAST LINE!)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070810/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/bush_war_adviser;_ylt=Arz4GX85pMQymERpsNx6235h24cA
Here's the article, don't want the archive to swallow it up...
Bush war adviser says draft worth a look
By RICHARD LARDNER Fri Aug 10, 7:06 PM ET
WASHINGTON - Frequent tours for U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan have stressed the all-volunteer force and made it worth considering a return to a military draft, President Bush's new war adviser said Friday.
"I think it makes sense to certainly consider it," Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute said in an interview with National Public Radio's "All Things Considered."
"And I can tell you, this has always been an option on the table. But ultimately, this is a policy matter between meeting the demands for the nation's security by one means or another," Lute added in his first interview since he was confirmed by the Senate in June.
President Nixon abolished the draft in 1973. Restoring it, Lute said, would be a "major policy shift" and Bush has made it clear that he doesn't think it's necessary.
"The president's position is that the all volunteer military meets the needs of the country and there is no discussion of a draft. General Lute made that point as well," National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.
In the interview, Lute also said that "Today, the current means of the all-volunteer force is serving us exceptionally well."
Still, he said the repeated deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan affect not only the troops but their families, who can influence whether a service member decides to stay in the military.
"There's both a personal dimension of this, where this kind of stress plays out across dinner tables and in living room conversations within these families," he said. "And ultimately, the health of the all-volunteer force is going to rest on those sorts of personal family decisions."
The military conducted a draft during the Civil War and both world wars and between 1948 and 1973. The Selective Service System, re-established in 1980, maintains a registry of 18-year-old men.
Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., has called for reinstating the draft as a way to end the Iraq war.
Bush picked Lute in mid-May as a deputy national security adviser with responsibility for ensuring efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan are coordinated with policymakers in Washington.
Lute, an active-duty general, was chosen after several retired generals turned down the job.
(READING BENEATH THE LINE: HE WAS ORDERED TO TAKE THE JOB SO HE'S PEEING ON THE PRESIDENT'S SHOES...GOTTA LOVE IT.)
Here's the article, don't want the archive to swallow it up...
Bush war adviser says draft worth a look
By RICHARD LARDNER Fri Aug 10, 7:06 PM ET
WASHINGTON - Frequent tours for U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan have stressed the all-volunteer force and made it worth considering a return to a military draft, President Bush's new war adviser said Friday.
"I think it makes sense to certainly consider it," Army Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute said in an interview with National Public Radio's "All Things Considered."
"And I can tell you, this has always been an option on the table. But ultimately, this is a policy matter between meeting the demands for the nation's security by one means or another," Lute added in his first interview since he was confirmed by the Senate in June.
President Nixon abolished the draft in 1973. Restoring it, Lute said, would be a "major policy shift" and Bush has made it clear that he doesn't think it's necessary.
"The president's position is that the all volunteer military meets the needs of the country and there is no discussion of a draft. General Lute made that point as well," National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.
In the interview, Lute also said that "Today, the current means of the all-volunteer force is serving us exceptionally well."
Still, he said the repeated deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan affect not only the troops but their families, who can influence whether a service member decides to stay in the military.
"There's both a personal dimension of this, where this kind of stress plays out across dinner tables and in living room conversations within these families," he said. "And ultimately, the health of the all-volunteer force is going to rest on those sorts of personal family decisions."
The military conducted a draft during the Civil War and both world wars and between 1948 and 1973. The Selective Service System, re-established in 1980, maintains a registry of 18-year-old men.
Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., has called for reinstating the draft as a way to end the Iraq war.
Bush picked Lute in mid-May as a deputy national security adviser with responsibility for ensuring efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan are coordinated with policymakers in Washington.
Lute, an active-duty general, was chosen after several retired generals turned down the job.
(READING BENEATH THE LINE: HE WAS ORDERED TO TAKE THE JOB SO HE'S PEEING ON THE PRESIDENT'S SHOES...GOTTA LOVE IT.)
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Just had a blog flash (daymare?)
Guess blogging is getting into my blood. Sure, I know that it is Posting that is in my blood. However, moments ago I had a flash, looking at my blog, and I thought I hadn't posted on a given day (today actually).
But, luckily I caught myself in time and realized it was a blogworthy moment.
I don't know rules
What can I post, what's stealing?
Must find some info!
But, luckily I caught myself in time and realized it was a blogworthy moment.
I don't know rules
What can I post, what's stealing?
Must find some info!
Saturday, May 26, 2007
The Olympians: Following their dream!
Humans dream.
We sleep for one third (if we’re lucky!) of our lives, and some of that time we spend dreaming.
What is a dream anyway?
Our dreams are difficult to characterize. Nothing concrete about them. We can only compare each other’s descriptions, as there is no “evidence” of dreaming except our own testimony.
Personally, I think dreams are but a “shadow” or an “artifact” of what is really happening, chemical processes that are required for brain and body maintenance.
Memories of dreams, even ones we awaken from and relate in great detail, are ephemeral at best, and ought not be relied upon to make life changing decisions.
However, when your spouse let’s you know that long dead grandma spoke in a dream last night, what do you do with that information?
We sleep for one third (if we’re lucky!) of our lives, and some of that time we spend dreaming.
What is a dream anyway?
Our dreams are difficult to characterize. Nothing concrete about them. We can only compare each other’s descriptions, as there is no “evidence” of dreaming except our own testimony.
Personally, I think dreams are but a “shadow” or an “artifact” of what is really happening, chemical processes that are required for brain and body maintenance.
Memories of dreams, even ones we awaken from and relate in great detail, are ephemeral at best, and ought not be relied upon to make life changing decisions.
However, when your spouse let’s you know that long dead grandma spoke in a dream last night, what do you do with that information?
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