August 21, 2008

Creeping Incidentalism Alert

Along about 4 a.m., the Blog Princess was slowly lured into something vaguely resembling consciousness by the gurgling of the coffee pot. Carefully opening a jaundiced eye, she took stock of the Clueless White Guy she graciously allows to infest the Marital Bed:

Pros:

Pays bills
Diligent about servicing cars, other things, regularly
Nice chest hair
Lots of muscles
Better than hot water bottle at night
Brings flowers and other nice things
Makes me laugh
Spider removal

Cons:

Won't admit I am always right and he is always wrong
Needs to work on the whole sarcasm thing
Won't ask for directions
Bogarts remote control
Issues with accepting authority (odd ... he seems to be fine with rank structure at work!?!)
Impractical. Spends too much of disposable income on thongs and other fripperies he can't even use.

As she studied him in the pre-dawn darkness, she tallied up the list of recent grievances in her mind, sleepily wondering what fresh hell he had in mind for her today. Men are so brutal and callous. Everyone knows women are just as strong as men; we're fully capable of coping in a man's world. So when will they finally begin to treat us as the strong, empowered equals we are?

Why don't our schools teach those knuckle draggers not to run roughshod over our delicate, flower-like sensibilities?

...in the way of explanation, much of today's ideologically driven curriculum entails group-related skin thinning. Courses in Women Studies, for example, entail leaning to see once hidden victimization, e.g., all sex is rape. Meanwhile, those enrolled in Queer Studies 101 will come to grasp that even the very idea of "normal" is a plot to stigmatize those who just want to be different. Now students "progress" into wisdom by learning to "see" oppression everywhere, and the grand prizes go to the most ingenious at sensing what have never even been imagined. Competition can be fierce, and we should note that last year's Grand Champion was a feminist scholar who proved that Darwinism is a male plot to impose the idea of competition on naturally non-competitive women.

Exactly. How are we ever going to demand our rights as equally strong equals if mean old nasty men don't *let* us compete with them on a level playing field? How are we ever going to reclaim our own self esteem if men keep making us work for it as though we had some sort of control over what we think of ourselves?

Good nightshirt. Got logic? The truth is that, as these smart, smart folks are quick to point out, Teh Patriarchy is always trying to put one over on us:


Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq who will soon take control of Central Command, has found himself embroiled in the “ongoing conflict over religious proselytizing in the U.S. military.” Petraeus’ published endorsement of an Army Chaplain’s Spiritual Handbook for Military Personnel, in which he says “it should be in every rucksack for those times when soldiers need spiritual energy,” has led a watchdog group to call for Petraeus’ dismissal and court martial. The book’s author now claims that the endorsement wasn’t meant to be published:

But the endorsement - which has spurred a demand by a watchdog group for Petraeus’ dismissal and court martial on the grounds of establishing a religious requirement on troops - was a personal view never intended for publication, the book’s author now says.

“In the process of securing … comments for recommending the book I believe there was a basic misunderstanding on my part that the comments were publishable,” McCoy said in an Aug. 19 email to Military.com. “This was my mistake.”

Mikey Weinstein, the head of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, says that it “strains credulity” that Petraeus didn’t know his private written endorsement of the book had been public since last year. But Petraeus’ spokesman Col. Steven Boylan says Petraeus was unaware because he has been in Iraq since February 2007.

"Strained credulity" is right. Everyone knows that our brave, murdering troops are not too bright, or they wouldn't be in Irak in the first place. Some people are tempted to think that people like my spousal unit may actually have IQs barely above room temperature, just because they went to good colleges and even have Masters' degrees in fields like Econometric Analysis. But in reality, this is all a clever feint, carefully arranged years ago by the BushReich.

How they did all of this in the past 8 years, I am not certain. Bush is not too smart. After all, the man choked on a pretzel for Christ's sake, and the esophagus is located pretty near the brain.

I have not figured out how the Chimp managed to fool so many people who are smarter than he is. It is one of the enduring mysteries of our time: I mean, if the man is blitheringly incompetent and inept, how does he simultaneously manage the whole fiendishly clever/Machiavellian shtick? But he did, and now he is preparing to usher in a Thousand Years of Jackbooted Theocracy. This much is obvious, because everyone knows the average military person is so dense that a single endorsement on the back of a religious book no one is forced to buy has the power to impel troops - in the field, in barracks or in garrison - posthaste to their PCs. Yes, off they'll go, lemming-like, to Amazon.com, where they will have no choice but to fork over their hard earned pay (no doubt the poor dears will have to make a choice between eating, paying the rent or being Baptized by the Light, all thanks to the oppression of one David Petraeus, Jackbooted Oppressor).

The fiend.

You know. Because military folks are all alike. They have no independent will of their own. They're incapable of distinguishing a personal opinion about a book ("I think this is a useful resource") from a direct order ("You will buy this book, or else").

Full disclosure here:

I happen to believe in God.

I haven't attended church in quite some time.

Jackbooted attempts to shut down free speech in the armed forces only make me feel like running right out and buying 50 copies of this book to spite the jackass who is making such a big deal over this. I don't believe for one second that a man who has abstained from voting in U.S. elections for years in order to remain above the appearance of partisanship would knowingly have given a written endorsement to be used in selling a book.

But even if he did, that is all it is: a personal endorsement, not a command order to purchase the book. Words have meaning:

"General Petraeus has, by his own hand, become a quintessential poster child of this fundamentalist Christian religious predation, via his unadulterated and shocking public endorsement of a book touting both Christian supremacy and exceptionalism," Weinstein told Military.com Aug. 16.

And by endorsing a book that argues only those who believe in God can fully contribute to the military mission or unit, Weinstein contends that Petraeus insults ""the integrity, character and veracity of approximately 21 percent of our armed forces members who choose not to follow any particular religious faith."

He said that even if Petraeus offered his comments personally, that's a distinction without a difference. "Privately he's denigrating 21 percent of troops," Weinstein said. Suppose he privately denigrated women, African-Americans or Jews? Weinstein asked.

"He should still be relieved of duty and court martialed," he said.

Rev. Billy Baugham, a retired Army chaplain and executive director of the International Conference of Evangelical Christian Endorsers, backs Petraeus' right to plug the book. Past generals, among them George C. Marshall and George Patton, made the case for religion in the ranks.

Marshall claimed that the Soldier's spiritual life was critical to his morale, even more than equipment, while Patton, said Baugham, had a chaplain pray for good weather for an coming battle and then submitted him for an Army Commendation Medal afterwards, when the weather turned out clear.

"So the ICECE would support what General Patreaus has done," Baugham said.

This in-Duh-vidual is doing his utmost to make the Air Force look stupid and overzealous.

Military personnel do not lose the right to their opinions when they don the uniform of the United States of America. They do not lose the right to the free exercise of religion - and more importantly, the free exercise of Christianity does not denigrate other religions. I have personally overheard religious observances in base chapels that were extremely intolerant of other religions and other ethnicities, and these religious groups were allowed to spout their divisive, openly racist, deeply troubling and hate filled messages with no repercussions because they were not Christian.

It is time for our government to stop persecuting Christians just because they can get away with it. If one religion is protected, they must all be protected. It truly is that simple.

And it is time for DoD to stop bowing to blackmail. Secretary Gates is a smart man. He needs to put his foot down.

Unless, of course, he wishes to prove the junior Senator from Massachusetts right:

Posted by Cassandra at 06:08 AM | Comments (35) | TrackBack