Tag Archives: houston

Congress to Codify Religious Rights in Funerals

Last year a Houston Veterans’ Cemetery director was accused of banning all religious references from funerals occurring at her facility (as well as using the chapel as a storage shed, among other things).  A lawsuit was filed, and settled.  The consent decree prohibited the cemetery, then run by Arleen Ocasio, and the VA from interfering with or prohibiting religious references in the ceremonies.

This year, Rep. John Culberson (R-TX) has sponsored a bill that would codify in law the ruling in that consent decree.

Problems arose in Houston when the cemetery director misinterpreted [the] law to prohibit all religious speech.  Read more

Combat from a Computer Console

The Houston Chronicle, via Military.com, has an article on Major Jon Stiles, a US Air Force Predator operator who flies out of Houston for the Texas Air National Guard.  The aircraft he controls are flying over Afghanistan and Iraq.

As similar articles have noted in the past, UAV/RPA operators certainly do not experience the same “combat” conditions as troops on the ground or even the aviators directly overhead.  That said, their actions can still have life and death impacts — immediately visible on the screen — as well as strategic implications.  There is certainly pressure and stress, though perhaps in a way not yet fully comprehended by the military.