US Navy Names First Ship for Homosexual

Though the idea of a USS Harvey Milk — to be named for a homosexual activist — never left port, a few have already noted the US Navy just decided to name an upcoming ship for a homosexual:

Mabus named the future R/V Sally Ride (AGOR 28), which will be a Neil Armstrong-class AGOR ship, to honor the memory of Sally Ride, a professor, scientist and an innovator at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego.  Ride was the first woman and also the youngest person in space.  She later served as director of NASA’s Office of Exploration.

Following her death on 23 July 2012, Ride’s obituary was the first public Read more

The Transgender Push for Equality Begins

From the Huffington Post:

As the combat exclusion for women comes to an end and open service for gay, lesbian and bisexual Americans edges closer to truly equal service, it becomes more and more obvious that there is no longer any rational basis on which to bar qualified transgender people from serving in our armed forces…

If “valor knows no gender” …and if men and women really can be accommodated simultaneously under close combat conditions without a negative impact on war-fighting ability, then there is no reason other than prejudice for the transgender exclusion to remain.

The author, Allyson D. Robinson of the homosexual military advocacy group OutServe-SLDN, uses familiar phrases to justify his argument:  Read more

Congressman “Grills” SecDef over Christians in Military

US Rep Randy Forbes (R-Va) reportedly “grilled” relatively new Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel over

a steady stream of religious discrimination complaints over the past four years from Christian soldiers.

For his part, Secretary Hagel said he’d have to get back to the Congressman:

Hagel said he had no idea what the congressman was talking about.

“I don’t know about all the specifics of the information you presented,” he told the lawmaker. “I will get it. And I will find out about it.”

When asked if the DoD was enforcing section 533 of the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act, signed into law by President Obama, Secretary Hagel again pled ignorance Read more

Albert Mohler on Homosexuals and Morality

Dr. Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, has a lengthy but fascinating article on the argument against “homosexual marriage” from a perspective outside of morality.  Importantly, he brings up an interesting discussion on the “revisionist” view of marriage which

is vitally important, even essential, to any conversation about marriage in our modern context, for it points far beyond the issue of same-sex marriage to the prior assaults on conjugal marriage brought by no-fault divorce and the replacement of personal responsibility with mere personal autonomy. Sadly, the revisionist view of marriage is embraced by millions of heterosexual couples, married and unmarried, but it is essential to the very idea of same-sex marriage.

He also notes what has been said here several times before (much to one or two people’s chagrin), and was first intimated by Justice Antonin Scalia:  Read more

Catholic Nuns as US Military Chaplains?

Dr. Jennifer Bryson, a guest writer at the Washington Post and research professor at the US Army War College, oversteps her expertise in a recent article, saying:

It is time for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA to consider allowing nuns to serve as U.S. military chaplains.

She claims she has heard three main criticisms when she has made this argument in the past:

First I hear, “But women can’t celebrate Mass.” Of course not…Second I hear, “Oh no, all nuns are liberal!”…Third I hear, “No woman would want to serve in the military as a Catholic chaplain.”

Those criticisms are irrelevant.  More to the point is the criticism the Military Archdiocese lacks the authority she demands it assume:  The US military has rules, procedures, Read more

The Military as a Mission Field

A US Army article from Afghanistan covers the “Teach-Love-Care” aspect of the military chaplaincy.  Several chaplains are quoted discussing unique and interesting aspects of the chaplain field:

On exposure to varying religious beliefs in the military:

“As a civilian minister, I was very church oriented, always surrounded by Christians. There wasn’t much chance to go out and meet people of other beliefs,” said U.S. Army chaplain Capt. Soojin Chang, a Southern Baptist chaplain…”But in the Army, I don’t have to go out and search for these people. They come to me and we discuss about our belief. There is a mutual respect with each other.”

On troops openness to faith:  Read more

North Dakota Law Essentially Bans Abortion

Though it carries many exceptions, North Dakota recently passed a law that is so restrictive on abortion it in some regards essentially bans it:

Gov. Jack Dalrymple…signed into law…

— The earliest state abortion ban, one based on an unborn child’s heartbeat, which could be as soon as six weeks into gestation;

— The first state law to prohibit abortion on the basis of a genetic irregularity in the unborn baby.

That second note is specifically aimed at Read more

DoD says Purple Hearts would Prejudice Hasan Trial

The Department of Defense has told Congress that their bills aimed at granting combat wounded status — Purple Hearts — to the victims of the Fort Hood massacre would prejudice his court-martial:

Passage of this legislation could directly and indirectly influence potential court-martial panel members, witnesses, or the chain of command, all of whom exercise a critical role under the [UCMJ].  Defense counsel will argue that Major Hasan cannot receive a fair trial because a branch of government has indirectly declared that Major Hasan is a terrorist — that he is criminally culpable.

This must be one of the awkward results of the “fairness” of the American judicial system.  Everyone “knows” he did it.  Hasan has even tried to plead guilty, and would Read more

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