Tag Archives: foia

Lawsuit Filed over Deception of Pentagon DADT Data

The Thomas More Law Center has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Center for Military Readiness:

The purpose of the lawsuit is to obtain records believed to show intentional deception by the Pentagon to gain congressional support for repeal of the 1993 law regarding open homosexual conduct in the military, usually called “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

The TMLC alleges the Pentagon has

engaged in a pattern of deception in its efforts to persuade Congress to allow open homosexuality in our military.

The lawsuit centers around the premise the Pentagon leaked information to the Washington Post in 2010 to sway public opinion and Congress Read more

Fort Bragg to Host Anti-Religion Band at Atheist Rock Beyond Belief

Love how they burn your synagogues…
       – Lyrics by Aiden, Rock Beyond Belief lead-in act

The band Aiden has announced it will be playing the atheist festival “Rock Beyond Belief” at Fort Bragg in March 2012, as the lead-in act to Richard Dawkins, the main attraction at the “concert.”

Never heard of them?  You’re not the only one.  But first, take a look at what the band said in their announcement [emphasis added]:

Justin Griffith, the soldier in charge of setting this up has a very interesting story to tell. The United States military had no problems funding a christian based musical event, but when it was suggested that the large number of atheists and secular humanists who are enlisted, would like to have a function of their own choosing, the top leaders at Fort Bragg decided to pull the plug on the entire thing. Cutting the funding without any reason at all, that I can see, except that maybe christians in the Army are the only ones allowed to have fun…

They fought the law and THEY WON.

Given that they attribute their information to the soldier hosting Rock Beyond Belief, Justin Griffith, its unlikely a call to correct their misinformation would go far.

For the record (again, and again), the US military did not fund a “Christian Read more

Atheist Rock Beyond Belief Books its own Franklin Grahams

Last week’s speculation that the atheist Rock Beyond Belief would likely face more struggles against US Army restrictions inspired an amazing onslaught of vitriol from the MRFF and its supporters.  That the publicity-hungry event scheduled for the end of March might have another brouhaha in its future seemed to strike a chord.

The MRFF’s Chris Rodda didn’t mince words [formatting original]:

THIS IS COMPLETE BULLSH–…

Strong words for something she supposedly considered so trivial. 

It is possible Rodda really is as ignorant as she’s implying, despite the fact her role as Michael Weinstein’s research assistant should have informed her of what problems may yet be experienced by Rock Beyond Belief.

Last year Rock Beyond Belief organizers obtained copies of documents from Rock the Fort through the Freedom of Information Act.  Though the information has always been in public view, ChristianFighterPilot.com is currently the only site to highlight this fact from the Rock the Fort After Action Report:

“The bands and speakers stayed within the parameters Read more

USAFA Follows Rules. Michael Weinstein Complains. News at 11.

As predictable as the sun rising in the East, the US Air Force Academy sent out an announcement that had a topic related to religion, and Michael Weinstein complained.

In fact, he’s “livid.”

The situation:  Apparently, Air Force Academy Chaplain (Col) Robert Bruno distributed a mass email about an upcoming ‘marriage and family seminar.’  The email was approved by the Vice Superintendent, and represented the “regularly” advertised chaplaincy programs occurring daily at USAFA.  Michael Weinstein said:

It could not possibly be clearer that the academy deserves its terrible reputation for fundamentalist Christian bias.

To be clear, even the publicized article notes the USAFA email explicitly followed (and even referenced) the Air Force Chief of Staff’s Read more

USAFA is “Done” with Michael Weinstein

Religious freedom is uniquely valued and protected by the US military.  The US Air Force Academy has done a generally admirable, if sometimes imperfect, job of defending religious freedom from those who would demand the government restrict it, like perennial USAFA critic Michael Weinstein.  Though there’s been a quiet interlude with regard to Weinstein and the Academy for a little while, Weinstein has indicated he isn’t done with USAFA yet.

But it looks like USAFA is done with him.

Michael Weinstein apparently filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the US Air Force Academy in November of last year, which was finally completed in July of this year.  He then provided the information to his apparent ally-reporter at the Colorado Springs Independent, Pam Zubeck, who started her article in the CSIndy this way:

Leaders at the Air Force Academy seem to think that dealing with some complaints about religious bias isn’t worth their time.

That’s the most obvious takeaway from several of the 2,516 pages of documents, mostly e-mails, the academy recently turned over to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation…

The first sentence out of the chute is a mischaracterization of USAFA’s Read more

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