Tag Archives: Senate

Michael Weinstein Inspires Congressional Action, Part 2

Update: Weinstein responded:

Weinstein is the kind of guy who revels in the dislike of his adversaries.

“How terrified are these little pu***es in Congress that they have to pass an amendment about me?” he shouted in a phone interview from the foundation’s headquarters in Albuquerque, N.M., using a putdown associated with a woman’s genitalia.

Always classy.

In the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act, US Rep John Fleming successfully changed the 2013 NDAA wording after the US Air Force appeared to be acting as a part of Michael Weinstein’s Military Religious Freedom Foundation’s self-described “war” on Christians.

Weinstein also inspired US Rep Tim Huelskamp (R-Ks) to add an amendment of his own which would require the Department of Defense to report to Congress every time it met with an outside group for the purpose of

writing, revising, issuing, implementing, enforcing, or seeking advice, input, or counsel regarding military policy related to religious liberty.

This was clearly in response to Weinstein’s 23 April meeting with the JAG of the US Air Force, among others, which Weinstein bragged about to his like-minded media arm, Sally Quinn.  Rep Huelskamp even called it a “rebuke” of “anti-Christian zealot Michael Weinstein.”

The MRFF has sarcastically embraced this amendment, because it would “force” the DoD to report on its meetings with groups like Chaplain endorsers:  Read more

Michael Weinstein Inspires Congressional Action, Part 1

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s recent attacks on religious freedom — and the apparent subservience of the US Air Force to his every whim — have inspired the US Congress to write opposition to Weinstein into law.  Twice.

In the first, US Rep John Fleming (R-La.) successfully inserted language into the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act that would be more explicit than that which was in the 2013 version — and which was subsequently dismissed in a “signing statement” by President Obama.  (According to reports, the Department of Defense has yet to produce regulations implementing the provision, as required.)  Rep Fleming’s amendment, Section 530, says [wording changes from 2013 highlighted]:  Read more

General Welsh Connects Social Mores, Sexual Assault Trends

Update: USAF Public Affairs took the somewhat unusual step of contributing to the comments sections of a few articles that derided Gen Welsh’s comments.  LtCol John Sheets issued the following statement on behalf of the CSAF:

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Welsh III gave the following statement to clarify what he meant in using the phrase ‘hook up mentality’ to describe the culture from which the military recruits its people: “My reference was certainly not blaming the victim; it was based on some young men treating young women with a complete lack of respect. There is no place for sexual
assault in our Air Force and we’re committed to solving this problem. As I’ve said to our Airmen many times, you’re either part of the solution or you’re part of the problem.”

– Lt Col John Sheets, Air Force Public Affairs

That seems consistent with the fair reading of his original statement (for which the Washington Post provided more context).  Young men and women treat each other with a lack of respect in the modern social context of sex.  They then bring that into the Air Force, and the Air Force has to deal with it.

On Tuesday General Mark Welsh, Chief of Staff of the US Air Force, appeared to indicate that the moral culture of society was having an impact on the culture of the Air Force:

In testimony Tuesday before the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Air Force’s top commander, Gen. Mark A. Welsh III, appeared to blame broader society, noting that 20% of women report they had been sexually assaulted “before they came into the military.”

“So they come in from a society where this occurs,” he said. “Some of it is the hookup mentality of junior high even and high school Read more

Congress Criticizes Defense Department for Homosexual Parade

Senator Jim Inhofe of the Senate Armed Services Committee “respectfully requested” that Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta explain why members of the US military were authorized to wear their uniforms in a homosexual “pride” parade in San Diego.

In a letter to Panetta, Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma said department rules bar service members from participating in political activities while in uniform and pressed Panetta on why a waiver was granted, who requested it and why it was considered over others.

The Congressmen also noted that other military members have been punished for doing what the DoD authorized in this instance:  Read more

Senate Testimony on Terrorist Threat from Within

Last week, Pentagon leadership gave testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee on their Annual Threat Assessment. A surprising, if somewhat understated, highlight was the pronouncement of a “growing concern” of terrorist threats from within the US intelligence and military communities:

Senior US military and intelligence officials are warning of their growing concern that rogue “radical” elements are operating – or preparing to operate – “within the ranks” of the intelligence community and armed forces.

Ultimately, this should be of little surprise, Read more

Christians and the Hindu Senate Invocation

On 12 July 2007, Rajan Zed, a Hindu resident* of Nevada, delivered a mantra for the traditional daily opening prayer in the US Senate.  Few Americans know his name, and fewer know what he said.  What many Americans know, however, is that he was interrupted.

Objectively, three people were removed from the Senate chamber during Zed’s chant.  Depending on the news source cited, the “activists,” “protesters,” “Christian patriots,” or “heroes” were arrested for “praying in Jesus’ name” or “disrupting” the Senate proceedings.

The three people openly said they were Christians, and they knew they could be arrested for what they were going to do.  They also said they were “not heckling,” but hoping their prayer would be a “shield” from God’s wrath over the Hindu “idolatry” in the nation’s Capitol.  James Klingenschmitt, the former Navy Chaplain, was in the Senate chamber and noted the irony of a government that would apparently suppress Christian prayer but allow that of a Hindu.

When the Hindu invitation was announced, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State (AU)–which ordinarily vociferously opposes government-endorsed chaplains–welcomed the incident as a step toward “diversity,” not because they agreed with the concept of government-backed prayer, but because it would make “the Religious Right…go insane.”  Read more

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