Soldier Sues Army - Religious Discrimination

Check out this story in the New York Times about a soldier who is sueing the Army because of religious discriminition. Last July Specialist Jeremy Hall held a meeting for atheists and free thinkers where an officer attended only to end up berating the soldiers in attendance about their lack of religion. The officer said that people like these soldiers were not holding up the Constitution and were going against the founding fathers and what they wanted for America. The officer even announced to the soldiers who were attending the meeting that they may be barred from re-enlistment and have charges brought against them. Eventually, Specialist Hall was sent home from Iraq early because of the multitude of threats he was receiving from other soldiers. I have definitely got a point of view on this issue.
First, I believe that we in America are supposed to be about freedom and not about oppression of any particular group whether we believe as they do or not. As a matter of fact the Constitution guarantees us all the Freedom of Religion and does not specify any specific religion. Granted this country may have a particular majority of people who follow one religion over another and the founding fathers may well have been of that same religion, but they were open minded enough to consider the persecution they had gone through and the discrimination so that they included for religious freedom in the Constitution. If anyone is not upholding the Constitution it is these soldiers who have threatened and harrassed these atheist soldiers. As they have clearly chosen to ignore the First Ammendment.
Second, I believe that these alleged Christian soldiers who are harrassing and threatening the atheist soldiers are in fact not Christian at all. These alleged Christian soldiers fail to understand that your "religion is something you do after the sermon is over". Christianity is not some club you are automatically a part of because you attended a sermon and said you would take Jesus into your heart. It comes with commandments and laws that must be followed no matter where you are in life. Culture and Religion are two separate things and what any particular religious law is does not change when you cross a border into a new culture. The commandments are the same no matter where you go. These soldiers are definitely not living under the example of Jesus that they would have absorbed had they gone to church for a reason other than that it was the thing to do in their culture. If they had paid attention to the sermons they may well remember that they are supposed to treat their neighbors as theirselves. They may well remember the story of the Samaritan who was made into a hero by Jesus for helping an injured Jew despite the fact that Samaritans and Jews were known to hate one another due to religious beliefs. (The Bible Luke Chapter 10 verses 30-37). They may well remember the story of the Samaritan who was the only one to return and thank Jesus out of 10 lepers who Jesus had healed despite their religious differences. (The Bible Luke Chapter 17 verses 11-19). They may well remember the story of the time Jesus made a point of stopping in a Samaritan village and talking to a Samaritan woman who was rude to him because of his race and religion yet, setting an example for Christians today he still treated her with respect and courtesy. (The Bible John Chapter 4 verses 1-42). They may recall Jesus going even further in his teaching saying that Christians should not just tolerate people of all races, but they should actively show love to all, even our enemies "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you" (The Bible Luke Chapter 6 verse 27).
Basically, the point is that my opinion should be clear. I believe that you are not truly a Christian, Muslim, Buddhist etc. unless you can manage to follow the teachings of the prophets who brought that religion to you. If you cannot manage to follow the laws in your own religious text then you are nothing more than a hypocrit with a book in your hand. Those kind of people remind me of those weird homeless dudes you see on the streets in large cities when you walk past them they say something about the world ending or something. Crazy dudes!! In the town my mother lives in there are many people whom you will see at church every week, but who through the other days of the week are busy gossiping about one another, judging each other an committing adultry. These people are not truly Christian or they would not do these things. Everyone makes mistakes but not so consistently as those who call themselves Christians and seem only to have chosen the religion for the purpose of being members of the majority, or because they choose to believe that you are free to do what you want because all you have to do is take Jesus into your heart and then confess your sins all the time cause Jesus is taking care of it for you. This is the lazy mans way to follow Christianity and I argue that it is in fact not Christianity at all. These people are merely wolves in sheeps clothing pretending to be something they are not. I say we put these guys in jail for going against the Constitution themselves for harassing and threatening another soldier regarding his freedom of religion.

story religious soldiers Constitution re-enlistment Iraq America Freedom of Religion

What Our Veterans Need - The Opinion of A Veteran

Because I am a military veteran as was my grandfather before me I have an interest in the military, war, patriotism and the general protection of our country. Of course the other half of me has a bit of conflict with current day soldiers as compared to those great soldiers of the past. Some things have improved and some have gotten worse. For instance now women can serve and risk their lives if they choose to do so, and there is much less in the form of sexual harassment now as compared to how it would have been for women in the service in the past. At the same time the men of the military have gotten much softer in current years as compared to the past. In the past there would have been much less of the mom fighting Congress for better treatment of her baby. I understand the plight of the mother but a soldier has to be tough and that can't happen with his mommy running behind him trying to save him from being yelled at and knocked out in boot camp while being trained. Now because the men of the war have not ever been taught to deal with their issues by their mommies or how to be a man by their daddies they are taking pictures of themselves torturing prisoners as if it is something to be published or bragged about proving they have no regard for confidentiality and should therefore have any rights to current or future secret clearances permanently removed. In addition to that you see videos of them on You Tube throwing helpless puppies off of cliffs. The list of cruelties goes on and as a result we will have more mommies fighting to soften the military. Why? Because of men who have grown up to become men only in physical nature but who lack true manhood in their behavior. My grandfather (who served in WWII) would refuse to tell stories of what he had done, what he had experienced and would refuse to teach anyone else his hand to hand combat trainings (unless they had also served in the military). This was because a part of him was a properly trained soldier who knew that the rest of the world couldn't handle the truth of war. (if it wasn't true - you wouldn't see people fighting against soldiers instead of for them in our own country) This was also in part because he was taught to be a REAL man and not brag about things that were not worthy of bragging about. The price he paid for this was not small. Yes he came home and was married and had a child and a good life, but he also had enough un-lockable truths within him to cause him to cope with alcohol. He drank himself to death in the later years of his life. Now as an adult and as a female veteran looking back at what my grandfather went through, what I went through and what people are going through today I can say that the place we need our mommies and daddies to take care of us is before and after our military time. We need support before we ever join so that we grow up knowing what privacy is about, and what safety is about and what true equality is about. We need to grow up with a deep level of respect for ourselves, our families and other human beings regardless of circumstance, gender, race etc. We need to grow up learning how to separate feelings from reality - meaning we don't always have to like what we do but sometimes we have to do it because it is our job, and just because our job has us making decisions that may not benefit everyone and in fact may hinder someone it does not mean that we have to think less of that person whom we are forced to hinder. (ie. just because you had to fire your neighbor does not mean that you cannot help him out after work, have him to dinner and play on the same baseball team as he does) When we cannot separate our emotions from our jobs it brings too much emotion into our jobs and causes all sorts of problems which may be simple annoyances in the corporate world but in the military it results in public humiliation of ourselves and others and publication of confidential dealings via the torture pictures etc. that we have seen. And it causes men to try to shut off their hearts as they toss puppies off of cliffs. If it wasn't for lacking lessons before the corporate world or the military world we wouldn't have these problems and if we did they wouldn't cause a mass public effect like war time media publications of negative acts by soldiers or negative behaviors by the thieves of Enron, Bank of America, and other companies with inhumane and negative practices. The other place we need our mommies and daddies is after the military. We as soldiers and veterans in general should be provided with more benefits after leaving the military, we should be provided with better exit training so that we can more easily go back into civilian life, and we need to be provided with exit counseling that is permanent and free to all veterans at the licenced therapist of their choice as opposed to only at the VA. We need our families not to fight for our rights in boot camp or during war but for our rights when we come back from war or when we are done with our military service. We need our families to protect us from employers who don't realize the sacrifice we've made or the qualifications we have because they are too busy looking at our ages, genders, and at the negative media about soldiers. We need our families to protect us from the media publishing all of these negative incidents that happen during war that only serve to taint America's point of view of us when we come back from serving our country. These negative things happen and they are just that - negative, but that is what happens during war. War is not preschool or church it is war. You cannot have it both ways where you thirst for violence in war movies but expect real soldiers to be fluffy little wimps who are rendered helpless by being forced to think humanely when that type of thinking can be detrimental in the middle of a war. Get over it people - it's war not playschool. Your good hearted help in the middle of our wars has only served to make things worse instead of better when we are back. What we need is a plan that will educate young mothers to teach their children proper values and lessons in maturity, honor, peace, equality etc. - a plan that will have our schools not undermining those important lessons in growing up and becoming mature - a plan that will provide much needed exit counseling, job placement, individual and family/couples counseling for military veterans and their families. Help us with that if you are interested in making this world better, making wars better, and making after wars better. You cannot expect us to treat others with respect if you can't bother to teach and provide the opportunity for your own child to do the same thing you wish people would freely give to them.

patriotism soldiers women military Congress mothers issues confidentiality

11 Year Old Boy Kills 1000lb Boar

Wow!! I went to Jamison's website and checked out all the pictures and emails after seeing his story on CNN Headline News. Check out the CNN story about it here. I borrowed the picture above from their story. When I was at Jamison's website dedicated to his big pig there were links to both negative and positive comments. At the time I was on the site there were 85% positive comments. As I looked at the negative comments I thought it's crazy how negative people are. Funny how they go on and on about dumb rednecks in much the same tone as they view dumb rednecks in. I think if they realized that no matter where you live and whether you eat meat or go hunting or if you get your food at the grocery store you still have the ability to be an ignorant dumb ass. Interesting how people think that the best way to get their point of view across to others is through angry comments which lack facts as opposed to intelligent conversation with facts that people can learn from and then make their own decisions. I think all the people in the sites negatives section would only serve to make someone turn out more angry and ignorant.
I have the benefit in looking at the kill from the point of view of two angles as I am a country girl who moved to the city after serving my country in the military.
I am from Oklahoma so I am definitely born and raised a country girl who grew up hunting for my own food in a family who had to go find our Thanksgiving turkey somewhere other than the supermarket. I see the benefit of hunting and know that it is generally done in particular season. I think what the negative commenters don't realize is that hunting is a highly regulated industry. Those in charge of each states Hunting and Game regulations closely monitor numbers of fish and game to make sure that there are not too little or too many in order that a healthy balance of all that the animals need to survive will be present in their lives. We humans are a part of that balance and now that I am living in the city I think it interesting and hypocritical that someone in the city could be mad at anyone killing animals when they are taking away the environment the animals thrive in at alarming rates as they build their McMansions all across America. I can say that growing up in the country where we had to work for our food on a farm or hunting it has made me realize just how lazy the majority of city people are while all along thinking they are working their asses off just because they sit at a desk or in traffic for 60 hours a week. I wish they would try a little taste of how I grew up. People worked the same amount of hours but had to get up before school at 0dark30 in the morning to do it and then into the night after school and still get our homework done keeping our state in the top 10-14 in the nation in education. In the city people hunt each other either in traffic or on the streets and then get in fights with each other at little league games after work. Granted there is murder and mayhem in the country too, but not in the same percentages and even if the statistics show murder in the same percentages in the country vs. city at least in the country you can go into any neighborhood you want without worrying about whether or not it will happen on the street as you walk/drive down it. People in the country know to keep their killing, murder, molestation and raping inside their homes instead of leaving and doing it on the public streets at the very least. It's just commen decency folks, we have to be considerate of our neighbors and not bother them with our problems. Think about it.
The only hunting that I am opposed to falls into about 3 categories: 1- Canned hunts for little pansy weasels who don't have the balls to hunt like real men out in the wild as opposed to on some fenced in range with tame animals; 2- Out of season hunting and/or poaching; 3- Hunts where anyone human or their hunting animals are injured because their dumb ass parents didn't teach them gun/hunting safety and instead they turn out to be the privileged dumb ass Cheney's of the world.
The other side of me lives in the city so I look forward to being able to go to the store and take a bite of whatever piece of Jamison's pig I can snarf upon if and when it is available. I am happy to know that when I travel back home to visit my family for family reunions and holidays that I can sit down at the table and eat a yummy venison burger or have an egg straight out of the chickens butt without having to do all the work the rest of my family has to do to get that food. I live in the city of Atlanta where all I have to worry about is traffic on my way to work and how loud the neighbor who shares my wall at my apartment building is playing his music. (Speaking of ignorant dumb asses) I love that when I go home to visit I can play the vacation card instead of getting up when it is still dark to go out and feed goats or hunt for the Christmas turkey. I just pretend that city life has really worn me down and I'm happy to be at mom or dad's house chillin out and eating whatever free range animal that crosses our path. That tactic usually works at least until the sun comes up.
I send out prayers for Jamison - for him to have good luck in all his future hunts, that he doesn't ever get injured or accidentally injure someone else or his hunting dogs, that he never becomes a pansy weasel at a canned hunt where he corners a not so wild ram in it's own feeding pen and kill it while it shakes in fear and pain, that he is a hunter who is a real man and actually hunts his prey like any other good predator would, that he never gets bored with hunting now that he's had the ultimate kill and everything else will be small potatoes, and that he never forgets that everyone in our country deserves equal rights even the dumb ass idiots who sent him their negative comments after all that is why I fought in the military was so those idiots would have a voice without taking away someone else's.
And finally one last prayer for myself as it relates to Jamison the pig killer. - I pray that he sends me a giant box of deer jerky next time he bags a big buck. I'm starving in the big city of Atlanta over here.

---

Technorati tags:
Americans, animal cruelty, Atlanta, GA, bored, Child safety, Children, Christmas, Dick Cheney, Dogs, environment, equal rights, fairness, Family, Family Issues, Farmer, Farming, Father, General, hunting, hypocrits, interesting, Jamison Stone, military, murder, photos, pictures, pounds, prayer, soldiers, U.S. Military, Wild boar

Give Honor to Bert Brady Who Gives Honor to Our Troops

This guy is a pretty cool guy. He lives near the Dallas-Ft. Worth airport and nearly every morning he gets up and goes to the airport to greet the soldiers who are coming home. He is the founder of the Welcome Home Project which is an organization dedicated to making sure that every soldier arriving home at the airport has his very own welcome wagon. ABC News made this guy their person of the week a while back and I think he's a pretty cool guy A very touching story which proves you don't have to be political to be patriotic. No one has to support the war and no one is restricted from supporting the war if they simply support the soldiers who are fighting the war. Guys like Bert Brady and like the members of the Patriot Guard are a part of what makes our country great.

---

Technorati tags:
Airlines, Americans, Bert Brady, General, Heroes, news, Patriot Guard, Politics, soldiers, troops, U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Military, U.S. Navy, United States, unity, veterans, video, You Tube