Quam rem publicam habemus?

[conuly]

http://nytimes.com/2004/08/26/opinion/26thurs2.html


Holding the Pentagon Accountable: For Religious Bigotry

Published: August 26, 2004

The first reports sounded like an over-the-top satire of the Bush Pentagon: the deputy secretary of defense for intelligence - the ranking general charged with the hunt for Osama bin Laden - was parading in uniform to Christian pulpits, preaching that God had put George Bush in the White House and that Islamic terrorists will only be defeated "if we come at them in the name of Jesus." But now a Pentagon inquiry has concluded that Lt. Gen. William Boykin did indeed preach his grossly offensive gospel at 23 churches, pronouncing Satan the mastermind of the terrorists because "he wants to destroy us as a Christian army."

It was stunning last fall, after the general's lapse into brimstone bigotry became public, when Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, far from disturbed, praised General Boykin for an "outstanding record" and kept him at the highly sensitive intelligence post during the inquiry. Now it is simply mind-boggling that Pentagon reports suggest the general may survive with only a reprimand for having failed to clear his remarks in advance.

General Boykin has to be removed from his current job. He has become a national embarrassment, not to mention a walking contradiction of President Bush's own policy statement that the fight against terror is bias-free and not a crusade against Islam. (General Boykin preached of a 1993 fight against a Muslim warlord in Somalia: "I knew that my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God, and his was an idol.")

The sense of offense among Islamic Americans is already deep. Removal of the preacher-general should be a no-brainer, however much the president's campaign generals might fear offending the Christian right voting bloc.

What sort of country IS this? Has it always been like this?

*curls up in a ball*

I wanna move.

Comments

[codeman38.livejournal.com]

This administration as a whole has just been scaring me lately. :-\

[conuly]

Just lately?

[codeman38.livejournal.com]

Hm... good point. I think Dubya getting into office was enough of a scare in itself.

Blame it on my distorted Aspie sense of time... :-)

[jean-prouvaire.livejournal.com]

Come with me to Canada! We'll have fun and eat lots of maple-sugar candy.

Oh, did you hear about how Lynne Cheney is insisting that American history as it's taught in schools must be "edited" to make us look better? Pretending slavery never happened, for one? Apparently, teaching about the bad parts of our history along with the good is "anti-American" and "radical left-wing propaganda." Direct quotes. I shit you not.

[conuly]

Oh, did you hear about how Lynne Cheney is insisting that American history as it's taught in schools must be "edited" to make us look better?

Link. Immediately. Please?

Apparently, teaching about the bad parts of our history along with the good is "anti-American" and "radical left-wing propaganda." Direct quotes. I shit you not.

PLEASE! LINK! Even Israel has more open discussion about right and wrong than what she proposes.

[jean-prouvaire.livejournal.com]

Ooh. Um, it's a recent entry in anti_righty. The one with the big ugly picture of her.

[mephron]

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/08/26/lynne_cheney/index.html - Madam Cheney's cultural revolution.

you may also want to look at http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2004/08/25/bush_second_term/index.html - a bit about things we could expect of Bush gets re-elected.

(if you don't have a subscription, you'll have to watch short commercial first.)

[conuly]

I know about the commercial. Fortunately, the first article is at anti_righty. If the second is worth it, I'll copy it into my own journal.

[lakidaa.livejournal.com]

the sad thing is, before I started to read the article (which is SCARY), I tried to struggle through your title-thing. All I can translate properly (that is, without worrying I'm messing us) is habemus and rem. I hate the summer sometimes, making me forget my Latin!

My question is: why didn't they remove him already for the first comment? the one with the "MIE GAWD IS LIEK >>>> HIS GAWD< OMG!!!11" comment?

Why was this man allowed to keep his post?

[conuly]

It's a quote from Cicero, in his speeches against Cataline.

Quam rem publicam habemus? In qua urbe vivimus? Hic, hic sunt in nostro numero, patres conscripti, in hoc orbis terrae sanctissimo gravissimoque consilio, qui de nostro omnium interitu, qui de huius urbis atque adeo de orbis terrarum exitio cogitent!

What sort of republic do we have? In what city do we live?

And he goes on. I typoed originally.


As for your question: because Bush is evil.

[lakidaa.livejournal.com]

thanks!

you > me.

Also: I just thought he was really dumb. now I think he's really religious, dumb, and not all there. I don't think he's evil per se, but close enough to hate.

[strangelette.livejournal.com]

I don't have the original links but this (http://www.socialismtoday.org/70/usright.html), despite coming from an incredibly biased source gives a pretty good outline. Rumsfeld is actually one of the most fundamentalist members of the administration. The New Yorker has been covering this on and off for a while.

There is evidence from speaches in churches that Rumsfeld, as well as others, really believe that Israel is necessary because the apocalypse is at hand and it's a necessary piece of the second coming. It would be funny if it wasn't terrifying.

[conuly]

There is evidence from speaches in churches that Rumsfeld, as well as others, really believe that Israel is necessary because the apocalypse is at hand and it's a necessary piece of the second coming.

I know. Do we need more proof that Bush is the antiChrist?

[strangelette.livejournal.com]

*grins* Now THAT would be a thesis topic. "Evidence of Bush II as an antiChrist figure drawing on the fundamentalist Christian tradition." That would actually be really fun, come to think of it.

Unrelated to this since I forgot to comment earlier, congrats on the kick ass grades! :)

[conuly]

1. Yes
2. Thanks.

[georgiapeachy.livejournal.com]

I'm sure I'm not the only conservative upset that instead of fighting theocracies and fostering democracies in our foreign policy, the current administration has created its own version of a theocracy where the men in charge look to God in a way akin to the Islamofacist rulers. I'm not the only conservative that thinks its time to clean the Aegean stables.

[codeman38.livejournal.com]

This administration as a whole has just been scaring me lately. :-\

[conuly]

Just lately?

[codeman38.livejournal.com]

Hm... good point. I think Dubya getting into office was enough of a scare in itself.

Blame it on my distorted Aspie sense of time... :-)

[jean-prouvaire.livejournal.com]

Come with me to Canada! We'll have fun and eat lots of maple-sugar candy.

Oh, did you hear about how Lynne Cheney is insisting that American history as it's taught in schools must be "edited" to make us look better? Pretending slavery never happened, for one? Apparently, teaching about the bad parts of our history along with the good is "anti-American" and "radical left-wing propaganda." Direct quotes. I shit you not.

[conuly]

Oh, did you hear about how Lynne Cheney is insisting that American history as it's taught in schools must be "edited" to make us look better?

Link. Immediately. Please?

Apparently, teaching about the bad parts of our history along with the good is "anti-American" and "radical left-wing propaganda." Direct quotes. I shit you not.

PLEASE! LINK! Even Israel has more open discussion about right and wrong than what she proposes.

[jean-prouvaire.livejournal.com]

Ooh. Um, it's a recent entry in anti_righty. The one with the big ugly picture of her.

[mephron]

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/08/26/lynne_cheney/index.html - Madam Cheney's cultural revolution.

you may also want to look at http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2004/08/25/bush_second_term/index.html - a bit about things we could expect of Bush gets re-elected.

(if you don't have a subscription, you'll have to watch short commercial first.)

[conuly]

I know about the commercial. Fortunately, the first article is at anti_righty. If the second is worth it, I'll copy it into my own journal.

[lakidaa.livejournal.com]

the sad thing is, before I started to read the article (which is SCARY), I tried to struggle through your title-thing. All I can translate properly (that is, without worrying I'm messing us) is habemus and rem. I hate the summer sometimes, making me forget my Latin!

My question is: why didn't they remove him already for the first comment? the one with the "MIE GAWD IS LIEK >>>> HIS GAWD< OMG!!!11" comment?

Why was this man allowed to keep his post?

[conuly]

It's a quote from Cicero, in his speeches against Cataline.

Quam rem publicam habemus? In qua urbe vivimus? Hic, hic sunt in nostro numero, patres conscripti, in hoc orbis terrae sanctissimo gravissimoque consilio, qui de nostro omnium interitu, qui de huius urbis atque adeo de orbis terrarum exitio cogitent!

What sort of republic do we have? In what city do we live?

And he goes on. I typoed originally.


As for your question: because Bush is evil.

[lakidaa.livejournal.com]

thanks!

you > me.

Also: I just thought he was really dumb. now I think he's really religious, dumb, and not all there. I don't think he's evil per se, but close enough to hate.

[strangelette.livejournal.com]

I don't have the original links but this (http://www.socialismtoday.org/70/usright.html), despite coming from an incredibly biased source gives a pretty good outline. Rumsfeld is actually one of the most fundamentalist members of the administration. The New Yorker has been covering this on and off for a while.

There is evidence from speaches in churches that Rumsfeld, as well as others, really believe that Israel is necessary because the apocalypse is at hand and it's a necessary piece of the second coming. It would be funny if it wasn't terrifying.

[conuly]

There is evidence from speaches in churches that Rumsfeld, as well as others, really believe that Israel is necessary because the apocalypse is at hand and it's a necessary piece of the second coming.

I know. Do we need more proof that Bush is the antiChrist?

[strangelette.livejournal.com]

*grins* Now THAT would be a thesis topic. "Evidence of Bush II as an antiChrist figure drawing on the fundamentalist Christian tradition." That would actually be really fun, come to think of it.

Unrelated to this since I forgot to comment earlier, congrats on the kick ass grades! :)

[conuly]

1. Yes
2. Thanks.

[georgiapeachy.livejournal.com]

I'm sure I'm not the only conservative upset that instead of fighting theocracies and fostering democracies in our foreign policy, the current administration has created its own version of a theocracy where the men in charge look to God in a way akin to the Islamofacist rulers. I'm not the only conservative that thinks its time to clean the Aegean stables.