Thought for the morning
So last night, my wife is in a craptastic mood after dinking around her LJ Friend's list, and I was curious as to why. Digging through it, I found two examples of deliberate falsehoods. By weird coincidence, both were in relation to homosexuality.
First, we have the so-called Matthew Sheppard Act, which is a thought-crime legislation declaring heterosexuals less worthy of legal protection than homosexuals.
The funny thing about the so-called "Act" is that it is not actually a bill in Congress, it is an amendment to the Defense Appropriations Bill. The Defense Appropriations bill is hung up in committee, and the riders are in jeopardy. I personally believe that attaching amendments to unrelated legislation because they have not got the support to pass on their own is a travesty, but one which is sadly a feature of the American legislative process.
But what's funny is that this person, who cares enough to link to a petition, doesn't care enough to read the petition which identifies it as an amendment to the DoD appropriations bill. Deliberate deception, or intellectual laziness? Your call. . .
Next is the issue of Col. (Ret) Kerr, USAR. The story is spun (not likely be the source I link too, but there are no source links) as a "retired general" with 41 years of service who came out of the closet after retirement, being booed by the horrible audience to the Republican presidential debate.
Again, key facts are misrepresented.
First, COL Kerr is not a United States Army general with 43 years of service, he was a colonel with 26 years of reserve service and 7 of active, presuming no break in service--his bio is unclear. His general's rank is in the California State Military Reserve, a 'state guard' organization. Second, he was openly living with his homosexual partner, an Episcopal minister, for the last ten years he was in the Army Reserves. These facts are from his biography at the SLDN. Third, he is a member of Hilary Clinton's presidential campaign. Note that he is correctly identified by rank in the listing of committee members.
Funny. . .
First, we have the so-called Matthew Sheppard Act, which is a thought-crime legislation declaring heterosexuals less worthy of legal protection than homosexuals.
The funny thing about the so-called "Act" is that it is not actually a bill in Congress, it is an amendment to the Defense Appropriations Bill. The Defense Appropriations bill is hung up in committee, and the riders are in jeopardy. I personally believe that attaching amendments to unrelated legislation because they have not got the support to pass on their own is a travesty, but one which is sadly a feature of the American legislative process.
But what's funny is that this person, who cares enough to link to a petition, doesn't care enough to read the petition which identifies it as an amendment to the DoD appropriations bill. Deliberate deception, or intellectual laziness? Your call. . .
Next is the issue of Col. (Ret) Kerr, USAR. The story is spun (not likely be the source I link too, but there are no source links) as a "retired general" with 41 years of service who came out of the closet after retirement, being booed by the horrible audience to the Republican presidential debate.
Again, key facts are misrepresented.
First, COL Kerr is not a United States Army general with 43 years of service, he was a colonel with 26 years of reserve service and 7 of active, presuming no break in service--his bio is unclear. His general's rank is in the California State Military Reserve, a 'state guard' organization. Second, he was openly living with his homosexual partner, an Episcopal minister, for the last ten years he was in the Army Reserves. These facts are from his biography at the SLDN. Third, he is a member of Hilary Clinton's presidential campaign. Note that he is correctly identified by rank in the listing of committee members.
Funny. . .
posted by Just A Decurion at 11/29/2007 04:19:00 PM
5 Comments:
Not sure the sourcing of rank, Salon's live blogging says "Retired Brig. Gen. Keith Kerr gets in front of his webcam to describe his 43 years of service to the nation."
I wonder if he was quoted with said rank and service in the debate?
I'm running off his own biography which clearly states "California State Military Reserve" and which lists him as BG, CSMR. Which is not the same thing as BG, USA, and that's not the same thing as BG, USAR either.
It's rather like claiming to be Harvard PhD when you actually got your Bachelor's Degree at Harvard and your PhD mail-order on-line.
Didn't mean to dispute the authority of the boi (I would consider it authoritative--I just wonder if it was CNN that botched the rank or if it was the YouTube video. I would assume the second, as the right would be all over this if the he had incorrectly introduced himself.)
Nah, click on the link that's his name. It shows the moderator introducing the video and the video itself. :)
And as a point of fact, he wasn't actually booed by the Republican audience. He was applauded.
Twice.
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