"There's no such thing as an atheist in a foxhole"

Here's an interesting story about a soldier who was sent back to a base in the US from Iraq, because the Army couldn't protect him...from other soldiers who were harassing him for being an atheist.

Before saying anything else, I will say that I'm sure there's a hell of a lot to this story than we're given. One wire-service piece isn't exactly conclusive evidence of anything, even of there being an actual issue.

That said, I think that if this lawsuit goes anywhere, it'll set a interesting precedent. I know that at least certain branches of the military have had some religious tolerance issues in the past (I'm thinking of the Air Force Academy here, but I'm sure there have been other incidents), but so often it's broken down into a "Christian vs Jewish/Muslim/Other Not Christian Religions" viewpoint. If nothing else, it's intriguing to see an atheist take it on.

If his complaints have any solid grounding, then it's truly shameful. Isn't our military supposed to be fighting for freedom and liberty and equality and all that stuff? Shouldn't that start within the military itself, because it's awfully hard to show another country who already doesn't like you how to have a just and free society if the 'liberators' are being harassed by their peers for their religious views.

Indiana, may I have a word?

About those political candidates, Indiana. You've got some fine ones, I'm sure, but you've also got, uh, this guy.

Who just spoke in front of a gathering of Neo-Nazis. And when asked about it by the press, compared it...well, here:

"I'll speak before any group that invites me," Zirkle said Monday. "I've spoken on an African-American radio station in Atlanta."

Yeeaaah. So black people and the Bumblefuck, IN branch of the Hitler Fan Club are the same? Good to know. What else does this guy have to say, from his campaign website?

Full Name: Frederick Anthony "Tony" Hvfvgpd Zirkle
...
1. What’s the best solution to the conflict in Iraq?

The best solution? Stop glorifying adultery by enshrining neo-Baal porn worship in the heart of the 1st Amendment. Porn-adultery appoints "terror" to us. Lev. 26:16. Remember, slave-raping extended the Civil War.
...
3. Explain your position on the rising price of oil.

We need a LaPorte Co. U.S. Civil Service Academy where the masters and doctorate students and researchers will have an unobstructed key to the patent office for energy technological development.
...
Is it possible that a nation's embracing of porn-prostitution is one of the root causes of modern-day terrorism? For instance,
...

All taken from various places on his campaign site.

Alrighty then. This isn't the type of guy you vote for; this is the type of guy you encounter sitting on a subway platform muttering to himself, the guy you slooowly back away from without making any sudden movements.

Quality logic

The TSA is going to give their screeners extra training.

Hawley said this new training will help screeners catch potential terrorists who may be conducting dry runs through airports.

“We have to assume that that is occurring,” Hawley said. “Our job is to pick up on the clue.”

Uh, what?

Wait, do you mean that based on the total lack of airline-based terroristic events in the past seven years, we have to assume that terrorists are doing 'dry runs', which would provide them with the extra opportunity to get caught?

Right.

Seriously, the myth of the 'dry run' pisses me the hell off. Let's look at it objectively:
*There has been one successful terrorist attack within the 'sterile zone' and one unsuccessful one in the past ten years.
*The successful attack was carried out using 'weapons' that were, at that time, permitted on domestic flights in the US. (Wiki cite) Based on what we know, there would have been no reason for security to stop them.
*The unsuccessful attack was thwarted in no part due to any security screening, but because a flight attendant noticed a passenger lighting matches and, uh, trying to set his shoe on fire. Again, this had nothing to do with airport security.
*No other attacks have been attempted. Yes, someone drove a flaming car into an airport, which again, has nothing to do with airport security and doesn't quite qualify as a concentrated terrorist attack. Yes, some people allegedly were going to blow up some planes, but all we really know is that the reports of that plot were hugely inflated.
*There has never been any terrorist caught doing a 'dry run'. There was this, which was allegedly a dry-run for Operation Bojinka (which, by the way, beat the 2006 'liquid bombers' by ten years). However, they actually detonated a bomb, so calling it a 'dry run' is kind of manipulative. It was a bombing. Also, it had nothing to do with United States airport security.

So...yes. Given all of the above, we obviously must assume that the eeeeevil terrorists are out there doing 'dry runs'. Because there's so much overwhelming evidence that they are.

In other words, the TSA can suck it.

Teaching not to the test

A teacher in Seattle refused to give a state-mandated standardized test, and was suspended without pay for doing so.

Still, Chew said his moral and ethical objections to the Washington Assessment of Student Learning have grown in recent years, and he decided that he finally had to take a stand.

Obviously I'm just speculating blindly, but I'm willing to be that Mr. Chew will be one of those teachers his students remember for a long time afterwards. A teacher who teaches and teaches will is one thing, and certainly admirable. But a teacher who demonstrates that they're not just a real person, but a real person with real morals, and willing to stand up for them? A teacher who sees a problem, and even if it's not to their immediate benefit, does everything they can to try to correct it? That's admirable, and that's a teacher that remains in students' memories.

In Seattle, Eckstein parents said they learned of Chew's actions Monday. Barbara Albertson, whose daughter is a sixth-grader at the school and one of Chew's students, said she admires Chew's courage.

"It's a wonderful example for the kids, whether they believe in it or not, to see a teacher they respect stand up and do this," she said. "This is an age group where they need to see role models like this, people who aren't afraid."

Damn straight. I'm sure that there will be some parents moaning about it, but I think that embracing it, even if it's just on principle, is the right attitude.

Also..."Washington Assessment of Student Learning"? For some reason that seems like it should be grammatically incorrect.

Yeah, about that...

7:45 PM on Sunday night isn't that bad of a time to finish my seminar essay, right?  For values of 'finish' that mean 'still need to edit and probably rewrite a crapload because I'm a freaking idiot of epic proportions'?  

Excuse me while I go sob in a corner for a bit.  If you happen to see one Mr. Jean-Jacques Rousseau around, please kick him in the head with steel-toed boots for me, okay?

I know I say it often, but seriously:

PICK A DAMN SEASON AND STICK TO IT FOR AT LEAST TWELVE HOURS.

Today we've had everything from sunny and warm (mid-fifties) to snow blowing in your face at twenty miles an hour.

It can be spring. I would prefer it be spring. But if it's not going to be spring then it is not spring, and that means stop taunting us with those lovely moments.

PS: There's a Winter Weather Advisory for Santa Fe right now. It's April. Please stop snowing whenever I make up my mind to take my bike out for a nice spring ride.

I dreamt a dream...

Last night I had - for once - a nice, not-insanely-weird dream that I remembered. Well, it was a little weird, but not 'angry Plato turns into a snail' weird.

I was in London, and I was in a supermarket. I bought some of the few things I needed - bread, eggs, pasta - and walked home. Then I went back out, and sat in a little cafe or coffee shop along a busy road, and watched London go by.

Then my alarm clock went off and I got up and went to math class. It was cold and there was still snow on the ground.

Guess which I'd rather, reality or that dream? (Hint: I'm not a citizen of the place that feels like home.)

A list of things on my mind.

1. It's snowing in Santa Fe. As in, right now, snow is falling from the sky. That is so inappropriate.

2. We're reading more Kant for the next three seminars, and I think that my motivation is at an all-time low for seminar.

3. Seminar essays are due a week from next Monday. I'm going to write on Rousseau. My motivation is at a medium-high level, because it gives me something non-Kantian to cling to.

4. I've come to the realization that, while I have an idea of what I'd like to do with my life, I have exactly no idea how to get there. I've worked myself into a ridiculous hole of student debt for a useless degree, and now I need to figure out how to climb out.

4a. Do I regret going to St. John's? No, not really. I believe in education as an end in and of itself, not a means to an end. And I've enjoyed it, and I feel accomplished. Would it have been easier to go someplace else? Uh, yes. Would it have been worth it? I don't know.

4b. If I had to make the college decision over again, but knowing what I do now, would I have gone to St. John's? No. My first choice would've been to put more effort into it and go someplace in the UK. My second choice probably would have been the same, Earlham, where I could've, you know, majored in something.

5. I don't feel like going to work tonight. What I really want to do is curl up in a chair with a cup of hot chocolate and a good book that's not Kant or Flaubert, and just read the night away. Alas, reality has other plans.