Posted on 06/08/2013 4:53:18 PM PDT by markomalley
The government’s war on the rights of conservatives isn’t just being waged by the IRS; the U.S. Army apparently is also participating. According to this report from Fox News, Master Sgt. Nathan Sommers, a 25-year Army veteran and conservative Christian based at Fort Myer in the Washington, D.C. area, has been harassed and persecuted for expressing conservative views and for reading books by Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, and David Limbaugh.
Sommers’ difficulties began last April when he was told by his superior officer to remove pro-Republican, anti-Obama bumper stickers that were on his privately owned car. The stickers read: “Political Dissent is NOT Racism,” “NOBAMA,” NOPE2012” and “The Road to Bankruptcy is Paved with Ass-Fault.” The last of these stickers included the image of a donkey.
According to the report filed by Sommers’ superior officer, these stickers “were creating an atmosphere detrimental to morale and were creating unnecessary workplace tension.” “Even the slightest inference of disrespect towards superiors can have a demoralizing effect on the unit,” the officer explained.
When Sommers pressed the issue, the Army backed away from this ludicrous stance. Sommers was not reprimanded.
But then, Sommers, a member of the Army band, came under fire for his choice of reading material:
Sommers was reading Limbaugh’s “The Great Destroyer” backstage at a U.S. Army Band concert at the U.S. Capitol. A superior officer told him that he was causing “unit disruption” and was offending other soldiers.
“I wasn’t reading aloud,” he said. “I was just reading privately to myself. I was told they were frowning on that and they warned me that I should not be reading literature like that backstage because it was offensive.”
In another episode, he had been caught backstage reading a copy of Levin’s “Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America.”
Sommers said he was told to refrain from reading the book “while in uniform or within sight of anyone from the band.”
The Army’s solicitousness on behalf of band members who might be offended by the sight of a Sean Hannity book is touching. But this is a slippery slope. Some combat troops are offended by sharing living quarters with those whose sexual practices they abhor. Their sensibilities should receive at least as much respect as those of left-wing bandsmen.
Speaking of gays in the military, the issue is closely linked with attempts to trample the rights of Sommers and other Christian military personnel.
Sommers ran afoul of gay colleagues by serving Chik-Fil-A sandwiches at a party he hosted for fellow soldiers, and by then tweeting that he was doing so “in honor of DADT repeal, and Obama/Holder’s refusal to enforce DOMA act.” Fox reports that he was later summoned by a superior officer, who Sommers says is openly gay, and told that unidentified individuals were offended by the tweets and some considered them to be racist (when did gays become a race?).
Sommers was then reprimanded, threatened with judicial action, and given a bad efficiency report. An investigation was also launched.
It appears that Sommers is not an isolated victim of the Arny’s efforts to curb the rights of those who have serious reservations about the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell:
Ron Crews, executive director of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty said stories like this are becoming commonplace in the military post-repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
“These stories are the ones that have not been told – about some of the more subtle ramifications of the repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy,” he said.
One service member received a severe reprimand for expressing his faith’s religious position about homosexuality in a personal religious blog.
A chaplain was relieved of his command over a military chapel because he could not allow same-sex weddings to take place in the chapel.
And a chaplain who asked senior military officers whether religious liberty would be protected in the wake of the repeal of the law against open homosexual behavior in the military was told to “get in line” or resign.
The gay rights agenda isn’t just about attacking discrimination. It’s also about “rubbing the noses” of those with religious-based and other reservations about homosexuality “in it.”
Given the past treatment of gays, I think I understand how this became part of the agenda. But it shouldn’t become part of the agenda of the U.S. Army or the U.S. government.
A lot of soldiers should be asking themselves right now, “THEN WHAT IN THE HELL AM I DOING HERE?!”
>>>A lot of soldiers should be asking themselves right now, “THEN WHAT IN THE HELL AM I DOING HERE?!”<<<
Which is the goal. A demoralized and depopulated military is an important accomplishment. In the 20th century, both fascist and communist governments enforced control through the police, not the military, and in many cases worked hard to reduce the power of the military. Now we can get around to that national police force Obama talked about when he first became president.
Another year or so and the politicians will destroy the military.
I think the real reason why suicides are on the increase in the military is starting to become obvious.
Well, God, please bless them. These people are actually casualties of 0bama.
Aggressive Breitbarting.
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Meaning a higher-up liberal was offended and used his UCMJ authority to crush dissent.
Liberals are a cancer in any professional environment.
So now the big push to neutralize the military begins in earnest. Zero said he’d have more leverage in his second administration. He wasn’t kidding.
3 US troops were killed, per
http://www.legitgov.org/Afghan-soldier-opens-fire-US-troops-kills-3
“Afghan soldier opens fire on US troops, kills 3 08 Jun 2013 An Afghan soldier has killed three American soldiers serving with the US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in the southeastern Paktika Province, Press TV reports. Local authorities said the killings occurred in the Khair Kot District of the province on Saturday, when a man in Afghan army uniform opened fire on US forces. They added that at least two other soldiers were injured in the incident, which happened on the same day that an Italian soldier was killed, and three others wounded after their armored vehicle was attacked by a group of militants in western Afghanistan.”
Cannot confirm.
So? It's not illegal to be offensive, plus you do not have the right to not be offended. Furthermore, many in the military find homosexuality offensive. What about them?
Liberalism is a mental disease.
obama's odd obsession with the jobs of "cops and first responders" makes more sense in the light of that comment.
I just generally thought he had a fetish for the public sector, which he undoubtedly does. but that comment puts a different spin on things.
I was going to say, just go one step further and put a pro Obama and Anti Obama bumper sticker on the same car then see what happens.
Civilians, put a bumper sticker on your car saying your boss (by name) sucks and so does the CEO (again by name).
The ordered not to read though, that’s out of line — despite that, you can always put a book cover on. I did during the Carter years when I was in the military. Plain common sense told me it’s not a good idea expressing your individual viewpoint and PROSELYTIZE it on base.
The problem with the military is that it tends to have its own culture and history which is hard for outsiders to crack. When the party state forms, it needs to destroy other corresponding cultural and political institutions so the party becomes the sole source of leadership. Wrecking the military is a good place for the party state to begin, but the party will also go after religious organizations, other political groups, private groups like the Boy Scouts, and any other group with an alternative worldview. Read some Hannah Arendt about this kind of takeover by the party - she wrote a book called “The Origins of Totalitarianism” which is just about a blueprint of what we’re seeing right now.
If Gays have become a race the problem of gays in the military should solve itself in a few decades when the race dies out from lack of progeny.
So I'm certain that the whole gays in the barracks/ PERSECUTION of conservative thought is no accident.
And I don't ever recall the PERSECUTION of liberals happening, EVER.
Even under conservative presidents.
And were it to happen, we'd have heard about it.
Sounds like he was just reading to himself, not proselytizing.
The KGB is speaking...
Next.... The Pink Berets. Hand to hand slapping. Mauve como gear. Fatigue pants with front and rear zippers. Combat loafers. The Code Of Military Justice And Decorating Tips.
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