It was only a little amendment
And no one would really take note
But of course, it would all be recorded
(Check your own representative’s vote!)
There are thousands of chaplains already
Not one is an atheist, though
If the Pentagon thinks they might need some
It seems Congress already said “no”.
We have patriots working in Congress
Watching over our soldiers abroad
And we’ll do what they can to support them
Just as long as they worship our God.
In yesterday’s post, I missed the fact that they actually voted–and the amendment banning atheist chaplains did pass. You can check here for how your congressweasel voted, and consider contacting them to thank or chastise them, as the case may be. The only possible reason for supporting this amendment that I can see, would be that they attach more importance to the word “chaplain” than they do to the needs of thousands of soldiers.
All right. I gave him a small piece of my mind.
I could have told you my congressweasel’s vote before it happened. My rep is one of the dumbest in congress (in the late 90s he actually believed the spam e-mail that the Chinese ate babies)…which tells you a lot about the majority of people around me since he keeps getting voted back into office.
I’ve had my words with him in the past. He’s as dumb as a brick, and I’m tired of getting headaches from banging my head against that particular wall to try again on this issue.
No surprise here either. My congressweasel is the Majority Whip, but he didn’t get that title by being smart as one. The Democrat one district over also voted no…which surprises me just a little bit as he’s been known to do the right thing occasionally. Guess he felt this was a constituency he could flip off with impunity.
they attach more importance to the word “chaplain” than they do to the needs of thousands of soldiers.
The list of things the current Congress values above the needs of ANY of its rank-and-file citizens is almost equal to “the list of things.”
I live in Washington’s 7th district. We keep sending Jim McDermott to the Other Washington and for good reason. Being one of the most liberal members of the House, elected from one of the most secular districts in the country, he voted No on the amendment.
And I’m a bit north of Gregory in the 2nd, where Rick Larsen also voted no. It’s a horribly gerrymandered looking district, by the way; proof that Democrats can be equally guilty of that abomination.
To be fair, it should be “as long as they worship a god.” US military has insignia for chaplains representing a variety of religions – just not atheists. There is a Buddhist symbol, for example, even though there are more than twice as many atheists, and 20 times as many “unaffiliated.”
Mine voted against… though when I went to look up who he was, I was for some reason startled at the gerrymandering in my district (NJ 8th), which looks like a lowercase letter y.
We don’t have one here since Markey was elevated to the Lords, erm sorry Senate. We will soon have our ninth national election in the space of two years – Senatorial to replace Ted Kennedy (x2), General (x3 as two sets of primaries), Senate special for Kerry (x2), House special for Markey (x2). Plus local elections on a different cycle.