Latest bit of news
concerning MRFF encompasses a few recent news items of interest --
Todd Starnes (and Mike Huckabee), Robert Jeffress and the DoD, and
POW/MIA tables. While the Jeffress/Starnes fiasco are important, our
focus is going to be the POW/MIA tables, but to understand the "news"
about the tables, one needs to be aware of the preceding garbage.
Where to find Chris
MRFF
Sekulow and MRFF
Trump’s lawyer and Chief
Counsel of the ACLJ (American Center for Law
and Justice) https://aclj.org/,
a politically conservative, Christian-based social activism and
watchdog organization associated with Regent University School of Law
in Virginia; IOWs Pat Robertson. In some circles they are consider
the anti- American Civil Liberties Union. Jay Sekulow, who I will
mention as reference and not criticism, is a Messianic Jew, is so hot
and bothered by MRFF’s fight in Okinawa.
Now MRFFs history with
Sekulow is fairly encompassing.
https://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org/2017/08/8917-trumps-lawyer-and-chief-counsel-of-the-aclj-jay-sekulow-attacks-mikeymrff-outlandish-angry-atheist-attack-claims-conference-that-includes-facebook-and-google-executives-somehow-vi/
Of interest to us tonight is a piece (actually two) you did
concerning the "DMZ flag" at the Air Force’s Enlisted
Heritage Hall, a museum at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama.
What the “DMZ flag”
is all about?
The
exhibit in question consisted of a mannequin in an airman's uniform
standing next to a Christian chapel flag with a sign telling the
following story:
"This
Christian Flag is significant because it was rescued from the ruins
of an American Chapel that ultimately found itself situated in the
Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea. In 1960, a young
A1C Luke Holcomb, was assigned to the post along the Demilitarized
Zone. From his duty section he could see what remained of the chapel
and was fascinated by the site [sic] of the U.S. and Christian flags
leaning against the rear corner of the building. One night, he and
three friends swam across the river separating them from the chapel,
and at the risk of death, they liberated the flags. It was his wish
that this flag be displayed in dedication of the Soldiers, Sailors,
Marines, and Airmen who risked their lives during the Korean
Conflict."
To borrow from your piece,
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/12/15/1724636/-Air-Force-Returns-Admittedly-Inaccurate-Story-to-Museum-ACLJ-Launches-Attack-to-Defend-Exhibit
(AND
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/air-force-museum-puts-admittedly-inaccurate-story-back_us_5a33cac3e4b02bd1c8c605f0)
So,
how does the ACLJ twist the facts about MRFF’s efforts to get the
historically dubious story of the airman allegedly retrieving the
Christian chapel flag from the Korean DMZ in 1960 removed? Well, for
starters, by claiming that MRFF is attacking history.
Its
petition-signer-getting article, titled “Defend
the Chaplain Flag, the Cross, and Christians Who Serve Our Nation,”
begins:
“In the latest attack by Mikey Weinstein and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), the target is not only the United States military (MRFF’s venomous specialty) but is also an attack on history, in this case the history of the Korean War.”
Initial story concerning
“DMZ flag”
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-most-unbelievable-story-about-korea-that-you-will_us_59f9cac7e4b0412aab840c80
Other media concerning “DMZ flag”
Group
wants Maxwell AFB museum to remove Christian flag from exhibitExhibit Director at Maxwell exchange emails with Rodda
Defend the Chaplain Flag, the Cross, and Christians Who Serve Our Nation (ACLJ)
Jeffress and MRFF
On June 24, 2018, "First
Baptist Dallas", the Texas mega-church pastored by Robert
Jeffress, had its annual “Freedom Sunday” event. During this
event, Robert Jeffress was initially advertised as delivering his
presentation titled “America is a Christian Nation.” During a
“Salute to our U.S. Armed Forces” portion of the event, the
official seals of the branches of the U.S. Armed Forces were to be
very largely and prominently displayed. The display of these official
seals by any non-federal entity is strictly prohibited,,,
MRFF not only contacted
Jeffress but the DoD (Defense
Secretary Jim Mattis) as well,
as a result,,, did Jeffress comply
considering “First Baptist Church released a statement Friday: "We
plan to honor our military this Sunday at our Celebrate Freedom
services, as planned." “
First
Baptist Dallas removed, TODAY, a video and image of the official
Military Department Seals from its website promoting the event.
Thus, all indications are that these same Seals will NOT be illegally
used at this weekend's "Freedom Sunday" event as they had
been previously and in DIRECT VIOLATION of the DoD guidance entitled
"Important Information and Guidelines About the Use of
Department of Defense Seals, Logos, Insignia, and Service Medals."
What is an important
take-away from this bit of news, “Department of Defense guidelines
allow use of Armed Forces seals only for official military use. The
MRFF says the church's use of the seals in its program makes it
appear the Armed Forces endorses the event, which is this Sunday.”
That first sentence should end it right there,,, but to often it does
not.
In the last week,
a media company removed controversial billboards which showed the
title for Freedom Sunday, "America is a Christian Nation."
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2018/06/18/america-is-a-christian-nation-billboards-come-down-in-dallas-after-complaints/
Other media
Starnes and MRFF
Like
Sekulow, MRFF has a “storied” history with Starnes but for our
purposed tonight, our interest is concerning his recent whinge RE
Jeffress mentioned prior.
https://www.toddstarnes.com/show/pentagon-tells-church-to-remove-military-seals-after-complain/
What
makes this newsworthy, as MRFF notes, *Original
Headline Read: "Pentagon Tells Church to Remove Military Seals
After Atheist Group Complains". Revised
Headline Reads: "Pentagon Tells Church to Remove Military Seals
After Complaints" (Saturday,
June 23, 2018). You see, recently MRFF had to send a cease and desist
letter to Starnes to stop calling MRFF an “atheist” organization.
It's really comic gold in the snark category, but obviously got the
point across.
From the letter sent,
https://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/2018-06-25-Todd-Starnes-Fox-News-Network-wcorr.pdf
There
was a time when I thought perhaps you were innocently
confusing the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) with a
separate, unrelated, organization by the name of Freedom From
Religion Foundation (FFRF). You’ve no doubt seen their television
commercials with President Reagan’s son, Ron. The Military
Religious Freedom Foundation is different. It is not an atheist
organization. It is a secular civil rights advocacy organization of
which approximately 96% of its current and retired armed forces
clients are Christian as are about 80% of the Foundation staffers.
Given
that this has occurred a number of times I would like to ask a favor.
Would you please have someone in the Fox News legal department,
preferably an attorney who knows something about the law of libel and
slander, call me so that I can have a conversation with them about
what in the world it is going to take to impress upon you the need to
stop doing this.
Following,
or about the same time (the time frames of when shit actually
happened gets a bit blurry), this happened, in Todd Starnes’ new
opinion piece on Foxnews.com,
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018/07/19/todd-starnes-air-force-surrenders-to-demand-to-replace-bible-with-generic-book-faith-on-powmia-table.html
the
vocal detractor calls MRFF a “militant organization” rather than
“atheist organization.” So the letter appears to have worked for
the moment. But where Starnes goes into bizarro-land, he “urge[s]
the Trump administration to defend the POW/MIA tables.” IOWs defy
the Constitution.
Tweeting,
And
stating in a subsequent OPed, “Let’s cut to the chase –
President Trump needs to immediately intervene and put a stop to
these ugly attacks from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.”
https://www.toddstarnes.com/show/air-force-base-defends-replacing-bible-with-generic-book-of-faith/
Just
to note, Starnes' over-the-top reaction also coincides with another
MRFF victory in my home city of Buffalo. And just so people are
aware, it is not the tables nor the symbolism of the tables MRFF and
others are fighting against, it is the placement of the Bible. A
point we will delve into a bit more later.
Huckabee
You
know this bloviating fucknut couldn't be too far behind in all
this,,,
“This is an issue I'd love to see the president interject himself into. I'd love to see him say, as commander in chief of the military, 'Put the Bible back on the table. Let's not be stupid about this.'”
As noted by Chris, now the FRC has
chimed in,,,
___________________________________________________________________________________
So with that bit of house
keeping out of the why we come to the crux of tonight's show –
POW/MIA tables.
Now the SOCAS work MRFF has engaged in is very necessary. There are blatant violations, one would have to be a complete idiot not to see such IMO. But yet, the Reich's objects. Do you think, that these objections to the removal of the Bible (and Seals) are a new flavor of spaghetti?
The Beginning as I know
it, (or I should say when I started to pay more attention). The
MIA table issue “began” around 2016. As Chris notes the changing
of the tradition began much much earlier,,,
2/25/16
- New Testament Bible Removed from Akron, OH VA POW/MIA Table
http://militaryreligiousfreedom.org/press-releases/2016/Akron_VA_2-25-16.html
4/4/16
- New Testament Bible Removed from Youngstown, OH VA POW/MIA Table
http://militaryreligiousfreedom.org/press-releases/Youngstown_VA_Victory_4_4_16.html
4/8/16
- New Testament Bible Removed from Wright Patterson AFB, OH POW/MIA
Table
http://militaryreligiousfreedom.org/press-releases/OHIO_HatTrick_4_8_16.html
4/11/16
- New Testament Bible Removed from Houston, TX VA POW/MIA Table
http://militaryreligiousfreedom.org/press-releases/MRFF_4th_Victory_POW_MIA_4_11_16.html
4/19/16
- New Testament Bible Removed from Tobyhanna, PA VA POW/MIA Table
http://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org/press-releases/2016/TobyhannaArmyDepotPOW_MIA_4-19-16.html
9/16/16
- New Testament Bible Removed from Eglin AFB, FL Allergy Clinic
Table
https://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org/press-releases/bibleRemoved_Eglin_USAFbase_9_16_16.html
10/18/16
- MRFF commends Chillicothe Veteran Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) in
Athens Ohio, for prompt New Testament Bible removal from Medical
Health Clinic
http://militaryreligiousfreedom.org/press-releases/bibleRemoved_Athens_10_17_16V2.html
Nov
2017 - DENVER VA MEDICAL CENTER PROMPTLY REMOVES UNCONSTITUTIONAL
BIBLE FROM "MISSING MAN TABLE!"
https://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org/press-releases/2017/DENVER_VA_MEDICAL_CENTER_REMOVES_BIBLE_NOVEMBER_2017.html
June
2018 - Group files IG complaint against Navy over Bible included in
Okinawa POW/MIA display
http://militaryreligiousfreedom.org/press-releases/2018/MRFF_Stars_Stripes_DodIG_June_2018.html
MRFF
SENDS OFFICIAL DoD/IG COMPLAINT LETTER RE: OKINAWA NAVAL BASE;
DEMANDS BIBLE REMOVAL
https://www.stripes.com/news/group-files-ig-complaint-against-navy-over-bible-included-in-okinawa-pow-mia-display-1.534982
July
2018 - MRFF's Efforts Lead to Bible Replacement at F.E. Warren AFB,
Special Thanks to Colonel Stacy J. Huser, Wing Commander of the 90th
Missile Wing at F.E. Warren Air Force Base (AFB)
http://militaryreligiousfreedom.org/press-releases/2018/_Warren_Bible_Replaced_2018.html
July
2018 - MRFF's PERSISTENCE LEADS TO BUFFALO, NEW YORK's VA MEDICAL
CENTER REMOVING UNAUTHORIZED BIBLES FROM POW/MIA TABLE!
http://militaryreligiousfreedom.org/press-releases/2018/VA_Buffalo_Bibles_Removed_2018.html
The Okinowa and FEWarren issues seem to be the ones stuck in the Reich's craw. But as you can see, this is not a new issue concerning the tables.
What exactly is a
POW/MIA table and when did it get it's start?
The Missing Man Table is a place of honor, set up in military dining facilities of the U.S. armed forces and during occasions such as service branch birthday balls, in memory of fallen, missing, or imprisoned military service-members. The table serves as the focal point of ceremonial remembrance, originally growing out of US concern of the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue. From my understanding, the tables are only used at dine-in functions.
The original tradition of these tables
started by the River Rats in 1967 did NOT include a Bible, and
neither does the American Legion's
version, which sticks to the original tradition. We are not trying totake away a tradition, as the fundies
are claiming to get their followers all outraged; we are trying to
RESTORE this tradition to the original
one that honored POWs and MIAs of ALL religions or no religion.
General symbolism, although there are
variations in some things that do not appear to this layman
understanding to take away from the meaning.
Symbolism
This description is from Wiki for simplicity sake. Concecus sems to agree from othre readings with the only discrepancy being the inclusion of the Bible; which we will get to.
- Table: set for one, is small, symbolizing the frailty of one isolated prisoner.
- Tablecloth is white, symbolic of the purity of their intentions to respond to their country’s call to arms.
- Single red rose in the vase, signifies the blood that many have shed in sacrifice to ensure the freedom of America.
- The red ribbon (yellow ribbon for Air Force ceremonies) represents the love of our country
- Slice of lemon on the bread plate: represents the bitter fate of the missing.
- Salt sprinkled on the bread plate: symbolic of the countless fallen tears of families as they wait.
- Inverted glass: represents the fact that the missing and
fallen cannot partake.
- Lit candle: reminiscent of the light of hope which lives in
our hearts to illuminate their way home, away from their captors, to
the open arms of a grateful nation.
- Empty chair: the missing and fallen aren't present.
That above description from my understanding is what the RiverRats intended when THEY began the tradition in 1967.
MRFF first filed a complaint about the
display with Rear Adm. Paul Pearigen, Navy Medicine West commander,
on April 5. The Navy later said it investigated the matter but found
that including the Bible was “consistent with Department of the
Navy and Department of Defense guidance, as well as the U.S.
Constitution.”
,,,
The official Navy or Defense
Department stance on Bibles being included in POW/MIA “Missing Man”
table displays remains unclear. However, a report on the Navy’s
website from 2014 describes the Bible as being an official part of
the display.
https://www.stripes.com/news/group-files-ig-complaint-against-navy-over-bible-included-in-okinawa-pow-mia-display-1.534982
In general news sources, things like some POW/MIA
orgs, and the like there is nary a mention of the Red River Valley
Fighter Pilots Association ... River Rats is just their nickname ...
and the organization still exists today. Its as if the guys never
existed because they didn't worship like the theonuts in power so
their contribution to the remembrance of are missing is of no
consequence.'America's White Table by Margot Theis Raven. The book explains why members of the military set a single white table in mess halls as a way to honor fallen or missing soldiers.
America's White Table, Jul 9 2005 | Video | C-SPAN.org https://www.c-span.org/video/?185999-1/americas-white-table Margot begins at the 10:17 mark reading from her book.
Okinawa Table
No comments:
Post a Comment