Morning Briefing
For May 1, 2013
1. Could Christian Chaplains Be Silenced Under Pentagon Rules?
Religious liberty groups have grave concerns after they learned the Pentagon is vetting its guide on religious tolerance with a group that compared Christian evangelism to “rape” and advocated that military personnel who proselytize should be court martialed.
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation is calling on the Air Force to enforce a regulation that they believe calls for the court martial of any service member caught proselytizing.
President Mikey Weinstein and others from his organization met privately with Pentagon officials on April 23. He said U.S. troops who proselytize are guilty of sedition and treason and should be punished – by the hundreds if necessary – to stave off what he called a “tidal wave of fundamentalists.” . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
2. Aakash Abbi’s Actions Cause Students to Lose Scholarships
Good for Frank Luntz. There should be consequences for Aakash Abbi’s actions, though judging by his twitter feed, Aakash Abbi is not remorseful and does not view it as his fault that scholarships are going away.
Aakash Abbi attended a lecture by Frank Luntz at the University of Pennsylvania. A student asked Luntz a question. Before Luntz began, he said he would only answer if it was all off the record. Then Luntz had a few choice and inappropriate words for Rush Limbaugh and others. While I disagree with Luntz’s assessment, for those blaming Luntz for what happened next, let me be blunt: but for Aakash Abbi’s actions, Luntz’s next actions would never have occurred. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
3. Food stamps for illegal aliens
There has been much controversy over the government’s efforts to advertise welfare programs, particularly the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), otherwise known as the “food stamp” program. Only they’re not “stamps” any more. The dependent masses of Food Stamp Nation get a little credit card, called an EBT Card, which they can use in the checkout lines, just like people who pay for their own food.
In theory, this electronic processing of food stamp benefits should have provided a data-processing defense against abuse. In practice, tales of outrageous abuse have only grown more common, as EBT cards are used to purchase everything from unhealthy groceries the Nanny State otherwise discourages – such as sugary carbonated beverages – to luxury foods, and even more creative uses like posting bail or tipping exotic dancers. The latter incidents are among the many bizarre abuses that arise from the ability of EBT card holders to withdraw cash from ATM machines, at which point all public accountability for the money is lost.
Amazingly enough, there isn’t any serious effort currently being made to process data from EBT card transactions, although Rep. Tom Marino (R-PA) has been trying to change that with a bill called the SNAP Transparency Act. The Washington Times describes the goal of this bill as the creation of “an online, searchable database that uses bar codes to break down how many taxpayer dollars in food stamps are spent on individual products, from Kit Kat bars to whole milk.” . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
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