This column appeared in the Albuquerque Tribune Thursday, March 23:
HOLIER THAN THOU?
Albuquerque lawyer challenges the Air Force to defend religious freedom in the military
By Arthur Alpert
Despite all I have read about Mikey Weinstein’s lawsuit against the Air Force, I got it wrong.
It’s not really about Christian evangelicals leaning on Jews at the Air Force Academy. It’s more serious, as I learned from the Albuquerque lawyer over lunch.
"This is not a Christian versus Jewish thing. This is an evangelical Christian versus the Constitution thing," he said.
"We have 702 military installations in 132 countries around the world," he continued. "On every one of them, there’s an Officers Christian Fellowship and a Christian Military Fellowship for the enlisted. Their stated goal is to see a spiritually transformed military with ‘ambassadors of Christ in uniform.’
"I get calls 24/7 from around the world, the vast majority of complainants are Protestants and Catholics."
And the proselytizers – who are they?
"They are evangelical, fundamentalist, dominionist Christians."
Dominionist?
"They want to exercise godly dominion over every aspect of American life. They see the military as a mission field…They see a cosmic battle going on between the forces of Christ and the forces of darkness. The irony is that if you look at Wahabi Islam they will tell you there is a cosmic battle going on between the forces of Allah and the forces of darkness."
Why shouldn’t they enjoy free speech?
"I will defend to the death their right to believe and preach. I object to their engaging the machinery of the state to push their Biblical world-view."
Under new guidelines, he says, superiors in the chain of command can "share their faith" so long as it’s done non-coercively.
"It can never be non-coercive," Weinstein says. "And that violates the Constitution."
Last July, Brig. Gen. Cecil R. Richardson, the Air Force’s second-ranked chaplain, told the world "We will not proselytize but we reserve the right to evangelize the unchurched,"
Make you nostalgic for Father Mulcahy? It made Weinstein furious. He waited for the Air Force to discipline Richardson or clarify policy. Neither happened. Finally, he sued, asking the courts to force the Air Force to treat religion neutrally and to insure that no member on duty be proselytized or pressured.
Why you, Mikey Weinstein?
"It’s very hard for the Right to paint me as a tree-hugging, Chardonnay - sipping liberal."
Weinstein is Republican, spent three and a half years in the Reagan White House, served Ross Perot as general counsel. He, his father, brother-in-law, a son and daughter-in-law are military Academy graduates. Another son is a junior at the Colorado Springs academy.
For the legal case, Weinstein hired local attorney Sam Bregman. For the court of public opinion, he’s whirled like a dervish through countless TV, radio and newspaper interviews. For political and financial support, he’s created the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org).
The Air Force, with evangelical backing, responded with new guidelines. Old wine in new bottles, Weinstein figures; he’s asked the court to deep-six them. Meanwhile – big surprise - the White House decided against crossing the religious right.
Weinstein talks so passionately that I might have suspected paranoia if I hadn’t heard his opponents preach against separation of church and state and for an American theocracy.
So given this unholy war against freedom of religion, why aren’t the
Catholic Bishops, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Lutheran and Jewish leaders at his side?
I phoned Mikey Weinstein to ask him. He said people may be "unaware," distracted by the Final Four, you know.
Sorry, Mikey - no sale. They’re trying not to see.
Arthur Alpert is a semi-retired newsman in Albuquerque. Reach him at ArthurAlpert@swcp.com. His column runs the fourth Thursday of the month.
Bill Beutel died the other day.
I last spoke with him about six months ago when I borrowed his tape of a documentary he and I did in Vietnam in 1965. His conversation showed signs of dementia but his sweet nature came through nevertheless.
Bill was associated with Eyewitness News, the showy brand of information that WABC-TV, New York perfected in the 70s, and in which he was the straight anchor around whom the entertainment danced..
But we met earlier, in 1962, when WABC-TV created its first local news shop and programming. And for four years – I left in 1966 – we covered important news and sought to convey useful information.
In retrospect, our programs must have been dull. But as I regret losing Bill – a gentleman amongst ruffians - I cannot help but feel sorry, too, for today’s viewers of what purports to be TV news.
They get the police blotter (illustrated).
And they don’t know what else they might be getting.
Sorry to be late, but I fogot to post the following column when it ran in the Albuquerque Tribune, Feb. 23.
TRUE LIES
We all do it, but when prevarication becomes policy at the highest level, we’re in a sorry state
By Arthur Alpert
So the salesman said to me, "Well, how much were you thinking of spending?"
Buying a car? No. That line from the auto salesman’s Bible was uttered by a guy selling eyeglasses! Revelation: the big optical shops play shell games, too.
The radio-CD-phonograph I’ve eyed at an Albuquerque department store cost $90 in December. It’s 20% off today - off $149.95, that is.
And Merck’s TV ad says my health is its first concern.
Commercial lies are no big deal, of course. (Shrug.) That’s business. (Shrug.) Just patronize the decent business people you know, caveat emptor elsewhere and …well, shrug.
And as for lies, who doesn’t?
I lie a lot to be kind: "It’s my fault, not yours."
I lie to smooth social life: "Love these (inedible) hors d’oeuvres."
I lie (infrequently, shamefully) to extricate myself from a terrible spot.
And I may also lie unconsciously. We humans can persuade ourselves that X is Y, then prevaricate quite sincerely.
But what about government lies – the kind that kill.
To foist the Iraq tangent on the nation, the Administration employed a few big lies. Prosecuting it incompetently and corruptly has required a veritable Katrina of untruths.
All governments lie, of course, but I sense that today’s rulers lie more often than, say 35 years ago, and more viciously. The Watergate crew? Softies.
Unfortunately, calling a liar on his lies sets up a never-ending tit-for-tat, diverting us from solutions. If we don’t, though, we lose democracy.
Oh, to scan the pulsing cortexes of the President, his men and media acolytes. I’d like to think they’re honest liars, having persuaded themselves that white is black before telling us so.
But we know these moral leaders hid the real cost of the Medicare prescription drug bill from their fellow Republicans in the House to pass it. We know these prayerful folks tortured, too. And now - eavesdropping:
Last year, the President told a Buffalo, N.Y. crowd his Administration gets court orders before listening to us. Years earlier, he secretly approved the opposite - no court approval. A boomer moment? Perhaps, but consider this: Critics in both parties agreed the US should listen in on al Qaeda but said do it under law. One White House response said (pretended) that the critics oppose tracking al Qaeda – a knowing lie.
For more on White House values read "State of War" (The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration) .by James Risen. And weep.
For viciousness, consider the lies of character assassination. James Webb, Secretary of the Navy for Ronald Reagan, recently fired an Op Ed at White House "surrogates" he says slimed soldiers McCain, Cleland, Kerry and Murtha. Webb blames the Swiftboating on politicos "who never had the courage to step forward and put their own lives on the line."
I fear Secretary Webb is naive. This White House – in hallowed Leninist tradition - believes the end justifies the means. Since it fights for God and Country, every lie is permitted. Thus, good kids sacrifice life and limb, the comfortable, nothing.
Maybe I should apologize to the optician; let him frame me. Buy from department store that raises prices before a sale. Donate dollars to Merck. Lying for my money is, after all, relatively innocent.
As for Presidents, if they must lie, I prefer adultery – hardly innocent but not fatal.
Arthur Alpert is a semi-retired journalist in Albuquerque. Email him at ArthurAlpert@swcp.com. His column runs the fourth Thursday of the month.
Today's Op Ed column by Charles Krauthammer in the Albuquerque Journal is an attack on the movie "Syriana", which purports to trace the sad complexities of oil - the international oil business and the politics thereof.
Seems it's liberal and distorts history and current affairs, according to Krauthammer.
Not long ago, a Hoover Institute historian whose name escapes me, also a Journal syndicated columnist, also clobbered "Syriana."
And neither expert mentioned Iran, 1951. That's when Mohammed Mossadegh nationalized Iran’s oil industry. Dangerous move - British intelligence and the CIA promptly orchestrated his overthrow.
OK, that omission doesn’t prove either the historian and Krauthammer dishonest, but forgetting Mossadegh cannot be easy.
Unless, of course, the columnist is a partisan. Can partisanship and honesty co-exist?