The fact that this situation was "abruptly ended" leaves me thinking that perhaps the lack of a public trial and "discourse" (ugh!) has left luffing the sails of a great many who would turn this into some sort of "cause de celebre". The liberal media will do it's best to keep the story on life support but thankfully, I believe, the story's shelf life has (hopefully) been cut in half.

Dave,Spot on with the post; especially your assessment of what passes for "leadership". I am to retire in the next few months from the Air Force and all I can tell you is the game is still the same. I have watched countless numbers of great leaders, leaders who one would as you said,"follow to storm the gates of hell itself" leave the service because of the ineptitude, hypocrisy, and politics of the military. Most never make it past the rank of Lt Col. The choice not to participate in that rat race has its consequences, hence my never having made it past the rank of Captain, but it is wonderful to know I have been able to serve for 20 years doing exactly what the American people trained me to do and have never had to prostitute my integrity in the quest to move up the political ladder. Would that we could find some officers who were happy just to be a squadron commander, or a group commander, or even a wing commander and would be willing to do as much boat rocking as it took to reform the military.

I've seen the reality of Mister D's observations making it's way now into the military. As a pilot training instructor in the USAF it practically took a congressional act to eliminate an unqualified candidate. The "hollowing out" of our Air Force began once the "leadership" started tying graduation rates to their Officer Performance Reports instead of focusing on producing quality pilots.

Well, 70 for me...Of course the military career pumps that up a bit. Oh yeah, I almost forgot...so does the beer, :)

Well spoken sir...well spoken.

My choice is still Gingrich, however,that being said, in the general, I'll vote for whoever the R nominee is over Obama.

Well, Jimmy takes it. It was her song," Like a prayer". I am one who can remember the uproar the original caused back in the late 80's,(1989 specifically). It's interesting to me that it would be so "non-importante" in today's society. Time may "heal" all wounds, but it seems time may also have an altogether sanitizing effect.

Dave, I've made peace with your argument. I have believed for some time now that the over-arching need is to get Obama out. I have nothing but disdain for Romney. If by some unfortunate turn he is to win the nomination, then I will do my part and cast the vote for him. I will spend the next four years however, doing everything I can to rectify that unfortunate turn of events.

 Adam,

It's not as if the soldiers aren't allowed to go off post to fulfill their religious needs.  Minus certain situations of a "closed campus" like basic training, OTS, or some other course of formal training wherin off base privileges are restricted, members of the military are free to pursue whatever religious activities they desire outside the military. Religious activity while deployed however, is an all-together different animal and perhaps beyond the scope of this discussion.  That being said, if one wants to understand the nature of the military chaplain system, one need only understand the "space for clergy" that the military creates could be likened to mere window dressing; "yeah...I suppose we gotta have it, so we'll recruit men/women of different faiths to shepherd the various flocks so we can appear to be fulfilling the spiritual needs of our members".  It's all good as long as their message is deliverd on a non-interference basis, but make no mistake, the idea that military chaplains are free to act in similar ways as their civilian counterparts is pure illusion.

Raycon, forgive me but that smacks of talking the talk but not walking the walk. If we, as a collective of conservatives, cluck our tongues and say tsk tsk tsk at the horrors that PP perpetrates, then I say we have an obligation to provide an alternative. Are you saying the conservative movement isn't quite conservative enought to put their money where their mouth is? I for one would invest heavily in a healthcare business which was dedicated to providing quality care to women and knowing my investment wasn't being used to fund abortion. Such an organization may not be as big as PP but I believe the initiative needs to be started. Not everything needs to be funded by the government...after all we're the people who say if you want it YOU pay for it, and I for one think that with the right marketing and business plan, it could succeed.

As a longstanding military member I will just say the chaplain service is a hollow body. There may be doctrine taught within the individual denominations but make no mistake, everybody within is the property of the US military and any open criticism of the executive is summarily squashed and it's author censured under the ucmj.

That is an outstanding idea. I will piggyback on that as well and propose an alternative perhaps to PP. I would love to see an organization of clinics, run within the conservative framework, dedicated to providing all the same services as PP, at the same costs, but without the abortion services. I would think this to be competitive in the current climate. Thoughts?

I know it's usually prudent to read an entire article in order to be informed and capable of refuting/responding, but man alive!!!! I only made it through the first five lines before I had to close it out. Absolutely ridiculous!

Not so fast methinks... Just because it was ignored in Obama's case, doesn't, in my opinion, invalidate the precedent. I don't think it's a good idea to merely say,"well, it wasn't followed here, so we can disregard it". Standards are standards and need to be adhered to in any case.

That's not bad for a quadruped.

Thanks James.