Idiocy at the close of 2009

My head's been swimming the past couple of weeks.  Most of it has been self inflicted.  Today, my noggin's in the middle of a Flipper marathon over two you-gotta-be-kidding-me comments from men in authority.  Join me in my flabbergastedness.

The first brain-buzzer comes from a US Army commander in Northern Iraq.  General Anthony Cucolo has ordered the women in his unit to stop getting pregnant (here).  I do believe that this was one of the major arguments against opening positions to women formerly held by only by military men back in the day of William Jefferson Clinton. 

Yes, I know public opinion was for it, but public opinion doesn't serve on the front line. You put men and women in close proximity in high pressure jobs far from home with little to do during their leisure time, and you're going to have to start building nurseries.  You can't very well keep a pregnant mama in hostile territory, so she gets sent home leaving the numbers of troops diminished.  It's no surprise the general's hacked, but what a stupid policy.

As dumb and ineffective a policy as it is, the fact that we have women in such positions is dumber.  Who do we indict for the general's dopey edict?  Not the general.  We need to look in the mirror.  It's you and I, baby.  You and I.

The other head-scratcher came from an Anglican priest (here).  He gave the green light for the needy to steal.  Ah, but the priest has his standards.

I would ask that they do not steal from small family businesses, but from large national businesses, knowing that the costs are ultimately passed on to the rest of us in the form of higher prices.

Moral relativism at its finest.  He does encourage the kleptos not to take any more than they need.  Isn't that nice? 

But why does the Reverend think this even necessary?

The observation that shoplifting is the best option that some people are left with is a grim indictment of who we are...Rather, this is a call for our society no longer to treat its most vulnerable people with indifference and contempt.

OHHHH!  It's my fault.  Wow. Where to begin with that pile of goo?  The Rev's reasoning goes like this:  because there are poor, it's okay for them to steal, but only from big companies.  Do you think there is a bottom-line limit?  Perhaps there should be a sign in the window.  "Our company has profits in excess of $650 million dollars and we have stores in three-quarters of the United States.  Therefore, we are a larceny friendly store.  Come on in and fill your pockets."

What about asking for help?  The "homeless" guys who hold specific corners in my town seem to be doing okay.  I suspect that if folks really needed help and asked folks for help, they'd get it.  The affluent West has done more to try to help the poor out of their condition.  Look to the totalitarian Third World if you want to see rampant poverty and economic disparity.  Praise God for the blessed West and the health and wealth that have been enjoyed for so many years by so many.

Perhaps the most dizzying aspect of this insane dismantling of Commandment Eight is that it's the exact same rationale behind the social programs being enacted in our national legislature these days.  Yeah, the costs will be spread around kind of like H1N1.

Sure, there have been great generals in our nation's military and great preachers in our churches, but these two Jehus prove the addage that you can always serve as a bad example.