A US firm sought to quiet a controversy over coded Biblical references inscribed on gunsights used by US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan Thursday, announcing it was providing the military with kits to remove them.
Muslim and religious freedom groups have reacted angrily after it emerged that Trijicon has contracts to supply over 800,000 of the gunsights to the US military.
Critics charged that the company was putting US troops in danger in Muslim-majority nations where the US military presence is already bitterly resented.
The Wixom, Michigan company said it has inscribed references to the New Testament on the metal casings of its gunsights for over two decades.
But it said it would supply the military with 100 kits "to enable the removal of the references that are already on products that are currently deployed."
See? Sometimes the good guys DO win. Not nearly as often as they should, but sometimes.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
They're going to play let's see who's first in line.
ReplyDeleteOne hundred "kits"? Why does this sound like another insult?
ReplyDeleteSo each "kit" is good for 8000 scopes? i wonder what the "kit" includes.
ReplyDeleteNot enough. Twenty years they've done this, there are lawmakers, procurers and top military personnel that were complicit and condoning of these contracts. A hundred files to shut up the secular nation is a joke and a pittance to the insult.
ReplyDeleteHeads should roll, and not in the way this free-market, bible beatin capitalist company would have it of their scopes targets.
This is not an admission of guilt, but merely a token of smoke and mirrors. The company should replace every single scope free of charge and appoligize to every Christian and non-Christian in the world for using their position as a paid US Gov't contractor to fostor RELIGIOUS war.
ReplyDeleteOT
ReplyDeleteIn wake of the Supreme Courts ruling on Thursday, here are 2 very important petitions to sign and SPREAD FAR AND WIDE:
MOVE TO AMEND
Campaign to Legalize Democracy
http://movetoamend.org/we-corporations
FREE SPEECH for PEOPLE dot org
http://freespeechforpeople.org/
(sorry if already posted)
In addition to the First Amendment issues, the scopes served no useful purpose. Therefore, the manufacturer has basically been milking the taxpayers for over 2 decades (or however long) for costs that were unnecessary. Put another way, the manufacturer and its agents probably falsified the necessary costs to the Pentagon in their bid estimates. The manufacturer should be required by the Pentagon to refund, with interest, the unnecessary charges, and the bid applications should be reviewed for truthfulness. If the manufacturer's name was, say, ACORN, they would be barred from all future government contracts. But hey, we're dealing with killing people different from us, not the constitutional right to vote for people different from us, so we all know how the illuminati and their puppets will react, right?
ReplyDeleteThe [Pentagon] spokesman would not say whether that is an acceptable solution, but called the unauthorized insertion of the biblical references disturbing and inappropriate.
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/whowouldjesuskill
I agree with 7:24. This corporation needs to replace the scopes without cost and not make the troops do their literal dirty-work for them. Our troops should not need to spend their time removing the offensive references.
ReplyDeleteThe corporate owners and officers who were behind this policy need to make a formal, MSM apology to Christians and non-Christians here and overseas.
This small gesture should not be regarded as punishment. There should be legal sanctions, and a new company awarded the contract.
This company broke rules, broke faith with the military and endangered our troops unnecessarily. They should be given a symbolic slap on the wrist. Their contract needs to terminated, restitution made, and a new company found to provide clean scopes.
Plus, how do we know the evangelical commanders in the field will follow through with having the rank and file take time to file off the inscriptions? What about disciplinary action for those supported this breach of military rules and the Constitution?
We cannot let those in the military who sanctioned this escape without some sort of discipline.
We need to demand that the military remain secular in tone. Doing respects the faiths or non-belief of all those brave men and women who serve and protect our country. It also protects them by damping-down the claims of anti-American terrorists overseas.
I am so proud of the American public's outrage over this. It brings home the importance of constant vigilance and rapid response to threats to our religious and political freedoms (if we have any left after what the Supreme Court did today).
Plus, for those of us who are Christian, it removes the shame of having ignorant corporate leaders misinterpreting the ministry of Jesus - one that emphasized peace and coexistence. War should not be associated with the Prince of Peace (and I say that as a non-Christian).
RIP Air America!
ReplyDeleteGryphen,
ReplyDeleteI tried to send this in an email but don't know if it went through. This isn't the right thread for it, but I thought you would want to see it.
EXPOSED -Lane GOP Palin Dinner
Eugene, Oregon -- LaneWatchdog has recently received reports of dismay in the rank and file members of the local GOP. It appears that the financial details of the Sarah Palin visit have been leaked to the press and other media outlets (like LaneWatchdog@gmail.com) as a protest of the high fees charged for the upcoming Lincoln Day Dinner. LaneWatchdog has been forwarded what looks like a summary of an administration email stating that the speaker's fee for Palin is a whopping $75,000 -- not the $34,000 plus "security deposit" uncovered by BlueOregon's Carla Axtman -- and that the local GOP plans to triple that amount through plate fees at the event to fill their depleted coffers. It also states that the Oregon GOP has to lend Lane funds to secure the speaker. Rank and file members are up in arms over the reported $250 per person fee charged to each member. While the annual Lincoln Day dinner celebrates the founding principles of the party, many working class members may not be able to attend due to economic cuts, job losses, and poor market conditions. Since breaking this story on Craigslist earlier today, LaneWatchdog has received several emails stating that the reservation lists at the GOP office for the event are being filled by out of town and even out of state attendees, leaving many local Republican members without a seat at the table even if they could afford to go. Allegedly a special segregated area for lower income conservatives will be available at the event, for those who prefer to only pay $100 and watch Palin's speech on a video feed. "I love Sarah Palin," one emailer to LaneWatchdog@gmail.com stated, "but if she knew what these creeps were up to I'd bet she wouldn't show up." Another wrote, "It's no longer the back of the bus... it's more like the back of the ballroom, down the hall, and crammed in the video feed room like second-class Republicans." In a party that has recently been criticized on its aloof attitude and "country club" vs. "NASCAR" Republican infighting, it seems to be another bump in the road on the journey to reinvent the Republican Party. Repeated emails to confirm these details have been sent to GOP leaders but have not been returned.
Have a juicy political tip? Email to LaneWatchdog@gmail.com. Guaranteed confidentiality through our glorious Consitution and, well, because we promised.
Sorry. I just sent posted a comment from the comment section about Palin's Gop speech in Oregan without the link..
ReplyDeletehttp://www.blueoregon.com/2010/01/lane-county-gop-drops-a-big-chunk-to-draw-sarah-palin.html?cid=6a00d8341c2c3f53ef0120a7f9da88970b
Thank you for covering this very important story for all of us.
ReplyDeleteO/T Gryphen, isn't Diane Palin scheduled to be sentenced tomorrow?? If so, could you inform us when you hear? Thanks
It IS a first step. An outrageous practice is now visible and this is the first step toward ending it. I for one am going to celebrate incremental progress and small victories in ANY area. (I have to acknowledge progress and feel grateful for it to remain sane.)
ReplyDeleteWe--those who want more justice, peace, health, education and happiness--do have an advantage. There are millions of us. And, we can communicate quickly and effectively.
We can make this world better if we keep our eyes open, keep pushing back against the darkness, and if we don't give in to despair.
What I'd like to know is if they plan on removing the "code" on all future sights. Or is this just a sop for the gullible?
ReplyDeleteI'm learning to be cynical, and that just irks me no end.
I like what a previous comment said about each "kit" working for 800 sights. Right.
I guess Gryphen must have missed this:
ReplyDeletehttp://tmz.vo.llnwd.net/o28/newsdesk/tmz_documents/0121_bristol_doc_wm.pdf
Levi paid a whopping $3,000 before the custody action was filed.....that can't be true, I read right here that he had paid all the child support that was due.
Is there an appropriate address to register my outrage?
ReplyDeleteThe military needs to remember that they volunteered to WORK FOR US. WE pay their salary. We set the rules.
ReplyDeleteDont like it Major/Colonel/General X-tian? Then kindly resign your commission and move on.
So now the religious freaks in the officers corps will be able to tell from who decides to file off the bible reference who is "good" christian soldier and who isn't, leaving the non-fundie soldiers vulnerable to abuse. Oh yeah, that's a good plan. Do you see now why the teabaggers kept calling Scott Brown "the LtCol"? It's code for "this guy's one of us". Many officers in the US Military and Reserves are fundies.
ReplyDeleteTold you so.
ReplyDeleteWhen a company stands to lose a $660 million dollar contract, they give the military anything it asks for.
I'll be future scopes won't have the bible verses on them at all.
Liberal talk is so boring same ol,same ol
ReplyDeleteso let's get this straight it's okay to kill someone as long as there are no Bible references on the scope?
ReplyDeleteWhich by the way thanks to Maddow and the rest of the quislings at NBC made it known to the Muslims.
Once again our wonderful media putting more troops in greater danger.
Does Maddow know that Muslims would flog her publicly for her having sex with other women?
General Petraeus thinks that the Jesus references are troubling.
ReplyDeleteThey're vbeing filed off all New Zraland weapons as we speak; I think Australia is doing the same. I can't beleve how these corporations hold the good people of the USA to ransom ... please bring Palin down before she unites them into the most bizarre of governments. I'm reminded of a joke by a US comedian .. he explained that the folk who founded USA were so Puritan that even the Puritans of England threw them out ! I wish you all well .. and go, Gryphen, go .. bring it on as quickly as you can .....
ReplyDeleteThis is an example of not using the word of God in a right way. I hope they get called on the carpet for it; in this life and the next. God's weapons discriminate and he doesn't need to use humans puny little weapons. So, I think they were wrong.
ReplyDelete