Paid evangelist with tax dollars in Washington?

Lawmakers Want Hearing on Ties Between Sect, Defense Contracts

Josh White
Washington Post

May 03, 2008

April 29,2008 - The Defense Department has contracted with three companies that are closely tied to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and some lawmakers want to know if money from those deals supported the sect, whose ranch was raided this month after allegations of child abuse.

Pentagon officials said the Air Force and the Defense Logistics Agency bought $1.7 million worth of airplane parts from three companies with close ties to the sect. Some officials are raising questions about statements by an employee of one of the companies that much of that money went directly to the FLDS church and its polygamist leader, Warren Jeffs.

Jeffs was convicted of rape last year for arranging an underage marriage. On April 3, authorities raided the Yearning for Zion Ranch outside El Dorado, Tex., run by the polygamist group after a tip that young girls there had been sexually abused. More than 400 children are in state custody, as authorities try to sort out what happened at the ranch.

The Pentagon said airplane parts were bought between 1998 and 2007 from Utah Tool & Die Inc., Western Precision Inc. and NewEra Manufacturing Inc., all companies with ties to the church. One of the contracts with NewEra Manufacturing in Las Vegas is still open -- with a May delivery date scheduled for 800 Navy bearing hubs at a cost of $40,920, according to the Defense Department.

Rep. Kay Granger (Tex.), vice chairman of the Republican Conference, has asked the House Armed Services Committee to hold investigative hearings, fearing that federal tax dollars may have been used to fund the sect's activities.
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/10010

Statement by Military Religious Freedom Foundation Against Recent Promotion of General Caslen
Mikey Weinstein
Military Religious Freedom Foundation
May 03, 2008

May 2nd, 2008 - "Today, the U. S. Army has completed a tragic 'trifecta of travesty' with Brigadier General Robert Caslen, infamous star of the 2006 "Christian Embassy" video scandal at the Pentagon. Despite being specifically singled out for wrongdoing by the DoD Inspector General in a 2007 investigation (initiated solely by the public demands of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, MRFF) which advised that 'corrective action' be taken against him, the Army (1) assigned him to become the prestigious 70h Commandant of Cadets at West Point; (2) very quietly promoted him to Major General and, (3) and now assigns him to the even more prestigious Command of the storied 25th Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii.
Watch the short Illegal "Christian Embassy" Video: http://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org/Media_video/christian-embassy/index.html

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/10006

Maj. Gen. Jack J. Catton Jr.
"My first priority is faith." "Sharing my faith in advising."
Director of Requirements, Headquarters Air Combat Command, Langley Air Force Base, Va. As director, he is responsible for all functions relating to the acquisition of weapons systems for combat air forces, to include new systems and modifications to existing systems. General Catton manages the definition of operational requirements, the translation of requirements to systems capabilities, and the subsequent operational evaluation of the new or modified systems.
He also chairs the Combat Air Forces Requirements Oversight Council for modernization investment planning. The general directs a staff of 10 divisions, three special management offices and four operating locations, and actively represents the warfighter in defining future requirements while supporting the acquisition of today's combat systems.

General Catton's staff tours include an Air Staff tour as the Director of Operations advocate for the advanced tactical fighter; a NATO staff tour as Chief of Contingency Operations at NATO's Interim Deployable Combined Air Operations Center at Ramstein Air Base, Germany; and a major command staff tour as the Inspector General for Headquarters Pacific Air Forces at Hickam AFB, Hawaii. Prior to assuming his current position, he served on the Joint Staff as Deputy Director for Information Operations, and then as Director, Operational Plans and Joint Force Development, where he was responsible to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for all matters pertaining to transforming joint operational concepts, education, training, exercises and war plans.
http://www.af.mil/bios/bio.asp?bioID=4960

Under Secretary Daniel Cooper
"The job will get done if I'm there or not." Bible study is "more important"

Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Benefits
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The Under Secretary for Benefits, in the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, directs the Veterans Benefits Administration through regional offices in 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. The Under Secretary is responsible for the administration of benefits provided by the Department to veterans and dependents, including compensation, pension, education, home loan guaranty, vocational rehabilitation, and life insurance. The incumbent Under Secretary is Daniel L. Cooper, who was sworn in on April 2, 2002. [1]

The Under Secretary is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The occupant of the position is required to be appointed without regard to political affiliation and solely on the basis of his or her demonstrated ability in fiscal management and the administration of programs within the Veterans Benefits Administration or programs of similar content and scope. The Under Secretary is appointed for terms of four years, and reappointment is possible for successive periods. The President is required to communicate his reasons to Congress if the Under Secretary for Benefits is removed from office. Whenever there is a vacancy in the position, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs must set up a commission to recommend to the President candidates for appointment.[2]

The Veterans Benefits Administration has been in existence since the creation of the Department of Veterans Affairs in October 1988, when it was led by a Chief Benefits Director.[3] In 1994, the title was changed to Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Benefits.[4]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_Secretary_of_Veterans_Affairs_for_Benefits

The Christian Embassy is operating in the government. They are in the Pentagon and in the halls of congress. We are paying lawmakers to take Bible study? Does this bother anyone? Isn't that what churches are for? Why are we paying to have they take Bible study instead of doing the jobs they were elected to do and in the case of the Pentagon, the job they were appointed to do?

Is the Undersecretary of the VA now suddenly a position that includes Bible study held as more important than the veterans of this nation being refused care? Is the position of Congressman now the Lord's representative instead of the nation's? Is the rank of Major General now to be about sharing the faith instead of leading men and women in battle? Who else is involved in evangelizing instead of doing their jobs? The jobs all Americans are paying for and that includes Jewish people, Muslim people, all people no matter what faith or lack of faith they have, they all pay for this.

We have two occupations that are taking years too long to finish. Afghanistan did not have a military and yet we have had troops there since 2001. Iraq's military had been so depleted that they hardly put up any fight at all to defend Iraq from the invasion yet we have had troops there since 2003. What could have been accomplished if the generals and the Congressmen had concentrated on their day jobs instead of what they are supposed to be doing on Sunday in their own churches?

The country is falling apart because these people think they can put their jobs in second place to Bible study! Men and women they sent to two occupations are suffering because these political zealots have no clue what Christ said or the Constitution says. Christ said, "render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and unto God that which is God's" but they think the government, the nation and the people in this nation are second place to Bible study? Tell them to do their Bible study on their own time and not on our dime! We expect them to do their jobs just like everyone else is expected to do their's. They took an oath to the Constitution!

Congressman John Carter
"We are representing the Lord"

Term: 3rd
First Elected: 2002
Percentage in Last Election: 58%
Major Opponent: Mary Beth Harrell
Committees:
• Appropriations
http://www3.capwiz.com/mygov/bio/?id=129902
&flv=1&ncid=PzKTRQMZIa0000000860&icid=rbox_government_officials.M

As a Chaplain, I watched this video and thought it would have been marvelous to have this kind of video for a church but I was appalled that it was about what is taking place in the Pentagon and in Congress. They were not hired to be pastors, ministers or Chaplains. There is a shortage of Chaplains in Iraq and Afghanistan. If they want to spread the word of Christ, let them go to Iraq and Afghanistan as Chaplains and get out of the government positions they are paid to do.