Monday, September 17, 2007
Idris Leppla's brother was accepted to the US Naval Academy and UC Berkley. He made the right choice and went to Annapolis. His sister isn't so thrilled: Columbia Spectator: The Truth About the Academies
She begged me to call a naval lieutenant Monday morning to start the out-processing forms for my brother. After leaving countless messages for the lieutenant, he finally called me back, at which point he informed me that my brother would have to go through 13 exit-interviews to be dismissed, including an interview with the head of the Navy. When I asked him whether this might intimidate him out of leaving, the lieutenant reminded me that my brother had signed an oath legally binding him to the Navy. When I reminded the lieutenant that he had signed that oath after he had been yelled at all day and that his hair had just been shaven off during his first day there, he comforted me that John was not at all forced to sign the oath.
When I looked at the course catalogue, which boasted seminars about leadership and selflessness, they were in fact seminars about weaponry and leading troops into combat. The reality of sending my brother to the Naval Academy began to set in: this was not a school; this was the military. While they boast a first class education, the main goal of this institution was to get my brother “combat ready.†During the first two “induction days,†the head of the Navy openly admitted that their goal was to transform these boys into men who would willingly die defending our country...
Indeed. Without exception the people I've met who have attended the military academies were impressive and exceptional. After you read this, note the author's bio: "he author a Barnard College senior majoring in political science." Oh my. Our future leader and policy-maker. Is it any wonder the value of a college credential is losing its cachet by the minute. The comment thread is eminently entertaining:
The article is billed as first of a four-parter. We await the other installments with baited breath.
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OMG - that is hilarious!!! Is it a parody or is she serious?
One of the commenters notes that Idris (what a name!) goes to JTS. That explains a lot - I know those people, bunch of mushy liberal Jewish rabbinical students....
I think I'm gonna scream.
:)
Yeah, it took some time to sink after reading. A rare case of... er... let's call it arrested development.
It's an academic form of Jew baiting. We have seen a lot of that around lately. El-Haj can expect a brilliant career. She has high ambitions. She is going for something that predates the concept of rights. If a people does not exist, how can it have rights? If a people does not exist, how can it be exterminated in gas chambers? But it's important that she gets her chance to push these "theories". There is no stronger indictment of what kind of "scholar" she is than the choice of her research material and her underlying premises. With the publication of such a book the academia that supports her will have consummated this unholy marriage between Far right and far-left, with plenty of blood to prove it.
Hey, even the Naval Academy bars the ROTC from campus... except, of course, for the occasional visit
This is either a parody, or another case of anti-military fiction reporting. My small Boy Scout District has three Eagle Scouts in military academies now, and a number who have graduated and are now on active duty. I know all of them, either through my work with the District Training Committee, or as a member of the Eagle Board of Review Council Representatives.
http://www.rrv-bsa.com/Honor%20Roll/honorollmain.htm
I know full well the very complicated process in gaining a congressional appointment to any of the academies, and can attest that no one could possibly get in without fully understanding the goals, aims, requirements and responsibilities inherant with this priviledge
Ooops. I posted my comment in the wrong thread. Sorry.
I think the link to the story is either broken or in error. This link worked for me:
http://www.columbiaspectator.com/?q=node/26470
Thanks, link changed.