JAG Needs Refocus

The military's judge advocate general corps of lawyers' primary job is to interpret and help enforce the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). The UCMJ is the military's parallel but carefully customized legal code, meant to provide the disciplinary basis necessary to meet military missions while being true to the U.S.'s civilian laws....

JAG officers, especially without combat experience, are often at heart civilian lawyers in uniform. The often antagonistic attitudes toward U.S. and military policies that pervade our campuses and law schools affect their judgments, and frequently prevail. Instead of seeing themselves as enablers of the nation's and military's mission, JAG's often try to undermine them. That said, the Boston Globe reports:

The administration has proposed a regulation requiring "coordination" with politically appointed Pentagon lawyers before any member of the Judge Advocate General corps - the military's 4,000-member uniformed legal force - can be promoted.

The tone of the Boston Globe's report, and the sources it chooses to present, is that,

The former JAG officers say the regulation would end the uniformed lawyers' role as a check-and-balance on presidential power.

Flash to Boston Globe and to the liberal former JAG officers quoted: JAG does not exist to be "a check-and-balance on presidential power." JAG exists to carry out and enable the military's missions and discipline. The president is the civilian authority over the military, as well as Commander in Chief. It's not until the end of the Globe article that we get to the meat of the matter. JAG officers are there to offer legal opinions, but not to contradict or seek to override their constitutional civilian superiors.

Responding to the conflicts, in 2004 Congress enacted a law forbidding Defense Department employees from interfering with the ability of JAGs to "give independent legal advice" directly to military leaders. But when President Bush signed the law, he issued a signing statement decreeing that the legal opinions of his political appointees would still "bind" the JAGs.

I'm not sure whether this proposal is best, or will fly. But, it's still an important shot across the bow of runamock JAG's.

More here

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ELSEWHERE

There is an interesting catalog here of the bogus disaster stories that the media have been using to drown out the good news from Iraq. And there is a list of the top 10 media myths about the economy here

US, British & Germans Don't Trust Their MSM: "In the United States, Britain and Germany, only around 29% of those interviewed thought their media did a good job in reporting news accurately. This reflects favorably on the strong attachment to truth of Americans, the British and Germans, and most West Europeans. But, at the same time, reflects the extent to which skepticism and cynicism and outright disdain of the reliability of MSM, across the political spectrum, has permeated Western publics. The narrow incestuous worldview of media elites, coupled with repeated evidenced instances of absurdly unprofessional conduct, is widely recognized, and, as witnessed by the steady drain away of their audiences, is an unsustainable business practice."

Dept. of State is a lying Leftist organization: "The State Department's intention to remove North Korea from a list of countries that support terrorism is criticized in a newly released nonpartisan congressional report that cited "reputable" sources saying the communist regime of Kim Jong Il has supported Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers and the Lebanese Hezbollah group, both of which have long been on America's list of terror groups. Didn't Israel just take out a nuclear bomb making factory that North Korea helped build..."

Democrat-led Michigan's economy offers fewer jobs than Iraq's: The headline in the Detroit News today was startling: "Hundreds line up for shot at Iraq jobs." But then again, Michigan's unemployment rate is startling: 7.7%. That's the highest in the land and considerably higher than the rate of the next-highest state, Mississippi, at 6.1%. "I wouldn't say it's a last resort, but it's looking very attractive. If we don't make some serious decisions, we're going to lose our house," said Tony Woodward, 38, of Port Huron. "There are no jobs in Michigan. I just don't see how there's a future here in Michigan." The jobs are dangerous. So far, 800 civilians working for the U.S. military died in Iraq. Marceilos Davis, 27, of Detroit said, "That's a no-brainer. From the neighborhood I live in, it's no different than Iraq. I'm not scared." She has a point. And while there is only so much a government can do for the economy, Jennifer Granholm has not delivered on the promise of jobs that got her elected governor five years ago."

Author of NIE report believes CIA's Priority should be 'Diversity': "The Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, who was integral to the findings of that report and its publication last week addressed the need to reform our intelligence agencies: "The 500-day plan enters almost immediately into a discussion of the vital importance of "Equal Opportunity and Diversity." It offers high praise for the intelligence community's Diversity Strategy Implementation Workshop" Perhaps Mr. Kerr is ignorant of the case of Nada Prouty , a 37-year old illegal alien from Lebanon who was hired by the FBI from her waitress job at a restaurant owned by her brother-in-law who is now on the lam for financially supporting Hezbollah. Prouty was hired under such a "diversity plan". She was later transferred and promoted to the CIA, despite no previous espionage experience, where she was discovered to have illegally accessed CIA files in a bid to discover what information the CIA possessed about Hezbollah. Donald Kerr is seemingly oblivious to the absurdity of his touting diversity when the CIA was just penetrated by a "diversity" hire."

Toyota expands while GM contracts: "Japanese car giant Toyota Motor Corp. plans to raise its global output to near 10 million units next year, out-distancing its rival General Motors Corp. of the United States, a news report said Sunday. Toyota now expects its group's global production to expand to some 9.9 million vehicles in 2008, about 500,000 units more than the projection for the current year, the Nikkei newspaper said. Toyota projects its global output for this year will climb by four percent year on year to 9.42 million cars, while General Motors earlier this month announced a production forecast of a one percent gain to 9.26 million units. While Toyota is expanding its overseas production facilities, GM has been laying off workers and shuttering factories to try to reverse losses that hit two billion US dollars last year." [Toyota cars are brilliant. I drive one myself]

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, EYE ON BRITAIN and TELSTRA/BIGPOND.

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"Why should the German be interested in the liberation of the Jew, if the Jew is not interested in the liberation of the German?... We recognize in Judaism, therefore, a general anti-social element of the present time... In the final analysis, the emancipation of the Jews is the emancipation of mankind from Judaism.... Indeed, in North America, the practical domination of Judaism over the Christian world has achieved as its unambiguous and normal expression that the preaching of the Gospel itself and the Christian ministry have become articles of trade... Money is the jealous god of Israel, in face of which no other god may exist". Who said that? Hitler? No. It was Karl Marx. See also here and here and here.

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