I'm sorry ... but not enough to tell you outright.

What happens when you read a book about a 1924 riot between the KKK and students from Notre Dame University?

If you're a janitor and student at IUPU, you get accused of racial harassment.

But Sampson says his union official likened the book to bringing pornography to work...

Huh? Pornography? Nice to see your union sticking up for you. I can only speculate as to why they didn't. Maybe you should have been a Boston firefighter. Then you could have brought porn to work, got high and pleasured yourself to the porn in your break room and they'd still argue that you deserve a pay raise to compensate for drug testing and sexual harassment training...but we're not talking about Boston idiots...we're talking about Indiana idiots.

...and the school's affirmative action officer in November told Sampson his conduct constituted racial harassment.

"You used extremely poor judgment by insisting on openly reading the book related to a historically and racially abhorrent subject in the presence of your black co-workers," Lillian Charleston wrote in a letter to Sampson.

My jaw kinda' dropped when I read that. What an ignorant, Pavlovian reaction to a "brand name". Don't try to read the title in context. In this case, just focus on the "KKK" part and figure it must be a racist book. Funny, it's not. It appears to be about the other thing that rips this country limb from limb - religion. Maybe these knee-jerkers could have read the title of the book. Maybe someone could have asked him, "Hey, what's that book about?" Naah. Too hard. Why try to understand what he's doing?

Soooooo, once the various university staffers realize what the book was about, and that it was in their own library, what should they do? Well, they apologize. Sorta'.

"I can candidly say that we regret this situation took place," Bantz wrote.

OMFGWTF?!?! YHGTBFSM!!!!!

The affirmative action officer's apology is no better. You sniveling cowards. You absolutely bear responsibility for focusing the educational and racial climate of that place, and after YOUR UNINFORMED KNEE-JERK sends it into convulsions, you express regret that this vague "situation" happened.

How about, "I am terribly sorry for how we reacted and questioned your motives for reading this book. You did nothing inappropriate. We hope you accept our apology. We will take great effort to ensure that all people associated with this institution understand and are committed to educational freedom and the fair treatment of all." Or something like that. I dunno', you supposedly got an education to get where you are. Apparently nobody taught you to question, investigate or understand before you make a decision.

Maybe someone did, but you've put yourselves on such thin eggshells for fear of upsetting someone that you've compromised that quality. Maybe you're reacting to a logo. You see the golden arches, you know there are yummy french fries inside the bag. You see "KKK" on a book, you know there's a bigot reading it.

Whatever it is, you've compromised your office. Don't worry, I'm sure you won't get fired or anything.

Military Monday: I'd rather not have an ethos...

I read about this in a professional forum I peruse. It seems the Navy has posted a draft "ethos" online and has a survey that active duty personnel can fill out. Since I can't reach the website where this drivel is posted from my home computer, I have to wait until I get into work tomorrow and waste YOUR TAX DOLLARS to let the Navy know what I think. But I'm going to let you know what I think now.

Let me start by saying I value diversity and recognize the need to implement it in order to succeed, and I know that good leadership involves getting everyone on the same page and setting some part of themselves aside for the advancement of the organization.

But the Navy is a WAR-FIGHTING organization. It is manned by WARRIORS. And WARRIORS need a WARRIOR ETHOS.

And a warrior ethos, this is not:

We are the men and women of the United States Navy -- guardians of American sea power and maritime security.

We are Active Duty, Reserve, and Civilian professionals -- a diverse, elite and agile force who aspire to the highest standards of service to our Nation, at home and abroad, at sea and ashore.

We are a disciplined and well-prepared team, committed to mission accomplishment on sea, land, air, and space. We are unwavering in our dedication and accountability to our fellow Sailors and Civilians.

We are patriots, forged by the Navy’s core values of Honor, Courage and Commitment. Our proud heritage, tradition and deep resolve serve as our battle anthem.

Integrity is the foundation of our conduct; respect for others is fundamental to our character; bold leadership is crucial to our success.

We will prevail in the face of adversity with strength, determination, and dignity.

We are the United States Navy!

These speak to a warrior ethos:





The Navy's words are the battle cry of an organization with no sense of self, that has attempted to take mankind's most destructive and wasteful endeavor - war - and prepare for it and conduct it using "enterprise models" and "business efficiencies" and "human capital strategies". It is an organization that is risk-averse to the point of being ineffective, that would rather appear "competitive in today's job market" than "ready to visit death and destruction on the enemy".

And I am about fucking fed up with it.

Really..."We are the guardians of American sea power and maritime security????" This is so freaking stupid, I want the name of the jackass who thought this up! We are sea power. We provide maritime security. For 210 years we have been sailing the world's oceans, protecting our nation, it's citizens and it's ships. WE WON THE RIGHT TO SAIL THE WORLD'S OCEANS FROM THE BRITISH, WE PRESERVED THE UNION FROM CATASTROPHIC FRACTURE, WE SAILED HEADLONG INTO BATTLE AGAINST THE BLOODIEST AGGRESSORS OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY AND DEFEATED THEM. IN 210 YEARS NO ENEMY HAS EVER BESTED US IN WAR ON THE SEA. NO ENEMY EVER WILL.

Oh, wait...war at sea? I'm sorry, does the Navy do that? I dunno...let's read some more.

Hmmmm, we have the highest standards, we all love each other no matter what our backgrounds or means of employment, we do these mission-thingies on land, sea, air, and space (ooooh...space! I saw Star Trek once!) hmmmm, nope, no mention of...

OH WAIT! We have a battle anthem! Battle against whom? I'm sorry, is there an enemy that needs defeating? I can't find one in there. Maybe we'll prevail against people who don't like government civilians. Which means I should shoot myself now.

Oh, and about that battle anthem...heritage, tradition and deep resolve? Puh-LEEEEZE!!!! Again, think about that statement. What the feh-heh-heh-HUCK does that mean? "Tessie is the Royal Rooters' rally cry" would fit better...at least I uderstand what it's getting at!

I mean, the whole goddam thing reads like an award citation for someone who doesn't deserve an award in the first place. Long on nebulous, bombastic, feel-good words with little or no action to emphasize.

Preble, Decatur, Hull, Bainbridge, Stewart, Perry, Farragut, Dewey, Nimitz, Halsey, Spruance, Sprague, Burke, Momsen, and yes, John Paul Jones, too ... they are turning in their graves.

So, as I said, tomorrow I am going to take some of my time, and a small portion of the government's discretionary spending, to do my part to make sure this piece of shit never makes it out into the fleet.