The four horsemen of the apocalypse that is. As if having Donald Trump on a presidential ballot were not proof enough the Anti-Christ is alive and walking among us, now comes a day when I actually agree with a Republican Congressman from Mississippi. Repent! The hour of judgment is at hand!
Long time readers here will know that I am a big fan of the writing of Charles Pierce. I love the rich way he uses words and the unerring way he pillories people who deserve to be pilloried.
Most of the time anyway. But today he got it wrong by a country mile. So I am going to give some credit, where credit is due.
I agree with Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-Miss.)
But Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-Miss.) said believes the naming of ships should be reserved for former presidents, war heroes and people who have served in the military, which neither Lewis (D-Ga.) nor Levin (D-Mich.) did. “My amendment has nothing — absolutely zero — to do with John Lewis or any other member of Congress,” Palazzo said in a statement. The measure was introduced as an amendment to the annual defense spending bill scheduled to be debated in the House this week. The proposal would have prevent the Pentagon from using any federal funds to name ships for “any member of Congress, living or deceased, unless such member served as the President of the United States or as a member of the Armed Forces.”?
What Charlie is not seeing here, is the absolute abomination the last three SECNAV’s have made of the ship naming process. Ray Mabus deserves the bulk of the blame, but lets not forget the shitty work done by Gordon England and John Dalton. They each failed in their own way.
In fact I would take Rep Palazzo’s bill much, much further-forcing the Navy to reinstate the accepted Navy naming conventions. E.G., naming submarines for fish, cruisers for cities, destroyers for war heroes ( posthumously), SSBN’s for states ( since there are no more battleships -sigh), Carriers for historic Naval Battles and Presidents. The current practice of using ship names as a “trade” for political favors is insane.
Sorry Charlie, you got this one wrong. This is a fight worth picking.
I’ll be waiting for the moon to turn black.