Shameless, Lawless, and Clueless

So the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, has called pastor Terry Jones to remonstrate with a private citizen over his involvement in the Mohammed video that is allegedly the cause for the current round of rioting in the Middle East.  A clearer breaching of the civilian-military relationship can hardly be imagined, and Gen. Dempsey ought to resign in disgrace for his appalling lapse in judgment.

But, of course, he won’t.

The military’s top uniformed leader decided on his own to phone an extremist Florida pastor linked to an inflammatory anti-Islamic online video, the Pentagon said Thursday – no one else asked him to do so.

Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey called Florida pastor Terry Jones on Wednesday to ask him to withdraw his support for the video that some reports have linked with anti-American unrest in the Muslim world, a spokesman said.

So should HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who has been cited by the Office of Special Counsel for blatantly violating the Hatch Act.

But, of course, her actions have already been excused by the administration she works for, and whose anti-Catholic, nominally Catholic, usefully idiotic hatchet woman she is.

White House spokesman Eric Schultz explained in a statement that the administration has already taken action on the matter, though, putting Sebelius through training and making sure taxpayers were reimbursed.

“As the Office of Special Counsel has noted, these were extemporaneous remarks, the Health and Human Services Department has since reclassified the event to meet the correct standard, the U.S. Treasury has been reimbursed and Secretary Sebelius has met with ethics experts to ensure this never happens again,” Schultz said.

“This error was immediately acknowledged by the Secretary, promptly corrected and no taxpayer dollars were misused.”

He said the administration holds itself “to the highest ethical standards.”

Hillary Clinton, the secretary of State, has been revealed to be complicit in executing a naive and appeasing foreign policy that has now resulted in the deaths of at last four Americans in Benghazi, reduced America’s stature in the world, and greatly increased the threat to Americans both at home and abroad. Here’s what she said regarding the deaths of Ambassador Chris Stevens and Sean Smith:

Today, many Americans are asking – indeed, I asked myself – how could this happen? How could this happen in a country we helped liberate, in a city we helped save from destruction? This question reflects just how complicated and, at times, how confounding the world can be.

She ought to be out on her ear — but, of course, that will never happen. The Clinton Restoration beckons in 2016.

As Ned Sparks wonders in the greatest movie of all time: “Is everybody nutty?”

Or have we fully entered into a post-American era, the ultimate triumph of the Frankfurt School and “critical theory,” in which all previous virtues are now vices and all vices now virtues? Certainly that is the philosophy that motivates the radical Left, which sees every issue through its Marxist prism of race, class, sex, and group identity, and which preaches a form of “tolerance” that is really antipathy to all previous social, political, and moral norms in disguise.

If the chairman of the JCS, second to only the president in his command of the American armed forces (which are supposed to battle foreign enemies, not fellow citizens), can pick up the phone to intimidate an ordinary American, then we have surely crossed some sort of Rubicon; talk about an imbalance of power! And why did he do it? The explanation will sicken you:

“He called of his own initiative over concern that the violence incited by the film would pose risks to U.S. service members around the world,” said Marine Col. Dave Lapan.

In an all-volunteer army, American servicemen fully understand the risks they take when they sign up — among which are that bad guys might take a shot at you, just for the hell of it. For the top general to adopt a whingeing, defensive crouch when he should be visiting the wrath of God upon the nation’s enemies — who have committed an act of war by attacking our diplomatic installations — is shameless.

Similarly, the Hatch Act forbids partisan politicking on the part of federal employees; among the Thou Shalt Nots:

• Engage in political activity while on duty
• Engage in political activity while wearing an official Government uniform or identifying National Archives insignia
• Engage in political activity while using a Government vehicle
• Engage in political activity in any Government office
• Engage in political activity while using Government property, including computers, printers, copiers, fax machines, and telephones

But so what, when there’s an election to be won? Just go ahead and be lawless.

As for Secretary Clinton and her Foggy Bottom colleagues, their stunning insouciance in tossing the First Amendment under the bus rather than recognizing the failure of their world-view, and the implacable animus of our enemies across the Islamic world, what is there to say? It’s Carter Redux, yes, but it’s even worse, since President Obama and Mrs. Clinton (both Alinsky disciples) have the Carter example in front of them. You think they’d both know better.  But no, they’re confounded.

Will the Romney camp point any of this out? Or are they simply clueless?