Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Re: Subject: Captain Email

----- Original Message -----

From: Wilson Mechanical Corp Wilson
To: velvel@mslaw.edu
Sent: Monday, June 19, 2006 3:18 PM
Subject: Captain email

Dean Velvel:

I admire your grasp of reality and your ability to articulate it. Adequate and clear response to military drivel.

PW



----- Original Message -----

From: Wilson Mechanical Corp Wilson
To: velvel@mslaw.edu
Sent: Monday, June 19, 2006 3:41 PM
Subject: Military email - Afterthought

Dean Velvel:

I should have said "jingoist drivel".

Further. The citation he (the Captain) made of Arendt's "banality of evil" is from her writings produced after the trial of Eichmann in "61". She meant the evil committed by Eichmann was more from his aspirations to succeed and advance himself (his own words) in the military hierarchy of his day, (as common 'banal' today as then) than from ideological indoctrination as she stressed in her "51" published book, ON THE ORIGINS OF TOTALITARIANISM.

You must be aware of Noam Chomsky. You hold the same view of the "hypocritical nature" of the moral thinking so prevalent in politics today, which I recognize as well, and the Captain confirmed in his correspondence with you.

My best,

PW


----- Original Message -----

From: Gregory
To: "Dean Lawrence R. Velvel"
Sent: Monday, June 19, 2006 6:19 PM
Subject: Re: E-Mail Correspondence With Captain Byron King Of The United States Navy Reserve


> Your response to Mr. Byron King was something a debater or boxer
> would appreciate. The point about deliberate lying as standard
> Pentagon practice from the senior officer corps, routine
> prevarication, is in stark contrast to what is part of the honor code
> at the various service academies. Something happens to one's sense
> of social contract and reluctance to tolerate dishonesty as
> retirement looms, and one moves toward general officer. Income as a
> consultant working for the defense industry rewards those with the
> social awareness of a member of the Federalist Society. I was once a
> cadet at the Air Force Academy, and became a graduate, and have long
> been ashamed at the deceptions and reflexive lying of those in
> positions superior. I left the military long ago, but have rankled
> continuously at the obvious distortions that Mr. King says are part
> of getting the story quickly. These distortions include the phony
> treatment of courage ascribed to pilots who have control of the air
> and release their munitions miles from an unsuspecting target. My
> guess is Mr. King, at the rank of Captain USNR, learned to talk the
> talk in his training, but his career as an attorney kept him from
> remaining in the Navy and becoming an admiral.
> I enjoyed your reasoning.
>
> Gregory >