Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation got its start after Mikey Weinstein, its founder, saw his children get discriminated against and mistreated while attending the Air Force Academy. In 2005, he demanded an investigation into proselytizing and religious coercion at the academy and the Air Force issued a report that acknowledged some problems but generally played down the seriousness of those problems.
A separate investigation was done into allegations against the commandant of the Academy, Brig. General Johnny Weida. The Pentagon sent out an investigator to look at those allegations, Col. Donald Higgins, who cleared Weida of all seven charges. And Higgins, it turns, is quite a head case and he's been doing some things that clearly call his objectivity into question.
Higgins has been openly mocking Weinstein, sending him nasty and harassing emails and making light of those who complained about inappropriate conduct by Academy officers toward cadets. You really have to see some of this stuff. Here's a fake form that Higgins emailed to Weinstein that shows how seriously he takes any such allegations of wrongdoing. It is made to look like a real military form but it was created solely to mock anyone who dares to challenge inappropriate religious conduct in the military.
Here's a second item Higgins emailed, this time a fake news report from AP as reprinted in the Washington Times that contains false claims about Mikey's son:
And here's the third thing Higgins sent by email, another fake news article about Mikey being beaten up at the Air Force Academy by another cadet:
MRFF has sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates asking him to reopen the 2005 investigation now that this outrageous behavior by the chief investigator that helped in that investigation has been exposed. Here is a copy of that letter:
Politics
Comments
I suppose this isn't exactly on topic, but when are we going to find out about this "blockbuster picture" that you mentioned you'd forwarded to the MRFF last week?
Posted by: Ben | September 3, 2009 9:21 AM
Wait... are Wiggins and Higgins the same person? (Sorry, still early in the day for me...)
Posted by: Umlud | September 3, 2009 9:27 AM
I can't wait to understand two things regarding this matter:
1) Whether even JD has a line he won't cross in promoting his religion at the cost of his either failing to defend the Constitution or attacking it outright.
2) If no line exists for JD or this isn't it, how JD will attempt to either defend this behavior or obfuscate its actual impact.
From a far more important perspective, I hope this story finds its way into the MSM and stays there long enough for us to repair this reprehensible behavior. This guy deserves a long stay locked-up.
Posted by: Michael Heath | September 3, 2009 9:27 AM
Ah, the "hurt feelings report" takes me back. Not that I ever encountered such a thing personally while I was in the Army, but I did encounter that attitude. It also reminds me of when the Walter Reed scandal broke, and the response of the support-the-troops right wing was either to ignore the issue or take this attitude conveyed here: blame the victims by accusing them of being weak effeminate babies.
Of course, as soon as a fundamentalist Christian is prevented from imposing his or her theocratic agenda on others, right-wingers will start screaming liberal bias. Not the military, of course, but consider Prejean, who was converted into a conservative martyr for losing a freaking beauty contest!
Posted by: thinkoplex | September 3, 2009 10:16 AM
I'm surprised to learn that a 12 year old can be a retired Air Force colonel.
Posted by: Taz | September 3, 2009 10:20 AM
Yes when is the "blockbuster picture" comming out?
Posted by: will | September 3, 2009 10:25 AM
Yeah, tell us more about the "blockbuster". I thought this was going to be it.
Posted by: James Sweet | September 3, 2009 10:38 AM
While those emails are disgraceful, I get the feeling something is missing from the picture. Why did he start sending these in May 2009, four years after the investigation?
Posted by: Ginger Yellow | September 3, 2009 10:43 AM
And I'm worried that we rely on 12 year-olds to protect us.
Posted by: catgirl | September 3, 2009 11:10 AM
The imbecile thinks Ibrahim is a Jewish name?
Posted by: Jeff Eyges | September 3, 2009 11:12 AM
Yep, I forgot about the picture. What's the scoop?
Posted by: Steve | September 3, 2009 12:40 PM
There was acceptance and respect for all beliefs when I was a cadet. I was graduated in 1964, the Academy's 6th class. Then again, we were respectful and considerate of other religions in grammar school and high school as well back in those days.
We met in the Arnold Hall auditorium as the chapel was under construction at the time. It took a while. The differential expansion rate between the aluminum sheathing and the structural steel frame made for lots of leaks that took a while to deal with. It was finished in time for our baccalaureate service, and one of my classmates was the first graduate to be married there. My son, a 2000 graduate was married there as well. Another son was graduated in 2005. He is now in DC and flies helicopters in the group that hauls the POTUS around. He hasn't been assigned to that detail yet.
USAFA Cadet Chapel images: tinyurl.com/mpgdfx
The 17 spires represent the 12 Apostles and the 5 members of the congressional committee that approved the funding. (A bit of cadet humor there.)
It had well designed areas for Protestant, Catholic and Jewish services.
B Gen Cameron was the head chaplain and attendance was mandatory at the time. Thus we had this ditty:
Put another nickel in,
In the Chapelodeon,
All we get is Cameron
And mandatory worship.
When we gained off base privileges starting our second year, we could go to a place of worship in the Colorado Springs area. Vans would come from the various churches and pick worshipers up. As seniors, we could have cars on base. I didn't have one but my roommate had a well used VW Beetle. He was confined to our room so much, it seemed I drove it more than he did. When I picked up two female friends to go to church right after Kennedy was shot, the church was so crowded we had to sit in a room nearby and have the service piped in.
Hope you found my blathering interesting.
Posted by: Bill Ware | September 3, 2009 1:06 PM
Bill Ware @ 12:
Did that include those that were not religious? Or was it in their interest to either fake a religion or stay in the closet?
The rest of your post after this first statement seems to focus on the acceptance of religious diversity for those that were religious; I'm wondering if that acceptance extended beyond the religious?
Posted by: Michael Heath | September 3, 2009 2:26 PM
I was thinking the same thing on reading Bill's post. Actually, about 1/2 way down, it seems the tolerance was proffered only to Christian and Jewish sects.
I didn't want to give Bill too hard a time, because his central thesis seems to be correct -- the military has become a lot less tolerant in the last decade or so than it was even before that. But yeah, doesn't sound all that great to me then either...
Posted by: James Sweet | September 3, 2009 2:33 PM
Ben wrote:
The picture will be coming out in something I'm writing. When Ed sent us the picture, I just happened to be working on something that I really wanted to use it for, and Ed did MRFF a favor by agreeing to hold off on posting the photo. The issue that I'm going to be using this photo to illustrate is not a new one, but this particular photo is the best example of it that MRFF has ever had, and will make it impossible for the military to continue to ignore this issue. I can tell you that this photo has already been shown to some military commanders who were absolutely shocked by it.
I got sidetracked from the piece I'm going to use the photo in because of this Col. Higgins thing and some other things that I had to put first, but it will be coming out soon, as will the rest of the stuff on Klingenschmitt that I've alluded to in comments on other posts here.
Ed knows about everything that's going on at MRFF. He's become one of a handful of bloggers and journalists that we trust to be in the MRFF "inner circle," and can count on to understand why we want to hold off on making certain things public until we can do it in the best way possible. When we told Ed why the photo he had been sent was so particularly important, he immediately agreed to hold off on posting it.
So, just be patient. Everything will be coming out soon.
Posted by: Chris Rodda | September 3, 2009 2:36 PM
Chris
I feel like a kid on his way to Disney. I do (probably most of us do) in fact trust that the issue is valuable to MRFF, you and Mikey in pursuit of justice. We just can't wait for the Pirates of the Carribean (you all pick whatever ride YOU like) ride to open and let us in! :)
Posted by: MikeMa | September 3, 2009 2:43 PM
Anybody else not able to see the images - I've tried two different browsers and I get nothing.
Posted by: GeekCyclist | September 3, 2009 2:59 PM
Posted by: James Hanley | September 3, 2009 3:00 PM
James Hanley wrote:
I'm basing that comment on the reaction from the commanders that Mikey has already shown the photo to. Because of something about this particular photo, it made them see something that has previously been brushed off as a minor issue as the major issue that it really is. Sorry to have to be so vague about this, but I have to be for the moment.
Posted by: Chris Rodda | September 3, 2009 3:32 PM
Re the fake news story that depicts The Jew picking on The Black Guy: Clearly Higgins thinks that racism and antisemitism are two great tastes that taste great together.
Any idea who picked this POS to investigate?
Posted by: Molly, NYC | September 3, 2009 3:34 PM
Bill @12: I was told that the 17 spires represented the 12 Apostles and the 5 Chiefs of Staff.
Posted by: Daniel C. Smith | September 3, 2009 3:44 PM
it seems the tolerance was proffered only to Christian and Jewish sects
He was there when JFK was shot. It was in the early sixties; that's all there was!
Posted by: Jeff Eyges | September 3, 2009 5:10 PM
BTW, re: JD - PZ had a post about another Christian fighter pilot yesterday: http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/09/i_get_email_41.php
Posted by: Jeff Eyges | September 3, 2009 5:13 PM
Jeff @ 23 - while I read PZ, it's mostly for his humor, crashing polls, and commenting on peer-reviewed research. I don't find most of his arguments to be particularly effective on me; however PZ absolutely nails the nuances of these sorts of arguments made by this supposed pilot. Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: Michael Heath | September 3, 2009 8:16 PM
What kind of lame-ass, worthless officer has TIME to create and send out this crap? Especially at full-bird rank? Shouldn't he be supervising and guiding some junior officers?
Come to think of it, probably better if he wastes his time puttering with fake forms and news.
Posted by: BobApril | September 3, 2009 10:09 PM
"What kind of lame-ass, worthless officer has TIME to create and send out this crap? Especially at full-bird rank? Shouldn't he be supervising and guiding some junior officers?
Come to think of it, probably better if he wastes his time puttering with fake forms"
Well, Bob, just spitballing on my part--I'd say "an asshole".
If this is the truth, the fucker needs to be booted out of the AF, what a dick.
Posted by: democommie | September 3, 2009 10:46 PM
I took a look at the 'hurt feelings report' closely and quickly noticed two things. 1) It is listed as a DA (Department of the Army) form. I'm in the Navy, not the AF, but doesn't the Department of the Air Force have their own forms? 2) Down on the bottom it has the wonderful typo "Previous editions are Obselete."
I googled the name of the form, and it came up a few times. It has apparently been making the rounds for several months in Army circles.
Posted by: Ted H. | September 3, 2009 10:53 PM
Reminds me of the negative my father used to print copies of (I now have the neg) from his days in the Navy... It's a "sympathy chit". It entitles the hold to at least 100 words of sympathy from the Ship's Chaplain.
Posted by: W. H. Heydt | September 4, 2009 12:44 AM
"It had well designed areas for Protestant, Catholic and Jewish services."
I toured the Air Force Academy ten or fifteen years ago. I remember those arrangements well. The protestants had the first floor, which was rather grand. The Catholics had the basement, which was pretty good looking, but not as nice as the Protestant section. The guide told us that the Jews had a shed leaning against the back of the chapel. Muslims were not mentioned. Atheists? I don't think they were allowed.
The biggest item on display in the lobby: How the cadets had found three-D information in the Shroud of Turin.
I had been an enlisted man in the Airforce from 1967-71. I wasn't surprised by any of that.
Posted by: djmullen | September 4, 2009 6:27 AM
I want to see MRFF nail all these arrogant asshats to the wall. The Constitution's the only thing the military should be pushing as "Holy Writ."
Posted by: Rox1SMF | September 4, 2009 11:45 AM