'The Point'

Ah, so this is Patrick's point: not, after all, that the Army is plotting war upon Catholics, not that Catholics are uniquely entitled to state promotion of our religious beliefs among our non-Catholic fellow citizens, but 'the need for hierarchical accountability.'

Fair enough.  Two remaining questions, then:

1)  What more is the Army Reserve chain of command, having repudiated and excised the dopey slide of which it was apparently unaware, now to do in order to satisfy Patrick?  And how far up the chain of command does Patrick recommend that what ever he has in mind by 'accountability' reach?  Will he be content with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff?  The Secretary of Defense?  Or will he reach all the way up to the Commander-in-Chief or the voters?  What must these people do to earn Patrick's forgiveness?  

2)  Back to the gander's sauce, what manner of accountability does Patrick demand of the hierarchy of that Church to which he, if I understand his earlier posts correctly, believes that our nation's Constitution should ultimately guide the full citizenry?  As serious an offense as a single anomalous slide ascribing, my goodness, 'extremism' to Catholics admittedly is, I can't help but think that repeated, systematic, and apparently conspiratorially concealed child abuse is a matter of some concern too.  And, to complete the parallel with Question (1), how high up this 'chain of command' does Patrick recommend that his brand of accountability reach?  The Bishops?  The College of Cardinals?  The Pontiff?  What must these people do to earn Patrick's forgiveness?

The US military is, in my view, much overused.  But it is in many ways a distinguished institution in which most people learn to control excesses and, notwithstanding periodic scandals, to comport themselves with restraint.  Much the same can be said of the Church - the non-'militant' Church, at any rate.  The apt response to cockupery of the sort that has exercised Patrick is dignified remonstration of the sort registered by the AMS (USA), to which Patrick helpfully links and to which it is difficult to imagine anyone in the military not being receptive.  Shrill professions of 'outrage,' conspiracy-'theorizing,' and militant clamoring befits only fanatics and, yep, extremists, ultimately making even the silliest of slides look a good bit less silly.