...but the computer is assembled and I'm back to limited blogging, probably for about another week.

Anyway, the "professional journalists" who discuss media issues over on the Society for Professional Journalists mailing list once again have shown that they lack critical thinking skills.

The incident that has caused a very minor uproar on the listserv is a news article that was brought to the attention of journalists by one Daniel hopkins (sic):

I guess Ann Coulter got her wish: Invade their country, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity--with a twist. Will the Iraqis be next?

BY MEG LAUGHLIN
[email protected]

CAMP BUSHMASTER, Iraq - In this dry desert world near Najaf, where the Army V Corps combat support system sprawls across miles of scabrous dust, there's an oasis of sorts: a 500-gallon pool of pristine, cool water.

It belongs to Army chaplain Josh Llano of Houston, who sees the water shortage, which has kept thousands of filthy soldiers from bathing for weeks, as an opportunity.

"It's simple. They want water. I have it, as long as they agree to get baptized," he said.

And agree they do. Every day, soldiers take the plunge for the Lord and come up clean for the first time in weeks.

"They do appear physically and spiritually cleansed," Llano said.

First, though, the soldiers have to go to one of Llano's hour-and-a-half sermons in his dirt-floor tent. Then the baptism takes an hour of quoting from the Bible.

"Regardless of their motives," Llano said, "I get the chance to take them closer to the Lord."

Personally, my only concern is Llano's flippant attitude regarding the possibility that some of the soldiers may feigning a conversion experience to get a bath. But the "professional journalists" have all sorts of other problems.

First, there's the outright hostility to religion, specifically Christianity. One wonders what the response might be from the "professional journalists" if soldiers were embracing Islam.

Second, is the inability to tell the difference between the forced conversion to a religion, which Coulter seemed to advocate, and a soldier's free choice to be baptized.

Of course, no one called Hopkins on his lack of tolerance or hostility to religion, instead we get the following responses:

From Beth Matter:

This is disgusting.

From Bradley Osborn:

Wow! And I'll bet Chaplain Llano didn't have to resort to donning micro mini-skirts while peddling his latest myopic "defame the liberals" tome on every morning show and press junket in the free world either.

Eric Alterman's "What Liberal Media" is still in a box, when I get a chance to pull it out, I'll post my dissection of Chapter 2. Of course, everyone knew from the start that his thesis was full of holes, but the SPJ listserv continues to be a source of support for the conventional wisdom.