None of them had jobs? You're absolutely sure of that? Now I know I don't have to take you seriously.

why don't some of you buck up and do something for this country which provides us with so much and join the military

No thanks, I have no desire to be a sheep, shooting and raping unarmed civilians including children. Talk about cowardly. I also have no desire to be shot or blown to bits for Bush's or anyone else's pleasure. If we were still tracking Osama in the caves, or sending troops into Saudi Arabia for 9/11 retribution that'd be a different story.

Working for the disadvantaged, the environment, the infrastructure of the community you live in are better examples of "doing something for your country" then invading foreign lands that had nothing to do with the so-called reason for going in the first place.

Not too different from the police, look at Chicago: 200-plus pound cop beating on a small woman bartender in a drunken testosterone rage, his co-workers then intimidated the woman to keep her from pressing charges, while the police themselves didn't charge him with felony assault. Until more soldiers and police are willing to speak up when they witness their fellow officers/soldiers breaking the law and not worry about betraying their brothers it will remain easy for people to automatically jump to the unflattering conclusion that I have.

I wouldn't have expected that out of you.

Even though in another thread you declared I was irrelevant and suggested I was anti-semitic?

Being upset with bad behavior of specific people in jobs like the police, soldiers, computer techs, politicians is fine.  But you don't paint all with a broad brush.

...if you were more willing to call out stuff like this:

Just like in life, the majority of those who are taking the time to protest and try and stop supplies from getting to our troops who are in need of them are cowards and lazy.

Thinking in that respect cops and soldiers should be offended when they're labeled with untrue attributes, but they should also take it personal when their fellow representatives display those same attributes instead of trying to protect their own. I voted for Rossi, but almost immediately regretted it when he started whining over the fact that whatshername was going to win the election in a similar fashion to the way Bush did.

I accept that "irrelevant" wasn't levelled at me personally. I'm not accepting the anti-semite comment. If that were true I would despise the people, culture and religion of Judaism. I would think of them as either Christ-killers (ironic for bigots to hate them over that reason since He needed to die in order for us to be saved) or as the international bankers in charge of the world. I wouldn't want them in my private clubs, my neighborhoods. I wouldn't want to work with them, definitely wouldn't allow one to be my boss, wouldn't date them, wouldn't allow my kids to have anything to do with them. That's a disgusting way of thinking against any race or culture, and it doesn't apply to any gripes, griefs, or disagreements I have with Israel's government.

My problem's with the government of Israel. Notice I didn't say the rabbis. Linking the citizens, who among other things are required to serve in the military, with the government is unfortunate but unavoidable. Israel and the US has something in common: we both moved in and displaced people who were already there using bloodshed to get the job done. The difference is that, incidents like Wounded Knee aside, we're not building walls around the reservations, we're not stopping Native Americans in the street to check their papers, we're not forbidding them to leave the reservation, we're not denying them jobs or healthcare or the right to visit their family in other parts of the country, we're not destroying their homes (anymore) to make room for more settlers. Granted we're not in constant fear that another suicide bomber from the reservation is going to attack, but that's because they're not in the same situation. They're given all the same rights as every other American, and then some.

naw, I still have a few more days on the other side of the pond here. I managed to find a lil internet cafe though and I'm typing to you folks while transfering my pictures from my full memory card to my ipod.

PS I miss my guns....all of them.

If I were to volunteer and devote years of my life, and perhaps my life itself, I wouldn't want my life to be at the whim of a politician for political reasons, whether it's the AWOL Bush or the Rhodes scholar Clinton.

I almost joined in 91. I took the AS/VAB just to see how well I'd do, scored 98. The Army and Marines spent years after that trying to convince me to help them meet their quota. They always gave me guarantees; I've learned from those who have served just how well those guarantees are "honored"

So, the last time I wore a uniform was when I was in the Boy Scouts. Never became part of the good ol' boys club that teaches their men to think of peoples from other cultures as subhuman to make it easier to kill them.

Knowing full well what I've said about this and similar things in the past, what was your point in asking the rhetorical question of how long I served? were you hoping that I'd answer "never, I'm too bald to be a sheep?" If the fact I've never served is supposed to be reason enough to not have an opinion on the military, then people shouldn't have an opinion on TJ unless they've served on a city council, they shouldn't have an opinion on gay people unless they've tried it, they shouldn't have an opinion on Plan B unless they've been pregnant, etc.

Maybe it wasn't nice for me to say they were sheep. I'm not always in a cuddly mood. But neither is it right to call those who oppose the war cowards and lazy.

In the Course of Events