From: Brian D Williams (talon57@well.com)
Date: Thu Aug 29 2002 - 11:28:58 MDT
>From: Michael Wiik <mwiik@messagenet.com>
>>Brian D Williams wrote:
>> It is of course both painfull and infuriating to those of us who
>> have paid a heavy price for our citizenship to see this country
>>run down by people who have paid nothing for theirs.
>
>> We have a saying for it: "For those who have fought to defend
>>it, life has a flavor the protected shall never know."
>*sniff*
Tissue?
>Seems to me the greatest plus side of military service is that it
>can be a psychological prop you can always use later in life to
>make argument points.
Since I'm guessing you have no military experience, this counts for
essentially....nothing.
Military service says you do more than talk-the-talk.
>Or to make yourself feel better when the chips are down.
What chips are down?
>I haven't been in this country's or any country's military service
>but I still pay a dear price every April 15th, lemme tell ya.
Military personnal pay taxes too, subtract from both sides, your
back to zero.
>How galling it must be for you and maybe Mike Lorrey and perhaps
>other vets to witness a succession of commanders-in-chief who went
>to great lengths to avoid any real military service.
Dissappointing definitely.
>Perhaps your service has given you some insight into why, for
>example, Colin Powell seems to be lacking Bush's gung-ho spirit
>when it comes to sending other people to attack Iraq.
Powell was one of the leaders of the faction that made the wrong
decision at the end of the Gulf War. I rarely agree with him.
Ask anyone who served during the Gulf War who "The Man" was, you
won't hear Powell often.
<snip>
>The irony is, that if such patriotic ex-servicemen such as
>yourself led a coup or something and pledged to uphold the
>constitution (you know, that document both you and Bush swore an
>oath to defend), I'd probably feel a whole lot safer. At least
>you're not actively trying to tear the document into shreds.
I'm not silly enough to believe I have all the answers, or even
that mine are always necessarily better. I support the
constitution, just differ with many people (both Democrats and
Republicans) about what it actually says.
>> This is not a new problem and one I consider often, ever since
>> it was presented to me by Heinlein in "Starship Troopers."
>Ya know, when I saw the movie version of ST my first thought was
>'here's a society that has waaay too many young people' (the book
>was of course much different and much much better).
The book was much better, although the bug effects were good. I
thought the "shower" scene the most thought provoking, everybody in
there all together. The only way to end sexual discrimination in
the military would be to end ALL sexual discrimination, and
therefore separation.
Brian
Member:
Extropy Institute, www.extropy.org
National Rifle Association, www.nra.org, 1.800.672.3888
SBC/Ameritech Data Center Chicago, IL, Local 134 I.B.E.W
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