I’ve been trying to assist the General in his Operation Yellow Elephant A few of his commenters got pissy about… well, piss. He had an elephant logo that was peeing and a few didn’t like it. I made up so new banners without peeing, and he liked ’em and linked back to me.
So I went hog-wild today and made up a whole new set of graphics. I’ll have a page of them up later for download once I secure the General’s permission.
Meanwhile, I noticed that Slate gave a shout-out to our old friend Adam. Funny to see Adam Graham get a shout-out for this on Slate. He’s my anti-blogger; I’ve been tussling with him for a while now.
He resides in my former hometown of Boise, North Utah, and I tracked him down while Googling for info on a former Nampa classmate of mine, young pretty anti-abortion crusader Brandi Swindell.
Once I found Adam, I read his stuff and realized he’s my polar opposite. Think Spock-with-a-van-dyke* from Star Trek. I took him to task on his crusade to get a 3,000-lb. graven image of the Ten Commandments put back into one of Boise’s premier public parks. Then it was Terri Schiavo. Then it was this crazy Christian persecution complex the Religious Reich seems to have.
Finally, two weeks ago, prior to Yellow Elephant, I was asking him to enlist. He gave the fatbody excuse, I told him I was that overweight when I joined the Guard and I served six years.
I’ve got to tell you that quite frankly, this is “Operation Red Herring.” Myself, I’ve been asked several times why I don’t sign up to go to Iraq. Honestly, there are several answers. One is that I’m just not physically fit enough for the military.
This 17-year-old young man was 30 lbs. overweight when he joined the National Guard and served a six-year stint. My wife’s 32-year-old brother joined the Guard just as overweight and now he’s fixing Blackhawks in Afghanistan. And from what I’ve been reading lately, the military has been very relaxed lately on the P.T. standards, hoping to keep more troops on duty.
The second is that we have a Volunteer force that at one time or another signed up for military service.
Talk about your red herrings!
Third, we live in an era of an all-volunteer force, unlike in World War II or Vietnam. Everyone signed up knowing that they could be sent God knows where to risk their lives.
Absolutely. Even from 1985-1990 when I served, even though I was just a bassoonist in a National Guard Army Band, I knew I could be called up at any time to protect Idaho from Soviet musicians… or something. But we’re not talking about people who have volunteered to put their life on the line for their country, we’re talking about you!
Lots of Republican folks have served and are serving. According to the National Annenburg Election Survey 69% of active military who were returning, in, or going to Iraq or Afghanistan were planning to vote for Bush, while only 24% supported John Kerry. Military men and women chose Bush and made a huge impact on this election.
So, then, you’d be accepted as part of a philosphical majority, right? Sounds like a perfect Adam assignment to me; 3-to-1 real patriotic Americans vs. liberal pinko Kerry voters. Kinda like Idaho.
Of course, your point is that College Republicans (or you, specifically) somehow have no obligation to sign up for the war they’ve been promoting, because there’s more Republicans serving than Democrats. I think that means we Democrats somehow get a tax exemption on the cost of public education because there’s more Democrats teaching than Republicans.
Third, the idea that in order to support a certain policy you have to be willing to actually participate in it. If you believe adoption is better than abortion, you better adopt 25 kids according to the left. Where does this insanity end?
(Third again?) Probably not soon enough. But go ahead, raise that petard… Now stick your head in there… (He’s not really going to say what I think he’s going to say, is he?)…
“If you support the death penalty, you better sign up to become an executioner. If you actually believe that people should come by in trucks and pick up your trash, you better sign up at your local department of sanitation. If you think we should have animals euthanized, you better sign up to do it.”
(Oh my god, this is like T-ball! I think I just heard 1,728 heavenly voices cheering me on…)
No, you’re missing the point. We’re saying that your support of a policy creates death that wouldn’t have happened without you. We’re saying that those who created the trash have a duty to clean it up.
You continue to cheer on an illegal war started on lies, driven by oil, riddled by corruption, with no end in sight. This war requires a supply of able-bodied young men. The men who were signed up served honorably. Some died, some came home severly crippled for life. Families have been destroyed and careers ruined.
The new generation of potential recruits have been watching and listening and they and their parents do not believe the administration’s aims are worth dying for. But you do. Those soldiers have to come from somewhere. If not you, who?
If garbage stopped being picked up and I kept producing garbage, eventually, as a good citizen, I’d have to pay someone to pick it up or pick it up myself. If sick kittens kept showing up at my doorstep and there was no humane society, eventually, as a moral human being, I would have to put them out of their misery. If innocent men kept showing up death row, eventually, as a Christian** I’d have to abolish the death penalty.
If you’re not going to sign up, then you’re going to have to support measures that entice more people into the military. How about raising their pay? Or not reducing their combat pay? How about extending VA benefits? Or keeping in exceptional Arabic linguists who happen to be gay? Heck, what about getting rid of that whole don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy and welcoming homosexuals into the military? Oh, I know, investigating and prosecuting fraud and abuse by civilian contractor corporations? How about getting the boys over there some armor, some weapons, and some more support? If you’re going to support the war, you’re going to have to find a way to get more recruits.
I know it’s a foreign concept to some Republicans, but we believe that if you support something, you should be personally involved in it. I support environmental causes, so I walk to work and ride the bus and train. I support the legalization of marijuana, so I volunteer my time and donate my money to the cause (and I do a lot of personal research on the subject). And I support the idea that citizens should give back to their country, so I enlisted in the Army National Guard.
You should too.
*It’s not a goatee, it’s technically a van-dyke.
**I’m not really a Christian, it’s technically a Positive Christian Atheist.
