Why Bush won't listen after 2000 dead in Iraq

Bush said it quite clearly during his first term as President of the United States: “Either you are with us or against us.”  People thought he was talking about being for or against the United States, but they were wrong.  What he was actually saying was…

that you are either for Dubya or against Dubya.  Bush takes all of his actions and decisions as President personally.  Therefore if you attack, or simply disagree, with any of his actions (like invading a sovereign nation) you are in fact attacking him directly.

There is a basic fundamental way that adults treat people that they wish to change their position on an issue, they communicate, they discuss.  What they do not do is yell, insult, and scream.  This is only done when a person is speaking for the pleasure of hearing his or her own voice.  You are driving to work one day.  While waiting at a traffic light a person you have never met approaches your window and starts screaming at you.  “Thank goodness your window was up,” you think as you drive quickly away.

Here’s why Bush won’t listen to you.  All he hears is condemnation of his actions, the negative actions of a few US troops, and “unreasonable” demands being made of him.  It doesn’t matter if he was wrong, if some soldiers violated the human rights of others, or if the US should leave Iraq, because you are “against” him.

An example would be the widely known prison abuse scandal.  If you condemn the stacking of naked Iraqis, naked pictures, and threats of vicious dogs, but did not condemn the beheading, shooting, and torture of US soldiers, civilian contractors, and Iraqi civilians you are “against us.”

Did anyone protest the killing of Iraqi civilians during the US take over of Iraq?  Now, how many of those of you that said yes also condemned the deliberate targeting of Iraqi civilians by anti-US forces?  No?  So, Bush thinks you are “against us.”

One of the very reasonable desires is to have the US withdraw from Iraq.  Problem: What happens to Iraq after the US withdraws?  The US has had a presence in Iraq since 1991.  That’s 14 and one half years to you and me.  What will happen?  Bush fears mass chaos and an enemy that will attack the US once they are strong enough.  Are his fears ungrounded?  So Bush thinks you are “against us.”

An attack against a convoy in the capitol city of Kabul left several civilians dead, and who knows how many injured.  Did you protest?  No?  You may be “against us”.

If Bush thinks that you are against him, why do you think he will listen?

What Rosa Parks did for the US

Rosa Parks has been called the Mother of the Civil Rights Movement, but she is much more than that.  This one woman changed the history of the United States more than almost any other person.  By igniting the spirit of the masses this one woman personally changed the lives of millions of people.  She is the reason for the freedom that is now enjoyed by all citizens of the United States.  

Think how far reaching her one act of civil disobedience has been.  The civil rights movement brought about the end of legalized racial discrimination in the US.  Those born in the late 60s and 70s were raised in an era where equality was enforced.  Those children born today will not know legalized discrimination.  They will not experience the Government turning a blind eye to the lynching and brutalizing of the disenfranchised.   They will not experience the denial of an adequate education because of the color of one’s skin.

Ask yourself if the lives of your children and their peers will be different than that of your parents.  Now, if you agree with racial discrimination, abuse of minorities, housing and employment discrimination, or simply being able to openly look down on a person just because of their ethnicity, you may not appreciate my opinion.  You may even disagree.

Did the Civil Rights Movement improve life?  If so, how?  If not, why not?  Support your opinion.

I believe that we have all benefited.  I do not agree with racial discrimination or lynching or police brutality.  Yep, I’d call it a success.

Court Gives OK to Seize Newborn

A Pennsylvanian Court has given permission for the seizure of a newborn infant.

"Why," you ask. The father was convicted of rape and sodomy of two or three teenage girls 23 years ago. It is Schuylkill County child-welfare officials position that this conviction makes him an imminent threat to his three day old son. You should know that his wife, the mother, lives 17 miles away from this man, with her father. Yet Child-Welfare still believes that the child must be taken away from his mother.

Here is my problem with this "emergency" ruling:

1) The court has never forbidden this man from having children;
2) The court has never forbidden this man from getting married;
3) The court has never forbidden this man from being partially associated with children.

So, why is the court stepping in now when there hasn't been any threatening acts or violations of court orders or violations of the law? They are violating the mother's parental rights without any violation of the law on her (or anyone elses) part. What law has she violated?

Before you jump on your moral high-horse step back and think this through. Has she violated the law? Has she been convicted (or charged) with doing anything that has put her child's life/well-being at risk?

Sure, we can say that HE should never be allowed to have children (although that has nothing to do with his crime), to be around teenagers & children or in polite society, but what does that have to do with the mother who has not violated the law? If the court did not put any such restrictions on the convicted sex offender, how is it that the court is stepping in 23 yrs later? There are people that physically abuse & torture their children that get second and third chances under State law, yet here where there is no showing of danger the court says that the mother should lose her child.

You don't want convicted sex offenders to have children? Pass a law. Put it in as part of a life long sentence. By only taking a mother's child all the State is doing is creating two more victims.

Children need everyone's protection. Trying to protect children in this half-assed manner is wrong though.

Army's failure to meet recruiting goal means...

...the continuing of "Stop-Loss". The impact of the Army's failure to meet their recruiting goal will be felt wide and I has reached not only active duty troops, but the National Guard, and Reserves as well. Ask yourself, do I know someone in the Army? In the National Guard? In the Reserves? They have all missed their FY '05 recruiting goals. A representative of the Department of Defense has stated that due to the Army's (and National Guard and Reserves) short fall on their recruiting goal they will have to continue the practice of "Stop-Loss"?

What is Stop-Loss you ask? The Army prevents people assigned to Military Units that are notified of potential deployments from getting out of the military. If you sign up for four years, and are notified that your unit will deploy, you can not leave the Army at the end of your contract. You sign up for four years. You serve four years. But you are still in the Army for sometimes past one and a half years past your initial enlistment.

Those average, normal, everyday men and women that have volunteered to serve their country and their State have been strung up by the Government. Why is the State militia fighting a foreign war? They are not a National body, yet they are being used and abused as such. Why is there no protest? Why haven't you called/e-mailed/wrote your Congressman to ask this quesiton?

It is not a time of War, because Congress NEVER declared war. So, what have you done for your fellow man?

far.

Why I joined the US Army...Why I stay in the US Army.

In a live journal comment to my last post on Live Journal alicefanclub asked:

Why did you join? I am sincerely curious why you signed up for all of this, or if you honestly didn't know it would be like this. Did you used to have a different vision of the government and what service would be like? Or did you need the "security" offered? Were you compelled by duty/honor to serve your country?

My journey into the military occurred over twelve (12) years. 1988 was my first brush with the military. In a way I grew up around the US Army. It seemed that over half of the men in my family served in the military at one point or another in their lives. Having know men that have spent several years in the military, I had always known that it was a possibility for me as well. However, there were several factors against me. First my recruiter, who had previously retired from the Army, was about to retire from being a civilian recruiter. Not only was this guy older then most of the people that I knew at the time, but he was slow and did not seem all that interested in helping get the paperwork through the system. The second factor was my being young and impatient. "Hey," I thought, "I don't need this crap. I'll just go to college."

Luckily for me, college actually happen. In college I saw all those ROTC guys and gals running all the time. Since I detest running I figured that I had made the right decision. Four years later, after college was Howard University School of Law. During Law School I saw the Army JAGCorp recruiter. I laughed. Me? The Army? No way.

Three years of Law School were followed by some hard times and four years of working inside the DC Beltway in a small two attorney firm. Unfortunately I was severely underpaid. As time past my wife and I managed to get our financial house rearranged. At least there was a light at the end of the dark tunnel in which we found ourselves. Being able to breath easier I took some time to reflect on our life.

After discussing the possibility of the military, and with my wife's blessings, I enlisted in the military. The worst that would happen is that we would take a temporary pay cut, but be back at the same financial level within three years. The best that would happen is that I would enjoy my job in the military, earn a retirement check after 20 yrs, and do some good for the world.

Did I have a different vision of our government? No, I can't say that I did. A good number of politicians suck. They always have, and they always will. There is very poor voter turn out in the US. The country needs help. The fact that a nut can be elected twice is only a good thing because 1) the constitution allows it; and 2) he can't be elected three times. But whatever failings that Bush may have, what disgust me are the majority of voting Americans that elected him the second time. Those are the ones that need a serious reality "bitch slap".

I joined after the US had gone into Bosnia, but well before September 11, 2001. And you probably wonder wonder why I stay since I have seen combat and this is my third tour of duty. Here are some of the things that I have done:

Represented the entire United States of America before a International Claims Tribunal;
Mentored children/survivors of ethnic cleansing in the Balkans;
Helped the Russians start paying Bosnians for the damages the Russian caused in their Bosnia;
Negotiated with armed Warlords in Afghanistan;
Been the main drive in doubling the size of the largest US base in Afghanistan, in a way that did not cost money or lives;
Prevented ham-fisted negotiations that would have lead to the death of multiple people;
Written contracts that provided jobs to poor families devastated by over a decade of war;
Turned the lives of young families around after they felt crippled by debt;
Helped battered women escape the cycle of abuse;
Put child abusers, drug dealers, and rapist in jail;
Stopped soldiers from being abused by their commands;
And much more.

I have worked with people from places that include Korea, UK, France, Egypt, Spain, Russia, Belgium, Turkey, Denmark, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Croatia, and Hungary. I can say that I have actually changed the course of some events around the world.

Is this what you imagine when you think of serving in the United States Army?

Thankfully, I have not had to serve in Iraq for a stupid war, started by a stupid president, voted into office (twice) by stupid people. But, I do not regret my service in the War in Afghanistan, Operation Enduring Freedom.

I could get out of the Army and make more money then I make now. I would not face being deployed for a year+ at a time. However, I like the opportunity to impact the lives of others. And I can say, "Yes, I am making a difference." Being upset with the many poorly made choices of our president does not make me want to run away from the army. In a year and a half the country will be on the campaign trail again and we will see how my vision of the government will change.

The Army sticks to one year deployments

How do you feel about the announcement by the Department of Defense that the US Army is continuing with one (1) year deployments to Iraq & Afghanistan? Not the war itself, but what the year deployments will mean to the service members and their familys? For those that will not be able to leave the Army because their units are marked for deployment? For those people going on their 3rd or 4th combat tours on the ill-advised whim of the current administration? For the children growing up without their soldier mothers and soldier fathers? For the climbing divorce rate in the military? For the soaring amounts of depression and stress related disorders?

Kitty cannon

This is the second time that I have seen the link to this game. Thanks to Dude, WTF??? for providing it this time. If you want to be able to get rid of some stress, in a completely in appropriate way (if you are a cat lover), then check out the Kitty cannon.

Million Man Anniversary

An open question, and hopefully discussion:

Well, the anniversary of the Million Man March is almost upon us. I remember being on the Mall all those years ago, with many more people than the media expected. The massive under-reporting was amazing in and of itself. One news program claimed there was 100K, some said 200k, but it was neither. Those that were there will affirm that that mark of 1,000,000 was reached. There were men and there were women from all areas of society. People took the metro from a few miles away, and people took buses from the west coast. From North and from South, from East and West people flooded Washington, DC to bring the unheard voice of the Black man to the world.

So, I ask you this: We were to be better men, we were to be providers and protectors, we were to be the heroes and roll models for our children, we were to provide that hand to our brothers and sisters, we were to be the guiding light out of the darkness of despair, we were to be that hand reaching down to pull up those that had fallen, we were to be the healers of those sickened by the daily struggle of existence, "WE" were to be all these things and more, so, where are we now? Where are you now?

Have we as a people met our goals? Have we as individuals met our goals? What do our children see when they look up to us? Our nieces & nephews? When our parents look at us, are they proud without reservation? Should they be? What do you see when you look within yourself?

Red Thai Curry

It turns out that I make a good Red Thai Curry. Thanks to the instructions from my lovely Allysther I was able to feast on this wonderful meal. Talk about G-O-O-D!!!!! I think that tonight I will have Thai! 

National Novel Writing Month - Signups have begun!

Signups have begun for the November 2005 National Novel Writing Month. The concept is very simple, from November 1st through November 30th write a novel. The shortest novel that you can write is 50,000 words. Don't let the numbers scare you, just write. It doesn't have to be the best book of the 21st century, it jus has to be yours. Try it and see how far you can get. Oh, and typing the same word over and over again doesn't count.

What motivates a person not to act?

So far my thoughts tend to lead me to the conclusion that the main reason most people do not act is fear. Fear of the unknown combined with fear of the known. Most people it seems do not make the choice to change thereby accepting their current situation. This acceptance is not based on liking their life, but rather on the fear of changing to a possible worse life.

Why are people willing to maintain a miserable existense out of fear of change?

(To Be Continued)

(Probably)