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Sunday, May 23, 2004
Vietnam

I was re-reading some books about Lyndon Johnson, Vietnam, and that whole period of time, and it got me thinking. We've all seen footage of the protests during that time, everything from the war, to civil rights, to the police riot during the Democratic convention in Chicago in 1968. It's an interesting contrast to the utter stupor we find ourselves in nowadays.

I mean, we're involved in another war in south Asia. The Iraqi portion, like Vietnam, has no bearing on the safety of the United States homeland. By 1968, something like 20,000 Americans had been killed in Vietnam, and even though the people making the decisions knew by then that the best we could hope for was a stalemate, nearly 40,000 more Americans would die before we finally got out of there. As of right now, around 800 Americans have died in Iraq. Apparently, this is a number the rest of us can live with.

When will you stand up and tell the government "No more!" A thousand? Ten thousand? Fifty thousand? Nine hundred (and we're reinstating the draft in 2005)?

Well, HOLY FUCKING SHIT.

I have written about the reinstatement of the military/service draft previously, but every week that goes by, I believe more and more it's going to happen. Our fine military is stretched to the limit, and what with this Iraqi prison scandal, it's not as if people are going to be rushing recruitment centers to sign up.

"ARMY: Be court-martialed in the snazziest military uniform of them all," just doesn't play as an effective slogan.

So, between lower recruitment levels, dishonorable discharges on TV, and guys getting body parts shot off, there will be even fewer available people to serve. Does anyone really think that this detail will stop this righteous administration from its goals in Iraq, Iran, Syria or anyplace else? I hope to hell by now you know the answer. You can continue to pray for science to come up with an effective warrior robot to fight America's battles, but the budget for science education has been slashed, so you're screwed.

And why shouldn't they draft you, Mister and Miss 18-25 year old? You have no job prospects, thanks to the economy, so you may as well drop out of college. And besides, YOU DON'T VOTE. And they know it.

But perhaps when they do reinstate the draft, you will put down your PlayStation and your fucking Zima, and rediscover your sense of moral clarity and outrage. You may find some of the administration's other policies repugnant as well. You will protest the war, but only because your ass is on the line. And don't misunderstand me, that is as good a reason as there is. I only hope that by then, it's not too late, what with the Justice Department's wide powers to quell protests and silence dissent.

Act now. You only have a few months left to make a difference that may save thousands of lives, including your own.

Zima? You're better than that...

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posted at 9:39 PM

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Saturday, April 03, 2004
The Draft

Well, America is at war. We were attacked on September 11th, 2001, as some of you may recall. It was truly a shocking day in American history, and even though the President seemed like a deer in the headlights for most of the day, he eventually made a speech to the country. And I was absolutely prepared to be inspired. Some presidential addresses are the stuff of the gods.

"We have nothing to fear, but fear itself." FDR - 1933

"Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what YOU can do for your country." JFK - 1961

Now, even the most gentle estimation of the president's verbal abilities would still not use the word mellifluous, but he has some amazing speech writers, and this was a once in a lifetime event. I wanted to be overwhelmed with a sense of purpose. So, I tuned in, and what glorious message does the leader of the free world have for his people in the wake of these disastrous attacks?

To paraphrase, "Go buy something or the terrorists win."

To put it mildly, I was disappointed.

We must not sacrifice, for we are already perfect. We must go to the mall to show our unity. We will not ration food or material to gird ourselves against the enemy. We will defeat them by getting fatter, and being more complacent.

The fundamentalists hate us for a lot of reasons, but I don't think they hate our freedom. They aren't stupid. They have a different mindset in many cases, but I can't just write them off so easily. There are millions of peaceful Muslims in the world. I think they know we are soft, though.

So, getting back to sacrifice, a US Congressman, Charles Rangel, I believe, put forward the proposal that we reinstate the military draft.

Were we really so desperate that we needed to reinstate military conscription? Well, not really. But the congressman, who is a black guy, noticed that a fairly large percentage of the men and women who were going to be asked to sacrifice life and liberty, are brown, black, whatever. So, his idea is to reinstate the draft, let everybody's kids roll the dice, and let the chips fall where they may. And you know what? I'll bet doing just that would change a lot of things in America in a very positive way.

First of all, assuming that America wasn't fighting any foreign adventures, certainly draftees in for a two-year hitch could provide valuable services in country. They could build houses for the homeless, clean up projects in inner cities, fix levees, plant trees, whatever. There is certainly an endless list of things that could be done.

Would I personally resent having two years of my life taken by the government? Probably so, Would it do me a hell of a lot of good? Realistically, yeah. And if the country is at war, then maybe my ass gets shipped overseas. America isn't perfect by any means, but it still seems to me that if the time comes where you are asked to defend it, you have to go. That's one of the costs, I'm afraid.

The volunteer military is an amazing collection of all kinds of people, but we all know it's made possible by the man and woman who come from circumstances that provide no other realistic chances at success. The military is full of kids from rural towns, inner cities, and others who just didn't have the sense to be born to Harvard alums. Obviously, many of them are minorities. And Congress is not exactly bursting at the seams with brown faces, so it's easy for these people to send the military off to measure dicks on the President's behalf.

If everybody went into the military, would these chickenshit fatassed Baby Boomers be so excited about their spoiled kids cleaning up some South Bronx shithole, or ducking snipers in the desert? I doubt it.

Perspective is everything, and our leaders lack it.

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posted at 11:52 AM

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