Mind reader

Curse you Darth Commando. Your post touched on something I'd be gnawing on for a while now. I have occasionally gotten myself involved in spirited discussions on websites that don't serve as an echo chamber for my own opinions. I know, I know, that'll lurn me for trying to get smarted.

I've realized that when I get into these things I'm going to not "win". I don't even know what the definition of "win" is in this situation, but much like obscenity, I know it when I see it, and I know that the "winner" will not be me. My knowledge about, and passion for, many hot-button issues is a puddle: not very wide and not very deep. Even issues like the Army and recruiting, things I should know a lot about, I really don't. All of my knowledge is based on my own personal experiences, and the occasional Google search. I don't have the dedication or motivation required to make an effective "appeal to authority" argument.

I'm not an academic. I've got my time in college, but a signifigant part of it was spent at keg parties (unless you're my mom reading this, in that case I was studying allllllll the time). And I'm not so invested in my position that it becomes something I want to study and research. IRR Soldier's response here is more involved and thought out than I could manage with a week. As an aside if you're reading this, IRR Soldier, I think your position about "retire or transfer to the IRR where I am not bound by the UCMJ except for my 2 weeks a year ADT status or during mobilization," is a bit flawed. Being in the IRR doesn't exempt one from the UCMJ. It's not like an IRR Soldier (in general, not you) can be openly, actively gay.

Unlike Darth Commando I can't even go to read Kos. If someone I read links there, sure, I'll go, but it's not something I'll do to myself willingly. Life's too short to give validation to people who are so... invested. Same goes for whatever the right's equivalent of Kos is. The people I link to are those I read.

Politically I don't know where I am. My panties don't get into a bunch over the thought of gay people marrying. I think flag-burning is a very useful form of speech; it lets me know the speaker is a moron. I wouldn't trust congress as a whole with the proceeds from a church bake sale. Sure, there are a lot of people in there who are dedicated, honest civil servants who want nothing but the best for their constituants, but I think us constituants would actually be served better if there was less money available with which to serve us. I think of congress as a drunken frat party. Sure, all the attendees are fine students, but you get them all together, throw in a keg of MGD, and all those Dean's List guys are streaking the library during Dead Week. I don't see any problem with being pro-life and pro-death penalty. You murder four people in cold blood and start a nationwide gang responsible for the death of thousands, you deserve to die, I don't care how nice your kid's book is. Killing someone who hasn't been born yet, yeah, that just doesn't work for me. I'd like to think that people would be able to have a rational discussion about the subject, and maybe come to a conclusion that respects the right of a person to choose what happens to themselves, while respecting the right of a soon-to-be-person to be born. I'm not Solomon and have no idea where to split that child, but there's gotta be a better choice than what we have now. I think Kevin Costner should be forever banned from making a post-apocalyptic movie again, and should be required to make baseball movies every couple years. I think we should have a more open immigration policy, and that we should forcefully and vigorously patrol our borders. I don't think the two goals are mutually exclusive. I'm willing to bet we could not build that bridge in Alaska, and instead maybe hire a couple guys to watch the border. If we can't find the guys go to Home Depot at about 4am, plenty of people looking for work there.If I were appointed Czar of Schools for a day I'd remove sex ed from the schools and add an additional math and science class. If a kid's smart enough to know what a^2 + b^2 = c^2 means they can figure out "hold tip of condom and roll down". I think the degredation in performance for American schools, combined with the resulting culture MTV displays is enough proof that something is broke. Speaking of, I think if thoughts ever become punishable crimes I'll be happy those laws weren't in effect while Britney Spears was under 18, and Lindsey Lohan didn't have the body of a crack whore.

It's late and I have someone taking the ECLT in the morning. This means I'll probably be blogging about how MEPS makes me want to burn things.