The Great Military Debate

... or at least one of many. I have edited this post to add a great quote and an EXCELLENT article I came across. To see the article now (if you've already read this post) click here, or click on the link by the mention of Charlie Rangel wanting to reinstate the draft.

I had a conversation with one of the typical anti-war types the other day. You know, the whole "This war is all about profit for Halliburton" and "Only dumb poor kids with no other future are recruited" and "No one in government has family in the military, they just send poor black kids to die for their hopeless causes" and "Our government hates our military - they are just numbers to them, not people" routine. I have given these arguments some thought, and - Surprise! Now I'm going to give my opinion. That's the fun of a blog. In person you have to bite your tongue and be polite, but on my blog I can speak my mind. Hey, it's a free cyberspace, you don't have to read it.

"This war is all about profit for Halliburton."

This one makes me laugh, because I have realized that mentioning the war without saying the word "Halliburton" is impossible for a liberal. It jumps out, like a sneeze or a cough. The liberal will be on a wonderful rant on how they just know Bush sent Hurricane Katrina to kill all the poor black people in New Orleans, and "Halliburton" will blurt out before they even know it's coming. It doesn't even have to be applicable to the argument. Anyway, I guess I just assume that if the government wanted to throw some shady profits to a certain company, like, Halliburton for example, they could have found a much simpler and easier way to do it than taking an entire country to war. Washington is full of politicians on both side of the aisle that are there to further their agendas and make their friends rich. They do it well, and they do it often. They don't have to take America to war to do it. My guess is... there was a little more to their decision.

"The government doesn't send their own kids, they recruit poor black kids with no other future to be their cannon fodder."

Well, it sounds good, but unfortunately the facts speak quite differently. It is NOT only poor black kids that join the military. If there seems to be a large number of children from middle to lower income families - that's because they are the largest group in America! And, since I have many friends and family members in the military, including my own brother who will be leaving in a few weeks, I actually find it offensive to insinuate that the military is comprised of a bunch of losers that had nothing better to do with their life. They were sitting around a school playground drooling when a recruiter came and offered them the world. Being ignorant and having no concept of what they were doing, they signed up! WRONG. I know this is a difficult concept for many liberals to grasp, but some people actually still think the military is an honorable profession! They are joining to make something of themselves, to pursue a dream, and to accomplish something they can be proud of. Not because they had no other option in life. My brother is proud to fight for his country, and being an intelligent and motivated young man there are many things he could have done with his life. HE CHOSE THE MILITARY, and I dare anyone to say it to my face that he got talked into it because he couldn't cut it for anything else. I remember the push to reinstate the draft by a certain Democrat congressman (Charles Rangel D-N.Y.) who was complaining about this very thing. The draft was shot down, and the facts were made clear. We have an ALL VOLUNTEER army, and it just so happens to be the greatest military in the world.

Edited to add this quote I came across by Edward Bernard:

Then there is the military. Both in war and in peace, high-status Americans think that volunteer soldiers have no brains and no education. The truth is otherwise. Many U.S. officers have master's degrees and Ph.D.s., and more than a few NCOs and enlisted men have bachelor's degrees, which they came into the service with or earned while in the military. In U.S. Special Forces, composed of sergeants and officers, being comfortable in at least two foreign languages and foreign cultures is a sine qua non.

"Our government hates the military - they aren't people to them, just numbers."

This argument has an element of truth to it, although I don't believe the government as a whole hates its military. I have a hard time explaining this, and I hope I am not misunderstood. From a logical standpoint, the government cannot put the human interest of the army personnel ahead of the country's best interest. By that I mean, sending any person into harm's way (to war, for example) is putting the country's interest first, and the individual human interest second. All commanders know that, though they may love their soldiers fiercely, they have to be willing to send them on missions knowing some or many may not return. If all military decisions were made putting the comfort and safety of the military AHEAD of the mission, we would never achieve victory. The emotional support of the military men and women needs to come from us at home!!!! We need to be writing them letters/e-mails, sending them care packages, doing all we can to show them we support them and what they are doing. Now, this administration has made some decisions that I believe have slapped the military and veterans in the face. I am not going to be naive and say that they have always been 100% supportive and always done the right thing. I am simply pointing out that the government is going to put the country's best interest first, and the military serves the country. They aren't going to be buddies. In reality, the soldier is just government property. So, if you think that they need to be treated better - get out there and do something about it!!! And if it's something beyond your control (a policy decision, a benefit reduction, a lengthened deployment) then let your voice be heard! Write your elected officials, raise a ruckus. This is a democracy, after all. We're not as powerless as you think.

Overall, I am tired of those who are always AGAINST everything, but never FOR anything. They hate Bush, but who do they love? They hate the government, but they don't even vote or get involved in supporting any cause. They are against the war so they bash the military, but what causes DO they support? What actually IS worth dying for to them? Living to hate is such a pointless, dissatisfying existence. Live to accomplish things, and make the best of any situation. Even if you were against going to war, we are there now. Now we need to support the men and women fighting this war and shut the heck up about Halliburton.

A Contempt For Things Broken

Every once in a while, an illustration that the pastor uses will just really hit me. While we were up north this past weekend, the pastor was saying that people have, by nature, a contempt for things broken. He told us about a rubber mallet he bought, used once, and SNAP! Off broke the handle. He sawed it off, shaved it down, and used the handle to fix a hammer. While using the hammer, a knot in the wood of the handle came loose and caused the hammer to be lopsided. He said you would swing it, and it would just flail around wildly. By now he was so frustrated he went to his table saw and proceeded to saw the handle into pieces! He said he was just so fed up with that handle, that he destroyed it beyond the point of any usefulness. He then pointed out that, although we laugh at that story, many of us act exactly that way with the broken people we come across in our lives. How many of us shrink away from a drug user, roll our eyes in disgust at a teenager aborting her second baby in two years, write off an errant child who makes a series of stupid decisions, or gossip about a woman whose marriage falls apart due to unfaithfulness. Why is it we have such a contempt and disgust for broken lives? The Bible says, "A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench." More plainly, God doesn't kick you when you're down. Christians, are we so wrapped up in our own "righteousness" that we forget that our whole purpose here on earth is to reach out to others? Do we look at those still ensnared in sin with disgust? If so, shame on you. It is only by the grace of God that you and I are not in their shoes. If we were truly aware of how much of God's grace is involved in making us who we are, we would be so overcome with humility and gratitude to the Lord that there would be no room for the pious pride that seems to be the lifeblood of so many so-called Christians. I know so many Christians who have in fact been a stumbling block to their family and friends because, rather than reaching out to them and seeking to win them, they had to make sure everyone knew how disgusted they were with their "wicked ways." I know many will immediately pipe up with, "But we can't condone their sin!" To be honest, that answer is just a lazy way out. There are many ways we can reach out to the hurting and broken without enabling their lifestyle. I know I have made the personal commitment to try to be aware of this in my own life. It is not our call when someone has "thrown their life away." As long as they are living, no matter how bad it gets, it is our responsibility to fight to the end, even if all we can do is pray. When we stand before the Lord, we will give an account of those whom we had the chance to reach and are lost because we thought we did the spiritual thing by proudly displaying our contempt for things broken.

Funny Headlines

I know I've been on an "Iraq War" kick lately - Sorry. Whether you agree with it or not, we are all tired of this war, and I can only imagine that the soldiers and their families are especially "war weary." So, I don't want to get in a blogging rut or anything - but I just got such a kick out of this e-mail I had to post it. I have been having some technical difficulties, and in fact this whole post has been erased once!! Anyway, I am trying it again, hopefully it works this time.

Updated to Add: Okay, I am just not getting these to space evenly, no matter what I try. Just use your head and I'm sure you can figure out which caption goes to which picture! Sorry about that...


Here are some pictures the media forgot to show us. If they had, these are the captions they likely would have shown:

While Asleep on Duty, Soldier Uses Iraqi Child as Body Armor

Terrified and Angry Iraqi Children Thank GIs for Not Opening Fire on Their Soccer Game

Another Example of Soldier Engaged in "Tickle Torture"

GI Hangs Iraqi Child By His Fingertips!

Troops Force Iraqi Children to Seesaw Till They Talk

Iraqi Child Bites GI in Self Defense

Soldier Employs Controversial "Talk or I'll Tickle You" Method. Another Example of Failed Intelligence Gathering.

American Soldier Tries to EAT Iraqi Child

Evidence of Forced Child Labor

P.S. If you want the scoop on the first picture, click here for the great story!

Pardon my ranting...

I do not have the time to give this the full attention it deserves, but this has just really pushed my buttons. I will hopefully be able to give a better update later.
The New Republic, a seething mass of liberals vomiting their hatred for all things conservative and spewing socialist opinions in the forms of facts, had been publishing a column called The Baghdad Diarist by a "passionate and talented" writer (their description, not mine) calling himself Scott Thomas. He claimed to be writing from Iraq while serving in the military, and was sharing stories of our troops gloriously representing their country by crushing stray dogs by swerving their Bradley Military Vehicles (have you seen those things?!!? How do you make them "swerve" exactly...), mocking a women whose face had been horribly disfigured from an IED, and wearing the bones of dead Iraqi children as crowns. I'm sure TNR put as much effort into validating these stories as Dan Rather & Company put into document verification. It involves a process similar to this:
1. Does it bash the military?
2. Does it try to portray the war and those fighting it in the most despicable light possible?
3. Oh heck, does it in any way further our radical, left-wing agenda?
Yes to all three? Cool! Let's print it!
I'm sure it comes as no surprise that after a lot of pressure and a military investigation of "Scott Thomas," it's been revealed that just about the only true thing he wrote was that he is in the military. I went to TNR to see what their response to this was, and let me tell you, only read their response if you have a barf bag handy. Here is TNR's reply. My favorite line in this was, "If the truth ends up reflecting poorly on our judgment, we will accept responsibility for that. But we also refuse to rush to judgment on our writer or ourselves." You refuse to rush to judgement!?!? Ironically, "rush" is too slow of a word to describe just how quickly you pounce on any anti-war propaganda someone is willing to dream up.

What makes me so sick about all of this is that so many liberals claim, "We support the troops, just not the war." Sorry, but that is a hypocritical, self-serving statement. Don't claim to support the troops, then gleefully race to publish any sick story that disparages the character of our men and women in uniform. I would like to think that the unmasking of "Scott Thomas" as a fraud will cause at least one liberal to pause and check the facts before assuming (and promoting the idea) that the Iraq War has turned all of the men and women serving there into babbling crazed idiots.

But, I doubt it.

Heart-wrenching Photo

I was so moved by this picture. War definitely has its ugly side, and this is it. At the same time, you can just feel the soldier's raw emotions as they try to rescue this child. (This photograph was taken moments after a terrorist attack wounded this little girl.)

I've done some research on the photographer who took this picture. His name is Michael Yon and his images are all very powerful. However, he has written that he feels the above picture "most completely embodies his experiences in Iraq."

If the Old Barn Needs Paint...

I got such a laugh out of this article, Cosmetic Appeal. I don't personally buy the really expensive cosmetics, I'm more of a L'oreal, Maybelline, Cover Girl... and a bit of Avon thrown in for good measure. But, I do know I like (and, dare I say, sometimes really need) my makeup!!! I especially liked the part about her husband sitting and watching her put on makeup, mesmerized by the process. Chad used to do the same thing! He comes from a home where none of the females used makeup, so he found my morning transformations especially fascinating. So, here's to all of us who need to paint a bit of "pretty" on our face now and then! Hey, I love being a girl.

Baby Genius? Think again!

It seemed to become quite the craze - all those DVDs that promised to turn your child into a genius. Just plug them in, and get on with your life! Now, any mom with a brain knows there is never any substitute for good, old-fashioned one-on-one interaction with your baby... but now there is a study that says children who are plugged in at an early age actually have smaller vocabularies. I am sure more and more research is out there and will soon prove just how detrimental television is to very young minds. Hey, I'm the first to say it's nice to have a break now and then, but let's not let it progress to where our children spend the majority of their day drooling in front of a screen with that vacant "TV stare" on their face.

Click here for the story:
DVDs don't produce Brainy Babies