"Ah yes, no opinion about the military is valid without having been IN the military? - Shooter242"

My family, both mom and dad served in the Big One -- 1939 - 1945. When they found out that their fair-haired, blue-eyed son had a bee in his cap about following the family tradition (it was a long tradition -- you should see the family crest -- dead Moor's head on the end of a sword, no less), both of my parents went apewire.

You see, both my parents were slightly left of liberal, and served because the country, nay the world, was in peril. Dicators were to be overthrown, countries liberated, freedom was to be brought to the oppressed. All that went out the window when, as Ike pointed out, the military became the tool of the corporations and the corrupt. My folks weren't going to have their progeny becoming the guard-boy the rich and powerful. "Don't do it son, unless they threaten us", became the watchword. So I figure, never having had to say, "Sir, yes, sir", or having to follow salute anyone qualifies anyone to have an opinion about the military. There are our servants, n'est ce pas?? As in the C-in-C. Remember, he is only the C-in-C of the military, not ours. He can wear any silly uniform he wants to, but until he pulls a Lincoln and puts us under Military 'Protection', we don't have to kowtow to him and his buddies. So, shooter, I think WE have a responsibility, and the right, to decide about military matters.

Don't know why Snake has a hard on for the chunky hard-boys with the shaved heads, daddy-o beardies and the wrap-around-sunglasses, but whatever turns your crank . . .

What is really amazing is this line: "maybe...maybe.. these employees were just using their constitutional right to protect themselves?"

Sounds like the woman I knew who wouldn't believe me when I told her she needed a passport to go to Japan.

"But, but, but . . . . we captured them . . . . "

She was gobsmacked.

I really don't understand why there are so many of these folks who don't seem to understand that Americans are not an exceptional people, and lots of folks around the world, quite frankly, couldn't give a flying Fernando about America.

Jaysus, yesterday was full of gearheads talking about how to delete crap on a hard-drive (how about just tossing the freaking thing off the Bridge??), and how gracefully they have the whole new age down . . . pathetic, really. Kind of like the old days when you had the same guys, different days, talking about manifolds, or the jocks talking about how they could score more a$$ than a toilet seat (apologies to Tom W). Monsieur Ledeen and the other freaks who are given public time, and even consideration should remind us all. We really really really really are acting like a$$holes, and it's about time America did a little reflection time and consider that . . . . yep, they really do dislike us. Hell, we don't even like ourselves.

Oh, the wattle-shaking indignation . . .

Two very big "no-no"s in America. Number one -- you do not criticize Israel. It just isn't done, and if you persist, you may live to regret it. By criticizing Israel, you are criticizing all Jews, or at least, that's the theory. And that makes you an anti-Semite, which is almost as bad as being anti-American. It's kind of the same logic that if you dislike Mr. Bush, you are anti-American. If you criticize General Petraeus, you are a traitor, and anti-American (or is that un-American???), and you don't support the troops. Which is the second "no-no". Never x 3, under any circumstance, can you criticize the military. The military can do no wrong, and if you think so, then that's because you don't support the troops. Which is anti-American. And, logically . . . .

Hell, Rudy is milking this one with one hand, while he waves the bloody red shirt of 9/11 with the other. *Sighs*, only in America. Can anyone out there envisage a European Rudy? An Asian Rudy? An African Rudy? An Australian Rudy? Wot? John Howard? Okay, okay, I'll concede that one . . .

But, be very very careful what you say or you'll have the Michelle Malkins, The Shrieking Harpies (Pammikins at Atlas Bouncing), the Sean 'The Chin That Dares To Walk Like A Man' Hannitys, the Bill 'Gin Blossom' O'Reillys, or maybe even The Sticks themselfs (Annie C.) publicly shouting you down and branding you as a traitorous anti-semetic self-loathing un-American Demoncrat egg-head libturd loser. Or whatever they are labeling folks as this week . . .

Jiminey, and the moon isn't even full yet. Ease back, Dave. If you had any sympathizers, I'm pretty sure there are now in the seriously worried mode. Then again, they may have just moved on, hence your unheeded ramblings??

I wouldn't get my dick in a knot over David Brooks. C'mon, most folks who write for the so-called mainstream are there because, well, they are 'mainstream'. Mainstream being what these folks call themselves. Or as Frank Zappa would say, you are what you is.

From Wikipedia: Before the Iraq War, Brooks had argued forcefully on moral grounds for American military intervention, echoing the belief of neoconservative commentators and political figures that American and British forces would be welcomed as liberators. However, some of his opinion pieces in the spring of 2004 suggested that he had tempered somewhat his earlier optimism about the war. In 2007, he argued that withdrawing from Iraq would result in 10,000 Iraqi deaths a month, but later admitted on Meet the Press that he had "just picked that 10,000 out of the air."

In other words, we're talking about a mediocre little man, whom I'm sure, would respond much like my puppy. You rub his tummy long enough, he'll get excited and pee all over himself. You scold him, he'll piddle on the floor. Either way, he's full of piss.