This quote from the University of Toronto professor ably sums up why these ex-soldiers will have a difficult time making their case. It was their choice to join the military; now they seem to think they're civilians who can simply quit a job they don't like anymore.

Sorry.

As much as I hate Bush's war, and as much damage as he's probably done to the morale of the military, soldiers don't get to quit when they feel like it. They may have had a genuine change of heart now that they've seen mass murder up close. In that case, civil disobedience - and facing its consequences - might be an honorable option. But they get no points for choosing the easy way - taking advantage of the hospitality and relative sanity of our northern neighbor.

Still, it's likely more than a few have fled out of plain old cowardice. They don't mind doing the shooting; they just don't like it when the Iraqis shoot back.

When you join the military by choice, you simply don't get the same sympathy for desertion as someone who was conscripted against his will.

While it is true that these ex-soldiers now seeking refuge in Canada could have enlisted for any number of reasons - college money, the surge in patriotism following Sept. 11 - I'd be willing to bet that many if not most of them supported Bush's invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Now that we've lost this war through our own utter incompetence and hubris, guess what? It's not popular anymore. Now that they realize war isn't just a silly video game, and they could actually be seriously wounded or die, they want to quit.

Translation: war's okay when America gets to kick ass and kill thousands of innocent civilians in an illegal conflict, but not so much fun when the hunters become the hunted. They're all too typical of my fellow Americans' mass opinion over the course of this war: when the going gets tough, the "tough" quit. The mass of Americans doesn't really care that the war was illegal, only that we've lost.

Soldiers don't get to decide what wars they fight in. That's part of the deal, and is an important principle of civilian control of the military. Yes, it's a problem when you have a criminal administration like ours, but we voted for it, didn't we?

As I said in my previous post, there's an honorable option for soldiers who've had a genuine revelation about the awfulness of war and don't want to be a part of it anymore: civil disobedience. Tell the military you're not going to report for duty and face the consequences. Yes, it'll be painful and difficult, and you'll likely go to prison for a while, but you just might emerge as a hero at the end. Fleeing to Canada - WHEN YOU VOLUNTEERED TO BEGIN WITH - is just cowardice.

...will get you every time.

That general law of markets, suggesting that periods of outperformance will be followed by periods of underperformance and vice versa, is always denied by hucksters and flimflam men, but it proved true for stocks in the early 2000s and I believe it'll be true of housing for the rest of this decade.

Worst case scenario: the housing slump corresponds with a period of rising interest rates and a falling dollar. That'll stretch out the period of falling/stagnant prices, though I suppose it someday might produce a result that's favorable for buyers once again.

While all the clever tricks discussed in this article are certainly alarming, and should be resisted vigorously by any marginally ethical public servant, none of them would work if the electorate weren't so gullible and ignorant to begin with.

I'm sorry, but only an ignoramus would believe that Republicans voted on Tuesday and Democrats on Wednesday. Anyone who seriously believed that and acted accordingly should probably be disqualified from voting. The same goes for the parking ticket ruse. Here's a novel idea: why not pay the parking tickets to begin with? I'm sure your local government could use the money.

And remember the infamous "butterly" ballot in Florida in 2000 - one of the most significant factors in Bush's "victory"? Well, that was unfortunately designed by a Democratic official.

Then there's the apathy. Why don't people give a damn who runs their government? The fact that we can only muster 50-some percent even for a presidential election says a lot about our priorities. When I vote in a primary election, you can practically envision tumbleweeds blowing down the hallway of my polling place. Yet the primaries are often where elections are decided.

I'm not making excuses for Republican misconduct, but why do we insist on making it so easy for them? And I'm tired of the reflexive PC sensibility that says people are never to be held accountable even for gross stupidity. The cult of victimhood must end.