Letters to the Editor
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Arne
"Arne"? "Langsetmo"?!?!?
Is a bear Catholic?
I should have guessed. :-) Dunno about the bears, always thought they were an agnostic group in general. I do know that the few times I've seen them up close and personal (and NOT in a zoo), I got religion PDQ.
Ever skiied Utah?
Can someone tell me how to attach a link to my signature? Then I can move this OT somewhere else. No need to be a thread piggy. [oink]
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OT: @ Pedinska
Ever skiied Utah?
We have a timeshare condo there (won't say where so that people don't discover it and spoil it for us; we like the short lift lines). My parents love it because, being over 75 years old, they ski for free...
As to sigs, see the URL field on the posting form? Put in what you want, and people can click on your name to get there (dunno if it will accept <xxx@domain.name> [or "mailto:xxx@domain.name"] type entries that automatically give you an e-mail form on clicking....) My addy is zuch@bangspam.ix.netcom.com, after you take out the "no spam" part....
Cheers,
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This group of Mittsters are ignorant people
When Romney and his fellow Mormon missionaries encountered anti-American sentiment from war opponents, they decided that the French -- unlike Romney and his war-supporting, war-avoiding friends -- were "weak"....
Ignorant people, apparently they weren't even aware of the French defeat in Indochina, or the toughness of the French as displayed in Algeria, or the general respect in which French Gendarmes are held.
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Arne
Dropped you a note at your addy. If you don't get it, then drop me one at pedinska@yahoo.com
The short lift lines are great. The snow ain't too shabby either.
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Lessons Learned
This is what works:
Avoid service in a war that you diligently promote. You'll be labled strong, courageous, the tough guys tough guy, etc. Conservatives and ditto heads will love you.
This is what does not work:
Perform service in a war that you oppose. Even though you may be feeling some kind of sense of duty and self-sacrifice, you'll be labeled a coward and a freak.
Do not perform service but work diligently to oppose the war. Bad idea. Even though you may be feeling some kind of sense of duty and self-sacrifice, you'll be labeled a coward, traitor, and have your sexual preferences challenged.
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GOP Creed
"Do as I say, not as I do."
Just look at the criticism of those tax-and-spend Dems as they push through their water projects and health and education bills. Not at all like the GOP bridges to nowhere and rainforrests in Iowa.
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Comment for Baldie
What is the difference between supporting the WoT Part 1: Afghanistan (the part that enjoyed broader support, for very good reasons), and not volunteering, and supporting Vietnam and not volunteering? I think this is worth taking a shot at, because I can't say it's instantly clear to me.
The war in Vietnam could be presented as a war against another sovereign army. It is possible that the vast majority of able-bodied young men can be rapidly employed to shoot at enemy soldiers.
The WoT that should have taken place in Afghanistan was never properly begun. What should have happened was an extended intelligence and special forces campaign focused on "al Qaeda" or whatever you wanted to call bin Laden's group of terrorists. CIA resources had built Tora Bora, and yet we did not sweep those complexes with troops.
The Taliban were an irrelevance in the actual war on terror, and we never should have bothered destroying them.
That's why there was less drive to volunteer: the battle that was being fought was wrong, and most people aren't suited for the kind of work involved in the right battle. A draft or mass enlistment is not going to produce large numbers of effective military intelligence and special forces troops who would have been the right people to either bring bin Laden to justice, or, failing that, kill him.
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Oops.
The first paragraph of that last post was supposed to be blockquoted, from Baldie Mac Eagle's post.
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Mitt's "Missionary Position"
I think we should point out that what kept Mitt from going to the Viet Nam war came from Mitt's Missionary Position.
Ed
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@Paul in KY
Sorry I didn't respond earlier, but time differences between US & Australia mean I'm often out of synch with comments here. Nonetheless, it is indeed a small, if time-fractured, world! I rarely encounter anyone outside France that has even heard of Chateauroux, let alone someone who lived & whose sister was born, there on the US AFB as well. My dad was a meteorologist there & in Bordeaux for the Air Force. Funnily enough, even in France when I mention I was born in Chateauroux, the responses tend to range between the mystified & the frankly pitying, ("Quel dommage!") like I made a faux pas in my birthplace! Still, I have to admit, unlike most of France & even its neighbouring regions, Chateauroux IS remarkably unlovely.
Anyway, best regards from the Antipodes & tell your sister I said bonjour.
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Quentin Roosevelt
All the tough talking arm chair rambos keeping asking about FDR's military service. Not only did his sons serve but so did Theodore Roosevelt's sons who were FDR's nephews. TR's son and FDR's nephew Quentin was shot down and killed in action in France in 1918.
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Corection
TR's sons were not FDR's nephews because TR and FDR were cousins not brothers but it does not change the fact that the Roosevelt family lost a family member due to hostile action in France in 1918.
Can Bush, Chaney, Romney, etc. say that?
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Bad Glenn! Bad!
Mormon culture being what it is, it's hard to argue that any Mormon (even one who could be described as "halfhearted," as NYT describes mission-aged Romney) served a mission solely to avoid the draft. Serving a mission is a rite of passage for any young Mormon who wishes to stay in the good graces of their friends, family, and (most especially) the beautiful but frustratingly chaste Latter-day ladies.
Nor should you underestimate the emotional turmoil that comes from the sort of rejection Romney got on his mission. You spend your whole life being told that "the field is white and ready to harvest," that the whole world thirsts for the truths you're setting out to bring them. Then the people you're trying to help blow you off, ignore you, and berate you. Really, there are three possible reactions to this: blame yourself, blame the people, or blame the message.
Few young missionaries have the self confidence needed to fully accept the idea that hey, maybe there isn't anything special about the Mormon faith. A lot of Mormons who come back from European missions (which are generally wildly unsuccessful) talk about how closed-minded and unspiritual most Europeans are. Others blame their own inability to follow the rules of the mission field for their lack of success.
Should he have been whining about how hard it was in France, while his peers were slogging through the mud of Vietnam? Possibly not. But I see such narcissism as perfectly normal, both for a nineteen year old and for human beings in general.
“While we had gone from being adolescents to grown-ups with a lot of responsibility, our peers — from our perspective — were just tearing down the country, becoming dangerously childish.”
Most missionaries come off their missions with the feeling that they've matured into spiritual giants. Frankly, it's obnoxious as hell. But I can see how it might have affected him. He came from a very obedience-oriented society, so seeing his peers experimenting with drugs and free love, and rising up against all the old, respected institutions (all while he was out "doing the Lord's work") had to add an extra dose of self-righteousness.
My father got the same sort of deferment as Romney, so that he could serve a mission in Japan. I hope you're not insinuating that he was a draft dodger as well.
Having said all that, I hope there is a special level of hell reserved specifically for Mitt Romney. Double Guantanamo? I was for a woman's right to choose before I was against it? Castigating his Democratic opposition for wanting to introduce "socialized medicine," when their plans bear an eerie resemblance to the health care program he signed as governor? His only real qualification is that, of the three major Republican candidates, he's the only one still married to his first wife. Good luck with that.