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Old 02-12-2008, 07:47 PM   #11
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Who (or what) the hell is BDS?
Funny you should ask... it stands for: "Bush Derangement Syndrome". I know, I already asked!
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Old 02-12-2008, 07:51 PM   #12
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I've always felt that veterans who think that their opinions should carry more weight never really understood the Constitution that they vowed to "support and defend". It's kinda, well, sanctimonious.

JohnM
Manchester, NH

I've always felt that when a person says that there are doers, and talkers, and then lists a number of examples of what doers do, it is a reasonable thing to do...

I know my opinion carries no more weight than anothers, based on my service. I also know my opinion is more likely to be realized, because I take efforts every day to make my vision a reality, where as many others just sit on the internet and talk about it.

Of course, one man's reasonable, is another's santimonious.

Somehow it is okay to attack and insult some here, and not to do the same to others. I think that is santimonious.
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Old 02-12-2008, 07:58 PM   #13
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Funny you should ask... it stands for: "Bush Derangement Syndrome". I know, I already asked!
Hmmm . . . sounds like an abbreviation that would be used by people that listen to too much radio talk show. Just checked it out on Wiki . . . yeah . . .

Silly.

I think very few people would blame President Bush for EVERYTHING that has gone wrong in the last 7 years. That said, he is the President and Commander in Chief. He certainly is responsible for quite a few major issues that have gone horribly, horribly wrong.

I think if the Titanic sinks, then the Captain is at least partially responsible.
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Old 02-12-2008, 08:02 PM   #14
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Default Starship Troopers

Starship Troopers

Citizens!
Robert Heinlein was truly gifted, but it doesn’t take a genius to see that Starship Troopers, first published in 1959, is a handbook for the present.
We see it in the constant stream of patriotic, flame-fanning war news from all of the competing U.S. networks, the visions of "success" and "achievement" and "progress." We see simple heroes made of our soldiers, cameras cradling their young faces, and rolling their comments of "I’m proud of what we are doing here" and "It’s the right thing for America."
Like little children stomping insects in the movie version, recruiting for war with, "If you do your part, we’ll do our part!"
In Heinlein’s novel, the lesson of boot camp is "Might makes right." I don’t think George W. Bush learned that in the Texas National Guard, but he clearly picked it up somewhere. Certainly Don Rumsfeld, with his reputation for verbal as well as sometimes physical intimidation of compatriots as well as adversaries, understands this.
More than that, Rumsfeld embraces the second lesson of Heinlein’s boot camp – that morality is the result of training for instant unthinking obedience, the "unquestioned hierarchy of authority." His rage at his commanders and even retired generals consistently exceeds his rage at Saddam, and even the evasive bin Laden.
Private First Class Jessica Lynch of Palestine, West Virginia – is the latest citizen and hero. Her survival amongst the arachnid horde, and her gallant rescue by fellow troopers, is a befitting story for the folks back home. We don’t need to know that her rescue was the result of an Iraqi medical worker expressing humanity and courage. We will probably never consider that her survival probably had much to do with the power of God and her home town of Palestine, in a foreign country that values both concepts.
The path to citizenship – concretely through military service – is a key theme in Heinlein’s novel. "Citizenship is an attitude, a state of mind, an emotional conviction that the whole is greater than the part . . . and that the part should be humbly proud to sacrifice itself that the whole may live."
This, of course, is precisely how the arachnid enemy in Heinlein’s imaginative universe functions. Centered on a hidden, physically weak and uncourageous yet ominously powerful giant insect brain (Saddam, maybe bin Laden? Perle-Cheney-Wolfowitz perhaps?), it remotely directs the actions of a million machine-like bugs of destruction.
Trooper-style citizenship – as Heinlein satirizes – is a condition that sounds free and honorable but is actually impossible to exercise with free will or honor. A recent article on posthumous citizenship for some non-American soldiers speaks volumes when it notes that the citizenship is not real or practical, but symbolic. It suggests citizenship may be most meaningful to the dead, the static, the non-thinking.
Heinlein’s citizenship is granted for soldiers who have made it through boot camp, where they have learned not to question authority, to follow all orders from above instantly and exactly, and who have no other allegiance than to the all-wise central state. It is a Rumsfeldian vision of citizenship. It is a citizenship where each moral compass is not individually discovered, tested and mapped, but instead simply imprinted. It must be because "Man has no moral instinct."
If we are witnessing a Starship Troopers moment, as it seems with our long buildup and current possibly endless prosecution of Operation Iraqi Freedom, our soldiers may indeed become "citizens."
Their experiences ought to be highly informative and educational to the masterminds of war and conquest and propaganda in Washington and New York, who incidentally never served in wartime, and in almost all cases have never worn a uniform, nor are parents of children who have ever or will ever wear a uniform.
Civil servants, of course, who are neither civil nor serve.
Heinlein showed a clear preference that service to state be military service in uniform, and through this experience, governing is improved. The soldier who sacrifices everything for his country as the only truly qualified citizen is also a literary device.
Bush and Rumsfeld have reacted to criticism and evaluation of their agendas and strategies from retired military officers with, "They have no right!" This, unfortunately, is not a literary device – they actually believe it.
Bush and Rumsfeld probably haven’t had a lot of time to read books, and perhaps science fiction or societal dystopianism isn’t their thing, what with all the war planning they’ve been doing.
For the rest of us citizens, denizens, residents and lovers of liberty, Heinlein’s fascistic fantasy can help explain the present, and possibly the future.
April 9, 2003
Karen Kwiatkowski is a recently retired USAF lieutenant colonel, who spent her final four and a half years in uniform working at the Pentagon. She now lives with her freedom-loving family in the Shenandoah Valley.

Footnote - The US Navy professional reading program has lists of recommended books for sailors at different stages of their careers. Starship Troopers is on the Junior Enlisted list, along with
The Declaration of Independence and Other Great Documents of American History, 1775-1865. JM

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Old 02-12-2008, 09:53 PM   #15
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Originally Posted by JohnM View Post
Starship Troopers

Citizens!
Robert Heinlein was truly gifted, but it doesn’t take a genius to see that Starship Troopers, first published in 1959, is a handbook for the present....

Bush and Rumsfeld have reacted to criticism and evaluation of their agendas and strategies from retired military officers with, "They have no right!" This, unfortunately, is not a literary device – they actually believe it.
Bush and Rumsfeld probably haven’t had a lot of time to read books, and perhaps science fiction or societal dystopianism isn’t their thing, what with all the war planning they’ve been doing.
For the rest of us citizens, denizens, residents and lovers of liberty, Heinlein’s fascistic fantasy can help explain the present, and possibly the future.
April 9, 2003
Karen Kwiatkowski is a recently retired USAF lieutenant colonel, who spent her final four and a half years in uniform working at the Pentagon. She now lives with her freedom-loving family in the Shenandoah Valley.

Footnote - The US Navy professional reading program has lists of recommended books for sailors at different stages of their careers. Starship Troopers is on the Junior Enlisted list, along with The Declaration of Independence and Other Great Documents of American History, 1775-1865. JM

Interesting piece. I see it was written in 2003. Before GWB was re-elected. Too bad for her, she was not better recieved, or was not able to peddle her wares to more voters in time...
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Old 02-13-2008, 12:14 AM   #16
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How does dissatisfaction with the current administration and direction of the country equate to being ungrateful?

Maybe it simply reflects an engaged populace who has not given up on the country and wants to make the country better.

I suppose the author would suggest giving up the right to vote as well as freedom of speech. Talk about a slap in the face of those who have died or been injured defending this country.
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Old 02-13-2008, 02:27 AM   #17
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Interesting piece. I see it was written in 2003. Before GWB was re-elected. Too bad for her, she was not better recieved, or was not able to peddle her wares to more voters in time...
What difference does the date have to do with anything? A book that was published in 1959 can not be relevent today? Is there a five year expiration on logical thought? I suppose there is a message stamped on the back of your copy of the US Constitution: Best used before January 20, 2001.

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Old 02-13-2008, 09:14 AM   #18
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Old 02-13-2008, 10:17 AM   #19
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Starship Troopers

Citizens!
Robert Heinlein was truly gifted, but it doesn’t take a genius to see that Starship Troopers, first published in 1959, is a handbook for the present...


There's a Chinese restaurant that both Bill and I enjoy not too far from our home in a strip mall. It's so close that, occasionally, I've mounted Gilligan and gone there for lunch a couple of times all by myself. Their Hot and Sour Soup has a post-swallow citrus kick to it that I really love - and they don't skimp! The Shrimp with Lobster Sauce has much, much more shrimp than onions and peppers; the pork fried rice has almost as much BBQed pork in it as there are crunchberries in a big bowl of the Cap'n.

Anyway...

Directly adjacent to the restaurant is a recruiting station for all branches of the Armed Services. Up until recently, for at least 8 months, standing on display in the lobby of that recruiting station - visible through both the glass door, was a life-size cutout poster of four people, two men and two women representing Hispanic, Asian, African and Caucasian ethnicities. The tag line of the cut-out: "Be a citizen. Be a Marine."

As if - ala Starship Troopers, the film - citizenship was dependent upon enlistment in the Armed Forces.
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Old 02-13-2008, 10:52 AM   #20
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Directly adjacent to the restaurant is a recruiting station for all branches of the Armed Services. Up until recently, for at least 8 months, standing on display in the lobby of that recruiting station - visible through both the glass door, was a life-size cutout poster of four people, two men and two women representing Hispanic, Asian, African and Caucasian ethnicities. The tag line of the cut-out: "Be a citizen. Be a Marine."

As if - ala Starship Troopers, the film - citizenship was dependent upon enlistment in the Armed Forces.
[/left]
Well, I think I can see where the Marines are coming from on this one. There are 40,000 'green card' members of America's Armed Forces, about 2% of active service members, with a third of those being legal Hispanic immigrants. In an area with a high immigrant population, why not advertise military service to new residents? Its honorable work, good pay & benefits, a chance to advance their education and puts them on a fast track for full citizenship. Not a bad deal for young person new to the country.

JohnM
Manchester, NH

Where did that third green box come from?

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