SharinganTH1422

+rep if I could.

You can hold me to that when I become an SM.

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Anger is a gift - Malcolm X

...If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same...

ScratchMonkey

I keep thinking of the scene in Alice's Restaurant as they chant "Kill! Kill! Kill!"

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Switchcraft

I prefer the original: "Thou shalt not murder."

Steeler

Actually, I think the original was לאתרצח. Don't ask me to pronounce it, though.

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Switchcraft

Ha!

FrankManik

On the one hand, that was sick and displays a callous disregard for life. More importantly, it's terribly bad for morale and public relations, and will probably have a lot of very serious repercussions for other members of the armed forces beyond one jerk who doesn't like dogs. For that reason it is important to find this guy and bust him, hard, in public.

That said, I find it disturbing that the death of a person never seems to elicit this level of immediate response. At the end of the day, that dog is just a dog, and a lot of people have died in that conflict for bad reasons. I hope no additional harm comes to the folks in the armed services as a result of this.

FrankManik

From what I've heard and read, folks in the armed forces are seeing more combat these days than in any previous conflict. The reports I've read on the conditions in which they are living aren't particularly re-assuring. Long story short, I hear a lot more that says that we treat our soldiers and marines like **** than that says we're doing well by them.

El_Gringo_Grande

Even compared to WWII?

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Sen. Barack Obama (IL) For President '08
---
I’m not racists, I have republican friends. Radio show host.
- "The essence of tyranny is the denial of complexity". -Jacob Burkhardt
- "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds" - Emerson
- "People should not be afraid of it's government, government should be afraid of it's People." - Line from V for Vendetta
- If software were as unreliable as economic theory, there wouldn't be a plane made of anything other than paper that could get off the ground. Jim Fawcette

FrankManik

The consensus as I understand it is that most guys spent most of their time on troop ships, being shuffled around the rear, advancing, retreating, and doing a whole lot of important things that aren't actually combat. Generally speaking, most soldiers and marines, most of the time, were not involved in an active combat situation more than a few times in each year of the war. I'm sure there were many, many exceptions and I don't actually have any facts to back this up, but it is what I am lead to believe by the accounts of various WWII memoirs and commentaries on Memoirs of the current war.

In the current war, soldiers and marines move with trucks or air transport. There is very little marching long distances. There are vastly fewer soldiers involved in the conflict, and when there is a need for men they are moved rapidly into the conflict. Soldiers and marines are frequently on patrol in dangerous areas where they are constantly under threat of ambush. They are deployed for relatively long periods with few breaks or periods of leave to take them away from combat. And when they are discharged they get mediocre care, if indeed they get any care at all.

I am given to understand that being deployed for extended periods of time, seeing combat or potential combat situations on a daily or weekly basis, living for extended periods of time among a population that alternates between hostile and neutral, that does not speak the language or share the culture of the soldiers on the ground, having to deal with or bear up under significant problems at home, including lack of funds, children being born in the absence of their parents, marital problems, debt, and simple homesickness, all combine to put modern American soldiers in a very poor mental state. Basically, we're wringing out everything these kids have and then throwing them out when they finally come home.

ScratchMonkey

I'm far more upset that Congress is wasting money grandstanding about steroid use in pro sports. But that's what gets them votes in the next election.

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CingularDuality

Anyone heard any more about this?

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Rincewind

Dude. Are you new to the interent? Puppy throwing was soooo 2008.2739




Actually, I'd like to know too

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~~ Veritas simplex oratio est ~~
No matter how far a wizard goes, he will always come back for his hat. --T. Pratchett

<---- You know you're getting old when you rely on your forum meta-data to remind you how old you are.

Required Reading for all TG sandboxers

leejo

Switch is wrong and you are wrong: it's not ironic. Sorry.

It is many things, none of which are very nice. But it is not irony.

El_Gringo_Grande

Corrected by the ironic enforcer.

But isn't it ironic? America goes in to save people from an evil dictator and ends up throwing puppies off a cliff.

__________________
Sen. Barack Obama (IL) For President '08
---
I’m not racists, I have republican friends. Radio show host.
- "The essence of tyranny is the denial of complexity". -Jacob Burkhardt
- "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds" - Emerson
- "People should not be afraid of it's government, government should be afraid of it's People." - Line from V for Vendetta
- If software were as unreliable as economic theory, there wouldn't be a plane made of anything other than paper that could get off the ground. Jim Fawcette

Razcsak

People would be just as upset over watching a Marine chuck a child over a cliff, if not more so. The difference comes not from what died, but the manner and intent behind the death.

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