This is not the kind of surge we need - felons

Moral Waivers

So you can get a "moral waiver" for vehicular homicide?

So, in Bush's America, it is more forgivable for one to run over someone with a big rig than it is to bang em from behind with a big wang.

Where can we get some blue kryptonite so we can get rid of these Bizarros?

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by: JoshWatermanMN @ Wed Feb 14, 2007 at 14:01:34 PM CST

In Bush's America

So, in Bush's America, it is more forgivable for one to run over someone with a big rig than it is to bang em from behind with a big wang.

There's a big difference between the two: the first doesn't get a "ewwww gross!" reaction from childish minds. So of course it's more forgivable.

I don't think enough blue kryptonite exists in the DC comics universe to deal with these Bizarros.

It's tradition, that makes it okay. Hip-hip hurray it's weasel stomping day!
Weird Al Yankovic - Weasel Stomping Day

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by: AlexM @ Wed Feb 14, 2007 at 14:33:25 PM CST

[ Parent ]

does this mean Laura Bush can, AND WILL ! enlist?

Lurleen on Twitter

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by: Lurleen @ Wed Feb 14, 2007 at 18:37:52 PM CST

[ Parent ]

I think it's a stronger...

...comment on the fear Reichwing politicians have of instituting the draft.  They're much less worried about some psycho getting in than some upper-class voter's son or daughter getting drafted.

This is one of the main ways they've avoided being held accountable for the war so far...

If the "Great War On Terrorism" is truly THE existential threat in our lifetime, why haven't we taken it seriously enough to pull out all the stops? 

If it's really just a political game (as I suspect), then when are we going to say "enough is enough"?...

The stupidity of DADT just adds insult to injury...

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by: MikeEss @ Wed Feb 14, 2007 at 14:12:46 PM CST

War Takes/Makes Criminals

Here's a lovely story from today's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

http://www.post-gaze...

"A Fayette County veteran was arrested yesterday after state police said he tried to burn down a mobile home, threatened a woman who lived there and assaulted a firefighter."

This young man lost a leg as well as most of his vision and hearing in Iraq.  Since coming home, he's been on a criminal rampage including harassment and previous counts of arson involving his uncle's vehicles.

My question is:  what happend to this kid, both before he enlisted and after he was discharged?  Didn't anyone "catch" his potential to hurt people?  Geez.

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by: PghLesbian @ Wed Feb 14, 2007 at 19:11:44 PM CST

[Obligatory Ignorant Hetero Wise Crack]

Platoons of Lesbians?  I've seen that movie.  It was a little light on plot, but Jenna Jameson was at her finest.

Sorry folks.  Once in a while I have to say something like that.  It's in the manual on page 193.  Section 4 - if you're curious. 

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by: dan l @ Thu Feb 15, 2007 at 01:22:32 AM CST

From Today's Huffington Post Daily Brief - I Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself

Aaron Belkin

02.14.2007

Felons, But Not Gays 

The New York Times and Associated Press reported today that the number of felons allowed to serve in the military has surged since the invasion of Iraq nearly four years ago. The data, which were obtained by the Michael D. Palm Center at UC-Santa Barbara, show that both the military is letting in more recruits with serious criminal backgrounds, records of drug abuse, inferior educational attainment and other qualities which require a so-called "moral waiver" to allow young Americans to don a military uniform and deploy to the frontlines. It is a measure of how desperate our armed forces are to fill their ranks with bodies to fight in an increasingly unpopular war. (The data are posted at palmcenter.org)
Americans have always believed in second chances and on the face of it, there is every reason to extend that offer to those who have served time. When society metes out punishment with a finite sentence, those who pay their dues and earn their freedom should have the opportunity to-reintegrate into society, so long as it's done with due caution.

The problem is that the Pentagon's current personnel policy is utterly irrational. Under its "don't ask, don't tell" policy, it has fired over 11,000 capable troops, including nearly 1000 considered mission-critical and over 300 foreign linguists, just because they're gay. This despite overwhelming evidence that letting known gays serve does not impair cohesion, recruitment or effectiveness.

Yet simultaneously the military accepts those who, according to its own research and standards of review, undermine readiness by virtue of their failure to conform to society's rules.

For all its insistence that letting gays serve openly would be an unacceptable risk to the military - even if they haven't engaged in "homosexual conduct" - the Pentagon bends over backwards to create exceptions in the case of ex-convicts, whose actual criminal behavior is defined by having created a disruption.

A Pentagon report explains that the waiver program "recognizes that some young people have made mistakes, have overcome their past behavior, and have clearly demonstrated the potential for being productive, law-abiding citizens and members of the military."

Yet the Defense Department has acknowledged that it has no tracking program to monitor recruits who are admitted under moral waivers, even though government research shows they are more likely to run into trouble once there. Instead, the Army gives anyone who is considered a risk because of their criminal background "the highest level of review."

Why does the military give a free ride to those who have proven to be disruptive while it gives the axe to proven soldiers who simply happen to be gay? Perhaps because social conservatives never made criminals a cause celebre for their own moral crusades and fundraising drives, while gays have proven a very effective target.

The military would be far better served if, instead of yielding to political expediency and moral animus, it better monitored and assisted recruits who really are prone to misbehavior, while taking a hard look at the data which show that allowing gays and lesbians to serve would improve the armed forces

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by: Alan down in Florida @ Thu Feb 15, 2007 at 12:06:28 PM CST

This really shouldn't be a surprise...

...there have been reports that the American military has been looking abroad for volunteers, the inducement being a quick path to citizenship.  Kinda like an American version of the French Foreign Legion (although the members of the FFL remained non-french).

That should give the anti-immigration crowd fits, but, well, it won't.  Because the anti-immigration crowd is--um--Republican.

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by: raj @ Fri Feb 16, 2007 at 00:58:50 AM CST

Am I Worthy?

I spent twenty-three months of my life locked up for a crime I commited when I was eighteen. I took part in a conspiracy to commit auto-theft. Because I was a resident out of state, I was handed the maximum. As a deterent, I suppose. I wasn't a very smart child. Well, maybe bright, but lacked commonsense and the guidance of a decent father. My socio-economical status was poor. I was, in turn, rather ignorant. I knew right from wrong, but lacked the social skills, and principles necessary to do what was right. I spent my time locked up striving, reading, training hard-felons in getting their GED. I was released early, with good time. When I was released, I was hardly the raging little punk I was before. I was ONE OF YOU. Scary, huh? That's right, I am just as intelligent; just as accomplished; just as sane as any of you. I was rehabilitated. It works, folks. I am now twenty-six, haven't commited a crime(or thought of)in six years. In fact, that was the only crime I had ever commited. Guess that kind of negates the definition of criminal.
Should people who have perpetrated non-violent, non-drug related, non-sexual related crimes be allowed to serve patriotically for their country? Should they be allowed to vote? What does rehabilition mean?
Please do not insinuate that a few people who have made error's in judgement denegrate the military by "bringing it to a lower standard."
Second chances. We've all been there.

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by: JeffroLWnut @ Sat Apr 14, 2007 at 20:08:12 PM CDT