Friday, April 04, 2003 Decency, Tolerance, and Respect
You know those yellow ribbons that people tie onto trees, etc. to show their support for our troops? Read on.
"I find the yellow ribbons on city property offensive to my senses," Seth Yatovitz, a 43-year-old freelance television producer, wrote in his complaint. "Please follow your own municipal codes and remove them until they are authorized. I will wait for a response before I begin an organized boycott Burlingame campaign. If I do not hear back, I will consider litigation and a request for enforcement of the violations, including fines and possible misdemeanor charges against the person involved."
Whoever read the first sentence and knew that this little quip came from todays SFGate, please do as Williams would suggest and go to the head of the class.
The audacity of the anti-America crowd is without limit.
1:12 PM
A 20-year-old Marine reservist seeking to be discharged as a conscientious objector has given himself a second way out — he's told military leaders he's gay.
There is no end to this dude's tackiness.
"I believe that as a gay man, someone who is misunderstood by much of the general population, I have a great deal of experience with hatred and oppression," Lance Cpl. Stephen Funk wrote in his application for a conscientious objector discharge.
I don't doubt that this dude is hated, as he seems as pleasant as a festering boil, but I am having some difficulty believing he has been oppressed. People can be openly gay in the bastion of backwardsness that is Mississippi and endure no greater oppression than the occasional incredulous stare from old women who have never seen two men holding hands before. Sure, gays are sometimes victims of crime, but no more than any other demographic group. But if this loser says he's being oppressed as a gay man in San Francisco, then it must certainly be true. There seems to be widespread misconception about the definition of oppression. Sure, it's fun to say that you're being oppressed when your favorite shade of lip gloss is discontinued, but let's face it, that's not oppression.
TuckandRoll deserves some heartfelt applause, as today marks the one-month anniversary of the last time he's blogged. I guess he's just too good to blog as the common folk do. Worry not, for no prize accompanies this recognition. No piles of steaming terrier excrement (well, not actually steaming, but heating instructions are included) are Fed-Ex-ing their way to the non-blogger.
12:04 PM
This is the same story as below, but needless to say it is much more objective, as it comes from that paragon of balanced news, the San Francisco Chronicle. It is non-judgementally entitled: "Marine obeys his conscience
Reservist didn't ship out with his unit to Iraq"
This is a truly entertaining story. For instance, I have now learned that Mr. Funk held a naive belief that it would be "like the Boy Scouts." But wait, there's more!
His mother, Gloria Pacis, 49, said she prayed daily for her son. "I'm proud of the fact that he owned up to his reservations and was not a hypocrite," she said. It obviously takes a lot to make this woman proud.
And now:
Teresa Panepinto of the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors in Oakland, which runs the hot line, says in today's mostly volunteer military there is "economic conscription" as young people join the forces for job skills or tuition -- not to fight wars.
"The ads for the military are sold as a scholarship tool. There is no footage of combat," she said. "It is a real bait-and-switch that is costing young people their lives."
Joining the armed services, but not to fight wars? Scholarship tool? In a just world, Ms. Panepinto would be used for target practice. Her deception is far more harmful and dangerous than that which she wrongly attributes to military recruiters. There is no question that new recruits know that joining the military means they might have to go to war. However, there are "people" like Mr. Funk who believe that they are entitled to a free ride and who undoubtedly planned from the beginning to weasel out if ever asked to fulfill his obligation.
2:11 PM
Wearing camouflage fatigues, Lance Cpl. Stephen Funk turned himself in at the locked gates of the Marine Corps reserve center where he was assigned, weeks after refusing to report when called up to active duty.
"Ultimately, it's my fault for joining in the first place," said Funk, who didn't show up when his unit was deployed to Camp Pendleton. "It wasn't as well thought out as it should've been. It was about me being depressed and wanting direction in life."
Yes, this fine chap knowingly volunteered for military service, but not because he actually wanted to serve in the military. Upon realizing that he had actually joined the Marines, this genius couldn't just suck it up and accept that he had made a commitment and should honor it. No, he decided that whining like a pre-adolescent girl would be the best course of action. There was a time when a man would be ashamed to act like anything but a man. It would appear that this time has passed.
Funk, who grew up in Washington state, enlisted when he was 19 and living on his own for the first time. He said he caved in to pressure from a recruiter who capitalized on his vulnerability.
"They don't really advertise that they kill people," Funk said. "I didn't really realize the full implications of what I was doing and what it really meant to be in the service as a reservist."
Forgive my ignorance, but I have never seen the recruiting posters and commercials that the aptly named Mr. Funk has seen. You know, the ones that say: "We're Looking For A Few Idiot Sissy Boys, To Whom We Will Provide Direction In Life and A Cure For Depression."
The Pile of Steaming Terrier Excrement Award thus goes to no-show Lance Cpl. Stephen Funk.
12:51 PM
Tuesday, April 01, 2003 Enough Already!
I have refrained from writing about the Dixie Chicks (replace chicks with appropriate derogatory term) brouhaha but I can remain silent no longer, for I have found ignorance which I must counter. Ignorance? Yes, Algore has chimed in:
According to the Tennessean, Gore used recent attacks on the Dixie Chicks that followed anti-war comments by Natalie Maines as an example. Gore told the audience, "They were made to feel un-American and risked economic retaliation because of what was said. Our democracy has taken a hit," Gore said. "Our best protection is free and open debate."
Record sales have fallen for the Chicks and radio stations across the country banned the trio's music after Maines told a London concert crowd that she was "ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas." Maines later released an apology.
This is free and open debate at it's finest! The Dixie Tramps were, and still are, completely free to say whatever they want. They have exercised this right. People are free to spend their dollars as they choose. They have exercised this right. Hence the drop-off in sales. This is not un-American by any stretch of the imagination, unless, of course, you are an idiot, a liberal, or both. The idiot/liberal theory of free speech allows people to express any thoughts they choose, so long as these thoughts have been pre-approved by a 99% majority of liberals. Free speech according to idiot liberals also requires that there be no consequences, other than positive, for speech. In other words, according to the Algorilla school of thought, you are free to scream "I hate America and everything she stands for!" at the top of your lungs on the Congress Avenue bridge, but anyone who dares to call you "un-American" should be promptly branded [hypocritical/stupid/mean-spirited/dumb] and told under no uncertain terms that they are to "shut up".
1:10 PM
