1227: Fried Salad

[Grampoo]

I said yes to the poll but I don't feel the same as Kyle and Keith about the pride. I don't care about fighting or feel like a pussy if I don't. I'd gladly part with $6 to not risk my teeth, health, or whatever... but I don't drink much and I smoke weed all the time so maybe that screws up my manly chemistry. Generally I have no fight-type pride and I don't even feel embarressed in front of sexy ladies and they still fuck me (well only one fucks me now that I'm married, but they did back when I flaunted my no-pride and was single). That last part is just to say that the pride question is some other male drive than to get laid.

[Todd]

A "draft" would be better received if we had any reasonable assurance that there would be any consideration given to our existing skills, and we don't. We never would.

I'm a computer programmer. If the draft were enacted and they said, "You're going to be a computer programmer for the U.S. for two years," I could do that. It wouldn't be my favorite thing to do, but I would understand it's part of my duty to my country.

After 9/11 when everyone was feeling patriotic, I considered seeing if I could be of any use to the armed forces. The reason I didn't was that I had no confidence that I wouldn't be just one more soldier for the front lines--and this was well before I heard Keith confirming how recruiters lie about opportunities.

I'm 40 years old now; there's no reason I need to go through basic training because I'm just never going to be a good fighter for the armed forces, but that doesn't mean I'm useless and have nothing to offer my country.

I believe if the truth of the armed forces was anywhere near the spin of the recruiting commercials, there would be no problem expanding the size and function of our armed forces.

[DJ Trashy]

Originally Posted by ssgtballard

His point sounds good until you work in the military with some rich kid who's parents have connections to senators. Unfortunatly senators still have a lot of pull with military commanders and rich shit heads end up getting away with a lot.
Looking at other country's and at our time durring vietnam and korea, the draft sucks and the military ends up with a bunch of bitches in it and we can't do our job correctly

I think his point was not that rich kids would fight better, but that rich kids tend to get out of random lottery-type drafts like Vietnam. Also, rich kids don't volunteer for the military when it is an all volunteer entry. Not any significant numbers. In other words, when it is a volunteer military, all your 'best and brightest' are in school or starting their careers. The lower-middle class and poorest, smart or not, are looking at the military as a step up from fast food careers.

And his MAIN point was that it's really easy for politicians to send kids to war when they know that none of *their* kids will ever be in harm's way. It's typical gutless politician bullshit.

Oh yeah, and I did think of what you said about having rich kids in the military. I think Bush showed us all how that works. And sure, throw Kerry and other in there too. If you're rich and well connected, anything you do good will always be suspect, anything you do bad (or chicken) will always be seen as proof that rich boys are pussies. No winning there really.

Interesting history of the draft on Wikipedia - especially the level of protest during the Civil War and WWI...

Conscription in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Scruples]

Originally Posted by doctorsleep

As for the draft FUCK NO, I am getting out of this country as fast as I can,
Screw going to Canada, Thats where they are gonna look first
Japan Bitches see if you can find my ass on the other side of the earth.

Yea go to Japan as a white guy and try not to stick out like a sore thumb. I was gonna say you would stand a head above everyone else but I read the dateable thread and youre short enough that that won't be the case. Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think the military will take vigins because they don't want you running away from battle to get laid before you die or something like that. But the draft won't come back because the day after it does the protests will begin again.

As for the Kyle situation we should start a HUAR martial art. We can have pants with holsters for our windex bottles and practice our punches and kicks. Then be it mugger, robot, or wave the KATG gang will be ready to rumble. We can make Elvis like a drill Sargent or something, his tweets make me get up so just imagine how motivated I would be if he were in my face yelling at me what a pussy I am because I can't do anymore pushups. We can call ourselves the Katgers, and you can get our help in your time of woe by yelling oh Katgers come out and play.

[angiethestrange]

I haven't finished listening to the episode yet but wanted to recount a story that shows why Kyle may have made a good decision.

A very similar situation happened to my brother when he was 20. It was his birthday and he and his best bud, Patrick, were heading to the bar. They were confronted by someone asking for a smoke my brother refused to give up a smoke and the guy got pushy ... Things escalated very quickly and my brother punched the guy and it turned into a brawl. Within seconds a car load of guys pulled up, jumped out with knives and chains.

While attempting to escape Patrick was stabbed in the back, which punctured his lung and he died later that night.

My brother has never been the same and never celebrates his birthday anymore. The cherry on the cake was that because my brother threw the first punch he went to jail, and the stabber got off Scott free.


So I say, good job Kyle. You have no idea where fighting this guy could have gone, even if there were two of you.

[Grampoo]

O, and one thing in defense of the South fatties.

West Virginia fought for the union. The south doesn't claim them even if they are more broke, fat and racist than many southern states.

And I can talk that way about WV because I used to live there. Beautiful nature and some very cool woodsy folks, but the Walmarts are the scariest I've ever seen.

[Junkenstein]

Originally Posted by angiethestrange

I haven't finished listening to the episode yet but wanted to recount a story that shows why Kyle may have made a good decision.

Good point but when does one know when it's time to turn back and when it isnt?

I understand that you can get hurt in some cases, but generally you can see when a person could have a knife or a gun on them (call it profiling but it works).

And if the risk level is low and the person deserves it, a fight is needed.

Always letting stuff go turns you into a living doormat.

[ThePinkSuperhero]

OMG Cracker Barrel! We loooooove it. Whenever we go down to FL to visit my parents, we visit a Cracker Barrel. One of the last times we went for lunch, the bill was, I dunno, $15, so my husband left a $10 tip, because, eh, why not. The waitress chased him into the parking lot to thank him, saying it was the best tip she had ever gotten or something. It must suck to work at Cracker Barrel, especially in Florida with all the old cheapos.

[DJ Trashy]

Originally Posted by JSZilla

He does have a point. But are we defending ourselves anymore? Just saying. BTW I'm glad someone puts up some of the other side of the argument; in this case "fuck the draft"...Well...

So he's the same dude from before who said this? Or was there more?

Well, you *could* just click the link and read it.....just sayin.....

Yeah, Rangel proposed this during the build-up to Gulf War II.

Defense. That is an interesting topic, no? We always hear about how the noble soldier 'defends' the motherland. Oh wait, I mean the homeland. Or whatever. And then you find yourself in the middle of a jungle in Vietnam surrounded by sneaky little bastards and you wonder: "Why are tiny little men in pajamas such a fucking threat to America?"

Welcome to the 'Just War' theory.

Actually, that's a big topic. But the soldier in my little analogy is probably wondering if he is, indeed, 'defending' anything back in the U.S. I think a similar situation applies to 9/11. No nation attacked us, but since we were pretty sure bin Laden was being taken care of by the Taliban we started carpet bombing the country of Afghanistan. Dropping bombs on Kandahar feels a lot more like anger and revenge than it does 'defense.'

When it comes to U.S. foreign policy, I always turn to Noam Chomsky. Here is a quote from an article he wrote on the war in Afghanistan:

"The U.S.," Abdul Haq said, “is trying to show its muscle, score a victory and scare everyone in the world. They don’t care about the suffering of the Afghans or how many people we will lose. And we don’t like that. Because Afghans are now being made to suffer for these Arab fanatics, but we all know who brought these Arabs to Afghanistan in the 1980s, armed them and gave them a base. It was the Americans and the CIA. And the Americans who did this all got medals and good careers, while all these years Afghans suffered from these Arabs and their allies. Now, when America is attacked, instead of punishing the Americans who did this, it punishes the Afghans.”

The War In Afghanistan, by Noam Chomsky

Regarding his charge about the CIA, read "Charlie Wilson's War." Or see the movie. OR - for a great summary, read this review of the movie by some politician guy - he sums it up nicely:

Major R. Owens: Charlie Wilson vs Osama bin Laden

[Medium Brumski]

That's a sad story angie, but how do you know that the plan all along wasn't to jump your brother and his friend, whether he threw a punch first or not?