National Self-Loathing

[pimpdave]

This is slightly off topic, but one of my major regrets in life was not joining the military. I was recruited at West Point, but my mother would not let me apply. I guess it all worked out for the best, but I feel like I should have served.

It's not too late.

In theory it's not too late, in reality it is. I have a wife (who won't be supportive) and school loans.

They help pay for those loans.

[b.k. barunt]

This is slightly off topic, but one of my major regrets in life was not joining the military. I was recruited at West Point, but my mother would not let me apply. I guess it all worked out for the best, but I feel like I should have served.

It's not too late.

In theory it's not too late, in reality it is. I have a wife (who won't be supportive) and school loans.

It's not too late to serve. You can be a lot more of an asset to your country by offering legal aid to those who can't afford justice. If you already do that or have done it you've served your country well.


Honibaz

[GabonX]

Weren't the Joker's cronies positively affected when he robbed a bank?

This is a little off topic but....

DID YOU SEE THAT MOVIE??
Click
Part 2

The answer is no, they were not.

In a strange way, this post may sync with BK's perspective..

[thegreekdog]

This is slightly off topic, but one of my major regrets in life was not joining the military. I was recruited at West Point, but my mother would not let me apply. I guess it all worked out for the best, but I feel like I should have served.

It's not too late.

In theory it's not too late, in reality it is. I have a wife (who won't be supportive) and school loans.

It's not too late to serve. You can be a lot more of an asset to your country by offering legal aid to those who can't afford justice. If you already do that or have done it you've served your country well.


Honibaz

I have done legal aid, but it certainly wasn't for the government (in fact, I helped some disadvantaged persons keep money that the government wanted to take).

[BigBallinStalin]

Okay, let's assume all that is true (apart from the "hey, let's go rape some Japanese"). How does subjugation affect you negatively? Doesn't the US being the bad guy affect you in a positive fashion? Weren't the Joker's cronies positively affected when he robbed a bank?

It's hard to make friends in a world where you're the bully. Nearly most of these friendships are superficial, and many countries who outwardly support us have a lot of citizens against us. Our recent policy (past 40-50 years or so) has mainly been one of coercion, promoting the maintenance of corrupt and oppressive dictatorships, encouraging our large businesses and banks to engage in the manipulation of other countries' affairs by exploiting their people usually with the goal of forcing that country into debt, so the US can make more stringent demands. This by no means affects the US citizens in a positive manner; it's a route that just brings much hate and loathing directed towards Americans and the US government from pretty much everyone.

The US shouldn't put itself in that position. It should be a more understanding and less selfish nation, geared toward long-term planning to bring about a more peaceful environment. Granted, there are situations that require direct and strong intervention, but most of our actions have been done to the extreme, and this unnecessarily undermines our reputation as a peace-loving and freedom-spreading country.

The US has more or less been the Mafia on the international scene. That and your average Joe is indifferent because he's on a steady diet of good 'ol American BS. That's what I despise, and that's what I'd like to correct in a positive manner.

[PLAYER57832]

It's not too late to serve. You can be a lot more of an asset to your country by offering legal aid to those who can't afford justice. If you already do that or have done it you've served your country well.


Honibaz

Everyone can help in many ways.

We can also support soldiers. Just as an example, many soldiers wind up having to drop beloved pets at the pound when they are deployed. I suspect a lot of people could find space to keep one for a year or two.

[b.k. barunt]

It's not too late to serve. You can be a lot more of an asset to your country by offering legal aid to those who can't afford justice. If you already do that or have done it you've served your country well.


Honibaz

Everyone can help in many ways.

We can also support soldiers. Just as an example, many soldiers wind up having to drop beloved pets at the pound when they are deployed. I suspect a lot of people could find space to keep one for a year or two.

Thank you for that Player. Putting a smarmy yellow ribbon or a "Support Our Troops" sign on your lawn does not "support our troops" - it supports the war effort. If you really want to support our troops try some simple acts of kindness and help as Player suggests. Don't know any troops? Find some - don't just indulge your jingoism at their expense with those fooking signs. Want to support our troops? Raise your damn voices to bring 'em the f*ck home.


Honibaz

[Juan_Bottom]

We don't have the largest Military/Navy in the world to keep everyone safe. We have it to subjugate them. Even countries where we have long-standing bases and seemingly friendly relationships, we actually just tell them what to do.

If that were the case, Germany would be knee-deep in Iraq and Afghanstan too. Clearly, that is not the case.

Do you know what a SOFA agreement is? It's a license to rape their citizens with no consequences (literally)

Oh my GOD, man...please do not continue to display your ignorance in this fashion.

I'm not going to answer your response to my baiting until you apologize for all the other times you called me ignorant and then I posted all about how I knew what I was talking about---and you didn't---and then you shut up. So yah, apologize, then I will make a lengthy post that will require another apology from you for calling me ignorant here.

[Juan_Bottom]

I know one thing that really bothered me, it was young college students that were happy to live in this country (never knew any other), revelled in our freedom, took government assistance, but who refused to sign documents that they would support our constitution.

Are you talking about Vietnam?

Okay, let's assume all that is true (apart from the "hey, let's go rape some Japanese"). How does subjugation affect you negatively? Doesn't the US being the bad guy affect you in a positive fashion? Weren't the Joker's cronies positively affected when he robbed a bank?

It's hard to make friends in a world where you're the bully. Nearly most of these friendships are superficial, and many countries who outwardly support us have a lot of citizens against us. Our recent policy (past 40-50 years or so) has mainly been one of coercion, promoting the maintenance of corrupt and oppressive dictatorships, encouraging our large businesses and banks to engage in the manipulation of other countries' affairs by exploiting their people usually with the goal of forcing that country into debt, so the US can make more stringent demands. This by no means affects the US citizens in a positive manner; it's a route that just brings much hate and loathing directed towards Americans and the US government from pretty much everyone.

The US shouldn't put itself in that position. It should be a more understanding and less selfish nation, geared toward long-term planning to bring about a more peaceful environment. Granted, there are situations that require direct and strong intervention, but most of our actions have been done to the extreme, and this unnecessarily undermines our reputation as a peace-loving and freedom-spreading country.

The US has more or less been the Mafia on the international scene. That and your average Joe is indifferent because he's on a steady diet of good 'ol American BS. That's what I despise, and that's what I'd like to correct in a positive manner.

Exactly. That's pretty bare bones... but yeah.


In 2005 (I'm not gonna bother looking up stats anymore because my point isn't directly about the size) these United States operated:
*Bases by size
16 Large
22 Medium
699 Small

So that's 737 Bases in Foreign Countries. The size is calculated by the pentagon by their total replacement value. A large base costs $1.584 Billion; Medium have less than that total but more than $845 Million; Small cost less than $845 Million
Each of these bases requires a SOFA agreement (Statutes of Forces Agreement) with the host country.

In '05 we deployed 1,840,062 (including domestically), 473,306 defense Department Employees, and about 203,328 local hired help.In total, te Pentagon operated 29,819,492 Acres Worldwide.

This information, provided by the 2005 Base Structure Report falls drastically short however. It mentioned no bases/garrisons in Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, Kyrgyzstan, Qatar, and finally, my favorite; Uzbekistan. Similarly, it omits known espionage installations in the UK.



I'm going somewhere with all of this, but you'd have to understand the SOFAs first and I just got bored.

[Woodruff]

It's not too late to serve. You can be a lot more of an asset to your country by offering legal aid to those who can't afford justice. If you already do that or have done it you've served your country well.


Honibaz

Everyone can help in many ways.

We can also support soldiers. Just as an example, many soldiers wind up having to drop beloved pets at the pound when they are deployed. I suspect a lot of people could find space to keep one for a year or two.

Thank you for that Player. Putting a smarmy yellow ribbon or a "Support Our Troops" sign on your lawn does not "support our troops" - it supports the war effort. If you really want to support our troops try some simple acts of kindness and help as Player suggests. Don't know any troops? Find some - don't just indulge your jingoism at their expense with those fooking signs. Want to support our troops? Raise your damn voices to bring 'em the f*ck home.

Amen to all of this.

[Woodruff]

We don't have the largest Military/Navy in the world to keep everyone safe. We have it to subjugate them. Even countries where we have long-standing bases and seemingly friendly relationships, we actually just tell them what to do.

If that were the case, Germany would be knee-deep in Iraq and Afghanstan too. Clearly, that is not the case.

Do you know what a SOFA agreement is? It's a license to rape their citizens with no consequences (literally)

Oh my GOD, man...please do not continue to display your ignorance in this fashion.

I'm not going to answer your response to my baiting until you apologize for all the other times you called me ignorant and then I posted all about how I knew what I was talking about---and you didn't---and then you shut up. So yah, apologize, then I will make a lengthy post that will require another apology from you for calling me ignorant here.

Clearly, this is a lie...because I never shut up. Sheesh, you oughta know that by now.

(In case you misunderstood, that was a "show me".)

[PLAYER57832]

I know one thing that really bothered me, it was young college students that were happy to live in this country (never knew any other), revelled in our freedom, took government assistance, but who refused to sign documents that they would support our constitution.

Are you talking about Vietnam?

No, I am talking about that late 1980's and early 90's. A law, not sure if it was federal or state, required students getting certain kinds of assistance and volunteering for certain types of jobs to sign a "agree to honor the constitution" document.

[Woodruff]

I know one thing that really bothered me, it was young college students that were happy to live in this country (never knew any other), revelled in our freedom, took government assistance, but who refused to sign documents that they would support our constitution.

Are you talking about Vietnam?

No, I am talking about that late 1980's and early 90's. A law, not sure if it was federal or state, required students getting certain kinds of assistance and volunteering for certain types of jobs to sign a "agree to honor the constitution" document.

Interesting...this is actually the first I've ever heard of this.

[b.k. barunt]

I know one thing that really bothered me, it was young college students that were happy to live in this country (never knew any other), revelled in our freedom, took government assistance, but who refused to sign documents that they would support our constitution.

Are you talking about Vietnam?

No, I am talking about that late 1980's and early 90's. A law, not sure if it was federal or state, required students getting certain kinds of assistance and volunteering for certain types of jobs to sign a "agree to honor the constitution" document.

Interesting...this is actually the first I've ever heard of this.

Me too. Seems a bit contradictory. Why would our government even bother with such? They dishonor the Constitution more than anyone.


Honibaz

[PLAYER57832]

I tried to find information on it, but it was "pre-google"/pre any real internet, for that matter, so I I could not find anything. I am not sure how much is on the net about it.
I left the state shortly after that, so have no idea if it continued or was rescinded. For all I know, it might have just been for a few months.

[b.k. barunt]

I wish i had taken that oath. I could kill Bush and have a chance of beating the rap.


Honibaz

[Minister Masket]

in economic and military terms then the USA is clearly number one

I think China would like a word with you.

[PLAYER57832]

in economic and military terms then the USA is clearly number one

I think China would like a word with you.

No, they want you to pay them for that word.