There is no government like no government

Reading some posts and interesting tidbits over at A Stitch in Haste I came across this interesting article which covers Montgomery County Marylands decision to outlaw trans fats. First off this an absolutley ridiculous notion as the government has no right to tell me what foods I should or should not consume. Whehter or not i want to cram my face full of french fries and dounts soaking in trans fats is of no concern to the goverment as it is my life and also as the government should be dealing with many more important issues even on the county level. The root of this problem lies in the fact that people in the United States 1.) will not accept responsibility for their health and eating habits (as noted by people who sue fastfood restraunts for "becoming addicted to the food") and 2.)have no willpower of what they choose to eat. Ill be honest I weigh a bit more than I should and like most people I succumb to the vices of the fast food industry now and again. BUt this is strictly my perogative, no one from Burger King holds a gun to my head and makes me eat a whopper more often than not it is due to laziness and the desire for something fast(hence fast food). I know it isnt healthy, hell anyone who doesnt has to be an idiot(Morgan Spurlock). As for the government of a county or country saying to its people "this isnt healthy so we are taking it away" far oversteps the bounds of what should comprise goverment.

This isnt the only area where the goverment oversteps itself, you can also look at no smoking laws. Im not one who smokes or enjoys smoke, but I understand that when going into a bar or restraunt chances are im going to smell the smoke. If a buisness chooses to make itself smoke free, more power to them. But more and more these days we are seeing goverment intervention (ohio most recently) which bans smoking in restraunts and other establishments. Am I the only one who sees the huge problem here? The government is banning you from smoking in private places. IF anything the goverment should be telling you that you cant smoke on the sidewalk, because that is the public property where the government has some form of credible jurisdiction. But to tell an independent and private bar owner that people cannot smoke in an establishment is not what the government is there to do.

These are jsut ramblings on two things I found. Sorry about the inactivity lately, there have been several things I have wanted to write about but have not been able to come up with a way to voice my feelings best. My main topic that I would like to cover is the use of para military police units in society and why and how this is wrong on so many levels. I have grown disgusted with alot of what I have read and would love to post something on this, but its going to take some time to word and put together to say the least.

7 Rules to be an Obedient American

George Bush's 7 rules to be an obedient American. I took this nice little number from a link over at Strike the Root. I'm sure its supposed to be humorous, but it really follows with his time in office.

Two Sides of the Army Coin

To begin this article I am going to preface by saying that I support the works our troops do overseas, putting their lives on the line for the country. I recognize the sacrifice that is made by the few who never return home and those who do return home, but not in one piece.

In my limited experiences with members of the military, I have now in my life seen two sides.

On one side was my very close friend Adam Malson. Adam and I attended high school together and were very close, he went away to Michigan State after graduation, I had one year of high school left and then went off to Adrian College in southeastern Michigan. Needless to say we did not see each other very often after this, he was busy with various activities and I was busy with football. We did talk frequently over instant messenger and this allowed us to maintain a fairly close relationship. Adam was the last person I thought would join the Army but did so for a noble reason that he legitimately wanted to help people. He and his future wife were both in ROTC, Adam graduated from MSU with a 3.97. He and his wife then both joined into the Army entering as officers, his wife was in the Military Police and Adam was in Airborne. Both have served tours in the hotspots, Adams wife serving in Afghanistan and Adam serving in Iraq. Sadly Adam did not come back from Iraq; he was killed by a suicide bomber while helping a woman from the burning wreckage of a vehicle. I know that Adam joined the Army to help people, and to serve his country. Any monetary gain that may have come with his enlistment was purely secondary. He was in my eyes what this nation’s army should stand for. Proud, educated people who go in for the right reasons, I have no doubt that if Adam were still alive, he would be serving proudly and would be in a position of great leadership and would have had a great military career. His death touched me in a very real way as he sacrificed his life for a greater good, that of his men, never mind that he was 23 years old buy leading more seasoned men because he was the best. I was a pallbearer at his funeral which hundreds of people attended, a 4 star general eulogized him and many of his soldiers offered up words on how great of a solider he was. Adam Malson Article and Here

On the other side of the coin another friend of mine recently joined the Army and it appears to be for the wrong reasons. I cannot say for sure as when I have asked her the answers have been somewhat vague about why she joined just that "it’s something I want to do". She will also be joining the Army and leaves in 19 days. Today I spoke with her on the phone and she was sure to let me know that she received a 25,000.00 signing bonus, with 10,000.00 of it up front in cash. She also has a mountain of student debt from college which the US government will now be repaying. The decision for her to join the Army came quite suddenly, she actually had bought a 7 week lab about a month ago which will now be pawned off onto various family members. A person who has thought about joining the military seriously does not buy a dog when they know they cannot care for it (I don’t think). Her stint in the Army will be served as a Nurse. No doubt the Army needs nurses, but she had mentioned before joining the army of being a nurse in the private world. This is the aspect of our military that bothers me.

There are a select group of individuals who before and even after 9/11 join the military for the monetary benefits, the signing bonus, the loan repayment. Many of these soldiers (mercenaries) serve their 4 years and then use their military training for profitable private careers immediately after. Another friend of mine was a mechanic in the marines, discharged after 4 years and returned to Iraq to be a private military contractor as a mechanic and was making 160,000.00 of tax free money courtesy of the government and his military paid for training. To me this might as well be robbery, its part of the problem with the military industrial complex that allows such blatant profiteering from the soldiers that it trains. About a year ago I was greatly offended by an article referring to the US Military as a mercenary force. Now I have to say this seems to be the exact case. We have an army that is getting paid 25,000.00 to join up and serve 4 years. What other country on earth offers signing bonuses to their service members? I don’t believe there are any. The enlistment of this friend touched me as well, but in a different way. How can people look at the military as such a for profit venture while so many have died doing what they knew was the right thing? How can one person see it as a noble profession worth dying for and others see it as a means to profit?

I understand capitalism fully and recognize that this is a prime example of how the system works; you take what you can get for a certain job. But in my eyes people that join the military for this reason cheapen the sacrifice made everyday by the soldiers who join for the right reasons. The ones that aren’t trying to just get paid collect a paycheck and get out after 4 years. I as a taxpayer am mortified that I will now be paying off my student loans as well as my friends and thousands of others and then watching many of them going on to lucrative careers at the benefit of the training that tax payers provide. The Army and the military in general used to stand for something, I can’t say that it stands for nearly as much anymore sadly, I wish it did.

You Are Missed:
Adam Michael Malson
11/7/81 - 2/19/05
"Without a sign his sword the brave man draws, And asks no omen but his country’s cause."
- Homer

Define a surge...

So the Presidents Surge strategy which initially was onyl supposed to be 20,000 troops but has now well surpassed 30,000 troops is now calling 35,000 more troops for replacement duty to maintain the surge. Now we have 35,000 troops who can look forward to 24 hour combat with no safe zones and 15 months tours. Add this all up and you have a combat situation much worse than Vietnam, as Vietnam at least had safe areas in country and down time for soliders whereas the Army in Iraq is subject to 24 hour combat situations where everyone is the enemy. Because of this there is a rise in post traumatic stress disorder which the Bush administration is trying to have redfined to limit how much they need to pay veterans affected by it. But thats another story for another time. The main question is, what defines a surge. In my eyes a surge is a quick and decisive measure taken to ensure security and promote safety. This isnt necessarily the case as now all the militas and deat squads seem to be laying low while suicide bomings are on the rise and US soldiers are dying at a higher rate. It doesnt quite seem like the security is there nor is safety promoted. On top of this, the surge which is a quick decisive move is now going to have to last "into the spring of 2008". As I have said this does not sound like a troop surge but rather troop escalation, much reminiscent of how Vietnam and the troop buildup began.

The other main problem I have with the conflict is that it is an occupation, not a mission to free the Iraqis anymore. A force fighting for the freedom of a people does not evict citizens from their homes to turn them into garrisons and that is exactly the actions being taken by the US military. We really need to take stop and reexamine the situation and how we are conducting ourselves if we ever want this to work.

Did You Know?

Did you know:

- There are more private contractors employed in all branches of government than there are actual employees of the federal government?

- Only 1 out of 8 contracted projects in Iraq are functional after 6 months.

- That Haliburton was awared a no bid contract to construct a 22 million dollar Army base in Iraq that has now run into the cost range of 4 billion dollars?

- That there are 30,000+ private defense contractors operating in Iraq who are not bound by US law or Iraqi law(thanks Paul Bremer)?

- The ex-chief of the Global Fund says that reconstruction in Iraq is doomed?

- Congress has allowed the war in Iraq to continue unabated for despite the fact that they approved the war under what some say is false information?

- That the former number two in charge at the justice department has gone on record as saying that only 1 of the 8 fired prosecutors was underperforming?

- That the escalation in Vietnam started with a troop surge? Sure we just need 30,000 more to do the job. Give an inch, they take a foot.

- Iran might be the biggest help to solve the problem in Iraq?

- Iraq has only been formally recognized as a country since after World Ware I and before that was basically a region of three autonomous states?

- To help our image in the Middle East we fund Israel to the tune of 3.4 billion dollars of defense money per year, while refusing to sell or supply advanced weapons to any other countries thus to allow Israel an edge in the region?

- The Iraqi government has shown no signs of meeting any benchmarks so far and has shown a great deal of similarity with our own government in terms of playing partisan politics?

- That the people of our two main allies in the Middle East Saudi Arabia and Egypt hold us in more contempt than the people of Iran or Syria?

- That an overwhelming number of German citizens polled said that the US was more of a threat to global peace than Iran(I agree)?

- Before the US invasion of Iraq, there were no terrorists groups operating out of the country?

- The fledgling Iraqi "Democracy" is already asking out of 85 billion dollars of debt?

- Iran is not an Arab country but rather Persian?

- In the early stages of the Iraqi invasion we destroyed much of the infrastructure necessary for post war plans?

- New Orleans is still in shambles, yet no one seems to care?

- Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki seems to think he is actually in a position of power depsite the fact that we put him there and he is only there still through American force of arms.

- According to the international Red Cross the standard of living has gone down in Iraq each year for the last 4 years?

- The only way to police Iraq is with Iraqis who know the demographics and religious tensions, not a 19 year old from Iowas who only knows to yell "shut the fuck up"?

- This is how our troops conduct themselves in Iraq(picture below)? Sure are winning hearts and minds.


Iraq is the ZANIEST nation in the whole middle east! (from CollegeHumor)

Just wondering if you knew?

Baskin Robins

Why is it that in this country we have Baskin Robins which offers over 30 flavors of ice cream, yet all we can have for politics is two parties? Its not that there are not any other parties, there are plenty and they have great ideas. However the people of the US dont feel the need to look at anything but the two main parties, both of which have been mired in ineptitude for years.

Lets be honest, there are no differences between the Republicans and the Democrats, if a Democrat sent us to war, the Republicans would be doing the same thing that the Democrats are right now. The only real difference between the parties is their mascot, a donkey or an elephant fitting because both are slow to change and are full of jackasses.

If the people(ostritches) of this country would pull their heads from the sand just once and take a look at the other candidates they would see their are better people with brighter ideas to lead this country. The fact of the matter however is that Americans as a whole would rather vote for the lesser of two evils. Its not a matter of voting for the best candidate but voting for the one who isnt quite as bad, we have seen this time and time again. They either take this avenue or wander down the "the only way my vote counts is if i vote for the winner" line of thinking. The idea that voting for the winner somehow validates your vote is absurd and it is sad that an educated country like this falls to the depths of ignorance when performing our most vital public service which is voting.

Lets face it, Democracy is a wonderful idea but the way this country practices it is not working. We have an electoral college which does not have to in theory follow how the majority of their states voters vote. They are not bound by the votes of the state, but rather can vote of their own free will and own accord. On top of this we have a "representative" body that does not represent what the people of this country want, but rather play the game of partisan politics. Clearly there are over 2/3 of the country don't support the war, but we cant get a majority of our congressman to vote in such fashion. If the republicans were not in such a rush to back Bush and his failed pet of a war then they could step back and see what the people who put them in office want.

Is this what you want out of your government, for them to wheel and deal for their own gain? To work as lobbyists for powerful contractors of the government both before and after their terms thus making them tools of coroprate America rather than the voter? Is this what the system has come to and if it has, what can be done to fix it other than an overhaul either in how government is practiced or in how the public treats it, that is the question I pose to you. Can you answer it?