my friend posted a bulletin to ‘Vote for Obama in 2008′ and ‘cleverly’ it was a just kidding. No, this was an anti-Obama message. Mainly about him not ‘thanking the troops’ in Afghanistan. Needless to say this thing really irked me even though I gave up supporting either candidate, because I believe if you’re going to vote for anybody you vote for them because you believe in them. But no, no, we should not vote for Obama because he didn’t ‘thank the troops’. Okay, first off: Thanking the troops is not mandatory. I don’t remember signing an oath where upon an American citizen needs to thank anyone from the military.

I have a friend over in Iraq now and have not felt the need to thank him once. And he’s never felt the need to remind me to thank him. Fair deal, I suppose, but I truly wonder when the military became such a bunch of pussies that they felt the need to remind everyone of their service, of the need to thank them, or anything of the like. Hey, I respect the job and the uniform, but I’m not going to go nuts thanking them for…invading a foreign nation. Great job guys, you secured my freedom by taking out two nations with barely a military. Woohoo! That’s like the bully in school asking you to thank him for beating up a geek.

Secondly: Even if I felt the need to thank the troops I would not do it over the invasion of Iraq or Afghanistan. Sorry, but I just don’t see how that’s praise worthy. You didn’t secure this nation any more than these absurd new laws secure us. No, what you did was create an illusion of taking action against an ‘enemy’ of the US. Nope. Not worthy of praise. Call me when we’re actually in danger of being invaded. And…if there’s anything left and I’m still alive, then I’ll thank you all for a job well done.

But yeah…where was I? Oh yes, the military carrying a huge chip on its shoulder. I know, it’s a thankless job and you risk your lives. Kudos! You’re braver than I am. However, if you expect me to believe what you’re actually doing constitutes ‘defending my freedom’ then you’re sorely mistaken. If you were defending my ‘freedom’ then you’d be back here taking on the politicians who are eroding our freedoms quicker than any terrorist organization can. Like so. Sooo…no thanks for you! Although I do appreciate the job you’re doing. Grow a thicker skin.

What have we learned? Vote for candidates based on their merits, not how much military ass they kiss. Or how many trips they make. And vote for “none of the above” in November.

P.S. I think it’s shameful how in love this nation is with its military. It’s almost Roman-esque.

The ‘message’ Subject: From one who is serving in Afghanistan

Hello everyone, As you know I am not a very political person. I just wanted to pass along that Senator Obama came to Bagram Afghanistan for about an hour on his visit to ‘The War Zone’. I wanted to share with you what happened. He got off the plane and got into a bullet proof vehicle, got to the area to meet with the Major General (2 Star) who is the commander here at Bagram.

As the Soldiers where lined up to shake his hand he blew them off and didn’t say a word as he went into the conference room to meet the General. As he finished, the vehicles took him to the ClamShell (pretty much a big top tent that military personnel can play basketball or work out in with weights) so he could take his publicity pictures playing basketball. He again shunned the opportunity to talk to Soldiers to thank them for their service.

So really he was just here to make a showing for the American’s back home that he is their candidate for President. I think that if you are going to make an effort to come all the way over here you would thank those that are providing the freedom that they are providing for you.

I swear we got more thanks from the NBA Basketball Players or the Dallas Cowboy Cheer leaders than from one of the Senators, who wants to be the President of the United States. I just don’t understand how anyone would want him to be our Commander-and-Chief. It was almost that he was scared to be around those that provide the freedom for him and our great country.

If this is blunt and to the point I am sorry but I wanted you all to know what kind of caliber of person he really is. What you see in the news is all fake.

In service, CPT Jeffrey S.

Porter
Battle Captain TF Wasatch American Soldier

Why is this news? Yeah, this story is sad and I’m sorry for the loss of life and the family involved, but this isn’t news. News is stuff that will affect your life. How will this impact your life? Here’s the answer: it won’t. I can tell you how this whole story goes:

1st: The boyfriend gets arrested after the body’s been found (already happened so onto the second scene)
2nd: The boyfriend will proclaim innocence while in jail. He’ll have an excuse for where he was at the time of her disappearance.
3rd: The family will boo-hoo for the camera and claim that the boyfriend is innocent until proven guilty even though they believe none of that.
4th: He’ll be found guilty and given a death sentence.
5th: We’ll see candle light vigils (if they haven’t cropped up already).
6th: The media will drop this story like a rock once it’s all over.

And then you get to wait a while for another pretty white lady to disappear and another drama begins anew. It’s all to distract the American public from things that should matter in their lives whether it’s Alberto Gonzales being a lying douche, or GWB being caught in another scandal. Those things matter; you should care whether your politicians are inching us closer to a police state. You should care whether the war is going badly. On a grand scale (and I don’t mean to sound cold) the pregnant lady’s death is insignificant. Pregnant women are murdered all the time and while that is a sad fact; it is the state of the world that we live in.

I’ve been thinking a bit lately and it didn’t quite hit me until tonight, but maybe the wall separating church and state needs to come down. Now, that may sound like a very wrong-headed thing to say. But listen, the UK has an established church that had a very bloody history, but now the church holds so little sway over their society. I think…the church would need to govern before people see it for what it is: an outdated fossil. I’m fairly liberal in my ideals and I would suffer under such a society, but as it stands the religious fundamentalist Christians are infesting every level of government.

Their attempt is to create a society that believes in Christ and generally everything in opposition to the ideals of American society. While in the present it would be a travesty of epic proportions it would undoubtedly lead to a backlash which is sorely needed to stop these people. This all sounds like a horrific idea to postulate, but it might be what’s really needed in order to preserve American values. We’ve become too complacent as a society and too tolerant of the intolerant. And now that’s starting to cost us what we cherish most: our societal values.

Do we value our right to be free or will we allow intolerance to rule our society? I think that right now we’re on the end of a blade and it could go either way. But we’re becoming dangerously close to something that will cost us in lives. And I’m not referring to the phony ‘war on terrorism’.

I’m proposing this idea as an academic exercise (mostly with myself) on the thought that the separation of church and state needs to end before these fascists are stopped. Maybe I’m wrong and this whole thought is as well. I don’t really believe this, not completely. But the thought is there.