lol soldiers are idiots lol

Ted Rall recently made a cartoon basically implying that the only reason people sign up for the military is (1) to go to Iraq and (2)for the recruitment bonus that they will get "if they live". Therefore, because of those reasons, soldiers(and by extension Marines, Sailors, and Airman) are idiots. And because they are idiots the United States as a whole is better off with them dead because it boosts the average IQ.

There are many reasons why people sign up. Money could be one. Maybe you want to get out of the little town in the middle of nowhere, or the ghetto in an urban area. Maybe your family all did so you did too. Maybe it's patriotism. Maybe you just didn't have any better idea as to what to do with your life(which I suspect is the vast majority). Down on the bottom of the list, however, is "let's go to Iraq and kill kill kill!"

Idiots? Well, the United States Military is better educated than the general population. Almost all the enlisted personnel have a diploma, and once they are through with technical training they are often considered equal to a journeyman in that trade to the DOL. In addition, it's increasingly a requirement for some kind of higher education in order to to get senior enlisted ranks. Hmm. Doesn't sound very idiotic to me. Officers? Much the same, except replace "diploma" with "Bachelors" and "Higher education" with "Masters or PhD."

But remember, to most civilians there is something wrong with folks who sign up for the military. They must be stupid, or foolish, or ignorant. Even with Bushie supporters who want to continue the war, when challenged to join the military if they support the war so much, mumble "I'm more important to the war effort in the private sector". Maybe they really are. Or maybe they are just cowards.

How much would you spend on your pet?

Last Thursday I noticed that one of my two cats, Mary, was acting in an unusual manner. She was following me around, meowing like she was in distress, and vigorously scratching her left ear. To the point of her cutting herself and getting a healthy bleed on. I got her to stop scratching, but her leg kept on twitching, and in the end she just yowled in distress more.

I set an appointment for the next day with the vet, went in...and found that it was a damn earwax build up. All told the trip cost me 120 clams, but I was instructed to bring the cat back next week. It seems that since she hadn't had a vet visit in who knows how long, she was due for a couple of vaccinations according to the Commonwealth of Virginia. One week later I am informed that she needs ear ointment(because the ear medicine I was giving seems to have irritated her ear, go fig) as well as two vaccines. That was another 130 clams.

Now, if she needed a $1,000 dollar operation, or more, I probably would have still came up with the money. It just perturbs me that I'm getting hammered on what I suspect was a simple problem and solution. The cat is back to her normal, anti-social self, at least.

Georgian Nazis!

So apparently immigration found themselves a former concentration camp guard in Georgia(the state, not the country). The fine outstanding gentleman volunteered for the Waffen SS in 1941, which instantly dashed any potential sympathy I might have had for him. For some reason the idea of volunteering to be part of the armed Nazi Party Apparatus strikes me as more than a little worse than being conscripted into the Heer. This hasn't stopped some of the Jackholes at some of the message boards I hang out though. One of them even said that "With such viral bias[against the SS], you're opinion is thus rendered useless." to me because I said "The only appropriate place for a SS volunteer is at the end of a noose." As it stands, the Nazi in question is going to be deported.

Speaking of killing Nazis, the expansion for Company of Heroes is out, and I'm enjoying the gameplay quite a bit. Relic really outdid themselves with the "How often can we make you punch in a registration key" mission right when you run the game for the first time. The rest is gravy.