Ice Cream, Eric Clapton, the IPOD, and the Vietnam Veteran. The Vietnam Veteran are the most underappreciated, honorable warriors to ever wear a United States military uniform. This country asked them to serve and fight an unpopular war thousands of miles away from home and they did with honor. They did not cry or whine, instead they served proudly and never lost a battle.
The problem with this country is that we do not have enough Vietnam Veterans in roles of national leadership. Personally, I was blessed to have Vietnam Veterans for my football coach and school counselor, and mentors in the Army and career and I am a better man for it. The common distinction amongst all of my Vietnam Vet friends is that they lead by example and their no bullshit attitude.
What ever happened to the principle of leadership by example? Sometimes I wonder if it died in the jungles of 'nam?
Instead we have books such as the ten-minute manager, total quality management, leaders who talk and talk, marketing focus groups and other bullshit.
-- Modified on 4/28/2008 10:09:31 PM
I'm at the end of the so called baby boomer generation, but I can't help but think this generation has done more to fuck up this country than any past generation.
Ice Cream, Eric Clapton, the IPOD, and the Vietnam Veteran. The Vietnam Veteran are the most underappreciated, honorable warriors to ever wear a United States military uniform. This country asked them to serve and fight an unpopular war thousands of miles away from home and they did with honor. They did not cry or whine, instead they served proudly and never lost a battle.
The problem with this country is that we do not have enough Vietnam Veterans in roles of national leadership. Personally, I was blessed to have Vietnam Veterans for my football coach and school counselor, and mentors in the Army and career and I am a better man for it. The common distinction amongst all of my Vietnam Vet friends is that they lead by example and their no bullshit attitude.
What ever happened to the principle of leadership by example? Sometimes I wonder if it died in the jungles of 'nam?
Instead we have books such as the ten-minute manager, total quality management, leaders who talk and talk, marketing focus groups and other bullshit.
-- Modified on 4/28/2008 10:09:31 PM
It went up in a puff of smoke, along with the rest of the 60's drug culture.
BTW My dad was in three wars, WWII,Korea,and Vietnam. When he got home from WWII, he didn't get a parade, he got people telling him he was a fool for volunteering, because everyone back home made a ton of money during the war. My point is that vets are never given the treatment they deserve. This country treats them like shit when they come home. While we sleep, they stand on that wall.
of leadership. For example, Gen. Eisenhower, Sen. Kennedy, George H.W. Bush, SEnators. Inoye, McGovern and Dole et al. The Civil Rights movement were lead by former veterans of World War II. How do you think the civil right's marches were so disciplined? The discipline was learned from former soldiers such as from the 447 Tank Battalion. Kareem Abdul Jabbar has an excellent book on the virtues learned from former soldiers and their contributions.
Please thank your dad for his service to our country.
in common except a 15 year range of birthdates are to blame for "fucking up" an entire country?
Look, I have a better idea. It's all the women's fault. They don't put out enough, and that pisses us men off enough that we go out and start wars. Why, you can take one look at Laura Bush and know she hasn't put out for 20 years. Not that I blame her.
I'll tell you what I might believe - that there's enough idiots in this country to make televangelism a major industry, so we get people like Pat Robertson running for president and brokering political offices. Even Al Sharpton doesn't say that Federal judges are worse than terrorists, or that America deserved 9/11 because we didn't treat fags badly enough.
I'll tell you the difference between bin Laden and Robertson, and that is their bank balance. Period. If the money was on the other foot, so would the tactics. Robertson doesn't have any qualms about bombing abortion clinics or assassinating doctors, it's just a matter of degree.
Religion is about faith, that is, what do you know from the voices inside your head, without having to see, hear or touch something. It's basically irrational. Some people are more irrational than others. But organized large scale irrationality is what is fucking up not only our country, but the world as well.
So when we hear a person say, "hey, I'm going to be crazy about this or that (like, fucking 14 year olds seems to be a universal theme)" then we call them a religion, and make them tax-exempt, instead of sending them off to the asylum, or prison.
So you know, the Catholics, the Protestants, the Muslims, they're all fucking crazy. Insane. Maybe the Jews aren't so crazy because they're too fucking busy trying to remember how many square inches they're allowed to uncover today, or whether the rabbi made the right incantation over the soup. That's the reason that they're a backwater religion - they just don't have TV appeal.
Now, is religion the CAUSE or EFFECT here? Does it MAKE people crazy, or is it just a symptom?
I don't know. But I think we have to stop subsidizing craziness, and make people pay the price. For example, Republicans want a war, I say GOOD DEAL!! Let's sign up all their kids, and see how long that war lasts, eh?
So it's the fucking liberals' fault, always making excuses for crazy people, and wanting to pick up their mess. I think the Republicans should stew in their mess for a few years. I say, we need a draft. Everybody who has a yellow ribbon on their car needs to report for boot camp, followed by a couple tours in Iraq.
Yes I'm gonna blame that generation. We suck as a whole. We are raising a bunch of whiny babies who think they are entitled to everything handed to them on a silver plater. While we sit back and drink, smoke pot and enjoy our golf and lunch dates. Let TV raise the kids. Fuck that I got my own feeling to worry about. Yes the kids of the 60s and 70s suck. They have done the most damage to this country than any other generation in the last 100 years.
If you think that Pat Robertson has more money than Bin Laden, then you don't know Bin Laden's background. Where do you think most of the granite countertops for you yuppies comes from. Check it out.
compensate me for fucking up my town, because I can tell you right now nobody can lay any of that shit on me.
Robertson alone is worth over $200 million. Bin Laden was turned down for a $500K loan for a Popeyes' in Beirut. Personal wealth is less the point than the per capita dough of the people they lead around by the nose. Bin laden's boys burn camel shit instead of charcoal, and live in caves. Robertson's little old ladies drive SUVs, and vote on who to nuke. Get it?
http://www.forbes.com/2001/09/14/0914ladenmoney.html
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bin_Laden_family
I do like the idea of spicy chicken in Beirut. Used to be a nice city.
the family value, let alone how much of it
The credit denial could have been for many reasons, but it came from one of many articles pointing out that the $300M figure originated in the same CIA sources that said Saddam had WMD, and now accepted as way overstated.
It's not always that agencies always lie (ie, deliberately mislead, and sometimes they do). It's that they always try to CYA, as normal people do, and therefore tend to create self-protection procedures that make sure there won't be any catastrophic faults laid at their door. Of course, that's always defined w/r/t the people they answer to, so an agency is not only going to stay within the boss's criteria, but also do what they can to protect themselves in case the boss turns out to be a major fuckup.
Sometimes, you just can't do both.
people they lead around by the nose? Osama's constituency is a half billion goat-fuckers, most of whom have a hard time getting out of their own way. So there are a thousand of them willing and able to strap on a bomb - we should fund an Al Qaeda training center on Diego Garcia, where we send them to do live fire training. That would take care of them in a couple months.
Pat Robertson's constituency is every little old lady on social security and medicare, who will live forever on the US dole, and sign her check and vote to him as Jesus' attorney-in-fact. So the religious right has the controlling votes in any close race.
The Dems have shown us that when the Republicans go crazy, they do too, nominating people with dubious issues when it's most important to play carefully. Oh well.
"The Dems have shown us that when the Republicans go crazy, they do too, nominating people with dubious issues when it's most important to play carefully. Oh well."
The loony left had a golden opportunity to win the 2008 election without even breaking a sweat. So what do they do? They vote for, in almost equal numbers a woman hated almost as much as Dick fucking Cheney, and a black man(or at least half black) who has more skeletons over his brief career than even the worst Republicans. Talk about the gang that couldn't shoot straight.
they shouldn't be volunteering to walk point.
The idea that Obama has skeletons in his closet is bullshit. The Republicans have had more people arrested & convicted these last 2 terms than anybody since Nixon's administration; and McCain's preacher is the fellow who said Katrina was god's vengeance on New Orleans - and then he goes HUNTING for the endorsements of other evangelical assholes.
Nevertheless, this is not the time to give the Republicans the opportunity to go apeshit about the 1st woman or black to be elected.
Republicans are people who are more worried about lapel pins than economy wrecking 2 front wars. They're total assholes, what can I say? You've got a candidate who says he doesn't care if we're in a hundred year war, and you're talking about what some fucking preacher is saying? What are you, deranged? OK, I'll withdraw the question. You're OBVIOUSLY deranged.
in the same post with someone strapping something on. Back to the little old ladies.
If this is a celebrity death-match, my money's on the Baby Boomers.
just thought I would throw some bait out to see if I could get a bite. You know, see if the sharks are hungry.
As someone smack in the middle of the boomers, I wish I disagreed.
Baby Boomers: Never have so many been given so much and done so little of value with it. The Boomers love to talk about the Civil Rights Movement as a Boomer happening but that was the GG for sure, as was almost everything else of value. Our idea of Civil Rights is gay marriage!
The BB's gave the world moral equivalency, capitulation, multiculti, reverse racism and I'm gonna stop because I'm making myself sick.