Colonel Jacob on MSNBC said something I tend to agree

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14. What unrec? You wouldn't get one from me.

I think this is a GREAT idea. Two years of service to this country. It doesn't have to involve war-making. National service of some kind. It would teach humility. It would help young people feel more invested in their communities - and help them see how others have to live and cope.

I heard Colonel Jacobs this morning, too. He made such a great point - only a few actually do the heavy lifting, put their lives on the line, put themselves in harm's way, and the rest of us go shopping. Isn't that what dubya told us all to do after 9/11? Go shopping? Be consumers. Consume. And what to make of those who only consume? War's so easy. No muss, no fuss. All the glory and explosions and heavy artillery and cool stuff like in the movies! Wow! I didn't even feel a thing! How cool is that? Besides, that hard bloody shit's for somebody else to have to face, anyway.

Nobody who really insists on sending our nation and the flower of our youth into war ever puts their own sorry asses on the line like that. THAT is what should change. Those who want us at war so badly and think war is so damned important should have skin in the game. They should learn what war is, rather than pick fights that other people have to go deal with. They should learn what war is - rather than the big screen version where it's all actors and special effects and nobody really gets hurt or leaves part of their bodies on the battlefield and then is forced to find a way to live the rest of their lives disabled like that.

And you know what's even worse? When you try to talk to somebody on the rah-rah-rah let's-go-to-WAR side - and point this out about how little respect or support our veterans get, after THEY put THEIR lives on the line? These assholes will invariably say "well, those people VOLUNTEERED." So what does THAT mean, then? That we just kick 'em to the side and say - "Well, them's the breaks, friend. You did ask for it. It was your choice, so don't come crying to me now because of what happened. Too bad how things worked out. Sucks to be you. But don't bother me about it." INFURIATING!!! And those turning their noses up like this at their fellow Americans in need are probably the very same people driving around with one of those cheap-ass buck-98 made-in-China car magnets that say "Support our Troops!" I even got into an argument with another mom in the neighborhood when the Iraq War began. She pleaded with me to hang our flag out in front of our house to support our troops, and was upset that she'd driven by our home and hadn't seen one. I told her it ISN'T supporting our troops by sending them to die in a war that's based on lies. I told her you don't "support our troops" by squandering their precious lives on a lie. She didn't get it.

I think anyone on Capitol Hill who votes for war should immediately be required to go enlist, suit up, and go to the front lines. They fancy themselves as our "leaders," after all. Well - then step to the front and lead us into the war you want so badly. And that means YOU, TOO, bill kristol, and all your little PNAC friends.