BTW - Clinton didn’t win by a popular majority ya know.

It is because of enterprising reporters who challenged a clearly bogus military report that we are able to even be aware of the murder spree these marines committed in their quest to spread democracy. The small town of Haditha will be, sadly, as infamous of some scenes of savage atrocities committed in Vietnam. Pictures taken by marines will show children shot in the head, and others killed in their beds. The American public can expect, like members of Congress, to be prepared for weeks to come for the worst side of the U.S. military to be brought into their homes daily at the top of the fold in newspapers.

I have long argued there are two types of people in the military. The minority group is better educated and career oriented. They are not soldiers for life and have an open mind about a host of issues be they political, social and philosophical. They do not walk lock step with ‘the military mind-set,’ and jettison the military as soon as they can. One such example I know personally came back after 3 months in Iraq and was deeply troubled by the sights he saw. He was also wary of many of the other American soldiers, as they were clearly rednecks with no ability to reason. He did not talk openly with them as they were clearly more brawn than brain, and as a result he did not feel safe.

I have strongly suspected after decades of watching and listening to those who are connected with the military that the vast majority are made up of those who never would have been able to go get into college and had no other economic opportunity than the military option. Some even had the college funds from the military to attend school and were unable to compete academically. I think that is awfully sad. This group is by-and-large Republican and inculcated in military dogma from foreign policy to their zealous homophobia. They are the perfect types to take orders, as they have no ability to question why. That is equally sad as they suffer from a flawed educational system and as a result never have the chance to get up the economic ladder. So they opt for the military and as such see first hand the missteps of our leaders.

But when these large, dumb, and fully armed bunch go on murdering tirades in a fragile international hotspot it is time to wonder if we really want the bottom of the barrel defending our country. Perhaps it is time to be more circumspect about what qualities we want in a solider. Some may argue strongly with my views in public but privately know how we appropriate members of the military is not serving the country well.

The prison scandal in Iraq was highly embarrassing and troubling and did great damage to our image in the Muslim world. The pictures of the carnage left by marines with more testosterone than morals fill all of us with shame and regret about what garbage we produce in this country.

New stuff comes in below. I’ll avoid a sense of tartness, given the *tens* of thousands of readers of the participating blogs (even allowing for a huge overlap) - but the 97 (as of yesterday evening) of you who’ve donated……

New stuff comes in below this post. Consider your young soldier of today. Wired. Connected. So used to using keyboards they can thumb-type faster than I can type in a regular way - and I’m pretty good, actually. Then take……