Monday, May 5, 2008

An Army Of One. Really.


Bush administration policy never ceases to amaze me. If you disagree with the invasion of Iraq, you are labeled as "unpatriotic." But if you wear an American flag lapel-pin, affix an "I Support The Troops" magnet to the back of your vehicle, or vote Republican, you are decidedly a "patriot." How sad it is that there are people in the United States that actually fall for this new form of fascism.

The September 12, 1938 edition of The New York Times carried an often, misquoted statement by Professor Halford E. Luccock of Yale Divinity School:

When and if fascism comes to America it will not be labeled "Made in Germany"; it will not be marked with a swastika; it will not even be called fascism; it will be called, of course, "Americanism."

So it was of no huge surprise to The Minutiae King when reading how desperate the Army is to find new recruits. Department of Defense records indicate that the number of new recruits with criminal records has increased by 65% in the last three years. Showing no regard for the mental, physical, or familial situations of those serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Bush administration has increased the length of a tour of duty from 12 to 15 months. So it was with much sadness to read where one brave soldier, Sgt. 1st Class David L. McDowell was killed in Afghanistan on April 29, 2008 while on his seventh deployment--yes, his seventh--since 2003. Yes, an Army of one, being stop-lossed over and over and over and over and over...

Recruiting felons. Keeping military families seperated for years at a time.

So much for George Bush, the head of the Republican party, espousing himself as being supportive of military families. And Republicans as being the party of "family values."

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