No, I Have Never Been in the Military
It happens every time I write an article about war. It happens every time I write an article about the military. It happens every time I even mention war or the military.
The question may take a variety of forms but it is really always the same: “Have you ever been in combat” “Have you ever been in the military?” “Have you ever served?”
Because I have never been in combat, been in the military, or “served,” my answer is, of course, always in the negative.
Those who ask such questions have one purpose: to discredit everything I say about the military. In their mind, it is either that I can’t possibly have sufficient knowledge of what it is like in the military to be able to criticize it or I have no right to criticize the military because I have never been in it, or both.
But rather than hang my head in shame and sheepishly acknowledge that I have never been in the military, I lift it up high and shout No, I have never been in the military. I have never experienced the “glories” of combat. I have never had the “honor” of serving. Thank God I was never in the military.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never sung filthy cadences that glorify rape and killing.
o, I have never been in the military. I have never put my family through unnecessary hardship.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never helped to carry out an evil, reckless, and interventionist U.S. foreign policy.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never destroyed a country’s industry and infrastructure that was no threat to the United States.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never enforced a UN resolution.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never killed someone that I didn’t know, who was no threat to me, my family, my city, my state, or my country.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never been a plumber, but I know it is a dirty, smelly job. I have never been a roofer, but I know it is hazardous work. I have never been a prostitute, but I know it is an immoral activity.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never experienced PTSD because I had serious doubts about the justness of what I was fighting for.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never experienced the desire to commit suicide.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never unnecessarily been in a situation where I had to kill or be killed.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never been part of an organization that was a global force for evil.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never embraced the values that are all too prevalent in the military: adultery, fornication, promiscuity, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, pornography, sodomy, divorce, sexual assault, sexual harassment, suicide.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never had to be on guard against being sexually assaulted.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never been an accomplice to murder.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never killed a civilian and called it collateral damage.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never fought a police action for the UN.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never played golf on a U.S. military base thousands of miles away in a county that could provide for its own defense.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never violated the Constitution I swore to uphold.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never urinated on a dead body.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never been all that I can be in an organization that was the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never expressed blind, unconditional obedience to someone’s orders.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never cursed like a sailor.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never fought an undeclared war.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never committed random acts of depravity and violence.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never killed civilians for sport.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never participated in state-sponsored terrorism.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never posed for photos with murdered civilians.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never tortured and humiliated prisoners.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never worn a uniform in an airport and grinned from ear to ear when a group of people cheered me as I walked by.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never stopped having independent thoughts.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never transported anyone to some secret CIA prison to undergo “enhanced interrogation techniques.”
No, I have never been in the military. I have never piloted a drone over Pakistan and killed people like I was playing a video game.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never been part of the president’s personal attack force.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never unleashed violence and civil unrest in another country.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never deprived my child of his father while I made multiple duty tours with increased deployment terms.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never fought an unjust war of aggression.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never cut off someone’s body part as a trophy.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never died in vain or for a lie.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never dropped a bomb on a wedding party.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never traveled thousands of miles from the United States to fight in a senseless foreign war.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never dwelled in one of the filthiest moral environments on the face of the earth.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never helped to keep in business the worldwide network of brothels around U.S. military bases.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never traveled the world, met interesting people, and killed them.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never told people that I was defending their freedoms when I was doing nothing of the kind.
No, I have never been in the military. I have never agreed to kill people to get money for college.
No, I have never been in the military. But when men that have been in combat, and have been in the military, and have served confirm what I say about the military and add their own criticisms of the military to it, they are not listened to either.
No, I have never been in the military. But I will continue to criticize it and persuade people to not join it. How could any thinking person do otherwise?
January 29, 2013
Laurence M. Vance [send him mail] writes from central Florida. He is the author of Christianity and War and Other Essays Against the Warfare State, The Revolution that Wasn’t, Rethinking the Good War, and The Quatercentenary of the King James Bible. His latest book is The War on Drugs Is a War on Freedom. Visit his website.
Copyright © 2013 by LewRockwell.com. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit is given.
Eddie says:
I never served.
I grew up in fear of having to go, watched all the deferments end, signed up for a lottery, waited my turn..and was spared by the grace of God, as far as I know.
I don’t consider myself any better or any worse than any vet. I don’t like the military we have now, and I’m happy to be able to still criticize it, and will do so until I can’t or until it changes.
This is still my country.
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29th January 2013 at 11:18 am
anotherjuan says:
Eddie – ” and was spared by the grace of God, as far as I know” if you had served, it would put the lie to the saying, there are no atheists in foxholes.
i got the same response when i said i don’t like golf, “have you ever played golf?” i’m glad i never played that wicked sport that turns men into sex crazed fiends a la tiger woods.
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29th January 2013 at 11:47 am
JIMSKI says:
Vance is a pussy with no skin in the game. He has a right to post whatever drivel he want’s but he needs to man up or shut up.
If you do not believe in the mission then withhold your income tax in protest. Show us you mean what you say. Pretty broad brush there fuckface.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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29th January 2013 at 12:13 pm
flash says:
JIMSKI says:
Vance is a pussy with no skin in the game.
WTF , does serving in the military have to do with “skin in the game” and please provide your definition of “skin the the game”.
Just WTF is this ” game” of which you are so reverently willing to expend not only the lives of your so called countrymen , but those of innocents abroad as well?
It’s take bigger balls to against the tide of fools than with…if that shoe fits then..
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29th January 2013 at 12:30 pm
WYOMING MIKE says:
Jimski sounds like one of those boomers who can’t read for comprehension.
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29th January 2013 at 12:41 pm
IraK says:
Is Laurence M. Vance, the author of “No, I Have Never Been In The Military,” an American?
I ask because he is certainly out of touch with the ethos of this great country.
Would it be too much to ask flash to post a rebuttal article. The glories of fighting British, Indians, Mexicans, Confederates, Germans, Japanese, Koreans, Vietnamese, Arabs, and many others while establishing this country’s place in the sun deserve mention. In addition to that, remember that our service men and women protect us from foreign enemies and domestic terrorists. So how about it flash, will you salute those who defend our freedoms and keep the world safe for democracy?
Hot debate. What do you think?
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29th January 2013 at 12:55 pm
SSS says:
Holy shit. I get the distinct impression that this Laurence Vance feller doesn’t care for the military (yes, I noted that flash posted the article). To top it off, anotherjuan thinks golf is a wicked sport that turns men into sex-crazed fiends.
Makes me feel right at home.
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29th January 2013 at 1:01 pm
fool on the hill says:
US51480689 That was my service number.
The US signifies that I was drafted.
As I have posted previously THE ARMY JOINED ME!
Part of my tour was in Germany where melted into the society so much that civilians would ask me for driving directions and I would respond in the local tongue.
As they drove off I would chuckle to myself and wonder if they realized that I was an American.
Acting as a guest provided me a most unusual reward.
A fellow i met in a park asked me if I could make him some pictures of his kids.
Herr Haffner had no idea I was working as a photographer for the Army public information office.
He gave me his address and when I had the layout done I went there to deliver the stuff I was invited to the first of many Sunday meals.
Rudi also had a surprise for me HE was Irwin Rommel’s radio operator while serving in North Africa.
He worked for the local newspaper.
Having access to the colonel’s combat 3/4 ton complete with driver Jim Norton was a plus as we took a few Sunday drives to WW2 sites where I would shoot up lots of uncle sam’s film.
We would stop for refreshment at a gasthaus. Rudi would introduce me to the inhaber (innkeeper) as Oberst (colonel) lxxxx.
We always sat at the Stamtiche which was usually reserved for vips like the burgermeister.
Once the burgermeister came in and joined us. Rudi discreetly clued him in and he cracked up.
His reply was “Now we have a couple of phonies at this table.”
The battalion exec was my boss and often asked how i found so many little known sites.
I told him I was a reincarnated German sergeant.
I think he believed me.
Nobody likes abuse and most real people will return respect in kind.
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29th January 2013 at 1:13 pm
anotherjuan says:
SSS – guilt by association, baby, although i never traveled abroad to meet interesting people and kill them, i’m guilty anyway. SSS, you seem like an interesting guy….
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29th January 2013 at 2:14 pm
GreasedUpWillie says:
Some interesting dialogue there. Speaking as a vet, I think the country went off of the rails after Vietnam, because of the disparity in who served. WWII and Korea, there was a draft and pretty much everyone fit for service served. And when everyone’s son is going off to war, the war faces much more scrutiny. And when everyone comes back, they come back with that sense of shared experience. In Vietnam, with college deferments and draft boards, it was the poor who mostly went (much like today), while the rich went to college or the National Guard. This let them get even farther ahead, and put the vets behind the curve in the new economy. Some vets caught up, many did not. But the current generation of leaders came out of the ones who stayed home. No neo-cons were taking fire in 68. So they are happy to send the peasants off to die for their great game.
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29th January 2013 at 3:01 pm
SSS says:
anotherjuan
I’m a former Air Force fighter pilot who also served in the CIA. This is NOT a profile that sits well with flash, who refers to me as a “booger-eating spook.” Heh.
I also like to play golf. Golf has not turned me into a sex-crazed fiend. It has, however, turned me into a humiliated idiot.
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29th January 2013 at 3:07 pm
chihua juan says:
big dogs up in here. why i watch my language…
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29th January 2013 at 3:45 pm
flash says:
SSS says:
Holy shit. I get the distinct impression that this Laurence Vance feller doesn’t care for the military.
I’ll let Vance speak for himself.
http://lewrockwell.com/vance/vance264.html
why should anyone support U.S. troops fighting in unjust, immoral wars? It is our troops that have invaded and occupied foreign countries. It is our troops that have dropped the bombs, thrown the grenades, launched the missiles, fired the mortars, and shot the bullets that have resulted in the maiming and killing of hundreds of thousands of people that were no threat to the United States. Should the politicians, the president, the secretary of defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the congressmen that fund unconstitutional wars receive a share of the blame? Of course they should. But how could any Christian write a thank-you note to soldiers he doesn’t even know that are invaders and occupiers engaged in these things?
http://www.lewrockwell.com/vance/vance92.html
But why should we? It is ludicrous to say you oppose the war but support the troops. It is the troops that invaded a foreign country. It is the troops that are occupying a foreign country. It is the troops that are dropping the bombs. It is the troops that are throwing the grenades. It is the troops that are launching the missiles. It is the troops that are firing the mortars. It is the troops that are shooting the bullets. It is the troops that are destroying homes and infrastructure. It is the troops that are injuring, maiming, and killing people, including thousands of civilians.
If more Americans who don’t support U.S. wars and interventions would also quit expressing support for the troops then perhaps more of the troops would quit participating in these wars and interventions.
This is NOT a profile that sits well with flash, who refers to me as a “booger-eating spook.”
…terms of endearment , spooky.
When are you going to renounce the CIA for the anti-American , dope pushing , propaganda spewing , regime changing , POTUS murdering , village killing, American experimenting , money laundering, common criminals they are?
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29th January 2013 at 4:07 pm
flash says:
BTW, super spooky !@#$&^%@
I gave you a thumbs for participation and because you’re my favorite turd..
BTW, is this exemplary of your work in Vietnam?
Hot debate. What do you think?
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29th January 2013 at 4:12 pm
flash says:
I was really counting on Jimski to enlighten me on the mission/game,How am I to know whether I want to play or not if I don’t know the rules or what’s in it for the win?
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29th January 2013 at 4:19 pm
flash says:
Yes, I know.I’ve posted this essay numerous times , but this is a message that needs repeating over and over and over until it sinks in.
If the troops aren’t protection our freedom , what then…Jimski?
http://www.strike-the-root.com/4/hambidge/hambidge2.html
They Hate Us Because of Our Freedom
Column by Alfred A. Hambi.
Whenever I hear ‘they hate us because of our freedom’ or “because they hate our way of life” or some other such drivel, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. If real people didn’t suffer the consequences of it, such ignorance would be amusing. But another annoying thing about statements like these is that they perpetuate the myth that we live in a land of freedom. The sad fact is, we are not free, and haven’t been for a long, long time.
In They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45, Milton Mayer wrote about how the German people kept believing they were still free while the Nazis were tightening their control and extending their power over every facet of life. At first people refused to see the obvious, because the infringements on their freedom were coming in small steps. Each of those small steps, on its own, seemed to be no big deal, nothing to rebel against. But by the time you could no longer ignore the big picture, it was too late. ‘Suddenly it all comes down, all at once. You see what you are, what you have done, or, more accurately, what you haven’t done (for that was all that was required of most of us: that we do nothing) . . . You remember everything now, and your heart breaks. Too late. You are compromised beyond repair.’ Remember, all the people had to do for all that to happen was–nothing. The same phenomenon is happening right here, right now, in the U.S. of A. It had been proceeding at a slower rate than 70 years ago in Germany , but now the pace quickens.
I know there are some who will say, ‘Wait a minute, fella. You’re going too far. The U.S. of A. is still a free country.’ O.K., then. If you’re free, you should have no trouble doing something that people have done for time immemorial. Buy a cow, shelter and feed and care for it, milk it, and sell the milk. Go ahead, try it and see what happens. Come back and let us know how free you are to do such a simple thing, which has been done since the dawn of civilization.
Freedom is a state of being where an individual does not have to get permission in order to do something that harms no one else’s person or property. How many things can you do without getting some form of government permission? Can you build your house on your own property without obtaining government approval? Can you put a new room on your house? Or a new porch? Put in a new toilet? Or even put a shed in your backyard? If you are not free to make your home on your own property, you are not free.
Once you have that home, can you refuse to sell it to the government if they want to use your land for some other purpose? Can you make them go away simply by telling them, ‘I will not sell you my property, at any price!’ If you are not free to choose if, when, how, to whom, and for how much you will sell your property, you are not free.
Can you drive a motor vehicle across this ‘free’ country without someone in government approving of you as a driver? Or without getting government permission to use that vehicle on the roads? If you are not free to travel without permission, you are not free.
Can you buy a pistol without government permission? Can you drive across the country with it on your person, even if you have permission to drive a properly permitted vehicle? There’s a man, a good man from what I’ve heard, who got in trouble in Ohio for doing just that. And I’ll bet there are many more good people that I haven’t heard of who wound up in similar trouble. Let’s remind them how free they are. Could anyone even ride a horse cross-country, with an old Winchester rifle in a scabbard, without being hassled? If you are not free to have a firearm at hand for self-defense, no matter where you go, you are not free.
Are you free to say to the government, ‘I don’t like your retirement plan; therefore, I will no longer pay for it?’ Can you, without penalty, tell the government that you will no longer pay for subsidies, for regulations, for wars, for empire, or for any activities that you disapprove? If you are not free to refuse to pay for things that you do not want, you are not free.
If the government decides it needs more troops to build and maintain its empire, can you refuse to go if it calls for you? Will they leave you alone if you tell them you won’t kill and die for them? Can you simply ignore the draft, without consequence? Can you refuse to be a conscripted slave? If you are not free to tell the government ‘Hell no, I won’t go!’ you are not free.
Can you open a business, like a simple barbershop, without government permission? Or how about a bakery? A diner? A hot dog stand? A gun shop? It’s been said that before we invaded Iraq , there were more gun shops in Baghdad than in Washington D.C. Can you wire or plumb or fix TVs or cars without a government license? If you’re not free to make a living without getting permission, you are not free.
And once you have government approval to open a restaurant or bar, are you free to decide what people may do within your business? Can you choose whether or not they may smoke on the premises? Are you free to invite them to light up and enjoy a cigarette, a cigar, or a pipe with their drink, or after their meal? If you are not free to decide what people may or may not do on your property or within your business, you are not free.
Are you free to smoke a joint? Are you free to hire someone to help you satisfy a physical urge? You can do both in the same afternoon in Amsterdam . I haven’t heard of anybody attacking the Dutch because of their freedom. If you are not free to entertain your mind and body in any way that does not harm another, with anyone who is willing, you are not free.
Can you undergo any medical treatment you think is in your best interest? Can you use whatever drug you deem appropriate for your condition? Can you even get some marijuana to help you avoid nausea so you can keep your meds from coming back up? Can you get it just to feel a little better for a little while? If you are not free to pursue any treatment or use any substance you think might help you obtain, regain, or retain your health, you are not free.
Are you able to criticize political candidates by name? A week before the next election or primary, place a newspaper or TV or magazine or radio ad criticizing a candidate. Let us know how you fare. The Supreme Court says it’s okay to make that a crime. If you are not free to talk about politicians at any time, at any place, by any means, in any form, you are not free.
Can you take your children out of a government or conventional private school setting, without explaining to some bureaucrat how you plan to educate them? Can you homeschool them without getting government approval of your lesson plans? Can you tell everyone to buzz off, that it’s none of their business how or if you educate your kids? If you are not free to teach your children what you want, where you want, when you want, and how you want, you are not free.
So, let’s reiterate. You need government permission to make your home, travel, earn a living, defend yourself, obtain medical treatment, and educate your children. You will never get government approval for many of those things in many places. You will never get government permission to entertain your mind and body in unapproved ways. At certain times, you cannot criticize those who decide who and what gets approved. You must sell your property to the government if they want it, and you must kill and die for them if they tell you to. And you have no choice but to pay for it all anyway, whether you like it or not.
And still, we think we are free.
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29th January 2013 at 4:26 pm
card802 says:
My old man was a Sargent in Korea. He always thought I was a big pussy for not “joining up” and going off to defend America.
We had long drawn out battles about what “defending” a country meant.
To him it was a duty, you did what you were told regardless of convictions, you do not think, you are molded, you learn to hate whoever you are told is now your enemy, you did your job by trying to kill your new enemy before they kill you.
After his stroke we don’t argue too much anymore, too bad, we had some epic battles.
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29th January 2013 at 5:00 pm
Marianne says:
Some relevant wisdom from Albert Einstein:
Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.
I am not only a pacifist but a militant pacifist. I am willing to fight for peace. Nothing will end war unless the people themselves refuse to go to war.
He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice.
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29th January 2013 at 5:09 pm
Llpoh says:
Is anyone who posts on this site more full of shit than flash? A gallon of laxative could not unplug his sorry ass.
Flash, in all seriousness, I have reverted to my former opinion that you are a low-life douchebag.. That photo with the accompanying question to SSS confirmed it to me. He knows something about honor and service. You know not a fucking thing about either. You really think you need to remind him about the horrors of war?
I await your cut and paste response, asshole.
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29th January 2013 at 5:21 pm
IndenturedServant says:
Laurence M. Vance can FUCKING BLOW ME. I wish I had time to respond to this horseshit.
If this cocksucker Vance has ever voted for a politician at the Federal level then at a bare fucking minimum he is complicit in all the negative shit he is railing against because the Federal Government does all of that shit on behalf of and in the name of Laurence M. Vance who by the way is a fart sniffing, shit eating, cum stain in the asshole of society! The best part of him ran down his mothers leg!
As for the rest of his diatribe, he can be excused because no one with shit for brains is expected to know anything any way!
I_S
Hot debate. What do you think?
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29th January 2013 at 5:47 pm
SSS says:
“BTW, is this exemplary of your work in Vietnam?”
flash @ me, with accompanying famous photo of children fleeing their village after a napalm attack
That was an unnecessary, low-blow, guilt-by-association, personal attack. First, I never participated in any operation against any civilian target in Vietnam. Never. And I would never try to justify the horrible violations against civilians committed by our armed forces in that conflict. They happened, and they are a terrible stain on the vast majority of those of us who tried and did serve honorably. My Lai, anyone?
Second, while you and I have had words in the past, I don’t recall ever launching anything so viciously personal as you just did. I don’t question your beliefs and the way you have lived your life with scorn and ridicule. You are what you are. I may have vigorously challenged some of the things you have said and articles you have posted, but I don’t think I’ve ever turned it into a contest of personal insults.
Keeping in mind that Admin has diagnosed me with Alzheimer’s, you might want to try it sometime.
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29th January 2013 at 6:17 pm
SSS says:
5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Indentured Servant tees off on Laurence Vance. Sweet.
Actual photo of I_S going into orbit
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29th January 2013 at 6:25 pm
Llpoh says:
SSS – nicely said. Could have sprinkled in a few more “you fucking assholes” or somesuch. But you still get an A.
Reasoning with flash will do no good. Anyone so low as to do what he did above has no moral compass nor principles. He attracts only nutjobs, truthers, and conspiracy theorists. He can only cut and paste as he is incapable of original thought. He is what he is, as you say, which is very little indeed. .
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29th January 2013 at 6:41 pm
flash says:
loopy, you opinion means about as much as me as the empty word “honor ” means to all kids who’ve been bombed, burnt and strafed by the US Airforce.
Since you’re stooping to than level, as we used to say in grammar school, suck my ass ‘tll you get booty juice drunk.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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29th January 2013 at 7:27 pm
flash says:
SS- Second, while you and I have had words in the past, I don’t recall ever launching anything so viciously personal as you just did. I don’t question your beliefs and the way you have lived your life with scorn and ridicule. You are what you are. I may have vigorously challenged some of the things you have said and articles you have posted, but I don’t think I’ve ever turned it into a contest of personal insults.
flash -BTW, is this exemplary of your work in Vietnam?
Its a g’damn question that has a simple answer of yes or no and has nothing to do with “launching” a ” viciously personal” attack so stop with the drama Queen bullshit snow flaking.
Fact is,kids and innocent civilians were blown to bits and burned alive on a regular basis during the Vietnam war and either you participated or you didn’t .
And that’sa personal issue you’re under no obligation to divulge.
Whether I think the killing of innocents right or wrong , it is of no consequence to you and I’m sorry if your cage was rattled so easliy. Whatever right or wrong your rendered during your time spent here on earth is between you and your God.
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29th January 2013 at 7:42 pm
flash says:
SSS says:
5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Indentured Servant tees off on Laurence Vance. Sweet.
IO/S didn’t say a damn thing other than rattle off some vitriol .It doesn’t take much to rock your tiny world does it?
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29th January 2013 at 7:44 pm
flash says:
Llpoh – He can only cut and paste as he is incapable of original thought.
Says the booger eating weasel who think his personal corporate experiencing of firing “thousands” of people is empirical evidence that the majority of Americans are too sorry and stupid to perform at the level of illiterate Asians manufacturing plastic dog turds .
ES
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29th January 2013 at 7:49 pm
flash says:
http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/vietnam.htm
Poems by Curt Bennett, Former US pilot on active service in Vietnam
THE SCHOOL
The early morning warmed
As down the dusty road
The big truck wheeled.
If was full of Officers and me
From the bombing squadron
On their way to school.
Through the small Ville of An-Tan
They drove the narrow, crooked streets
Bounding the battered, small shell houses.
Green algae ditches held swarming water,
Bars, Massage, and Dancing, red signs
Proclaiming business as usual.
The village people stared at the truck.
Quietly they stood, old peasant stock
With broken, dark-red stained teeth
And yellow wax in their ears
While white, tiny lice specks
Grazed on the black, oily hair.
Slowly the truck drove the pontoon bridge
Built by the Corps of Engineers.
On the other side on the right
Sat the villager’s school
Enclosed by a wire fence,
It sat shadowed under the tall trees.
Whitewashed patched walls,
Cracked faded red roof-tiles,
Staring glassless, black window squares.
A broken, open wooden door,
A tired flagpole
Drooping its weary, red-yellow rag.
No teeter-totters, no monkey bars,
See-saws or jungle gyms,
Swings or rings, or merry-go-rounds.
Only hard packed red earth
Beaten flat and even
By thousands of little bare feet.
The children abruptly stopped
Their rowdy, noisy play
Growing quiet, suddenly still,
Watching the big Americans
Climb down off the green truck
And walk warily through the front gate.
Shyly, the kids huddled behind each other
Peering out with button-bright eyes
Shining their bug-like faces.
The older children stood apart,
Slinging their younger, thumb-sucking brother
Across small, bony child hips.
The children’s hair was cut quite short,
The girls wore little pajamas,
The boys, shorts and T-shirts.
All wore shower-tong sandals of rubber.
A few had on their white straw hats,
The rest were bare headed.
The two male schoolteachers were young,
Somewhere in their 20′s,
They stood just outside on the stoop
With nervous eyes watching everything,
Holding hands, they smiled widely
Displaying their shiny gold teeth.
Their singsong soft voices
Ordered the children in line
For the ceremony,
“Scholarships” would be awarded,
Worth about ten American dollars
To the most “deserving”.
A big, gangling American…
A small Vietnamese child…
Big hands, to little ones…
A grateful bow of thanks,
An awkward bend of acknowledgement,
There were no communication problems.
How strange, how different,
This parody of children here
Compared to those in the States.
These poor kids had NOTHING!
And for most of the,
The bleak future held the same.
These were the innocents,
These, the ones
Who stood to lose the most,
To hurt the most
And with no way
To every change anything.
They would grow up to the sound
Of howling airplanes and rumbling artillery,
Constant, never ending noises of war,
Of stupid ideologies tearing at each other,
Killing, destroying wiping everything away,
And in the end, it is all bullshit!
The squadron Flight Surgeon
Moves among the kids,
Some already had lost some teeth,
Some had not teeth at all.
One small boys ears were full of red dirt
Crawling with little, black speckled bugs.
For most of the Americans
This was the first true contact,
Their initial meeting face to face
With the children over here
Who were about the same size and shape
Of little brothers and sisters back home.
The mood grew strangely quiet and awkward
As each pilot slowly realized
That kids just like these were his fleeing targets
Running before his dull, yellow bombsight
The second before he thumbed the button
And released his tumbling napalm.
“Ring around the rosy,
A pocket full of posy.
Ashes…ashes…all fall down….”
Curt Bennett
Copyright Curt Bennett © 2003
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29th January 2013 at 7:58 pm
flash says:
I/S …when you’re though frothing at the mouth, take some time to reflect.
January 29, 2013
Veterans Speak about the Military
Posted by Laurence Vance on January 29, 2013 04:30 PM
I had many veterans write me today about my article, “No, I Have Never Been in the Military.” Since I have never been in the military, let’s hear what those who have been in have to say:
“Yes, I have been in the military. I went to Vietnam and killed innocent people who had not harmed me nor my country because I was a coward and did not stand against the government’s lies!”
“I have been in the military, and I can tell you that you’re on the money with that one in particular.” [the one about military values]
“Thank God you were not in the military. I was drafted and spent 16 months in Vietnam. I thought I was there to defend our freedoms but it was all lies and over 58,000 died in vain. I thank God for LewRockwell.com and read it every day.”
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29th January 2013 at 8:09 pm
Chronic Agitator says:
You can never know what serving in the military is like if you haven’t done it. You’ll never know the fright of bullets flying closely over your head. You never know what it feels like to pull the pin and toss a grenade. You’ll never know the sensations, the vibrations, the noise of flying around in big helicopters unless you have done it. You’ll never know about puking from fright. People like Vance think they can imagine it but they can’t. Twatwaffles like Vance can type and that is all. I didn’t have much of a choice— I was drafted–I didn’t want to go, I didn’t like the army and I did not like where they sent me but I went and I survived. I would not trade the experience for anything. LBJ, McNamera, Westmoreland, Bushes, and Obama et al ….as hard I as I try I can’t come up with anything rotten enough to call them. FYYFF.
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29th January 2013 at 8:26 pm
llpoh says:
flash quickly comes back with a cut and paste. What a surprise. And he is too dense to understand he insulted SSS. No fucking surprise there either. Never has flash had an original thought, and never will. He is too fucking stupid to accomplish that task, and can only post someone else’ work. Day in and day out he does it. He is just a loser.
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29th January 2013 at 8:43 pm
ecliptix543 says:
Twatwaffles… That’s a new one, even by TBP’s stratospheric standards of imaginative insults. Nicely done, CA.
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29th January 2013 at 8:46 pm
Leobeer says:
flash, I have the same beliefs as Laurence Vance. We are in agreement there.
That said, everything you posted in the comments is rubbish. You are just as bad as the military by attacking other posters that don’t agree with you. You feel a need to win the war of opinions and resort to an overkill of c&p’s.
The pictures were way out of bounds, asshole.
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29th January 2013 at 8:49 pm
ThePessimisticChemist says:
This is as good a place as any.
I have a number of military and police as my facebook friends. The following blurb has been making the rounds.
“I am the police, and I’m here to arrest you. You’ve broken the law. I did not write the law. I may disagree with the law but I will enforce it. No matter how you plead, cajole, beg or attempt to stir my sympathy. Nothing you do will stop me from placing you in a steel cage with gray bars. If you run away I will chase you. If you fight me I will fight back. If you shoot at me I will shoot back. By law I am unable to walk away. I am a consequence. I am the unpaid bill. I am fate with a badge and a gun. Behind my badge is a heart like yours. I bleed, I think, I love, and yes I can be killed. And although I am but one man, I have thousands of brothers and sisters who are the same as me. They will lay down their lives for me and I them. We stand watch together. The thin-blue-line, protecting the prey from the predators, the good from the bad. We are the police.”
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29th January 2013 at 8:51 pm
ThePessimisticChemist says:
Just found out its from a movie…..
and also that “I shouldn’t worry about it if I’m not a criminal.”
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29th January 2013 at 8:53 pm
llpoh says:
Oh, yeah. flash talked about illiterate Asians nations. What a joke. They are coming on fast. And they are not pissing away their educations on art history.
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29th January 2013 at 8:53 pm
llpoh says:
Fucking wordpress. Gist of it is SKorea #2, Singapore #4, Japan #5, USA #26. China is #62, but get this – by memory they are graduating more engineers each year than the US has in total. Wonder how that is going to work out for them, and the US.
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29th January 2013 at 8:57 pm
chihuahua juan says:
SSS – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdSj0_Fd4ds
Flash – i will make it a point to skip anything posted by you. to paraphrase col frank slade (al pacino) many men, far better than you, have died for the priviledge of saluting SSS, if you’re smart, you won’t disrespect his service again. your whole post is a shame.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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29th January 2013 at 9:03 pm
BUCKHED says:
Smedley Butler’s “War Is A Racket” should be required reading for all high school students and college students. I’d say folks in CONgress should read it but it would be a waste of time.
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29th January 2013 at 9:09 pm
BUCKHED says:
In basic and AIT I refused to be molded . I remember asking the Drill Sargent at the radiological training segment in basic why we were told to lie down after watching a nearby nuclear blast when the winds were several hundred miles per hour…he told me I supposed to act..not think !
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29th January 2013 at 9:16 pm
sangell says:
Smedley Butler was a fine officer who went off the deep end politically. His famous quote was written for a socialist publication AFTER he had been passed over promotion, cashiered from the Marine Corps and defeated in his run for the Senate. He was a bitter old soldier and not the first or last who believed only he could run things.
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29th January 2013 at 9:27 pm
Makati1 says:
Those who serve in the military, any military, are fools deluded to believe they are protecting their country when all they are protecting are the corporations that own them. I served 11 years in the National Guard and felt I was doing my country a service because we aided in disasters and saved lives, not took them. I chose the NG over serving in Nam, that disaster of poor diplomacy that killed thousands and mentally wounded many thousands more on our side and hundreds of thousand Vietnamese, who are today our friends. It is NOT patriotism to serve when you kill women and children and destroy countries that have no way to hurt America.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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29th January 2013 at 9:28 pm
sangell says:
Sheesh what a collection of kooks and dumbasses posting here.
Makati if the US military wanted to go kill women and children overseas there would be none left when they finished. That is about as ignorant a comment as the human mind can develop.
We can disagree on the merits of using military power as part of our foreign policy ( though there is NO world power that didn’t use it) but to suggest that our forces are indiscriminate killers or our objective is to ‘destroy’ countries puts you in the lunatic fringe with flash. We destroyed the Japanese military and the industrial base that lies behind all more military forces in WW2 so you could have a place for your sorry ass to retire to.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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29th January 2013 at 9:41 pm
Kill Bill says:
So, Juan (chen) is it?
I have not served in the military, that is true, but I did work, as a civilian on military craft at two different FBOs and on one military base,
SSS does not salute me and me not him, but I do say the word “Salud” when we, or those who have done operated in theatres like his.
Now, I have done this, I have the means to prove it, I worked at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma specifically on the Boeing 707 {which was modified to become the KC-135} AWACS trainers and in Alabama on the KC-135 refuelers. The training craft were using the older JT3d’s but the refuelers used the CFM engines [Hi-bypass ducted turbo-fans]
I think your bit of a fool Juan, please disprove me.
Now, why should I listen to you?
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29th January 2013 at 9:43 pm
John A says:
My father, John Sr, was a decorated WWII veteran, specifically a waist gunner on a B-17 bomber crew. He rarely talked about it when I was young. In 1966, I was thirteen. I remember one night, Dad came home late from work and found me at the kitchen table reading the back of cereal box, Cheerios or Rice Krispies (I don’t remember exactly). On the back of the box was a kid’s toy advertisement to order “WWII (paper) airplanes” for 15 cents. Dad sat down at the table, looked at the cereal box and then scribbled a few quotes on a piece of paper, which later I found out were quotes made by Winston Churchill during the war. We talked for a while and I proceeded to tell him ALL ABOUT THE WAR and why America had to fight it to defeat Hitler, the Nazis and all that. Dad sat for moment and listened, and then he looked at me with the saddest brown eyes I had ever seen and said “Johnny, in war you don’t really know what you’re fighting for”.
He then got up from the table, said “Goodnight” to me and quietly walked away.
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29th January 2013 at 9:49 pm
chihuahua juan says:
i changed my moniker to signal i am not a big dog so yeah i’m just a lowly fool. i like that you riddle me with your leading questions. i should have taken your advice and gone to screw off on another site but i enjoy reading coherent posts from literate writers. so, this fool gotta stay.
hey, you reminded me, i might go to chihuahua chen next. my young pal mike told me once, you’re what we would call a nonner. never worked on the flightline.
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29th January 2013 at 9:55 pm
Chronic Agitator says:
No one doing military service is like no one flushing the toilet– pretty soon someone is going to be shoveling somebody else’s shit. Flush the toilet, Asshat.
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29th January 2013 at 10:01 pm
Chronic Agitator says:
Before someone jumps in the middle of my shit, I believe most of our wars and “police actions” are a complete waste of resources and lives. I do know that we need a strong standing army to ward off the jerkwads of the world.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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29th January 2013 at 10:09 pm
Kill Bill says:
My father worked on the F-107s as a gun sighter.
My mothers new husband was of the 22nd bomb group.
http://redraiders22bg.com/
And of which you can read more. They flew the Marauders (B-26)
~~~~
Tis a good thing you posted JA.
Thanx
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29th January 2013 at 10:09 pm
Kill Bill says:
Before someone jumps in the middle of my shit, I believe most of our wars and “police actions” are a complete waste of resources and lives. -CA
I dont think offense, IE pre-eminent warfare, which is warfare tself, is something we should, as a nation of people, do. Is it a waste of resources?
Undoubtedly. The people own what the military buys but cannot themselves purchase. It is a profitable industry but drains the economy as it is not consumable to them.
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29th January 2013 at 10:21 pm
Kill Bill says:
you’re what we would call a nonner. never worked on the flightline. -Juan Chen
I did, poser.
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29th January 2013 at 10:23 pm
Makati1 says:
sangelllll…. our forces ARE indiscriminate killers. Why are we even in the middle east except to protect our oil interests there. Why else? No middle eastern country can hurt the Us except by cutting off the black blood we are addicted to.
And don’t say 9/11. That was set up by our own government as a false flag and allowed to happen. There is no other explanation. So don’t tell me that our government will not kill innocent people if it serves the master’s purpose. They will kill you if told to.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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29th January 2013 at 11:38 pm
juan chen says:
Killer – there’s a lot of stuff i never did and i haven’t done. for what sin of omission do you call me a poser? did i pretend to be a hero, a patriot, a jock, a nerd, a jet mack, what????
there were a lot of names i could have called flashman but i don’t know the dude. he sounds like a passionate peacenik. all i did was rebuke him for disrespecting an officer. you didn’t say anything.
and i said my friend told me that as a support person i would be known as a nonner if i was still in the service. great, i can add poser to nonner and all sorts of other names to my list of names i’ve been called.
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29th January 2013 at 12:06 am
flash says:
It’s amazing how any whiny whistle dicks get their emotion in a knot over depiction in graphic or discourse of the reality of real war.
The noble , honor bound, glorious duty for country and bullshit image conjured in their convoluted memory has replaced the truth of reality in which the unnecessary destruction of peoples lives , homes , places of business , worship, leisure, infrastructure has also inflicted a terrible wound on the soul and humanity of the victim that never heals, but only serves as a catalyst for more violence.
Ron Paul termed this quest for vengeance , blowback.
The irony of it all is that via propaganda , indoctrination, hubristic pride and ignorance reverence of the M (government) I (corporations) Complex (fascism) has reached the level of sacrosanct …a religion irreproachable above all others, regardless the atrocities inflicted or upon whom.
Of the MIC,-especially on part of Lame Stream Media- there is to be no criticism tolerated , no atrocities revealed, no negative images displayed and no frank disillusion possible and to a attempt to do so is tantamount to insulting the memory of those who’ve served…or so we are told to believe.
Cognition dissonance struts in full regalia criticizing the militarization of local police, the military grade weaponry and armor, the road side checks, the cavity searches, the false imprisonments, the assaults, the murder and then checks itself the mirror in chest puffing reverence of service rendered in committing the same disgusting acts despised locally but abroad.
The very fact that American kids die ,wives widowed, families bereaved, resources depleted and wealth squandered should be more reason to discuss the utility of the military and put the magnifying glass on all past war and actions thereof , because it is only from the dark lessons learned from history that we can shine a light of the path of future.
For a true patriot , facing the the truth about the nature of war and the reasons for fighting is the truly an honorable endeavor , which only can be ignored at the peril of what lefts of this once great Republic and freedom therein.
But,to remain silent ,complacent and willingly sacrifice more youth and national wealth at the alter to mammon is to blaze a guaranteed path to utter destitution.
For those who’ve served ,you’re were only one spoke in a giant wheel of rolling destruction.You weren’t the MIC, but only the fuel that kept it burning. There is bigger picture and it’s not you or your personal experience.
And, thanks to a steady source of youthful fuel, we now have the fire that burns out of control, but still we must worship the flame.To do otherwise is blasphemy.
Obviously there are those who listen well, but do not comprehend.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTs6a0ORdQU
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29th January 2013 at 7:23 am
flash says:
Loopy, if you despise the American worker so much, why don’t you take your snark and your corporate idolatry and shanghai yourself off to a slave labor camp of your preference.
I’m sure we dumbass Americans will do just fines sans you or your corporation.
SSS- I find it amusing amongst other thoughts, that you’ve supposedly adopted libertarianism after decades of trodding on the liberties of others at the behest of the state.I’m sure individual freedom is a luxury you now can well afford to champion thank s to the benefits provided by the state for years of service in denying others individual freedom.
BTW, as far as I’m concerned Loopy and SSS are mere characters actors on TBP. I can neither confirm their personal self-aggrandizing tails of magnificence nor invalidate, but what i can do is take them with a huge grain of salt.
I use the internet to decimate -often via the ease of c&p- information that I deem useful for the liberty movement , for which I neither apologize nor seek accolades.That said I’ll continue to do so until Admin tells me different.
If I thought my personal experience, past exploits or failings were relevant or useful to the liberty movenment , I would go into detail , but since I’m just one actor in a sea of players, I’ll refrain and keep my discourse focused on the big picture.
Unlike loopy , I don’t hate the average mediocre American , but want to make sure we all have the same opportunity in a free market now dominated by mega-corporations and their politico puppets.
We all can’t be a great haughty corporatist graduated from Dartmouth, but we all can be free. And that should be the goal of all of US.
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29th January 2013 at 7:43 am
Llpoh says:
Flash – you moron, I do not hate workers. I do see the massive failings of Americans in general, and I see the, up close and personal. I see the lack of skills and education, I see the “me first” attitudes, the lack of dedication and the unwillingness to take responsibility, I see the sub-standard work ethic and the tendency to put everything but work first. I see the debt they pile up, the relationship break-downs, and the drug and alcohol abuse.
How the fuck do you think the US got into the situation it is ib? By being the best? You want to keep believing that everything is ok. I put the truth out there and you call it hating. And tell me to take a few hundred jobs elsewhere.
You are truly stupid. You profess to be trying to spread truth but would not know truth if it hit you in the face.
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29th January 2013 at 3:06 pm
Llpoh says:
Btw, flash,, there is a price to pay for freedom. And as of late, the US people are not prepared to pay for it. The degradation I have seen in the workforce is symptomatic of that.
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29th January 2013 at 3:08 pm
nonner says:
i was a little reluctant (newspeak – reticent) to mention demons but here we are discussing serving mammon. rich people do not represent mammon, they serve mammon. they worship money in ways that would embarrass a pedophile. they lust after money, they chew it, smell it. money can be pretty intoxicating and we have seen narco punks overcome with passion so that they fornicate on stacks of money.
this piece would be more honest if it were entiltled “proud not to have served”. military service does take a heavy toll on some. if you don’t have the need or the inclination, great, but just what can you be proud of?
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29th January 2013 at 9:44 pm
flash says:
Llpoh says:
Flash – you moron, I do not hate workers. I do see the massive failings of Americans in general, and I see the, up close and personal. I see the lack of skills and education,
And you think Asian factory workers are better educated and therefore more deserving or is it simply because they have no choice , but forced slaved labor at a pheasants wage?
Would you be more enamored with the American worker if you could chain them to a worktable and pay them 5 dollars a month?
loopy- Btw, flash,, there is a price to pay for freedom. And as of late, the US people are not prepared to pay for it.
And what would that price be?Whose blood, yours? Do tell.
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29th January 2013 at 7:31 am
flash says:
BTW, loopy ,as I recall , you’re plan for payment of freedom rendered is to tuck your tale like the mangy corporatist cur you are and abandon the US.
You spew shit out of both sides of your facial anus and all meaningless.
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29th January 2013 at 7:46 am
flash says:
..the perfect military man.
« Previous: Israel Attack: Strange Bedfellows on Syria? | LRC Home | LRC Blog
January 31, 2013
The Man on the Fifty-Dollar Bill
Posted by Thomas DiLorenzo on January 31, 2013 12:15 AM
“Intelligence has been commoner among American presidents than high character, but [Ulysses S.] Grant ran against the stream by having a sort of character without any visible intelligence whatever. He was almost the perfect military man — dogged, devoted and dumb. In the White House he displayed an almost inconceivable stupidity. Whatever was palpably untrue convinced him instantly, and whatever was crooked seemed to him to be noble. If the American people could have kept him out of the presidency by prolonging the Civil War until 1877, it would have been an excellent investment. A more honest man never lived, but West Point and bad whiskey had transformed his cortex into a sort of soup.”
–H.L. Mencken, A Second Mencken Chrestomathy (Edited by Terry Teachout, 1995), p. 33.
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29th January 2013 at 7:52 am
the web of astarte and mammon « Shield of God. says:
[...] Proud Not to Have Served Mammon (theburningplatform.com) [...]
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29th January 2013 at 1:43 pm