| September 27 2005 Quotes of the Day
 It was once said that the moral test of government is how the government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the shadows of life-the sick, the needy, and the handicapped.
Hubert Humphrey,speech(1977)
The worst government is the most moral. One composed of cynics is often very tolerant and humane. But when fanatics are on top, there is no limit to oppression.
HL Mencken-Minority Report: HK Mencken's notebooks.
A little government and a little luck are necessary in life, but only a fool trusts either of them.
PJ O'ROURKE quoted in Quote Magazine
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| Great Philosophy To Live By
 I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good therefore I can do, or any kindness I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.
Steven Grellet, attributed.
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Military Recruitment At Schools Under Fire
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(AFP/EPA/File) |
With Katrina and now Hurricane Rita, somehow talking about things military isn't a top priority, but it should be. We still have soldiers at war and soldiers who are dying. The count is nudging toward two thousand.
We are now experiencing difficult times both domestically and internationally. Right now, things domestic are on peoples' minds; The news clips have to do with hurricanes and things right here at home; Americans at all levels are suffering. And, to the average man on the street, fighting a war in Iraq, for whatever reasons the President and his die-hard supporters come up with, doesn't resonate with people as it did before the Hurricanes!
NOT IN MY BACKYARD
With Katrina, things suddenly seemed to take a turn in the right direction when the troops showed up. One guy said, "I thought my country had abandoned me and then I saw the 82d Airborne." Now, that is an endorsement and rightly so. American soldiers like the 82d are the best trained in the world and could have alleviated much suffering in the first seventy-two hours of Katrina. What is that saying, "***" So true!
However, all the fauntleroy of supporting the troops, is a sham; I want to say "What sort of show are people putting on?" Support the troops while at the same time headlines like the one above speak volumes. NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard).
One mother said, She didn't want the military recruiters contacting her teenage daughters, but she wants the teens to hear about college scholarships and job opportunities from other organizations." NIMBY! What she is all shook up about is the No Child Left Behind Act which requires that military recruiters have the same access to student information as educational recruiters. Schools that do not let recruiters have access risk losing federal funds.
TOO GOOD FOR THE MIILITARY
After Vietnam, veterans got no sympathy mainly because the prevailing attitude was that if we weren't so stupid, we could have avoided Vietnam like most every other country. What is the attitude now? Iraqnam? Maybe or maybe those hollow concepts of "Support the troops are really a mask for "My kids are too good for the military." I don't know and doubt anybody would admit it if they felt that way. And, until we have some sort of equitable AllServe, those troops who show up in New Orleans or Houston or wherever will come from a small segment of our culture. It ain't fair. KT
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REUTERS/US Navy/HANDOUT
Our God and Soldiers we alike adore,
When at the break of ruin, not before,
After deliverance both alike requieted,
Our God forgotten and our soldiers slighted,
Frances Quarles(1592-1644)
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