barbie thinks that President Bush made some tasteless jokes concerning the missing WMD at the Radio and Television Correspondentsââ¬â¢ Association dinner.
Please do not drag me or my fellow soldiers into these sort of discussions. We can take care of ourselves. We know what we think, and the soldiers around me think the jokes are hilarious.
Re:No soldiers were implied
brian_d_foy on 2004-03-30T20:39:48
You missed this:
I wonder if the men and women still there, facing daily horrors I cannot begin to imagine, find it funny. I think not.Things are different since I was in...
phillup on 2004-03-30T23:19:19
I'm not sure if I should wade in... or just watch from the shore.
I was in the military for a while (1981 - 1991).
I met a lot of really cool people, and we did and saw a bunch of funny... absolutely hillarious stuff.
That doesn't mean that it was appropriate.
That is one of the reasons for dining in vs. dining out. One is for the insiders, and the other is a bit more civilized.
Believe me, congress did not find admirals and colonels doing "aircraft landings" on buffet tables to be very funny. Yet... as someone stationed on an Air Force base with Navy personnel... it really is quite funny to see in person. Anyone familiar with the inter-service rivalries would understand it.
Still didn't make it "right". (I personally consider that part of the... um... "activities" to be pretty harmless.)
---
<wading in a bit deeper>
I do not find it inappropriate for civilians to *wonder* what military people think.
Is this the proper venue? Perhaps not... but, I have not seen much objection to getting "off topic" in the past. I rather like the breadth of topics... it is nice for me to know how other people that I consider to be very intelligent think.
The people here are better able, IMHO, to present their side of an issue... and I find that to be very valueable. Even, no... especially if their side is contrary to my own.
The blanket statements... well, those are hardly correct in any situation. (possibly even now!)
It is nice to hear that you (all) can take care of yourselves... people do worry about and for you all. Even some that don't support the action.
(I won't call it a war until congress does... something about that oath I took to defend the constitution just got to me.)Re:Things are different since I was in...
brian_d_foy on 2004-03-31T17:17:46
As I understand it, the president's presentations to media dinners are supposed to be dining-in affairs.:) Re:Things are different since I was in...
phillup on 2004-03-31T21:18:04
I get your meaning, but... for those not familiar with the military... it would actually be a dining-out if non-military persons attend as guests.
http://www.usafa.af.mil/ccp/dinein.htmRe:Things are different since I was in...
brian_d_foy on 2004-04-02T07:36:08
The press club dinners are not military affairs, but they are supposed to be closed like our dining-in affairs. That is, what goes on in them is not supposed to show up in the news, so the guests can relax and interact with each other as real people other than stories.Re:Things are different since I was in...
jdavidb on 2004-04-02T20:52:57
I rather like the breadth of topics... it is nice for me to know how other people that I consider to be very intelligent think.
Hear, hear! I enjoy being challenged by intelligent articulate people who see things differently from myself.
Re:Things are different since I was in...
Mr. Muskrat on 2004-04-02T21:39:33
I do not find it inappropriate for civilians to *wonder* what military people think.
I do not either. If someone wants to know what military people think, they too can join the military and find out!
Re:Things are different since I was in...
brian_d_foy on 2004-04-08T21:00:53
I do not object to people wondering what other c\groups think, but when they use that wonder as a tool to draw sympathy to their cause, they do everyone a disservice.
I am not in the Army for people to use me or my friends as a reason to be indignant over an essentially political issue.
Few people would miss this point if the exploited group were something else, including one related to Godwin's Law.Re:Things are different since I was in...
Mr. Muskrat on 2004-04-08T21:12:56
...when they use that wonder as a tool to draw sympathy to their cause... Yes, that is what I meant.
:-) Re:No soldiers were implied
pudge on 2004-03-30T21:47:52
There's so much I want to say (not about you or Brian), but I am going to try to be as pleasant as possible instead:
This site is not just about Perl, much as the nature of some posts on the site makes many wish it were. I've found the best thing to do is work to ignore the individuals who persistently annoy you, by not going to their journals, and if necessary, by making them a Foe and giving Foes a -6 comment bonus in your preferences, and setting your threshold to 1 or higher.Re:No soldiers were implied
jordan on 2004-04-02T16:59:44
You must have to be pretty obnoxious to get foes around here. With all the incendiary things I've said down through the years, I still have not acquired a single freak.
The only foes that I have seen here are some people who came in to put up what were obvious trolls. None of those people post regularly.
