US Military Lacks Combat Readiness

You are all right, and I was wrong to levy my content for where we are today (as a nation) squarely on the shoulders of the poor. I didn't mean it like that...I meant it in more of an 'all able bodied folks need to buckle down' kind of way..think America domestically during WWII and you'll get the idea.

I honestly hadn't read the article about so many corporations letting people go. You're right, corporations are too powerful...but what in the world are any of us doing to change that?

My experience with 'the poor' has been extensive and throughout my life, so I'm not new to the fact some folks are down on their luck, but that's only temporary. However, it seems a lot of this forum assumes the poor are handicapped in some way. My experience has been that they the great majority are able-bodied, but are alcoholics, drug addicts, and all around lazy. I've had a lot of friends growing up who, for one reason or another, follwed the path of their parents and they too are 'disabled' or addicted to God knows what. I've done what I can to stay in touch, create opportunities for them by offering them part-time work, etc, but it's never worked and they have almost all simply turned their nose up at me, no-show/no-called, or vanished all together. For the record, these are all white people, as I was raised in an area where there are very few blacks or even Mexicans.

That being said,I also used to do ride-alongs with the local police department to donate gifts to people who were 'of the state' etc. It was tremendously moving work and it gave me the mentality and work ethic I have today, because I old myself I'd never be in a position like that and I'd never trust a doctor. I haven't been to the doctor in 10 years, I take no meds, I still have my wisdom teeth, and I'm get sick maybe once every two years or so. My mom has Huntingtons Disease and I have a 50/50 chance of having it...I've declined the DNA test and wish to rather live my life as it should be. If it's short, due to the disease, then so be it. I'm not afraid of death and the notion of the disease developing keeps me living every day as if my days are numbered.

However, the point I'm trying to make is that there are those who are truly disabled and I feel for them. I give water to the homeless in the summer heat, I will simply shake their hands if I don't have any change at the light and tell them 'God Bless You' and they genuinely appreciate it in most cases. Once, from across the intersection, I saw a Volvo pull up to an adjacent homeless woman and hand her a note before driving off. She stopped dead in her tracks upon opening it, began to cry, and holding the note in her hands as if she was at worship she began to apparently speak to God above, looking up into the clouds. I cried...I'm tearing up right now just thinking about it. Then there are those who take advantage of the system and unfortunately, due to certain current policies, the latter makes up a greater population who are considered 'poor.' I've traveled all over the SW of America and it's the same thing in every poor district...those who need it are few and far between, while those who take advantage of it are everywhere.

I guess at the end of the day, I wish people were more honest. If you're not truly disabled, don't cop-out on what the system provides, go work and benefit your families and communities. If you cop-out and you know you're coping out, you may be taking from someone who truly needs it and with so many people on the dependency train, it stresses all of the systems involved.

The biggest problems I have is that America is all about treating the symptoms and not the root cause. That and people's empathy overstepping it's bounds and being projected onto others who weren't asking for it in the first place. It's like a kid that's misbehaving...a parent reaches out with a quick swat on the butt (no harm done)...then an unrelated person steps in to confront the parent about their apparent abuse. What lesson does the kid learn? That others empathy will step in and save you even when you know what you are doing is wrong. How might their parent being confronted by another adult, impact their interpretations of their parents words? I use this example because it's a scenario that played out in front of my wife and I in a local grocery store between a Mexican couple, their child, and an old white lady who overstepped her bounds.

reply to post by Xterrain


So let me get this straight as a Christian, you are complaining about helping a bunch of out of work people with your tax money because it is diverting fund away from the military? So in essence you are complaining that funds going to help people are being taken away from an institution that is designed to kill and destroy? Sounds very Christian to me... No wonder people are starting to have a bad attitude towards Christians.

Wait a tick, so pilots are turning down $200k bonus checks?

And a couple of guys with a few hours of flight school managed to crash 3 jets into 3 structures while performing moves that would've left the greatest aces in combat history in awe?

Good thing those guys aren't going after those checks as it apparently is too hard to fly a multi engine plane and we'd've been ripped off!

Derek

reply to post by Viesczy


And exactly what maneuvers were those? Because everything they did was well within the capabilities of a commercial plane.