SPORTS MAN

I hate what these people have to say, but I will defend their right to say it.

It sickens me that people can defend them. They wouldn't even have the right of free speech if it wasn't for those of us who risk our lives. They can say what they want to who they want but not when they want.

If we were to withdraw suddenly, Iraq's security situation would deteriorate quickly. I'm not advocating that we leave suddenly, but that we begin to re-task our military presence there and begin to draw it down. The Iraqis have to see that we're not going to stay there to hold their country together forever. They're emboldened to screw around indefinitely because we have taken the stance that we won't leave until they get their country in order. I think we need to tell them they'd better get their country in order on our schedule or we're leaving. And I think we should follow the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group. The ISG has as much foreign policy intellectual horsepower as anyone (certainly more than the Bush Administration). Iraq is such a mess that it undoubtedly defies a perfect, blemish-free solution. The ISG report is no exception to this rule--it is not perfect and its hoped-for outcomes are not guaranteed. I just think it represents the best hope available for salvaging the mess.

I think you would all be suprised at how much of the country we already have turned over. Most of the city of Ar Ramadi now belongs to the Iraqi National Guard or Iraqi Police. There on every corner. Down south where the British control is also being turned over to the ING and IPs very quickly. It will take time and we must support these brave Iraqi nationals to assure they are not comprimised. Its an entirely different mind set here amongst their citizens and that will slow things down. But for the most part they have decided the enemy is the terrorist and not the Americans.

I would rather fight our enemies in their country than have to fight the on our soil.

Thats exactly how i feel. I will risk my life every minute of everyday just so that the lives of my wife and son are safe.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that is this good news in an overall sense? Yes, it is good that they have found something, I suppose that is progress. But is this war really necessary and can we ever put an end to it?

 

When we do put an end to it, will it actually solve a problem or will some fascist regime just take it back over?

An end will come when they quit killing each other. It will end when Iraqi's can leave their homes to go to work without the fear of hitting an IED. When they feel safe enough to rebuild their economy and infrastructure. This is my second tour in Iraq. I'm sitting in Ramadi now and havn't seen much if anything rebuilt since my first deployment. We have to make it safe enough for Iraqs people to began life again.

So, you're saying that reduced attacks and 40 IED's make up for all those killed in this "war?"

 

Wow, over 70,000 people dead and all I got were these lousy IED's.....

 

There is no good news from Iraq.

Nope i didn't say anything about it making up for anything. I just reported a positive. And those lousy IED's are the most dangerous thing in Iraq right now. And that was 40 IEDs in one week by one Company. If you don't think that is a good thing than obviously you don't know as much as you think about the situation in Iraq.

In other news, more than 3,700 troops killed and 68,000 civilian fatalities.

Do you really think I don't know how many troops have died? But more good news. Over 40 IEDs found in and around Ramadi this week. Thats 40 IEDs that did not injure any one.

What i find disturbing is the fact that they are inmates serving less time in the US for similar crimes committed in civilization. I don't think the PFC deserves less time i just think everyone else deserves more time. I think they are politics envolved in the sentencing of this young man. I don't understand the rape in this case. I hear over and over again that rape is not an act of sex but rather an act of aggression and dominance. On the other hand the murder i do understand. Day after day we lose our freinds. There are no time to greive and you must continue the mission. You continue with a bit of silence in the air. The only thing that changes is theres one less person you count for. One less person to conduct pre combat checks on. Theres a certain silence during roll call. A few less jokes and a couple extra MREs. These things eat at the hearts and souls of these men. Especially 18 and 19 year old minds. So I won't judge. I won't except it as right. I won't make excuses. But i won't Judge.

Unfortunately, media trumps reality. Just ask those troops from Vietnam, especially the ones that stopped the NVA during the Tet offensive.

For me I don't have to wory about the media interferring with my perception of reality at all. Up until today I didn't have much access to the media. Some but not as much as most of you. As far as reality....well I am smacked in the face by it on a daily basis.

That is the reason they chose the Anbar Province for the destination. They wanted to show that an area that was once under enemy control is now safe enough to host the US President...

That is true but people seem to act as if it was just a walk in the park. There are still incidents everyday.

The last month or so we have started to see more good news come out of Iraq. This will all be challenged this week when Petraeus report will get beaten up by the Democratic Senators. They are already labelling it 'Bush's Report' even though they chose Petraeus for his honesty and conviction of coming up with a fair assessment...

The Democrats don't change the news I hear in Iraq. Nor do the reports Generals give. Hopefully they can leave politics aside so that we can concentrate on moving foward.

Every where I look I see nothing but bad news from Iraq. Heres a bit of good news. Attacks reduced in Ramadi by around 75%. Ramadi has a 80/20 IED find/explode rate.

What did you want them to do? Have him rapel out of a Blackhawk into the middle of Fallujah carrying an M-16?

I don't think many of the troops even knew he was here. Um... I'm not sure which secured airbase he landed in but he was in the anbar province and so is Fallujah. Just to let you know the anbar province has been the most dangerous and active areas in Iraq. Lately it has had alot less activity. Not because the terrorist groups decided to quit but because of some of the steps we have taken.

At Pulaski, I have tried to start a wrestling club -meets during club time once a month. My problem is having a place to do anything and since I am not an official sport I have not financial backing - plus I am that familiar with the ins and outs of wrestling (I'm a football coach). But we (coaching staff) would love to get a team started. If anone has any information for me I would love to get this together.

I would get with one of the local teams. Usually local wrestling coaches will help other teams get started just to increase the popularity of the sport. It also gives them closer compitition.

Blame him for what; Winning??

Just having a winning record isn't good enough for some people.

I think the pressure just got to Tubby. The pressure of always being expected to win. The pressure of being expected to bring in the best players. The pressure to bring home another national title. I think either the pressure got to him or he just realized he wasn't the right fit for UK. Im not a Tubby basher. I support who ever the coach is. But how Tubby left this program.......well theres just no excuse for it. I think he seen a team full of his recruits leaving year after year. Kids not developing into the athletes they should be. He just left the program. Well I say don't let the door hit you on the way out Tubby.

Classy or Classless? It is a game. It looks to me like he was just having fun in a game that was invented for fun. He was also putting on a show that everyone there wanted to see. If it doesn't affect you how can it offend you.

Who are they returning in the backfeild? Last year they had 3 or 4 kids maybe even 5 that could all run.

Here is the way I see it, for what my opinion is worth. I feel like all parts of life direct influece and leadership on us as an indidvidual, of which is both positive and negative. We are influenced by what we see, what we hear, what we are taught, so on and so on. 95% of the people in the world are conformist. That is the reason that groups like the Nazi party were able to get the bulk of a population to accept Fascism. The key is that we don't allow the negative influences in life to outweigh the positive influences. It goes back to the fact that the mentors in a childs life must take active interest in what can influence a child. If the child spends more time watching Southpark than he or she spends in a posive influential envireonment, Southpark will have an effect on the child. On the other hand, if a child watches Southpark, emulates the actions seen, and is severely punished by caring parents, I don't think it will have near the effect. You are what you eat. I am a competent adult. Through my lifetime, I have been desensitzed to witnessing violence due to the fact that almost everything that I have watched on tv involves violence. This doesn't mean that I committ violent acts, but it does mean that I am not suprised to see or hear about violent acts. Point being, I will never blame the tv program or video game. I will blame the parents that allow the video game to be played or purchased or the tv program to be watched. I have the availability to try and reverse negative influences within the classroom. However, it is tough to turn around poor parenting in a short amount of time. I suppose our sucesses are what continues to drive us to be teachers.

:thumb:

You couldn't help yourself. You had to throw in an insult at the beginning. That was not a rant. How ever you did not even address the question of who is imitating who. Is television imitating us or are we imitating television.

On the "kids are not going to emulate what they see on television, hear in their music or watch at movies" argument....

 

Explain the huge increase in sales of fighter jackets and sunglasses after Top Gun came out.

Explain the boys wearing the pants below the crack of their butt like the rappers do.

Explain the grunge look in the early 90's after Nirvana and such bands became popular.

Explain the STAR TREK CONVENTIONS.

Explain the mullet after the rock bands of the 80's. In fact, explain the whole fashion sense of the 80's after the rock band.

Explain my usage of the word, "Word" after the song "Word Up" came out.

Explain the trendy lingo after television shows make something popular (Fonzie and hey, Sweathogs and the up your nose with a rubber hose, Mork's stuff, etc, etc)

etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc.,

 

Those influences go BOTH ways. There are positive influences (STAR TREK:D ) and there are negatives (mullet:D ).

 

If you believe that kids ARE NOT influence by what they see and hear, then I don't know what to tell you but that flatout you are wrong.

You are comparing fashion with the decline of society? Wow. I did not realize they were the same thing. For another thing. Are you sure the mullet wasn't around before they seen it on tv. Are people imitating tv or is tv imitating people. In other words does art imitate life or does life imitate art. I don't know what the world would do without you. They have argued this question for life times but with you we have figured it out. They are just flatout wrong. I'm glad you cleared that up. Now we are talking about south park in paticular. I think the main arguement is who is the audience and is the message inappropriate. The audience is 20somthings and yes its a good message and a good means of delivery for this age group.

Been gone for two days, How would the show be if it had a Non-Cartoon format? The cartoon draws the kids to it at first..Thats how my kids watched it and they told me about it. I always though Married with Children had its moments, but the kids didn't watch it. How would you imagine the show not as a cartoon, would it be still on? Does a cartoon get special rights? Family Guy had Peter sleeping with a exPresident after his wife did. I caught the Promo and I said I was going to research some shows.

 

The nation has changed in the last 20 years...Here is a thought how do you see it in the next 20? I'm not a "stick in the Mud" but I'm concerned.

 

Teachers are underpaid.

I hate to break it to you but i was a kid when Married with Children came on and i watched it. As well as most kids in my classroom. It didn't warp my mind or play into the down fall of society as well. The simpsons was another show that was contraversial that i watched as a kid. That did not play into the down fall of my morals either. The fact is that you can not shelter your kids. I'm not saying they should watch these shows but as parents you should be able to teach your children right from wrong. You should be able to instill values and morals in your children then it wouldn't matter what they watched. If kids watch violent shows and become violent (or use foul language) that is usually because the parents didn't do their job. Parents either didn't take time to teach their kids or they tried to shelter their kids. The world in which i live have alot worse things in it than south park. I can tell you none of which was caused by television.

South Park is obviously not marketed toward kids. The material is to mature for children to watch and to understand. Just because something is animated doesn't make it for children. It is very much meant for my generation. I'm twenty six. I grew up in the golden era of cartoons. If anyone is putting south park in the same context as Larry Flint they obviously are not getting past the language and the method of delivery to see the message. Could south park get their message across without using such language and shock value? Yes. But would I watch? No.

You can not make me believe that over throwing Saddam was not a good thing. The fact is that when Saddam fell, when we marched through the streets of Baghdad and the people cheered us. When kids would run up to hug your neck as if we were heros. You can not tell me that was not a good thing. That was a good day in my life. I was away from my family for a year and that feeling is what i have that makes it ok. Nobody on a message board can take that away from me or any of my soldiers. The failure by our government to plan post war is what has made it into a mess. Now every terrorist in the world is coming there to fight us. But at least they are not coming here.

He is not talking about him and his fellow soldiers. Hes talking about Americans as a whole. I started reading this and i had to make sure i wasn't the one who wrote it. The very reason i volunteered is so that my son would not have to fight. I fight so people like my grandmother who is no longer able to fight will have someone to protect her. Alot of you have actually recieved PM's from me. I get very frustated with how Americans think today. After i got back from my first deployments i read alot of statements that said "i would if i didn't". Following that statement would usually be if i wasn't in college, if i didn't have my career, or if I had to. These statements would drive me nuts. It was as if citizens thought they had more going on in their lives than the men and women who do volunteer for this war. The "ifs" are there in the soldiers lives too. They just make sacrifices. I myself just came to the conclusion that most don't understand. And that it takes a special person to make these sacrifices. Alot of people want to agrue about the reasons. Well as soldiers we do the same. Its what america is. We have the freedom to form our own opinions. But there are still americans dying in Iraq and i will try my best to make sure as many make it home as possible. I won't do that from here, but from their side.

I think the biggest threat to America is Obesity. Its crippling adults and our children.