Re: [microsound] OT - Draft by 2005

[Bill Ashline <ashline@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Sat, 22 May 2004 21:19:55 -0700, Rudolph A. Carrera
<fgrecs@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>  But
> for you to insult National Guardsmen sounds utterly idiotic (NOTE, BILL: I'M
> NOT CALLING -YOU- IDIOTIC).

How was I insulting national guardsmen?  I just said that a person
like Dubya would no longer be able to use the NG  as an escape from
military service (especially since the NG now serves in Iraq anyway).

> 
> You give non-American residents a ridiculous picture of what life is like in
> the States. 

Pray tell, how so?  I don't believe that offering any particular
prescribed image of what the US is is part of my job description.  I
state my opinions just the same as anyone else.  People can take them
or not.  But I sincerely doubt that people around the world care much
anymore about an "accurate" picture of how the US "really is."  That,
they can see for themselves very well.

> Abu Ghraib is a blip on the screen to most Americans.  And, I'm
> willing to bet, to most Iraqis.  The only ones really jumping up and down
> for this are Saddam Loyalists, Communists and their sympathizers, and the
> kooky fringes of Arab society.  That's a shame.  Those who will be punished
> will be punished for dereliction.  What they did, however, does not even
> come close to qualifying as "torture."

Boy, Rudy, are you out of the loop.  there are any number of people
who don't qualify in your list of pariahs above who abhor these
events.  As to your comment about "torture," I refer you to the
Geneval Convention.  HRW and Amnesty International have very clearly
demonstrated that these events qualify as torture.

> 
> And to say the army is disproportionately represented by African-Americans
> is hogwash.  Whites still represent the bulk, and Hispanics sign up
> voluntarily as a general rule.  

Everybody signs up "voluntarily" Rudy.  For some it's a "great"
opportunity.  the rich, on the other hand, usually have "other
priorities."  (Read:  Other opportunities).  Proportionally, blacks
are far more represented in the armed services than they are in
corporate boards.  That's hardly a controversial statement.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: microsound-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
For additional commands, e-mail: microsound-help@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
website: http://www.microsound.org