The way this country is slowly sinking into a social and political manure pile it doesn't look like it will matter much who wins in '16.

Zach F Wrote:

Leftofcenter Wrote: No. What is appalling is the brain power in Washington who voted for this fiasco. Wasn't there anyone who could have predicted that this was the most probable outcome ? And if this is going on right within the ranks of the American services what might we imagine will happen when these women are captured by enemy combatants ?

Really? We should have an all male or all female army because we can't expect our soldiers to not sexually assault people? If we can't expect our trained military who defend our country to abide by our laws, how can we expect our civilians, we shouldn't allow women in any aspect our society. Equality just causes people to get sexually assaulted.

I say punish the wrongdoers to the full extent of the law.
As for the captured by enemy combatants, women would face the same dangers as men do when captured.

I could very well be wrong but I believe it's possible you deleted my post concerning the nature of "law" a few days ago. If so you can probably guess that you and I would have some trouble agreeing on matters of law. In any case, this is more a case of asking people to think reasonably before acting.... especially those responsible for putting others in harm's way. The extent of the problem now should indicate that this might have been predicted, and as a matter of fact, a few people did. And based on the massive number of incidents ....no, " we can't expect our soldiers not to sexually assault people." I think your assessment of the young American male character may be in need of an adjustment. Given the fact of availability, proximity, and the fact that they are currently being trained to be excessively aggressive, I'm surprised that anyone would be surprised. This does not excuse the behavior. I believe it helps to explain it.

No. What is appalling is the brain power in Washington who voted for this fiasco. Wasn't there anyone who could have predicted that this was the most probable outcome ? And if this is going on right within the ranks of the American services what might we imagine will happen when these women are captured by enemy combatants ?

Let me take a contrarian view. If Hillary is nominated there is a fair chance that the Dems will lose. But if the Repubs win there will no longer be any doubt that we are a nation of imbeciles. The number one issue will be the economy followed by immigration if nothing is done about it by that time. I don't offer this scenario with any great certainty, like most of the other gurus here, but I think it's as good a guess as any.

Dragon Wrote:

Dutch Wrote:

Dragon Wrote: That's the effect of obedience to any law.

Nuts; Thus if you live in NK you should be just a f.... robot? The same applies here; the military just carries out what our leaders tells you to do; you are trained to do that blindly otherwise you are court marchalled. Thus in other words you have become a plain robot who then kills innocent farmers etc. without blinking, because someone up there tells you to do that. Anyone who joins the forces should know in advance that they are no longer individuals but only "tools" for not always the right things.

Nuts might be the right word here. We're discussing national service and suddenly we're the North Korean Army slaughtering innocent civilians?
Adherence to any law, selective service or other, restricts our actions and limits our behavior to one degree or another. Leaping headlong to an extreme doesn't make a point, it makes the argument absurd.

Not exactly. What makes these arguments absurd is arguing as though we actually lived in a democracy and that it matters what we think.....despite the many times when the "will of the people" is trampled and the agents in government do whatever they feel like doing. At its root "law" is a social device instituted by the economic ruling class to enable them to exploit the majority, and keep the majority from killing them. Everything beyond that is decoration. The majority accept this state of affairs because it seems more reasonable than absolute freedom which would make them victims of roving bands of marauders. But that does not change the root reason for law. Can we change this situation ? Of course not. But it's better to know what you're up against than to jibber jabber as though the law was instituted to protect our "rights".

GemsWoven Wrote: It is not simplistic. It is regressive analysis. Continue to roll back the clock till the seminal moment is found.
In the case of the housing collapse one looks at what rules changed then looks at why the rule change was allowed. In this case the clear reason is where the Fed got the majority of its employees from, it weren't Office Temps. And that company came out clean when the dust settled. Coincidense?

It is simplistic and not regressive, because it does not regress to the root cause, but stops at the investigation at the latest disaster. It places blame but does not investigate the system itself and how it operates. Capisce ?

johnnycee Wrote: The idea that the protesters shortened the war is a mistake for in Gen Giap's book he stated that after the Tet offensive of "68" and with the tremendous loss of quipment and personall both in NVA and Viet Cong troops, which by the way after Tet the Viet Cong ceased to be a viable fighting force, he was about to sue for peace, because he didn't know at that time if China would re-supply him, but instead he was advised to wait because of the turmoil in the United States,(war protesters) and the upcoming Nov.Elections might give him ,{Gen.Giap} a better advantage at the peace talks.

Giap also said.....we will win this war in the end because we are willing to fight for 50 years if we have to.

When a government passes a law such a the Selective Service Act and leaves me no alternative but obedience then I am a slave.

GemsWoven Wrote:

Leftofcenter Wrote: Many differing answers here concerning what's gone wrong with America. Clearly , something has. But apparently the answer to the question lies , as Noam Chomsky once put it, "outside the boundary of thinkable thought." The real answer, when glimpsed, seems so overwhelming and the solution so formidable that folks would rather turn their heads and pretend there is some lesser answer that will solve the problem as we go whistling past the grave yard.

What went wrong is easy to figure out. One simply looks at the time just prior to change to see what caused it. For everything is cause and effect driven.

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Thanks for the response but your answer is simplistic. Of course, everything has a cause and effect The financial collapse of a few years ago
was caused by Wall St. and the banks. Certainly, that was the immediate cause. But it was not the root cause. And since we never address the root cause these fiascos continue to fall on us. It is the system capitalism that needs to be addressed....a system that is spreading havoc at home and around the world. But, it seems to me that, most folks when they look at this fact are so overwhelmed that avert their eyes and pretend that a few simple reforms will slow down the beast. They have come up something the lies outside the boundary of thinkable thought.

Many differing answers here concerning what's gone wrong with America. Clearly , something has. But apparently the answer to the question lies , as Noam Chomsky once put it, "outside the boundary of thinkable thought." The real answer, when glimpsed, seems so overwhelming and the solution so formidable that folks would rather turn their heads and pretend there is some lesser answer that will solve the problem as we go whistling past the grave yard.