Monthly Archives: June 2004

bush’s shocktroops

This entry was posted in bush Conscription Constitution Election 2004 Libertarianism on by

I thought we fought WWII to get rid of this kind of stuff:

The defense offered by the GOP’s local functionaries is that the soldiers asked to attend the rally “so they could show their support for their commander-in-chief before getting shipped out to fight the war on terrorism.”
And, of course, they were also given those t-shirts to wear. So at least they weren’t in uniform.
So how could anyone – except maybe some pinko terrorist lover – complain about something so innocuous?
Well I wouldn’t – if not for the fact that we already have several thousand years of history to draw on for examples of what happens when the armed forces of a powerful state dabble in politics – or, worse still, allow themselves to be transformed into the personal shocktroops of a political leader or party.

Your assignment: Read the original news article and the rest of Bilmon’s long post.
Study question: What is the role of the military in a free society?

Chicken

This entry was posted in Wierd on by

One or two of you have probably played some form of chicken. I don’t recommend this variation:

An intoxicated Davis Park man died after he lit a rug on fire and challenged his roommate to see who could stay in the house on Fire Island longer Saturday night, Suffolk County police said. Police said Thomas Woods, 59, ignited the rug in his house at 9 Driftwood Walk sometime before 8 p.m. As the fire spread, Woods fired one or two rounds from a pre-World War I Mauser pistol, said Det. Sgt. Ed Fandrey of the Suffolk County homicide squad. Police do not know why he fired the gun.
When the fire began spreading dangerously, Woods’ roommate, Rod Bennett, ran to a neighbor’s house to call 911 a few minutes after 8 p.m.
Volunteers from the Davis Park Fire Department responded, along with neighbors who tried to extinguish the blaze with garden hoses and anything else they could find. But it was too late.

Via This is True 5/21/04 mailing. Randy Cassingham collects and regularly publishes stories that show that real life is stranger than fiction.
NB: Cunningham does not allow any copying of his rewrites of these stories nor does he give access to back issues of his mailings. The quote above is from a web archived copy of the original Newsday article.