Cont...

The military is in many ways just like a corporation. A corporation's mission statement is to maximise profits for their shareholders end of story. They will use what ever means allowable by law to achieve this even if there is a social cost. It is up to us the citizenry to limit the cost to our society by imposing limits on their behaviour.

The military also has a mission brief, victory by what ever means allowable. However through the history of war it is not the military that makes the rules about what is deemed allowable but we the people. Our representatives sign in our name treaties for prohibitions on chemical and biological weapons, prohibitions on land mines, prohibitions on cluster bombs, the treatment of prisoners etc. In democracies our military, on the whole, abide by those treaties.

All these measures came about because people stood up and said if war is going to be conducted in their name then a standard of behaviour must be observed.

The argument could be made that by turning men and women into killing machines to do our and our government's bidding we have to curb some of their innate morality. It is the duty of the rest of us that we give some moral guidance to the way we want our warriors to fight for us. They may not like it at the time but it has many benefits not only for the way we view ourselves and our nation but also on how well those who have fought for us can reintegrate into our societies.

Some like Timothy McVeigh didn't make it. There is something very chilling in his recounting of being ordered to shoot surrendering Iraqi troops in the first gulf war.

This thread is me saying the use of drone attacks by the secret service of our ally, in a country we are not at war with, is unacceptable behaviour especially when civilians are targeted.

Thankfully there is a growing movement that agree.

You picked a dissipative title for the thread csteele.
And you are indeed doing it well.
Convict stock, generations of us.
If you read others posts you would know.
Aware I am feeding you, giving air to views not shared by many by continuing to post.
You weave and duck ,intent on only your views of reality ,answer only that you wish to.
Few very few fall for it but sadly some do.
If I could get an NRL team,from the true left it would have the better of every team in side stepping.
I would constantly have to retrieve them from the phone box and remind them it is not the meeting room.
It would out fox others hide the ball just about everything.
But never win, intent on saying the grandstand is the target it would never score.
Sniping at one another about what hand the ball is to be carried in left or right.
This Friend of yours, who reads but never posts,is he/she locked in your boot on those trips?

The human ability to invent more efficient ways to kill people goes back to the dark ages with men on white horses talking out from their rears. Is comes down to whom has the sharpest lance or arrows from the advanced side, with the best technology. King Arther always had a problem with one of his knights, espically with the one,s that like to mount the horses from the wrong end. The Taliban have the same problems with camels, however King Arther was a man with vision, fortitude and that brand of deliverance:)

King Arthur has a beautiful wife. The problem is, the knights of the round table keep shagging her. He goes to Merlin, and explains the situation. Merlin says, "I've got just the thing." He pulls a out pair of metal knickers, with a hole in the bottom. Arthur says, "They're no good." But Merlin puts his wand through the hole, and a blade appears and chops his wand in half. Arthur takes them, and padlocks them to his wife. He goes away for a fortnight.
When he returns he lines up all his knights and tells them to drop their pants. All of the knights except one have half their penis lopped off. Arthur said, "You have disgraced the knights of the round table, Go away, and may I never see you again." He comes to the remaining knight Sir Lancelot and says, "For your loyalty, I will give you half of my empire. Lancelot said, "Fank you thirr."

BLUE:)

How do you know when you might be from convict decent?

You take your dog for a walk and both use the same tree.

You can entertain yourself for more than 15 minutes with a flyswatter.

Your boat has not left the driveway in 15 years.

You burn your yard rather than mow it.

The Salvation Army declines your mattress.

You have the local taxidermist on speed dial.

You come back from the dump with more than you took.

You keep a can of Raid on the kitchen table.

Your wife can climb a tree faster than your cat.

Your grandmother has "ammo" on her Christmas list.

You keep flea and tick soap in the shower.

You've been involved in a custody fight over a hunting dog.

You go to the stock car races and don't need a program.

You know how many bales of hay your car will hold.

You have a rag for a gas cap.

Your house doesn't have curtains, but your truck does.

You wonder how service stations keep their restrooms so clean.

You consider your license plate personalized because your father made it.

Your lifetime goal is to own a fireworks stand.

You have a complete set of salad bowls and they all say "Cool Whip" on the side.

The biggest city you've ever been to is Wal-Mart.

Your working TV sits on top of your non-working TV.

You've used your ironing board as a buffet table.

A tornado hits your neighborhood and does $100,000 worth of improvements.

You've used a toilet brush to scratch your back.

You missed your 5th grade graduation because you were on jury duty.

You think fast food is hitting a deer at 65 mph.

And last, but not least...

Somebody tells you that you've got something in your teeth, so you take them out to see what it is!

BLUE:)

Dear Belly,

You keep accusing me of not answering questions. I realize my grammar, argument construction and editing have suffered from posting off a phone.

You have admitted difficulties as well and I appreciate the frankness but to stop myself from misinterpreting you I will admit to mainly answering those questions that are relatively unambiguous.

I am happy for you to frame up let's say three questions you would like me to answer and I will do so as straightforward as I can. Then you can afford me the same privilege.

As to this being my soapbox I think except for a few travellers it has been shuffled off to the back lot of OLO.

Dear DB,

Thank you. Raised a chuckle, but one would have thought, being so close to Australia Day you could have at least done a little editing. Kmart for Walmart for instance and roo instead of deer.

Shame, shame.