While I have never applied to West Point, I have inquired about their admissions process and their requirements for attending their academy. I also personally know two people who have applied to the school, and as a matter of fact one of them just graduated and has gone on to fulfill the military part of his agreement. So while I don't claim to know everything about what's required and what's expected from an applicant to West Point, I do have a fairly good idea as to what's required to get into West Point and somewhat of an idea of what it takes to maintain good academic standing while attending West Point.

To address the issue of what John Kerry said, well he may have or may have not intended to dis the troops. But as Sicilian Babe correctly pointed out in her post above, either way he does need to apologize to the soldiers that are fighting on the front lines of a very hard and cruel war. To me it should not matter if a person supports the war itself or doesn't support the war. Either way we all must support the people who are over there fighting the war. Supporting a soldier who is fighting in a war should be the top priority during wartime. As civilians who are not walking in the boots of those soldiers, we should not make the same mistakes that were made by the people back home during the Vietnam war by blaming or dissing the soldiers who are over there fighting. We need to support them no matter what. It is important that the enemy sees that the American people are behind the troops. And it is even more important that the soldiers know that the American people are behind them so that they can go out on the battlefield with confidence, defeat our enemy, and get back home safely.

Double J, Once again you have misinterpreted one of my posts. I think that the Army offers some wonderful opportunities for people who may have none. I'm grateful that my nephew was able to learn some discipline. Otherwise, he probably would've ended up being a leech of some sort. However, he was not "certified" as a mechanic. He was NOT given training or anything else that he was able to take with him.

The reason I mentioned it at all is that there were people here who feel that the army has changed its demogrpahics, and that the poor and uneducated do NOT make up its ranks. I disagree, and shared a personal experience that I felt supported my beliefs.

Experience? Mechanical training? Discipline? I suppose those are skills that he can't "take with him."

And as far as the demographics go - I don't think anyone said that the army doesn't have poor or uneducated people in it. But I think you're overstating your nephew's case and understating the benefits of a tenure in the armed services, purposefully or not.

Best,
Double-J

BRAVO! BRAVO! BRAVO!

This is in reference to NYC Goodfella's post

CNN reports that Kerry has formally apologized for his comments.
Now he needs to go home, have some wine with Teresa, go windsurfing, and forget about presidential ambitions.

OBAMA '08!!!!!!!!!!

A Democratic candidate who is black?

Strom Thurmond is rolling over in his grave, which I hear still is located in the Capitol building, and known to still vote on some issues.

I can see it now...

Mortimer: "Are we going to let a n*gger run our family business?"

You do realize that in 1964, Thurmond became a Republican as he felt that party best reflected his views on race.

You know what, Double J? I find it amazing that you can take things completely out of context over and over again. I said that I was sure that the military offered wonderful opportunities, especially to those that have none. You once again, deliberately or not, twisted my words and their meaning by taking one sentence out of what I wrote and adding your little rolly eyes. Typical.

Of course. But he'll always be a Dixiecrat to me!

Then again, I could always pull out Robert Byrd again. Where's my hood? Somebody get me a crucifix and some lighter fluid!

SB, now you know how I felt with DC.

Didn't Strom Thurman have a black kid?

Perhaps, but Double J and I didn't resort to posting personal name-calling either. We might've thunk a few, but that's a different story...

You also said:






So, let's see if Mr. Rollyeyes can get this right.

• You're nephew flunked out of college.
• He was recruited by the Army, and enlisted under his own will.
• You qualify his enlistment by discussing the relentless nature of the recruiters, and then (inherently) suggest that they misled him with talk of learning a skill and going to Hawaii.

And I responded by stating that your nephew DID receive valuable skills, and is better off for his service than he would be on the streets as a social despot and criminal.

I responded by stating that the skills he had learned (mechanical or otherwise) were certainly valuable in civilian life, despite your assurances that they weren't.

You tried to cover your arse by qualifying your previous statement with the "wonderful opportunities..." post. And you claim that I'm taking you out of context, which is pretty impossible, since I responded to your main points (except for Hawaii...oh well. Maybe they only send the rich Yale graduates there, the rest go to Fort Dix...).

So once again, I respond by pointing out the fallacy of your argument.

And your response is what? That I've twisted your words and taken you out of context, yet again.

Okay. Now that we've summed that up, here's a thought. Try re-reading what I wrote again.

Regards,
Mr. Rollyeyes

Also, everyone is falling behind the wag the finger "personal attack" nonsense instead of actually contributing.

In addition, I fully grasped what SC said, but then he posted that I didn't. I think its pretty apparent that I knew what he meant by "Gospel."

Do I even have to mention the years of posts that exist (now in cool archive format!) of JJ ripping Patrick to hell and no one doing anything about it?

So don't give me the "stuff slips through" line. I could have called anyone else [insert forbidden word] and got away with it. Not to mention it probably all went down like this:

DC- Starts topic
JJ- Agrees
MJ- Disagrees
DC- Ignores MJ's points, continues on
MJ- Calls him on it
DC- Complains
MJ- Doesn't care
DC- Post an even more ridiculous reply
MJ- Responds
DC- Deletes post, complains to moderators

Poopyface!

Personal name calling? I don't even know him so how could it be personal?

Windbag!

Sanctimonious snotface!

Obstreperous worldling!

Try re-reading what I wrote.

I never said that the military DIDN'T provide many, many good things. I simply said that I believe that the military strongly recruits the poor and uneducated, which was refuted by another member. I used a personal anecdote to bolster my statement, stressing that they use some unfair practices, but, hey, that's their job. They're selling something, and they have the right to use forms of persuasion.

What you don't seem to understand is that I don't disagree with anything that you posted about what a person can gain from being in the military. You are under the impression that I do. That's all I'm tryin to tell you, and you seem to think that I keep trying to say something else. BUT I'M NOT!! And that's why I felt that you twisted my words. Because I was not trying to argue or disagree with you!!

JJ what the FU*CK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT??

College dropout ends up on the streets? Is that the speech you give to incoming freshman at your school?

That should keep them away from the kegs eh?

And my point is that your anecdote isn't really fair or correct.

Malfeasant twit!

JJ, its obvious people have a case of the Mondays

Degenerate ape!

So kids that are uneducated and have no inclination to work don't end up as criminals and social despots?

It's a personal anecdote, which makes it subjective. It relates a personal experience, which also makes it subjective. Hence, you can take what you want from it.

Obviously, someone hasn't read Kant

You self-exalting swamp of nauseating pig urine!

Hegelian twerp!