War is not a game

I would like to say to any person who ever uses the words "soldier" or "warrior" to describe any athlete: Get some perspective, ape! This especially goes to Kellen Winslow Jr. and other dickhead jocks who think that playing their silly games constitutes going into battle. Tell you what. You walk away from your cushy multi-million dollar contract and enlist in the military. You voluntarily put yourself in harm's way. Until then, you do not deserve the label of warrior. So keep your mouth shut about it, because when you use those terms in that context or loosely, you're giving no respect to the people who actually do go into battle. Pat Tillman did, and he paid the ultimate price while bravely and nobly serving his country.

My bile also goes to anyone so arrogant to think that any war our military will engage in will be a cakewalk, and who flippantly remark Bring It On to goad our enemies into attacking our soldiers. So easy to say when you're not the one on the front line, surrounded by any one of thousands of people ready to kill you and ready to die to do so. So easy to do when you have the comfort of being able to watch the action from the safety of your living room. So easy to do when it's not your loved ones who will never make it home. So easy to do when you don't stop to think -- or care -- that it's not only people (on both sides) with the weapons who are getting maimed and killed. It's innocent civilians. It's children.

So easy to do when the ones we're shooting at are people of certain ethnicity and religion, viewed as "evildoers" and as a threat to your country and "freedom".

I know, a lot of this is old news, but dammit, I'm pissed off. I'm not against military conflict or fighting in general. But regardless of why we invaded Iraq in the first place (I don't have the energy to spout about that right now; it's nothing you haven't heard before), I'm pissed that there was such careless planning on what to do after it was deemed Mission Accomplished. I'm pissed that the guys in charge of this mess pushed for this war, heedless of the consequences and repercussions. Guys with manhood to prove, wealth to protect, Oedipal complexes, and chips on their shoulders. And we put these guys in power. Hopefully we'll do better next time we make that choice.