POSX

Here's another one from the "My ex is a piece of $h!+" vault...

Older daughter called me a couple of days ago to vent.  A week or so back, my ex talked to my grandson and promised to come see him play lacrosse.  My ex lives about two hours away from older daughter and grandson, and to my knowledge, this would be the first visit since ex moved out of older daughter's house a couple of months back.  Two hours away isn't exactly a vacation trip, but it's a bit more than a daily commute.

Grandson was excited over the prospect of ex seeing him play.  Older daughter wisely recommended that grandson curb his enthusiasm, because ex has a habit of not following through with her promises and commitments...

Fast forward to a couple of days ago... ex called older daughter on Easter.  During the Easter call, ex told older daughter that she had to bail on the visit... so she could work. As older daughter relayed it to me, the lure of double time pay was more important than the commitment to see grandson play lacrosse.  Adding insult to injury, ex asked older daughter to deliver the news to grandson and quickly bailed out of the phone call shortly thereafter, meaning that once again, ex took a shit in older daughter's nest and left older daughter to clean up the mess.

This is nothing new.  The ex has a well-established pattern of making promises and not following through.  She did it to me.  She did it to older daughter.  She did it to younger daughter.  Now she's doing it to first grandson.  She can't pull that crap with me anymore.  The kids have kind of grown immune to it and now treat virtually anything ex says with a grain of salt.  First grandson hasn't yet learned his lesson though.  I know that daughters will work diligently to protect grandsons, but damn...

Scratching the Acting Itch

I was in a play last Thursday.  I played James the Greater in a Living Last Supper play at church.  It was the first time I had acted in about forty years and it was a very different experience from my last performance.  When I did my high school plays, I learned each line word for word, and I had to hit specific places on stage at exact times.  It was enjoyable, but it was more rote memorization and more stressful.

This time around, I learned the lines but didn't necessarily recite them verbatim.  There were no marks to hit, and no major rehearsals, because everyone who participated essentially did a soliloquy monologue to the audience.  It was a small audience, consisting overwhelmingly of members from my church, so I never got nervous.

I'll admit that I was a tad concerned for others, who were struggling with their lines even the day before.  However, after the dress rehearsal, I reminded everyone who didn't know their lines that they were the ONLY ones who knew exactly what they were supposed to say, so if they flubbed a word or two, nobody would know unless they gave a visual or verbal indication.  I reminded them that pauses in their lines were okay, because there are natural pauses in human speaking, and pausing for effect is a real thing in acting.  I also invited them to put themselves in the shoes of the Apostles at the last supper.  Jesus dropped a bombshell on them when he said that someone would betray him.  It would absolutely make sense that the thoughts and words of the apostles might be a little discombobulated after hearing the news, and I invited them to remember and lean into this if they got nervous or forgot their lines.  It seems to have helped, because only one guy had problems with his lines.

After we finished, I felt like we did a reasonably good job overall.  I asked my lovely bride for a critique, and she said two things that stuck out: 1) We all did a good job.  2) "You can act!"  She sounded a little surprised at that one.

I guess overall I did okay, because I had a church member come up to me at church Sunday and again tell me that I did a good job.  I had fun, and if I were asked to perform in another play, whether church, community, or whatever, I'd most likely do it.

Trump Fires Pam Bondi

It was announced yesterday that Donald Trump has fired Attorney General Pam Bondi.

In related news, confidential sources have reported that when Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth heard about this, he did his best Veruca Salt impression, screaming "Daddy, I want to fire somebody too!"

In fairness to President Trump, he tried his best to say no, but quickly caved when Hegseth broke into a rendition of I Want it Now, complete with a flash mob band that somehow magically appeared out of thin air.  The report goes on to quote Trump as saying "When Little Petey breaks into song like that, I'm just powerless.  Of course I had to let him fire someone," which led to the immediate dismissal of Army Chief of Staff, General Randy George.

An Open Letter from Iran to Americans

 I saw this article today and believe it's worth sharing.  I am taking at face value that the letter legitimately comes from the Iranian government to the American people.  I am sharing this because I believe it is important to receive information that originates from outside of our self-selected echo chambers, and I am refraining from comment because I believe it's important to let you, the reader, draw your own conclusion without any input from me.

Generated Outrage

 I read a couple of articles yesterday that really made me think "Who Cares?!?"  One article talked about Senator Lindsey Graham being spotted at Disney World, and the other discussed an Army helicopter doing a flyby at Kid Rock's house.  I believe these are both instances of the media trying to create the next big story.

Let's start with the Army helicopter story.  To my understanding, a couple of Army Apache helicopters did a flyby at Kid Rock's house, stopping long enough to hover and give Kid Rock a photo op.  I'll concede this was out of the ordinary, but it's not the first time that military members have done something like this.  I'm not a huge fan of Kid Rock, but I can see the allure of making a quick detour to see something noteworthy if the opportunity arose.  If I put my younger self in the shoes of these soldiers, I could absolutely see myself doing it.  I support that the Army looked into it, and I'm okay with Hegseth saying "Let it go."  Geez folks, we're bombing Iran, and we're getting our collective panties in a bunch about this?!?  What does that say about our priorities?

I have the same general feeling (see what I did there?) about Lindsay Graham at Disney World.  Yeah, we're in the midst of a partial government shutdown, and I believe that our elected officials should be locked in a room, without pay, and served bread and water until they get their $h!+ together and hash things out like big boys and girls.  That's not gonna happen though.  Furthermore, there is little to no indication that the Senate was actively negotiating a solution at the time, and I am skeptical that Graham's physical location would have made any difference in the budget impasse.

It seems that we as a society have forgotten how to prioritize what's really important, and I would like you to consider that the media's need for constant emergencies and attention is a major driver of this problem.  Those who got all wrapped around the axles over these stories need to recognize that anger for what it is... generated outrage. 

Mixed Thoughts

I read an article this morning that quoted comedic actor Rob Schneider as saying the US should bring back the military draft.  I have mixed thoughts.

My first thought is that Rob Schneider has no place making this statement because he has not served in the military.  I don't have much respect for people who expect others to do something they would not do themselves.  Now with that said...

Forcing everyone to serve would be expensive.  Do we really want that additional tax burden?

The quality of our military would decline, because the overwhelming majority of people would have no desire to be there.

On the other hand, it would get our youth into better physical and mental shape.

I also suspect that our leaders would be less likely to use military force if their own kids' lives were on the line.  But then again, we know these same leaders would find a way to get their own kids out of the draft... or at least get them into non-combat roles.

What are your thoughts on bringing back the draft? 

Proposed Change to VA Benefits

I read an article this morning about a petition sent to Congress that could change how veterans qualify for VA (Veterans Affairs) benefits.  The idea behind the petition is a change in the definition of wartime service, which is a distinction that determines eligibility for a lot of VA benefits.

This could make a big difference for a lot of veterans, because as it stands today, only veterans who served during officially designated "periods of war" are able to receive certain benefits.  This is important because of how the government classifies periods of war.  For example, a veteran who actively participated in Operation Urgent Fury (Grenada) could be classified as a peacetime veteran, rendering that person ineligible for certain VA benefits, even if he was in active combat, yet another veteran could have served during Desert Shield and Desert Storm, without going overseas, and still be called a wartime veteran.

From my perspective, HOW you served is far more important than WHEN you served, and the current system is kind of backwards.  Furthermore, I believe the burden of proof is absolutely bass ackwards.  With a few exceptions, it's up to the veteran to prove eligibility.  For example, I know a Marine who has cancer, and was exposed to the water at Camp LeJeune but denied benefits because he was there for maneuvers, whereas the rules say that you need to be exposed for a minimum of 30 days.  He had a hard time proving he was there.  He fought for years before finally being approved for assistance and compensation.

Let me rephrasse this in terms the average person will understand.  Only six percent of the current population has served in the military.  If you break this down by age, over 40% of those 75 and older are veterans, but only 3% of those under 35 have served.  The average young adult is ineligible or unwilling to pursue military service.

To take this further, a currently-serving Marine recruiter told me that 75% of people in the age bracket of 17 to 28 are ineligible to serve in the military.  Only 1% of those eligible to serve go on to do so.  (He continues to say that only 1% of those eligible go on to become Marines, but that's outside of the scope of the discussion... just a fun fact.)  Mathematically, this means that .25% of eligible young people enter military service.  We, as a country, need to ensure that it's worthwhile for them to serve.  If we fail to take care of today's all-volunteer military, we won't have an all-voluntary military tomorrow.

Another indisputable point is that today's military professional is pressed harder than those of past generations.  Even reservists and National Guard soldiers can absolutely expect to be called to action.  This was effectively unheard of between Vietnam and the second Gulf War.  Active duty personnel can absolutely expect multiple conflict deployments.  This is hard not only on the person wearing the uniform, but the family as well.

As a capitalist society, we have a mindset of paying the minimum possible in exchange for goods and services.  Translation:  Employers will pay the minimum required.  I ask you to consider the reality that most of our lower ranked enlisted personnel (with families) qualify for food stamps and housing assistance, but we require them to place themselves in harm's way, and to be separated from their families for extended periods of time.  These young men and women experience shit the average person can't imagine.  Yet we thank them by giving them shit wages, and if they come back broken, we don't seem to care.

If we're going to have a society with a separate warrior class, which is how we function today, we need to make sure that the warrior class is overcompensated, not under-compensated.  This is especially important in a capitalistic society.  We have under-served our warrior class for far too long, and I fully support doing anything we can to right that wrong.

Full disclosure:  I am a wartime veteran.  I am in the VA program.  I will not benefit if these changes are implemented, because I'm already qualified.  This is not about me.  This is about my brothers and sisters in arms.  Also, please do not thank me for my service after reading this article.  Again, this is not about me.  It's about the others who also answered the call to arms, but are being denied help by the very system that sent them into harm's way.