In a nutshell it proposes a draft to supplement out standing army.
Here is my thought. I am in favor of mandatory military service for all Americans. I admire the systems of Italy and Swizerland. There, all men starting at the age of 18 must send varying two or three years in the service before they are thirty-five. Mind you these are just my off the top recollection. The way I see it working in America is as such: All Americans (both male and female) from the age 18 onward will have the option of joining the military. Essentially like mandatory membership of the National Guard. All would recieve basic training. After training they would simply be used for various community efforts, kinda like the WPA. There would be an option to either do your service all at once, or partition it out, like in the National Guard. All would recieve a month of training. In they article they mention that there are 16 million men between 18 and 25 available to the draft, expand that to women and you will have a great deal of manpower available. Simple things like city beautification, minor construction, low-income housing, all of these become feasible. With a society in which everyone (eventually) will have basic combat training, mobilization becomes much easier, and puts less strain on the volunteer army. All members would recieve discipline, and would have the option to continue their military service as a career. The whole country would be a kind of militia, decentralizing the military. But more importantly public works would be rampant, improving the quality of living for all. Also, all members would receive education benefits, ect. It may seem like slave labor, but imagine the potetial for growth. Imagine how it would effect young people if they were given a kind of structured work tour across the United States. Along the way they would meet people from all over, helping breed a sense of greater community.
"Oh, you haven't met Tumnus yet. Robin, this is Dr. Tumnus. Tumnus, this is Robin." Robin looked at the strange figure before her. Strange being a relative term among the eclectic and mismatched group of people she had found her self in sudden company. This Tumnus fellow was short, at least he matched her 5'2" frame. Though it was difficult to tell what with him swimming in clothing. He wore what looked like a great brown canvas sea coat that reached nearly to his thick copper buckled boots. A fist sized skull was painted in white on his left shoulder, while the edges at the bottom were fringed with lambskin. Oddly, his sleeves were completely engulfed in a massive pair of leather gloves. Buckled tightly twice at on his forearm, the volumos sleaves puffed out a bit at the elbows. The sleves then thinned down so that they were incredably tight at the hands. Almost as if he had a second skin there, she could make out thin vein pumping blood about his delicate and almost skeletal hands. His face was completely shrouded by a large off-white linen scarf, so that you could only just make out his evidently large nose. Finally, his eyes were hidden behind a pair of rather ornate opaque leather goggles that fit snuggly about his face. Only a medium, rather messy mass of light brown hair escaped at the top, falling amongst his glasses, and hiding his ears. "Hello Doctor, it is nice to meet you." said the rather unnerved girl. The great mass of cloth swung around with a great rustling of cloth, and the odd mettalic clink from where it had been cleaning some instruments, and stared fixedly at Robins left ear. "Oh, so your what the fuss is about. Pleasure to meet you, but I am no docter." To Robins surprise he had a very young voice to him. He was probably only a few years younger than Robin, maybe 16. "Not a doctor? but Mr. Edwinn said..." "Yes, well," Broke in Edwinn; "He has a particular knack that allows him to physik much better than any doctor you can find in civilization." "Oh. But aren't you terribly hot it that big coat of yours?" Robin said, leaning slightly to the left so that she could engage him in proper conversation. His gave shifted so that he continued to look at her left ear. "Well, I suppose, but I am very much used to it, had one on all me life. But if you'll excuse me, I have some things to attend to. I am sure I you and I will meet at some time or another. Good Day Ms. Robin. Edwinn." With that he shuffled off through an adjesent doorway with a great rustle of clothing, and creaking of leather. "What is his special...uh knack you called it. What is it?" Robin whispered to Edwinn as the shush of fabric faded away. "Oh, well you see he is quite insane." He said as his dark face lit up with a horrible grin. Robin twisted up her face. "Insane! You let an insane man...no, boy operate on you. You trust him with your well being!" The slight girl hugged her body and shuddered. "Just what kind of people did I fall in with?" She asked herself. "Tumnus is a funny fellow, you see when he was about two years old he became terribly frightened of himself. He would always scream, and thrash about until someone covered his eyes. It wasn't until later that they discovered that when Tumnus looks at himself, he watches his body rot and fall apart layer by layer. Most certainly gruesome, though not painful. Anyways, having watched his body fall apart so many times, he has become somewhat of an expert on the human body and its workings. Though it is understandable that he prefers to keep himself covered from head-to-toe like that. He really is quite good, and he's patched me and Rijn up more times than I can count." Edwinn rubbed absent-mindedly at his his shoulder for a moment, while a far-away look stole over his eyes. Shifting about uncomfortably, and trying desperatly to not imagine her skin rotting off, Robbin stared down at her feet. Edwinn soon snapped out of his revery. "Sorry about that, your berth is just a little ways down the hall. I just wanted to stop in here so you would know whom to go to if you are ever injured. Not that I am planning on you getting injured, it's just tha-" "Yes, I am well aquainted with your trade." Robin softly muttered, and roughly brush by Edwinn as she continued on down the hall.
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I just had an idea for a neat character, so I wrote this little scene. Perhaps I will write more. Let me know what you think. I have several characters.
One night I sat there next to the lake, looking up at the moon. The moon was full that night, and very bright. I could see it quite clearly, and sat there longing to go see what secrets it offered. It pale gaze energizing me with a whispered hint at great wonders. It was at this moment I noticed there was a raccoon sitting next to me, gazing up at the sky as well. Figuring it would be rude to say nothing, I spoke, saying; "What a wonderful moon there is tonight. Wouldn't you agree?" To which he replied; "It is, though I dare say I do not wish to sit here staring at it, so much as to go explore it." With a slight nod, I responded by saying; "Me to, it is a great pity that it is so very hard to get to the moon, though I would not say it is impossible." The raccoon was silent for a moment, as if pondering something. With a slight sniff, and absent-minded scratch at the back of his head, he said; "Yes, very hard indeed. I do not even want to begin to think how hard it would be. It is so very far away. But I do believe I have come up with a solution." "Is that so?" I replied with an incredulous tone and a slightly cocked head. "Please, enlighten me." The raccoon looked at me and said; "It's quite simple really, you see I have found the moon right here on earth, look over there." With that he pointed his paw out over the lake, and sure enough, the reflection of the moon sat there placidly glimmering on the still surface of the lake. "Why that is the reflection of the moon you silly animal, that is not the moon." I said. "Perhaps, but I do know that it looks just like the moon, and it is so much closer to me. In fact, I would barely have to work at all to get to it. For you see, that birch tree hands over the water, and if I were to climb out onto it, why I could leap right to the moon!" Said the now rather excited raccoon. "But that is not the moon. You will get wet for sure, and possibly drown." I said beseechingly to the little animal. "No, now that I think of it more, the moon in the sky must be a reflection of the one in the lake. It makes perfect sense. To say otherwise is to suffer from idealism. You only think the moon is in the sky, because that is the way you think it should be. I think it should be in the lake, and since I can easily get to it, that makes it much more practical. I am only be realistic." By now the raccoon was pacing about only the shore, it's gray hair bristling. "Simply because it is hard to get to, does not mean it should not be attempted." I said, still sitting though most definitly perterbed by my companions behavior. "Nonesense, it would surely be insane to grasp at the nigh-on unachievable, than to go for the rational option just laying before you. It would go against the natural order of thing. You would have to be a dreamer!." At this he wagged his wee finger at me, and muttered to himself about how insenseable humans could be. "But following such reasoning will surely lead to your destruction." I said in a bit of an exasperated voice. "Your just jealous because I will reach the moon before you could ever hope to. In fact, I think I shall go there right now! Good Evening." The raccoon then procceded to gracefully scamper up the birch tree and stop right over where the reflection of the moon lay. Getting up, a called to him; "Please don't jump, you will only cause trouble for yourself in the end. Come back here and sit beside me, and we can talk of the many possible wonders of the moon." "Such nonsense you speak. As far as I am concerned, there really is no moon in the sky. It is an unattainable ideal. All that remains to me is the moon in the lake, as it should be. I bid you good evening once again." With that the raccoon leapt into the lake. He landed with a resounding splash. He came up sputtering a flailing. "How can this be! I am wet, this makes no sense at all. This is not at all how it should be." "Come to shore quickly," I cried, "before you get tired and drown." "No, I am sure this is the moon, since I can see no other option. Perhaps I simply must dive further to reach it." And thus he dove under. I waited for him to return to the surface, I waited, and waited, and waited some more. But that poor raccoon never surfaced. He drowned. Such a pity too, for in this world there are so many that never stop to appreciate the moon and it's many secrets. Those that do are few and far between. Yet those that do stop and see the moon, some can become so confused. But such is the price to pay for being so deluded. On the other hand, there are those out there who would reply that it is I whom am deluded. For did I not ever seen that raccoon again? Did he not in fact reach the moon? And to this day, from time to time, as I look at the moon, I think that perhaps he did.
The End
I have really no idea where that came from, it just came out. Mostly it was the need to express a thought. Perhaps you can see it hidden in there. Please note I am tired and am not planning to spell check or edit this, so just bear with me.
Anyways, the Republicans are getting sillier and sillier. Now-a-days they can't even tell us why we should believe them, simply that we should. For instance. It turns out abortion is to blame for all our immigration problems! All I can say is...isn't it obvious! Here:
All right, so I am tired, and when I get tired, I either get angsty, or philosophical, which usually leads to angst anyways. So for any of you out there who don't wanna hear (read?) me fume, just go on to some other dalience.
Recently in Gen. Psyc. we went over the three Freudian/Psychodynamic parts of one's personality. That is the Ego, Super Ego, and the Id. Which has always been of interest to me, since I came to the same conclusion before ever hearing about this theory. Though I referred to the three parts as Me, the Other, and Body respectivly. For those who don't know, lets do a short run-down. Id (Body) = Your instinctual, anamalistic self. The brute, the savage, the beast. Ego (Me) = Your conciousness, what deals with the world, and the mediator between the other aspects. Super Ego (the Other) = Your concionce, your morality, the voice of reason as it were.
However, I have a slight disagrence with the Super Ego. That is, the morality thing. You see, -when you get down to it, there really isn't much morality. It is reasoning. We do things for rewards, ect. Now I believe in the fundumental divinity of humans. However, divine doesn't me good :) I will get to this later.
Anyways, it works like this. Given a situation, you must ask; "Well, what is the good thing to do?" But BAM, what is good is not nessicarily right, neh? But what is right? The opposite of left... Seriously though, what is right is what is better for the whole. You see, in the beginning there was nothing, and nothing says to itself, it says: "Well this is boring." and BAM, there became something. Now that it had/was something, it began to mess around a bit. "I wonder what it's like to be a sun? or an planet?" Then I wonder what it's like to be water, a rock, a scuffed shoe, a pile of dog shit, a St. Bernard, ect. ect. Then eventually it came along as went, well I wonder what it's like to be a hairless ape thing. Say this is kinda fun. Eventually there came on that called itself Grant. You see, the Universe had never known what it's like to be Grant (Neither did Grant) However, in the process of being Grant, the Universe kinda forgot it's the universe, cause it saw itself all over the place, and it had never seen itself from the prespective of a Grant before, and it got distracted (deluded if you will). So it is really easy to believe that when it sees a tree, to think the tree is something else (haveing never seen a tree quite like that before) and not a connected part of the universe. Ect.
So you see, really, the concept of right and wrong, good and bad, they are all dellusions. However, the universe is big into self-help, it wants to see what harmony is like, and it's working at it. Unfortuntly, by being human, we start believing in our own individuality too much, and become scared, and hateful. Because really, most people just want to leave their mark on the world. But when you scratch you name on the face of the world, you are really just scarring yourself and others. See, it's this whole interconnectedness that brings about the concept of Karma. You are but a reflection of me, and I of you, and you of him, and him of her, and so on. So if you present an ugly image, it is reflected around you, like a kleidoscope or a disco ball, and soon your world is full of ugliness.
Wow, major tangents back there. But really, when it comes down to it, remember this: -Take a lead from our great old Grandmother earth. She's been around much longer than us, and has thing figured out pretty well. -Be nice to each other. And I don't mean some bucolic grinning, Norman Rockwell shit. I mean hold a door for someone, be aware of what you are doing and how it may be affecting others. If you start doing this, hey, maybe it will be shined right back at you. -This is a big one. It may come as a surprise to you, but you, your dog, your parents, and everyone you know, and everything you see, it is all gonna dissappear someday (except for the styrofoam we keep throwing in the landfills, thats here to stay). But just because it is all gonna go away, doesn't mean we can't do our best to go out in one hell of a nice ride. So lets make this planet, and it's people the Stretch-Limo Rolls-Royce of existence. Cuz we'er driving a cluncky Buick right now, and shes a bit of a clunker.
So all you looking for meaning in your life. Here ya go. It's life. Stop and take a look at it once in a while. Its a lot cooler that what is on TV or the fact your by yourself.
Well, I am out of gas. I feel better now. It's nice getting this stuff out there. Now you know a bit more of my modus operandi.
Hey, it's me again. You know, as oppose to the other people....that post...on my LJ... Ok so I just did the thing that I don't like. oh well. Anyways. I had my first day of BTI for the 29th today. It was very well organize, and I am excited to do it again sometime. Also, if anyone was wondering (which I somehow doubt) on Thursday and Friday I was at a Physics Lecture in La Crosse. It was given by Nobel Prize Winner Wolfgang Ketterling (I think) on his groundbreaking work in the field of Bose-Einstein Condensation. It was immensely fascinating, and just ask me if you want to me to go off on all they really interesting physics involved in it, and the possibility of room-temperature Superconductors. Ya, thats right, room-fucking-temperature-fucking-Superconductors-uh-fucking. Also, I managed to watch the entire anime "BECK" this weekend, and recommend it. It is available on YouTube, so check it out, its about a band. When they speak English, it sounds like a deaf person speaking (at least to me). And apparently in Japan, all Americans are large, aggressive, and say Fuck a lot.
Also, touching on what I said in an earlier post:
ya. Cats.
Oh! Also, tomorrow I am going to go check out the Mugshots thing, and hear some live music, lemee know if anyone else is interested, and I will tell when I am going.
That is all.
Go about your business now, you now know what Grant has been doing, so you can rest easy.
Things that are irking me lately. I am just venting some things that are annoying me. First off, when people use "internet speak" or leet speak verbally. Why? Because you don't need to abbreviate day to day terms! This isn't the fucking Navy. We aren't dealing with Magneto-Hydrodynamic Propulsion systems here. If you want to say "oh my god" say OH MY GOD, not "Oh Em Gee!!!" The internet is already becoming a intellecual waste-land. Keep it on the net, so I don't have to here it damn it. And please, PLEASE, never use the term "lol" unless you are in fact laughing out loud damn it! Also, I have to ask; am I the only one who cringe whenever they hear the following terms: "my country", "The Country I love", "anything involving God and Politics". Huh? no? just me? Damn. Thirdly, you guessed it. When people ask me very obvious questions. Why? because the frequency of them is wearing out my *sarcraneous gland and when that gets worn out, Grant gets bitter and mean, and no one wants that, especially me. Yes, I know I don't say much, but if you wanna make small talk, or at least elisit some manner of response from me, can we at least try a bit harder? Lets think about this for a moment.....hmmm....sure fire ways to make Grant interact......I know! lets try Indie-Bands, Physics, Martial Combat, or hell even bread! Please....for me? Also, I am sorry for those out there, but my defult expression is an un-smiling, grim one. I think things over a bit before responding. However, it doesn't mean I am touchy, or somehow seething with bitter rage (really I'm not....)just becuase I don't do fucking backflips when someone trips on a cord, or makes a dick-joke. Want an insight? here...
Grant's Role Models aka. people who are awesome: Alan Alda (Hawkeye from MASH) Hugh Laurie (House) Lewis Black Groucho Johnny Depp theres more, but you get the idea
Wow, I guess I am kinda grouchy tonight
Oh ya, we're also going to see how long I can hold out before I buy Final Fantasy XII. So Pretty.
Upon the wall, I write "Mind", Upon the door, I write "Mind", Upon the window, I write "Mind", Because a mountain is not a mountain, Until it IS a mountain.
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neoceph's journal
