Back By Popular Demand

OK OK, the hiney is back. And a cute one it is.

Today's topic... Duh!

The other night on the evening news, I believe it was CBS, there was a big announcement... a recent study shows that soldiers just back from combat are more likely to commit murder than those who weren't in combat. WHAT THE FUCK! Don't you get fed up with the seemingly endless drivel flowing out of what is supposed to be responsible journalism? People returning from combat are more likely to commit murder. No shit!

Armband: "Patriot Guard Rider"

You talk about a waste of taxpayer money. You want to balance the budget, right after cutting the defense budget in half and snuffing out the thieving elected bastards on Wall Street's payroll, cut out all funding for crap like that, followed by radically reducing funding for mostly worthless pursuits like archeology. Other than satisfying idle curiosity, what good has ever come from archeology? We, mankind, have sure as hell never learned any lessons from the past. My brother-in-law was pilot of a swift boat in Nam. Their job was to cruise the Mekong delta looking for trouble. They had little trouble finding it. His stories will curdle your blood. Stories of what was done to them and what they did back, often to innocent civilians. I'll give you an example with a story that wasn't even combat related, at least not directly. Chaz and his buddies were drinking one evening at a sidewalk cafe in Saigon. Across the narrow street another GI was walking by when he was suddenly surrounded by small children begging for money. Children begging was a common occurrence then. They were ragged and hungry. The GI tried to chase them away but they persisted, some of them even trying to take his watch and poking their hands into his pockets. Finally, the GI got annoyed to the point that he started grabbing every child he could get hold of and breaking their arms over his knee. Chaz said he and his buddies were laughing their asses off at the sight of the little urchins running in all directions, crying, their arms hanging at grotesque angles. I won't even go into some of the combat stuff, at least not now. Before Chaz went to Vietnam he was as sweet and gentle a boy as you would ever want to meet. He came back a killer. You can tell a killer when you meet one. You can see it in their eyes. It's primal. When he came home he would go into bars drinking, looking for a fight. He would beat the shit out of anyone who crossed him, many who didn't. My brother and I once happened onto him at a local drinking establishment and had to jump on him and wrestle him to the ground to keep him from beating some guy who thought he was tough to death. He used to hang with the Outlaws, Florida's Hell's Angles. Finally, he overcame his demons but fought a life-long battle with alcohol. I just saw him at a family picnic this past 4th of July and had a great time visiting with him and his wife and their grown kids, now again, a sober and gentle soul. I don't need some dumb ass study or half ass news report to tell me something everyone but an idiot already knows. I imagine more than a few of you don't either.