So today I had my five minutes of fame. I was the "call of the week" on a local talk radio show for which there IS NO "call of the week!"
Here's the skinny:
Local entertainment reporter Tonya Jameson was the guest on the Keith Larson show on WBT. She was taking the position that John Kerry didn't botch a joke, he at least subliminally "meant" what he said the other day, but he was (get this) RIGHT!
Yes, you read that correctly. She said he had a point, that not doing well in school could land you in the military and if you ended up there for that reason, you would be sent to Iraq.
Let's review shall we?
You + poor grades = career in the military
Career in the military/your poor grades = one-way ticket to Iraq (and by implication, death and misery)
Got that?
Meanwhile, in her private Idaho, if you have a college degree and become an officer, you can avoid going to Iraq because, well, you did well in school. Bush doesn't want your guts splattered on the side of a humvee, just the guts of those too stupid to "do their homework."
OK, now that we're clear, I hope you can understand the instant sensation of total revulsion that I had for this woman. Not only was she WRONG about who gets sent to Iraq, or how educated they are (or aren't), she was wrong about the kind of war it is! She's using the tired ol' Vietnam war analogy, despite never mentioning that war by name. She's assuming that the men and women over there today are merely cannon-fodder, and that as in Vietnam, our current leaders are happy to send the lowliest amongst us to be killed because, well, they're not that bright anyhow, why not?
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. So I decided to tell her so, in so many words, publicly and audibly, in front of thousands of my fellow citizens, hopeful that some would agree with me and would see her and her opinion (and the opinion that I'm sure is shared by the coctail-party set in the Democratic party, the people who sneer at those who join the military when they think no one is looking or listening) as the inane ramblings of a coward and a moron, as I did.
Here's the pod-cast for your listening pleasure. Let me know how you think I did representing the forces of good and reason!