For those of you who read this thing while you're waiting for your movie to download from torrents, you may remember my earlier post on UMBC potentially receiving an Army ROTC post. Well, the powers that be at UMBC have made the decision to start the process of applying for an Army ROTC post.
This is a move forward in the correct direction. UMBC, if it is to be taken seriously as a school known for diversity, should be granted such an institution. Allowing for more ROTC candidates to go to UMBC will only add to diversity, not subtract from it. The claims made by those who are against ROTC are inherently discriminatory on their own.
Welcome to UMBC, Army ROTC.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Monday, May 12, 2008
Panic on Academic Row
There is a lot of controversy at UMBC at the moment regarding the placement of an Army ROTC (Reserve Officers Training Corps) contingent in the school. There is some major resistance to the program, as show by an online petition against it. However, there is also a sizable group of people who are for (or perhaps not opposed) to ROTC being present on campus, as show by a group on Facebook.
The hoopla surrounding it is based on the fact that there is discrimination of homosexuals in the military and UMBC is supposedly a "homosexual friendly" environment. And while I support the campaign to grant homosexuals the marital and legal rights that I enjoy, perhaps this has come a bit too far.
As it stands, anyone at UMBC who wants to participate in an ROTC program has to go to Maryland - College Park (for the Air Force ROTC) or Johns Hopkins University (for the rest, I believe). This is a ridiculous inconvenience. If UMBC is to be considered a "diverse" college in any stretch of the manner, then it should tolerate a department on campus for ROTC. And while they can put certain restrictions on it to keep everyone fearing a militarization of the campus at ease, the option should be available. In addition, having ROTC on campus could open up many more options for education on UMBC.
The most important thing here is that no one is forcing anyone to join the military by having ROTC on campus. But it at leasts gives a wider option for those who do.
The hoopla surrounding it is based on the fact that there is discrimination of homosexuals in the military and UMBC is supposedly a "homosexual friendly" environment. And while I support the campaign to grant homosexuals the marital and legal rights that I enjoy, perhaps this has come a bit too far.
As it stands, anyone at UMBC who wants to participate in an ROTC program has to go to Maryland - College Park (for the Air Force ROTC) or Johns Hopkins University (for the rest, I believe). This is a ridiculous inconvenience. If UMBC is to be considered a "diverse" college in any stretch of the manner, then it should tolerate a department on campus for ROTC. And while they can put certain restrictions on it to keep everyone fearing a militarization of the campus at ease, the option should be available. In addition, having ROTC on campus could open up many more options for education on UMBC.
The most important thing here is that no one is forcing anyone to join the military by having ROTC on campus. But it at leasts gives a wider option for those who do.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Sharing is Caring
Seven years after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, the people in government still haven't figured out that they're working on the same side yet. In the latest issue of Newsweek, there is an article detailing a Pentagon back-door contact with some Iranians without those CIA folks knowing.
Parents, you might want to direct the children away from the next line.
HOLY FUCKING SHIT.
Good lord, has anyone read any part of the 9/11 commission? Have they tried reading any of the literature about the failures of the intelligence community in the years prior? You know what happened? PEOPLE DIDN'T SHARE. Apparently the folks in government were absent that day in pre-school. If the United States is to use the intelligence it gets to its fullest extent, it needs everyone it needs on the same page to insure that nothing fishy gets too far.
Let's take the example cited in the Newsweek article. One of the two fellows who brokered the meeting (both of whom are Iran-Contra people, if you wanted to know), Manucher Ghorbanifar, has been classified by the CIA as someone who has a history of unreliability. Now you think the Pentagon would've gone to that guy had they known that? Do we want another Curveball to screw the United States again? Until the people in government start playing with each other and sharing with each other, the United States is susceptible to another con-man.
Parents, you might want to direct the children away from the next line.
HOLY FUCKING SHIT.
Good lord, has anyone read any part of the 9/11 commission? Have they tried reading any of the literature about the failures of the intelligence community in the years prior? You know what happened? PEOPLE DIDN'T SHARE. Apparently the folks in government were absent that day in pre-school. If the United States is to use the intelligence it gets to its fullest extent, it needs everyone it needs on the same page to insure that nothing fishy gets too far.
Let's take the example cited in the Newsweek article. One of the two fellows who brokered the meeting (both of whom are Iran-Contra people, if you wanted to know), Manucher Ghorbanifar, has been classified by the CIA as someone who has a history of unreliability. Now you think the Pentagon would've gone to that guy had they known that? Do we want another Curveball to screw the United States again? Until the people in government start playing with each other and sharing with each other, the United States is susceptible to another con-man.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Taking It Too Far
It's cool to be proud of the stuff you enjoy. For example, you can have pictures of you and that massive fish that you caught that one weekend in the Catskills posted on your cubicle wall. You can wear an Aqua Teen Hunger Force t-shirt. You can wear your Rutgers Scarlet Knights sweatshirt.
There's a point where you take it too far. Like, for example, dressing up like the Scarlet Knight randomly during the day and wearing it to work. That's not right. Or those creepy [censored for the family audience] at Otakon, probably the only thing that can increase the likelihood of me avoiding Baltimore.
And there's this woman, who apparently is a Yankees Fan and allegedly ran over a Red Sox fan with her car. Now I'm a big Yankees fan and I have really thought about fun things to do to Red Sox fans (my current favorite is boiling them in either beans or white clam chowder), but there's a line that has to be drawn. I'm not about to break the law and kill someone because he/she is a Red Sox fan. I might make an exception for Phillies or Orioles fans, though.
At least she wasn't dressed like Derek Jeter when she ran the guy over.
There's a point where you take it too far. Like, for example, dressing up like the Scarlet Knight randomly during the day and wearing it to work. That's not right. Or those creepy [censored for the family audience] at Otakon, probably the only thing that can increase the likelihood of me avoiding Baltimore.
And there's this woman, who apparently is a Yankees Fan and allegedly ran over a Red Sox fan with her car. Now I'm a big Yankees fan and I have really thought about fun things to do to Red Sox fans (my current favorite is boiling them in either beans or white clam chowder), but there's a line that has to be drawn. I'm not about to break the law and kill someone because he/she is a Red Sox fan. I might make an exception for Phillies or Orioles fans, though.
At least she wasn't dressed like Derek Jeter when she ran the guy over.
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