First Shirt is, in the Air Force, a Special Duty Assignment. Scroll down in your own reference!
It is common to pull "alternate First Sergeant" and at least in the Air Force there are more of them than the official, diamond-wearing one-per-unit variety.
When the Shirt deploys or goes on leave, his duty doesn't go away. The alternates get to take up the slack and can be on call if he can't be reached.
"Legalizing drugs would destroy the business of those in the illegal drug trade over night, save the police millions and allow the government keep track of who is buying what drugs."
In other news, my local Food Lion and Piggly-Wiggly supermarket "crews" don't do drive-bys on each other over Budweiser sales.
Combat is almost over, so the suicide rate is reasonably likely to exceed combat deaths.
"is that it's often the case that the Al-Qaeda follower planting an IED is a 12 year old boy"
Since when are there many "Al Qaeda" followers and since when is mining commonly being done by 12-year olds?
The usual reasons for checking out have more to do with young marrieds coming UN-married as lonely wives get stuffed while the husband is deployed. Anyone pulling First Sergeant duty in war or peace or in-between gets to counsel lots of troops with domestic dramas. (That's a drawback to having a married force. IMO the military should pay SINGLE troops more and discourage marriage, but the GOP would come unglued...)
"Excessive consumption of alcohol and tobacco is also a contributor to the impoverishment of the lower classes. Look at how the tobacco companies prey upon the people in developing nations."
Imprisonment and fines for having illicit substances are arguably much more destructive of the lower classes, branding them with a "scarlet letter" for their "sins" in the form of a criminal record which keeps them from being employed thereby making "more crime" their only viable way of making money.
They are punished for "sin" then coerced by circumstance into more "sin" which feeds the whole "virtuous master/sinful slave" dynamic.
Instead of flat-earther nonsense, how about we use CRITICAL THINKING and SCIENCE to mitigate the damage done by (some) bad choices made by (some) people instead of burning down the house to (not) kill the mice?
"Thus explaining why Jews are required to drink wine every week and are required to drink four glasses (definitely enough for almost anyone to at least get a buzz) on Passover. You also forgot about the numerous religions that use psychedelic mushrooms as part of their ceremonies. Religion is not the problem here."
You just confirmed my point regarding ____CONTROL____. Now note that CEREMONIAL use is ____CONTROL___, and note your reference to Jewish ___REQUIREMENTS___ in your post.
Stop defending religion. It's not defensible. It's superstitious nonsense designed for Shamans to CONTROL those who are not, and to EXALT Superstitionists above those not sharing their delusion.
...religion hates spiritual experience and even simple pleasure it doesn't ration.
Note the level of Bible Thumper influence which not only drove Prohibition, but anti-"narcotics" (cannabis is not one) laws in the same era.
Taliban must control sex and control other pleasures, and to accomplish that goal must define disobedience as "sin" then punish it.
The cost of WOSD is spectacular, and it fuels the wave of immigration from the narco-states it creates (though the Christian Taliban are completely incapable of connecting the disruption of civil society with flight to the US!).
No, atheists refuse to accept FAITH instead of EVIDENCE, and absent EVIDENCE for PROOF there is no logical reason we should.
You can't prove a negative, so I could assert the universe was shot whole from my prostate and have as much evidence for it as Superstitionists have for their Sky Fairie.
Theists seek to RULE the WORLD based on their unsupported superstitions. I object to being so ruled.
Don't treat all suicides as "harm", because not all are.
Cognitive decline and the hideous process of protracted physical collapse coupled with disease and debility that is aging mean suicide can be a fine idea under some circumstances.
Death is inevitable, but most belief systems treat it as if it were wrong. We show mercy by killing a suffering animal, but torture humans for years and prolong their agony.
Everyone reading this, don't forget a Living Will and Durable Power of Attorney for health care decisions where appropriate! What ever you choose, ensure your wishes can be followed!
A pinhole in a non-obvious device could conceal a laser until the kill, and a conventional laser weapon sight could be boresighted beforehand to assist aiming. Put a camera behind the laser sight, and you could aim it remotely....
"If we're about corporate globalism then why would we pay any attention to these idiots?"
Not all the US is about that, and there are enough enviros to matter.
The world doesn't need the US to have a space program, at all. The world has thousands of years to explore space.
Your anger is amusing. "Just let me leave." Plenty of OTHER folks in the DISTANT future may leave, but to act as if you will is absurd.
The process isn't being affected enough on such a long time scale to matter. It took thousands of years to explore the Earth, and to be in a hurry to get meat in space is silly.
For one thing, since space is utterly and permanently and implacably hostile to human life, we absolutely require highly sophisticated and capable robot systems to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.
Remote-manned exploration is far cheaper than "meat tourists" who are pissed off at being in Mom's basement.
That said, you are free to buy all the manned space flight you can afford. I suggest emulating the rich, becoming rich, and so doing if you personally want to play in space.
Slashdot Mirror
"GHB (gamma-hydroxy butyric acid) was banned because a handful of people were victimized by the "date rape" crime."
If that's the metric for banning, buying jello shots should be a felony!
First Shirt is, in the Air Force, a Special Duty Assignment. Scroll down in your own reference!
It is common to pull "alternate First Sergeant" and at least in the Air Force there are more of them than the official, diamond-wearing one-per-unit variety.
When the Shirt deploys or goes on leave, his duty doesn't go away. The alternates get to take up the slack and can be on call if he can't be reached.
Never trust anyone whose ID begins with a 4.
Why would THEY be "paranoid" when business and government in the US are one?
"Dictabuntu" does have a nice ring to it.
"The tin foil hatters who worry about NSA-mandated back doors" shouldn't be running Windows for anything but gaming....
Pleasure must be rationed by religion, or it competes with superstition.
Religion is slavery.
"Legalizing drugs would destroy the business of those in the illegal drug trade over night, save the police millions and allow the government keep track of who is buying what drugs."
In other news, my local Food Lion and Piggly-Wiggly supermarket "crews" don't do drive-bys on each other over Budweiser sales.
The MyCleanPC troll made me miss GNAA.
Quite the accomplishment.
Combat is almost over, so the suicide rate is reasonably likely to exceed combat deaths.
"is that it's often the case that the Al-Qaeda follower planting an IED is a 12 year old boy"
Since when are there many "Al Qaeda" followers and since when is mining commonly being done by 12-year olds?
The usual reasons for checking out have more to do with young marrieds coming UN-married as lonely wives get stuffed while the husband is deployed. Anyone pulling First Sergeant duty in war or peace or in-between gets to counsel lots of troops with domestic dramas. (That's a drawback to having a married force. IMO the military should pay SINGLE troops more and discourage marriage, but the GOP would come unglued...)
"Excessive consumption of alcohol and tobacco is also a contributor to the impoverishment of the lower classes. Look at how the tobacco companies prey upon the people in developing nations."
Imprisonment and fines for having illicit substances are arguably much more destructive of the lower classes, branding them with a "scarlet letter" for their "sins" in the form of a criminal record which keeps them from being employed thereby making "more crime" their only viable way of making money.
They are punished for "sin" then coerced by circumstance into more "sin" which feeds the whole "virtuous master/sinful slave" dynamic.
Instead of flat-earther nonsense, how about we use CRITICAL THINKING and SCIENCE to mitigate the damage done by (some) bad choices made by (some) people instead of burning down the house to (not) kill the mice?
Because old "drug" laws work so well, let's add more....
"Thus explaining why Jews are required to drink wine every week and are required to drink four glasses (definitely enough for almost anyone to at least get a buzz) on Passover. You also forgot about the numerous religions that use psychedelic mushrooms as part of their ceremonies. Religion is not the problem here."
You just confirmed my point regarding ____CONTROL____. Now note that CEREMONIAL use is ____CONTROL___, and note your reference to Jewish ___REQUIREMENTS___ in your post.
Stop defending religion. It's not defensible. It's superstitious nonsense designed for Shamans to CONTROL those who are not, and to EXALT Superstitionists above those not sharing their delusion.
...religion hates spiritual experience and even simple pleasure it doesn't ration.
Note the level of Bible Thumper influence which not only drove Prohibition, but anti-"narcotics" (cannabis is not one) laws in the same era.
Taliban must control sex and control other pleasures, and to accomplish that goal must define disobedience as "sin" then punish it.
The cost of WOSD is spectacular, and it fuels the wave of immigration from the narco-states it creates (though the Christian Taliban are completely incapable of connecting the disruption of civil society with flight to the US!).
The Constitution is nowhere in the Bible, so Superstition has no duty to it.
It does if you actually believe the Bible and aren't just treating religion as a quaint social club.
There is still no excuse for Superstition.
Beautifully put.
If anyone can PROVE their Sky Fairie exists I will recant and suck its Noodly Appendage.
Ideas without evidence merit no respect.
If he believes "just in case", then that's not genuine faith, and he's in for an eternal roasting if his Imaginary Friend is indeed real.
No, atheists refuse to accept FAITH instead of EVIDENCE, and absent EVIDENCE for PROOF there is no logical reason we should.
You can't prove a negative, so I could assert the universe was shot whole from my prostate and have as much evidence for it as Superstitionists have for their Sky Fairie.
Theists seek to RULE the WORLD based on their unsupported superstitions. I object to being so ruled.
Since religion is not supported by evidence, belief in it is arguably delusional, end of story.
Only the religious defend superstition, because they must.
There is ZERO reason for those not superstitious to treat superstitious ideas with respect.
Prove your Sky Fairie exists. NOW. Enough nonsense. I am tired of lies and tired of liars.
Don't treat all suicides as "harm", because not all are.
Cognitive decline and the hideous process of protracted physical collapse coupled with disease and debility that is aging mean suicide can be a fine idea under some circumstances.
Death is inevitable, but most belief systems treat it as if it were wrong. We show mercy by killing a suffering animal, but torture humans for years and prolong their agony.
Everyone reading this, don't forget a Living Will and Durable Power of Attorney for health care decisions where appropriate! What ever you choose, ensure your wishes can be followed!
A pinhole in a non-obvious device could conceal a laser until the kill, and a conventional laser weapon sight could be boresighted beforehand to assist aiming. Put a camera behind the laser sight, and you could aim it remotely....
...it interferes with MY shiny pet project, in which case all who oppose me are Communist Obamanazi Weatherman PETAphile Tree Hugging Terrorists!
Now we see how it is, and it's pretty funny.
Given the time scale of thousands of years for viable "escape", there is no rush.
"If we're about corporate globalism then why would we pay any attention to these idiots?"
Not all the US is about that, and there are enough enviros to matter.
The world doesn't need the US to have a space program, at all. The world has thousands of years to explore space.
Your anger is amusing. "Just let me leave." Plenty of OTHER folks in the DISTANT future may leave, but to act as if you will is absurd.
The process isn't being affected enough on such a long time scale to matter. It took thousands of years to explore the Earth, and to be in a hurry to get meat in space is silly.
For one thing, since space is utterly and permanently and implacably hostile to human life, we absolutely require highly sophisticated and capable robot systems to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.
Remote-manned exploration is far cheaper than "meat tourists" who are pissed off at being in Mom's basement.
That said, you are free to buy all the manned space flight you can afford. I suggest emulating the rich, becoming rich, and so doing if you personally want to play in space.