Obama Gets Shunned at Columbia University When Discussing ROTC

McCain got Booed, Obama Didn't Get Much Better

Recently, presidential candidates Obama and McCain held a 9/11 forum at Columbia University where they discussed service to our great nation. Both candidates encouraged the school to reinstate its ROTC program after being shut down during Vietnam. Despite Sen. Obama's massive popularity in the left-leaning NYC, and the fact that Columbia is his alma mater, he was booed in a chorus of CHUDitude as he dared suggest that military service could be a viable opportunity. Arkansas INDY Media has the scoop from "Revolution", a NYC panphlet that seeks to win students to the program of "Marx, Engels, Lenin and Trotsky":

Barack Obama dropped a bomb on his young enthusiasts at Columbia University on September 11. The heavily Democratic crowd booed McCain when he called for the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) to be brought back to campus (it was driven out in 1969 by protests against the Vietnam war). Liberal students expected a different answer from Columbia alum Obama. “Almost everyone’s expecting him to say no [to the ROTC], because he’s on our side, right? So then you heard him say ‘yes’ and everyone’s mouths opened in stunned silence,” a student told the New York Sun (15 September). That should have been the tip-off for anyone who hadn’t figured it out by then: Obama is no “peace candidate” but like McCain he is a certified imperialist war candidate.

This seems to be the guiding principle for the naysayers at Columbia, as it's politically convenient to cast off the military as "imperialist" so that "other people" from flyover country can go off to serve our country. Presumably, some Columbia students feel more proud to take jobs in investment banking and large media conglomerates, so they can spend their twenties at wine and cheese parties in the Upper East Side instead of actually doing something useful for society.

There's one Marine at Columbia who is appealling to Mr. Obama for assistance, and hopefully he doesn't get run off the campus with torches and pitchforks before the campaign gets the word.

Strange Religious Comment At WSJ About Track Palin

An anonymous reader directs our attention to an odd comment about Track Palin, who is off to serve his country in Iraq. This disappoints a commenter at WSJ as he sees it as a "wasted" life and even brings up the anti-christ as a form of CHUD attack. From WSJ:

“Satan always has a motive, and it usually results in wasted lives, and elaborate deceptions to bleed the support money from the pockets of traditional Christians, who have been beguiled into tithing or giving to Satan’s ministers and Satan’s churches.”
Why are Palin’s children headed for early motherhood, war, a life of dependency instead of training, work, or even the completion of childhood? Why these wasted lives?
Why support the “bridge to no where” & then take the money & keep it for other purposes? Why these elaborate deceptions? Why did they elope & why do you never see Todd in church? What does he have against Christ’s ministers & Christ’s churches? The antiChrist claims to be anointed by God with the Holy Spirit, to be qualified to work in God’s name. But he is a false Christ.

These religious crazies are incredibly difficult to decipher, but they probably would only be proud of armies found in the book of Revelation (e.g. the Four Horsemen).

An Army a Religious Wacko could be proud of!

Creepy Photo of the Day

Spotted by Mr. and Ms. Kiyum at the UNC-Chapel Hill ROTC armory. Apparently, some think the military is full of "rethuglicans".

Detailed Plans on Gulag for US Soldiers over at AZ Central

Re-Education Camps: Is There a Historical Precedent?

The anonymously named "Code Monkey" writes in this CHUDtastic discovery:

Sometimes I wonder what some online news organizations are thinking when they allow readers to comment on articles. Some shut down comments on more volatile articles; others make you click to another page to see what the commenters have to say. The rest leave it all out splayed out at the end of the article.

Sometimes readers can't help but keep scrolling through to the comments, like when one looks at a car accident at the side of the road. Well, when you keep staring, sometimes you see something you didn't want to see.

At the Arizona Republic website, there's an article about the deployment ceremony for the 29th Brigade Support Battalion of the Arizona National Guard. Azcentral.com left it open to comments. The antiwar keyboard warriors took this opportunity to spew the venom that lurks in the dark corners of their minds, showing their faux bravado that they wield when safe behind their cloak of internet anonymity.

At first, you just notice the usual moonbat comments: it's a war for oil, it's an occupation, we can't win, our soldiers are just kids, the National Guard was not meant for deployment to overseas wars…

But then bostonblackie (Sep-25 @ 12:00 PM) tells us all that what we need is reeducation camps for all the atrocity-committing soldiers who will not be able to contain their bombing, murdering, raping ways once they come back from Iraq:

U.S. troops WILL be returning. Will we be ready for them? It is all too apparent that these soldiers, having committed atrocities world-wide, will be unfit for civil society unless they undergo a lengthy rehabilitation process. I propose that Fort Huachuca be used for this purpose.

This rehabilitation, or 're-education', will by necessity have to be conducted in secure facilities; both for the protection of civilians, and for the safety of the troops themselves. Happily, one of the very bases where they were trained to be killers can easily be used to confine them until they are ready to become productive members of society. It is highly desirable that only those bases that are far removed from population centers be used. Fort Huachuca in southern Arizona would be doubly good; the barbaric behavior once taught there would be un-taught in the same settings, thus reinforcing the lessons.

Having shot, bombed, beaten and sexually abused civilians, contact with non-military personnel must be extremely limited for the first six months or so of their internment. Their progress toward rehabilitation must be carefully monitored by psychiatric workers, and only those who show demonstrable, increasing levels of responsibility toward society will be allowed limited contact with non-military personnel. Due to the extremely high incidence of spousal abuse/murder among the returnees, conjugal visits should be prohibited for the first year.

For the first few months, their re-education must be the simple rules of good manners:

You don't shoot people.

You don't bomb people.

You don't beat people.

It is never OK to sexually abuse people.

No means No.

Role-playing will be of some use in this re-education, but aversion therapy will also prove useful.

The returning soldiers should be issued civilian clothes with no ensignia of rank, and all their government issued clothing should be burned in a ritualistic public manner to stress a complete break with their dark and bloody past.

Staffing in the re-education centers must be by social workers, not prison guards; the social workers should also dress in ordinary street clothes with only a small name tag to differentiate them from the general populace. No matter their understandable revulsion at the enormity of the crimes committed by the returning soldiers; the staff should avoid calling them names like "war criminals", "baby killers" and "scum".

As their re-education progresses, the better behaved internees should be allowed short, heavily supervised visits to Sierra Vista. Here they should demonstrate their new behavior by (for example) purchasing a cup of coffee without pointing a rifle, and asking directions without sexually abusing anyone. As they become more suited to dealing with humans, the returnees may be allowed to visit Tucson and Phoenix, again heavily supervised. Until their re-education is complete, no detainee should be allowed entry to Bisbee.

Rehabilitation and re-education will be of little effect without a large element of redemption; the returning soldiers should be encouraged to knit and sew clothing for their victims world-wide; and to write letters of apology to the peoples they have oppressed, raped and murdered. Any returnee that does not show tangible atonement should not be punished in any way, but the returnee should also not be released until such atonement is demonstrated.

Of course, some of the returning soldiers will be so inured to committing violent acts that their rehabilitation will take years, or even decades! But we must never loose hope that even the most depraved G.I. can be turned from evil.

If you think he's a troll, see:

Sep-25 @ 3:49 PM

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

the creator gave us all our rights
not the army
national guard
air force
navy
border patrol

seems like some here are calling the founders of america liars

(Uh, dude, you forgot the United States Marine Corps.)

And…

Sep-25 @ 4:03 PM

fight for the "rights" of goldman sachs and royal dutch shell if you want; for the "rights" of
fannie mae
freddie mac
exxon
haliburton
aig...
but don't tell me or yourself you are fighting for
MY
rights
'cause you are not

Bigboomer2110 (Sep-25 @ 2:34 PM) responds:

First off I am an OIF veteran. I have carried flag draped coffins and have seen the horror that has never been on the news. I was able to "re-integrate" into society without raping, beating, bombimg or molesting anyone. Bostonblackie you sir or mam are the crux of the problem in this country. You believe you are entitled to your opinion simply because you live here. Well I am sorry to have to burst your bubble, your right to stand on a soapbox of freedom and expostulate your assinine rhetoric is granted to you by someone who has more courage and understanding of sacrifice than you will ever be able to grasp. It is fine to have your opinion of the war and of Bush, as well as whomever takes his place. If it is your wish to dissrespect the brave men and women who sacrifice to protect your freedoms please do so elsewhere, you and people who think like you don't deserve what you are guaranteed by your citizenship.

Soldier's Wrangler Trashed For Being Too Soldiery

A former service member and Iraq veteran, Viktor Whitlow, has had his Jeep trashed by thuggin' CHUDs at a university in Texas. This was not a random act of vandalism, as, literally, the red paint was thrown with the oft-cited C.H.U.D. meme that "Soldiers are Murderers". From NBC5i in Dallas:

The vandals used a box cutter to destroy the inside of his jeep, they slashed five tires and smashed through the windshield. Perhaps the most shocking detail to the vandalism was the message spray painted on his hood.In red paint the vandals spraypainted the message, "Soldiers are murderers."

Ouch, they even slashed the spare. The university is covering the cost of repairs for Mr. Whitlow's Jeep, but the VIN will always be associated with being tainted by a ruthless attack from those that seek to denigrate our military. The mission of the Dallas Baptist University is to
"provide Christ-centered quality higher education in the arts, sciences, and professional studies" and it seems the vandal in question assumed Jesus went around with a box-cutter in the middle of the night.

(h/t David M of The Thunder Run)

Code Pink Hangs It Up in Berkeley

Not Even the Frightening Witches of Code Pink Could Scare off our beloved Marine Corps

The Berkeley Marine Officer Recruiting Station has been under siege by CHUDs and assorted crazies for months. Code Pink issued a triumphant release entitled "Mission Accomplished" on East Bay Indy Media proclaiming a successful CHUD attack designed to take apart our military:

Major protest operations at the MRS have been ended, one year since covert military recruiting operations were first uncovered in Berkeley!

Our coalition is now engaged in dis(as)sembling and deconstructing the U.S. military, making the world safe and secure!

Our city and our coalition are proud of these accomplishments!

Come to our One Year End Recruiting Commemoration Wednesday, Sept 24th noon at the MRS* to honor these courageous Peace Activists!

Share and hear testimonies from the front lines of our most memorable, meaningful, insightful actions, episodes, and occurrences over the past year.

While Code Pink talks a big game like Attila the Hun as they lead a bunch of savages against a respected military institution, it's too bad for that Jonn Lillyea actually called the recruiting office in question. The Captain said the place still had a 3-year lease. Also, Protest Shooter has pics of the office still open for business while the hooligans in Code Pink and various 9/11 troofer miscreants congregate at the end of the block like a bunch of hobos. Go back to the sewer you losers.

Area Wuss Belittles Troops in Boston Globe

Steven Almond writes in an Op-Ed:

Perhaps the most insidious byproduct of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has been a reflexive sanctification of the military. To put this in bumper stickerese: Support the Troops. Well, I have an ugly confession to make: I don't support the troops - at least not unconditionally. When somebody tells me they serve in the military, my first impulse isn't to say, "Thank you for your service!" like those insufferable chickenhawks on talk radio.

My first impulse is to say, "I'm sorry to hear that." Because I am. I'm sorry to know that the person I'm talking to might someday be maimed or killed on the job, or might someday kill someone else. Or refuel a plane that drops bombs on buildings.

His discourse is short on facts and heavy on "feelings" against the troops, which helps explains why one of the forums on his website is dedicated to pointing out perceived "bullies" (e.g. NASCAR fans, Fox News anchors, and other people who would wear an American Flag shirt without irony). It seems Mr. Almond hasn't recovered from the barrage of swirlies, wedgies, and laughter received during high school and is adopting a "jocks vs. nerds" mentality towards people in uniform. Repressed memories of the football team stuffing you in the locker isn't a good basis for foreign and military policy, but the Boston Globe doesn't see it that way and decided to run this bile. The Huffington Post has Steve Almond on staff and his postings are a series of creepy letters in the first-hand perspective addressed to Barack Obama. I wonder if he puts on lipstick and masturbates while writing these things due to psychological trauma. The Obama campaign should get the secret service involved.

Ygleisas: Not a CHUD, but Crossing into the Danger Zone

Annoying Tax Burden?

Matt Ygleisas is an influential progressive blogger and often discusses foreign and domestic policy, that's why C.H.U.D. Busters was a bit disturbed to see him write this following post:

It would be silly, of course, to think you can draw a straight line from the Iraq War to the AIG bailout. Or to suggest that prompting widespread panic around credit default swaps was OBL’s idea from the get-go. But at the same time, it can’t really be denied that the economy would be in better shape if the $100+ billion that we’ve spent in Iraq every year for the past five years had, instead, been invested by public and private hands in productive enterprises. If instead of building bombs and Humvees that get destroyed quickly and then replaced, we’d been adding to the national stock of capital and consumer goods. If the people who’d been maimed in the war and are now getting medical treatment were, instead, working productively. Things like that.

Certainly veterans care is expesnive, but society has an obligation to ensure people injured in the line of duty are properly cared for and not lambasted for being annoying tax burdens like the guy on welfare who uses food stamps to buy T-bone steaks. At a time when resources in a tough economy become scarce, C.H.U.D. Busters hopes that society will opt for spending tax revenue on veterans and not so much on the next NYC banking conglomerate that goes belly up.

Grouchy Old Coot Loses His Faith in the Military

Ricard Cohen in his Acting Career

Type: Geezer C.H.U.D.
CHUDitude: 3
Location of Outbreak: Washington Post Op-Ed (h/t This Ain't Hell)
Description of Attack: Richard Cohen pens a lengthy, partisan Op-Ed about the not-so-Straight Talk McCain, but throws in a complete non-sequitur regarding the awfulness of the military for no logical reason other than he's just a grouchy old geezer that missed Matlock last night. From WaPo:

Who believes that in Afghanistan last month, only five civilians were killed by the American military in an airstrike, instead of the approximately 90 claimed by the Afghan government? Not me. I first gave up on the military during Vietnam and then again when it covered up the death of Pat Tillman, the Army Ranger and former NFL player who was killed in 2004 by friendly fire.

Mr. Cohen will be glad to know that some of our elderly citizens still believe in the military, as it has been doing an okay job even before the invention of the Rascal, Viagra, and the advent of the cultural phenomenon known as the Golden Girls.

Prognosis: Richard Cohen is a grumpy old curmudgeon who has become sort of an icon of parody amidst circles in the blogosphere. His tirade against online book sales and tattooed whippersnappers has made him an easy target for those devious Gen Xers who won't get off his proverbial lawn on WaPo. However, a C.H.U.D. attack was a bit unexpected, as the nation's elderly can still recall when the military was the institution preventing the U.S. from being wiped off the face of the earth in WWII. As TSO says, what a moran!

Sears Offers Up Fall Fashions of Military Blingage

Milbling! From Hot Chicks With Douchebags

Type: Miblingin C.H.U.D.
CHUDitude: 4
Location of Attack: Sears Fall Fashion Line from All American Apparel, Nabbed by VetVoice and Politico
Description of Outbreak: The military's effect on contemporary culture is well known, what with the advent of camo cargo pants and diamond studded dog tags to impress your date. It's a natural evolution of culture as soldier's come back from the combat zone to intermingle with the citizenry. But what about when a private clothing company uses the insignia from one of the Army's most storied Divisions, The Big Red One, to hawk some cheesy wares to make a quick buck. The Politico explains:

But Sears, Roebuck and Co. is already moving to market its 1st Division “collection” this fall, and All American Apparel Inc., a privately held New York manufacturer, told Politico on Saturday that it had license from the Pentagon to proceed.

Caught most by surprise are combat veterans of the 1st Infantry Division, who see their familiar red-and-green shoulder patch splashed across Internet websites celebrating soldier chic.

Brandon Friedman has more from 1stID combat vets:

"Wait. What?" he said. The concept wasn't registering. "What do you. . .I have no idea what you're--" he stammered. "You mean they sold the actual patch? To Sears? Like to put on regular clothes?"

He looked horrified. Like he'd just discovered his car had been broken into.

These vets need to suck it up and realize that there's profit to be had. Who wouldn't want to see legions of gel-haired douchebags prowling the nightclubs with spiked hair advertising the merits of the 1st ID?

Prognosis: Haute Concept has pictures of the trashy gear, and notes that it is a way for people to feel "tougher" or more macho about themselves. Like Members Only jackets in decades past, the illusion of being part of an elite and unique organization can pay off handsomely when marketing yourself to the opposite sex. Unfortunately, it does no service to the people who had to actually bust their ass in the heat to get the 1st Infatry Division combat patch, and that didn't include dry-humping the Delta Delta chicks at McScooner's during Rush week.

C.H.U.D. Talk with a Feisty Co-Ed

Commenter Julia writes in on the DNC protest:

Just the fact that I am allowed to think for myself is evidence enough that I am free, and so are you. We do not start wars for "freedom". We fight wars for our national interest (this is quite true; take an international relations class).

Ms. Julia, thank you for your comment, but C.H.U.D. Busters is a non-partisan effort at pointing out those that "Don't Support the Troops" and is hardly the place for political discourse. However, we do feel that our military personnel taking part in a war is a necessity when called upon. The grave threats of Fascism, Slavery, Independence from England, and now Terrorism have been/will be overcome on the battlefields, and probably not at a Chomsky lecture your evil capitali$t parents are paying for. Sorry, but that's how we feel :-\

Bottom of the Barrel in Politics

Is anything sacred anymore?

(h/t Gateway Pundit)

War Memorial Defaced By Artsy CHUDs

Tagging can be an interesting artistic statement, but memorials should be off-limits

Many of us probably think graffiti in an urban setting is a pretty cool way to gussy up an otherwise boring side of a freight car. However, it goes without say that it has no place on a war memorial. Especially when the young punks who did it, were the same age of the soldier that it was a tribute to (SGT Dustin Laird, KIA Al-Qaim 2006). From the Army Times:

A West Tennessee judge has sentenced two people who admitted defacing a memorial to a dead soldier to work at the armory of the soldier’s National Guard unit.

Brandon White, who is 23, and 22-year-old Sara Gallimore appeared before General Sessions Court judge Tommy Moore on Wednesday in Dresden.

WCMT Radio in Martin reported Moore ordered White and Gallimore to pay $100 each in restitution for painting a memorial to Spc. Dustin Laird in Martin with images of a skull and skeleton.

Moore also assigned them to put in 200 hours of community service work at the armory where Laird’s unit is based in Union City.

Laird was a member of the 913th Engineer Company.

Luckily, the Judge wasn't afraid to lay the smack-down.

(h/t) David M of The Thunder Run

Protester Hooligans Make Trouble in the Twin Cities

Peaceful Protests Not so Peaceful on the Public property (pic from Atlas Shrugs)

Type: CHUDs on Parade
CHUDitude: 10
Location of Outbreak: RNC Protests, reported in various outlets
Description of Attack: Thugs have taken advantage of the hiatus on the RNC due to Gustav to wreak havoc throughout the Twin Cities. The SF Chronicle reports:

Earlier today, several groups of demonstrators - many with bandanas covering their faces who identified themselves as anarchists - broke from the main march. They set a fire in a garbage Dumpster, damaged five police squad cars and smashed three giant display windows at a Macy's department store, police said. Store spokeswoman Jennifer McNamara said the store would increase security for the rest of the week in response to the vandalism.

Despite sympathies towards these hooligans from left-leaning blogs, there is no way to disguise this utter contempt for public decency in order to make a point about how awful it is to live in America. The March on the RNC website has flyers calling the Iraq war "theft, torture, and murder" despite citing no evidence to these ridiculous allegations. Of course, this would imply that this protest was actually about a political statement, and not an excuse for young punks who didn't get enough attention from their parents to destroy public property in a nihilistic rage.

Prognosis: Overwhelming force is a proper method to deal with these trouble makers. Unfortunately, many of these clowns seek martyrdom by pretending to be victims of supposed "police brutality", so law enforcement is in a bit of Catch-22 in how to deal with this riff raff. But it is best to err on the side of using non-lethal force, like this unfortunate CHUD who got pepper-sprayed trying to recreate some lame 60s image by giving a flower to the police. Apparently, the police weren't intersted.