Thinking of 9/11, etc today got me thinking.

Does the fact that the United States and her allies have declared a "War on Terrorism" somehow give some legitimacy to terrorism as a method of fighting a war?

It got me thinking today too. I got to thinking that it would be great to turn a great American tragedy into a national day of service to the state. Thoughts?

i don't think so, no. that's not to say anything on the legitimacy of terrorism, whether it is or isn't, but i don't see how waging a war on it makes it valid.

if it was non-compulsory, ok. 9/11 already had that effect, causing a ton of people to sign up for the armed forces.

Well, it occurred when I had an epiphany on the toilet that the 9/11 attacks were undoubtedly a result of a lack of community service and community organizing before that fateful day. I think I'm gonna go find a habitat for humanity house and paint a livingroom later. Either that, or I might go volunteer at an ACORN office and help people evade taxes, and set up a brothel for ten underaged El Salvadorian girls.

i don't really know what the fuck you're even talking about here.

"Volunteerism is strong in the country. But the truth of the matter is, the farther we've gotten away from 9-11, that memory has begun to fade. And my call to people is, there's always a need. You should be volunteering not because of 9-11, but you should be volunteering because our country needs you on a regular basis. And so today I call upon our fellow citizens to devote 4,000 hours over your lifetime in service to your country. You'll become a better person for it, and our society will be more healthy as a result of it."

--George W. Bush, Sept. 8, 2008

http://www.wtol.com/global/story.asp?s=11114803 - Obama adds to 9/11 tributes by declaring it a national 'Day of Service'



http://www.thestate.com/nationalpolitic ... 38366.html

Bloomberg said today that our lack of community service helped lead to 9/11. And apparently community service will prevent terrorism too.

ACORN fun - http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,549241,00.html

My hero! He forgot about volunteering to the state. And national service days. And all that kind of nonsense. But hey, if George Bush gives you a ball, you might as well roll with it.

How much of an asshole do you have to be to criticize public service? You're really just an unbelievable dick.

you act as if declaring a day a national day of anything is some excess wielding of executive power. this is not the method hitler and stalin took to suppress freedoms, no matter how many callers into radio stations feel differently. national day of service, yeah, that's a good thing i think, for people to get out and volunteer is always a good thing.

Oh yeah, I'm an unbelievable dick for criticizing politicians for exploiting a national tragedy and turing it into a "National day of service." Fucking Bloomberg said we got hit because we don't "volunteer" enough. The entire concept is pretty insipid.

Is it working very well against drugs or crime?

Perhaps we need another Tsar for Terrorism.

Maybe there are simply too many bolsheviks.

I for one am outraged OUTRAGED that a politician would call on citizens to engage in community service!! How dare he force ask citizens to do something for somebody else!!

9-11, just like Memorial Day, is a day of rememberance. Not a day of service.

The point is that you get bent out of shape at the smallest, most ridiculous, innocuous things imaginable. There are legitimate grievances to lay bear with Obama and his administration, but when you get so inflamed and indignant at something as trivial as the president calling on citizens to serve their communities (nothing more than a soaring platitude, a nice and clean sound byte) you (and the talking heads like you) lose so much credibility. Everything Obama does or says is not the friggin apocalypse. And when people act like it is, why should anybody take them seriously when they happen to be enraged at something that legitimately matters?

4/5, on the laundry list of shitty things that the Obama administration and politicians can do, where do you think this ranks on the LittleWing scale. I mean, sure, I don't agree with the concept in principle, but would you give me the benefit of the doubt and realize that my original posts were almost purely in jest mocking public officials? In all reality, I do not understand what relevance or purpose doing this would have other than politicians looking for their own personal and political gain. There are 365 days in a year, and we have decided that 9/11, a great tragedy, is to be the day of service? It can't be on 9/12? Or 9/10? Both of which I think would be more meaningful in their message. Nope, we gotta have it on 9/11? It just reminds of that Family Guy episode where Lois was running for Mayor and just kept saying Jesus and 9/11 and everyone went nuts. We should spend time on days like this to respect and remember the tragedy and what America has lost. We shouldn't be diluting it by going to some house and painting a wall. That's called taking your eye off the ball. And the idea that this is somehow emulating men that ran up burning sky scrapers to save lives is an insult to the firefighters very existance and what they died for on 9/11. It's not an enormous deal to me 4/5, I find it more illuminating than objectionable.

I completely disagree with you. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, even though I think it's amazing that you really have a problem with it on any level, whether it be rather low on your list of complaints or not. How is volunteer service ever a bad thing? It's completely clear that he's a politician who just said something that sounds good because its a positive thing that, I would have thought of before your posts, no one would really object to. Just playing politics? Sure. Is this a big deal, or even any kind of story at all? Hardly.

I don't see how terrorism is all that much different from the US military action in Pakistan. As I see it, terrorism is just a form of civil war that knows no boundaries.

I think rules of war are a joke. I think if war were more barbaric that countries would think twice before entering into them.