Subj : The War Has No Clothes
To   : Daemon
From : Frank Reid
Date : Tue Oct 04 2005 01:06 pm

  Re: The War Has No Clothes
  By: Daemon to Frank Reid on Tue Oct 04 2005 01:59 am

 >   Odd that we our government is so eager to stamp it out on the other side o
 > the globe when such occurs right here on our own streets every day.

I hope you're still around the networks in three years.  I'm reserving
judgment until then to decide whether you sincerely believe America is
off-track and requires an overhaul (which is personally disconcerting,
but that's just my job) or you're actually the ultimate "sour grapes"
disingenuous liberal asshole poser claiming to have no agenda.  You give
every indication that no current political apparatus -- left, right or
middle -- satisfies your ends (although, unfortunately, you rarely
provide a clue on what those ends might be).  Regardless, I consider
that both a curiosity and a necessary thing in the big scheme of our
joint experiment... provided, of course, that you have no intention of
harming others in your quest for change.  You have piqued my curiosity. 
I am eager to see who Daemon is when a Democrat is elected in three
years, because a content Daemon satisfied with status quo will have no
future chance of credibility with me (not that you would care!)

To answer your question, no... I'm not a civil servant, although I'm
rarely far from one.  That's not to say I don't have the utmost respect
for the government careerist.  Some of our greatest patriots wear a suit
and not a uniform.  Frankly, they're just underpaid, and I've been able
to contribute at a personally satisfactory level without that shackle
since my military retirement.  I can't go into detail, as I'm sure
you'll understand, but the "services" I provide have included support at
many different agencies at one point or another -- Defense, Justice,
FBI, State and even the White House.  Think of me as a "plumber"... I
don't produce the shit at the source, and I no longer consume it at the
treatment plant, but I can pretty well tell when we've had corn for
dinner.

In contrast, my private life is an open book.  I consider myself a proud
patriot, and no one will ever convince me it's a bad thing to support my
country and the American way of life.  I'm one of those "my country,
right or wrong" nut-jobs you read about.  I believe military service
builds character and motivation, and is often the only basis one needs
on which to build a successful career.

Politically, I'd like to think the course of my adult life has shaped me
as party agnostic, although certainly not "issue" agnostic (and those
are distributed pretty evenly across the scatter chart, from what I can
gather).  I was in uniform before I ever voted, nevermind had an
informed (or purchased) political opinion.  Since then, I've put my life
on the line for both Democratic and Republican administrations with
equal lack of reservation, so I really couldn't care on which side of
the aisle our Commander-in-Chief sits.

What it also produced was the realization that my freedom as an American
was all that I needed to achieve my goals for personal and financial
security for me and my family, and it obviated any need to rely on the
government to satisfy my personal needs.  That's not to say I don't have
mundane needs satisfied by government.  For example, I never have (and
never will) pay for medical expenses, education and the like, and I have
both a pension and a disability that come out of our tax dollars.  But,
before you judge me by that, remember qualifying for those entitlements
entailed a bit more than hanging out at City Hall with an outstretched
palm!

As far as my personal statistics, in case you're interested, I'm 48
years old (which you probably already guessed) and was born and raised
in the Boston inner city as Number Seven in a typically large
Irish-Catholic family of 14 (most one year apart).  With the exception
of weddings and funerals, I haven't been to a church in 30 years.  I
recently celebrated my 25th anniversary (well, I was in Italy, but I'll
make it up to you next year, I promise).  I have two wonderful children,
a 22 year-old daughter with her B.F.A. from the Maine College of Art,
and a 19 year-old son enrolled in the University of Maryland engineering
program.

I live 25 miles due east of George Bush on a six-acre patch of
atypically peaceful urban woods (http://house.ourcorner.org).  I smoke,
quaff an occasional lager and particularly enjoy a good dark rum.  I did
inhale when growing up in the 60s and 70s, but found neither a need nor
the organizational tolerance for it after joining the military.  I like
rock-and-roll, from Tull to Tool, but can enjoy just about anything,
although I rarely have opportunity outside my commute, which I make in a
Chrysler 300.  I don't subscriber to any newspapers, and I can't
remember the last time I read a book.  I do read PC Magazine, Linux
Magazine and SysAdmin Magazine from cover-to-cover each month.  I pretty
much detest television programming of all sorts, with the exception of
the Fox Sunday evening cartoon line-up and an occasional episode of CSI. 
I love the English language for both its complexities and its
subtleties.  Anything else you need to know, just ask.  :)

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