Disrespect for the military

It seems that James Lileks and Donald Sensing differ on a passage from a Bleat. I have much respect for Rev. Sensing, but IMO he is oversensitive here. This is not about uniformed service, it's about the DoD, and those are two different things.

I've worked for the govt before. I know about the careerists, and the people who while away their hours until retirement running their home businesses using govt assets, or other similar forms of waste. Just show up on time and don't get caught saying "niggardly" and you'll be able to retire at a good salary, and maybe sign up for another govt job for double-dipping on the pension.

And if Rev. Sensing wants me to believe that the DoD is the only govt department of them all that has no such people, he deserves as much credibility as the lefties who talk about DoD waste as if it were the only part of the govt that ever wasted any money. I'll reserve the right to criticize any organization that spends my tax dollars, thank you. And if the military doesn't like the idea of civilian control, which necessarily involves a lot of people who haven't "walked the walk", then it's time for an attitude adjustment.

For real disrespect for the military, I suggest this:

I have an idea. Timothy McVeigh and John Allen Muhammad - one of the accused D.C. snipers - both served in the military. I think we need to put all U.S. ex-servicemen on a special watch list, because they obviously could be terrorists. I think we should flag them for "special screening" when they fly and think twice before allowing them to take scuba-diving lessons.

What do you think of my idea? I hope you're appalled, incensed and angry that I question the honesty and integrity of our military personnel based on the actions of just two people. That's exactly the right reaction. It's no different whether I suspect people based on military service, race, ethnicity, reading choices, scuba-diving ability or whether they're flying one way or round trip. It's profiling. It doesn't catch the few bad guys, and it causes undue hardship on the many good guys who are erroneously and repeatedly singled out. Security is always a trade-off, and in this case of "data mining" the trade-off is a lousy one.

Yes, I'm appalled and angry, you ignorant cretin, because out of all of the groups you could have made a case for you picked the ones who make it possible for the likes of you to make statements like that. May you find yourself somewhere where you are profiled for having a bad attitude and get exactly what you deserve.