Richard the Blowenheart

Summary: The other day Richard Belzer (I hear he's a TV Star) said that the war in Iraq is going like really, really, really bad, and that we should like take our ball and go home. He also emoted that American military members like are dumb 19- or 20-year-old kids who like never read newspapers and have like never been to college. I'm 42, I read several newspapers every day, I graduated from Brigham Young University, and my wife says I'm like not dumb. So there.

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The other day a guy by the name of Richard Belzer (he's like really, really famous I think) was on the Bill Maher show, and he went on a diatribe about how it was like a really, really, really big mistake for the United States to come to Iraq, that the war is going like really, really bad, and, to make matters worse, the average US Serviceman or woman is like a 19- or 20-year old kid who has like never been to college, is like dumb, is like in the military only because he can't get another job, and he like never reads a newspaper. And he makes the insinuation that he is in a better position than we--the US Servicepeople in Iraq--to make a judgement on how will the war here is going. I wish to refute Mister Blowenheart.

First of all, my wife does not think I am dumb. That makes me de facto an authority to judge the the dumbness level of my fellow service members, and...envelope please...the winner is....they are not dumb either.

Second of all, I doubt that Mister Blowenheart reads 20 newspapers a day. Oh, never mind. I forgot. He doesn't work, so maybe he does read 20 newspapers a day. I come close to that, because I have my web browser set up to pull RSS (Really Simple Syndication) News Feeds from Yahoo, BBC, Businessweek, EWeek, Ziff-Davis Net, Washington Times, Human Events, New York Times, Tech Republic, Deseret News, Foreign Policy Magazine, LDS.ORG, and KSL Television (That's pretty close to 20 isn't it?) I happen to be in a mission that allows me to read that many RSS feeds per day, but it wasn't always that way. Most service members here are way too busy to read that many newspapers--busy dodging roadside bombs, hunting snipers, building schools, handing out gifts, and getting to know and love most of the Iraqi people. But most do read the Stars and Stripes newspaper at least weekly, and have access to the internet where they can read all the neat stuff in the news that Mister Blowenheart and his fan club are saying about them.

Third and fourth of all, the average age of a service member here is 26--much older than in Vietnam. (But of course, to Mister Blowenheart and his rowdy friends, this is Vietnam II.) Over half of the people in my battalion have at least some post-secondary education under their belts.

Fifth of all, about half the service members currently serving here are from the Army Reserve or National Guard and have significant civilian work experience. It is even rather common that regular full-time service personnel have worked in the private sector and chose to delay their private dreams to serve their country. Mister Blowenheart's current career provides much less benefit to society than either a military service member or just about any other job in the private sector.

So, like, let's take a little poll here: like, who do you think is more qualified to determine how well the war in Iraq is going?

A) like, Mister Blowenheart, or
B) The service member whose average age is 26, who is likely to have been to college and held a civilian job, loves his/her country, and serves among the Iraqi people on a regular basis.

I'd like to hear your comments.