Getting a little political

So watching the Olympics brought about unexpected results. I can only get NBC with my rabbit ears and I'll admit it--I find some Olympic activities a little boring. Beach volleyball (among other things) does nothing for me so I found myself trying out some other channels on Friday night. I ended up watching PBS stuff since that channel is really clear and I watched a man named Andrew J. Bacevich being interviewed by Bill Moyers about Bacevich's new book called "The Limits of Power". I found it completely fascinating. I'm having a hard time with this election coming up because I don't know what to do. I'm not happy with the choices we have and I hate, hate, hate having to vote for the lesser of two evils. The interview wasn't about who to vote for in the presidential election, it was more a reflection on the situation America finds itself in right now. I've always been against the military being pulled out of Iraq but Bacevich presented (what I thought was) a very compelling argument for it. That's how good the interview was. Anyway, I tried to get his book at the library but they only had his older book "The New American Militarism" so I'm going to read that first. Between the publishing of these two books, Bacevich lost a son in Iraq and Bacevich himself was a Colonel I believe and served in Vietnam. Maybe I'll decide I don't agree with everything he says in the end but anything that gets a person thinking is a good thing, right? I've also been reading "Band of Brothers" by Ambrose since we are here at Ft. Campbell where the 101st are so I've been doing a bit of thinking/reading about war and the military. I was really struck by what Bacevich said about America "posturing" it's support for the military in Iraq. If I recall correctly, he said 0.5% of the American population is in the military and what is being demanded of them right now is just unbelievable. I haven't been directly affected by it yet but we are now stationed with a division for the first time ever. These men and women don't just go over there to Iraq/Afghanistan and leave their loved ones once either--they go again and again and again. I personally think our country is wearing our military forces down and then to add insult to injury, when they can't get decent people to join up, they lower enlisting standards and start recruiting criminals which just makes it even better (this is sarcasm) for those already serving their country faithfully. Ok, I'll get off my soapbox because I could go on and on even though I really don't know as much about my country, what it is doing, and what is going on in the world right now as I should. I guess this is a good start.