I made the above graphic almost two years ago, and I just spotted it (albeit unlinked and uncredited) on BigJournalism.com (which I peruse every weekday, even if I haven’t gotten around to updating my blogroll in many months). Some might complain about the usage without acknowledgement, but I view it as the second-sincerest form of flattery.

In order to recapture the Senate in 2012, the GOP needs a net gain of four seats; and the numbers look much better now than they did in 2010. Out of the thirty-three incumbent Senators up for reelection next year, only ten are Republicans. The Democrats have more than twice as many seats to defend, and it’s going to be tough… Something of which the rats are no doubt aware, given the way they’re starting to abandon ship in droves.

• Senator Daniel Akaka (D-HI), retiring.
• Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), retiring.
• Senator Kent Conrad (D-NC), retiring.
• Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI), retiring.
• Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT), retiring.
• Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE), retiring.
• Senator Jim Webb (D-VA), retiring.

Waco, TX — An AWOL Soldier accused of plotting to detonate bombs in a restaurant filled with Fort Hood troops and then shoot any survivors was expected back in court Thursday to be arraigned on six new charges. Among the new charges Pfc. Naser Jason Abdo faces is trying to use a weapon of mass destruction, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. He also was indicted last week by a federal grand jury in Waco on one count of attempted murder of officers or employees of the United States, two counts of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a federal crime of violence, and two counts of possession of a destructive device in furtherance of a federal crime of violence. …

You can read the whole thing at Military.com News (H/T: Mandy), but it here’s the part that stuck in my craw, from the very end:

Abdo, 21, was approved as a conscientious objector this year after citing his Muslim beliefs, but that status was put on hold after he was charged with possessing child pornography. He went absent without leave from Fort Campbell, Ky., in early July.

We no longer have the draft. “Conscientious objector status” is an obsolete relic of a bygone era,¹ when people were conscripted against their wills. We now have an all-volunteer fighting force. If you’re a “conscientious objector,” you don’t enlist. If you enlist, you have made an informed choice as a legal adult, and have sworn an oath. Nobody held a gun to your head. If you join up, you are not a “conscientious objector.” Period.

As for “citing his Muslim beliefs” – exactly who the fuck does he think the US Army’s been shooting at for the last ten years?! Anybody who has joined up in the last decade knows they will probably face action, and that said action will probably take place in a Muslim country and that the people against whom they will have to kill or be killed will be Muslims. Unless you’ve been living in a cave (which I suppose is possible in his case) you know that the US military has been in Afghanistan for ten straight years now, and for most of that time was in Iraq as well (not to mention “kinetic actions” against Libya, and various sundry actions taken in Yemen in elsewhere).

Anybody who enlists knows this. There is absolutely no justifiable excuse for signing up in the military now, and then complaining that you can’t fight, or that you can’t fight muslims. If those are a problem for you, you don’t enlist.

¹like labor unions and the UN.

Blazing Democrats:

Blazing Republicans:

If they are the 99%, then by my calculations, the total population of Toledo must be 6.06 (actual Toledo population according to Wikipedia is 287,208; which means that those six people are the 0.002089%).

First of all, on the subject of debt: absolutely nobody is forced to take a college loan. Unlike so many other things the government does (which the OWS want more of), college loans (which have been nationalized under Obama) are not compulsory and enforced at gunpoint. Anybody who is deep in debt because of college loans is only there because they chose to be there. There are other options. Sure, all of the smug, arrogant, entitled spoiled brats want to go to the expensive big-name colleges because, well, they’re special snowflakes and deserve the best (plus, better parties and football teams or something); but you can generally get just as good (if not better) an education at a more economical state college. I worked up to four part-time jobs at a time when I was in college, and didn’t owe anybody anything when I got out. My brother went to a bigger, more expensive university; but he got a full scholarship to pay his way. Those are available to those who are good enough or work hard enough. There were some strings attached (TANSTAAFL), but he was able to live with them.

Secondly, on the subject of jobs: this one comes in two parts. The whiners, I mean protesters, are upset that they can’t graduate and overnight get into high-paying jobs in their field. Sorry, but when the classwork is done the legwork begins (if not sooner – there’s always internships and the like). I took the first job I could find, while I read the employment sections of the newspaper, sent out resumes, went to job fairs and interviews, and only later got an entry-level position working in my field… And even then, you have to spend years working, proving yourself, getting promoted, and so on before you get to the level that these ninnies think that they’re entitled to from day one. You get nothing for nothing.

The other problem they have getting jobs in their field? Well, maybe if they’d chosen an actual field with actual jobs that actually accomplished something (engineering, medical, whatever), they’d have a better shot at finding a job. But it just so happens that there aren’t a whole lot of openings for people with degrees in Medieval Literature or Oppressed Minority Studies. And you know what? That’s your fault, too. Nobody forced you to choose a worthless major; you picked it because it was easier than a real degree and/or because it let you feel smug and superior to those lesser cretins who were learning a trade rather than filling their heads with important fluff.

So you’re deep in debt and can’t find a job, and you’re looking for someone to blame? Well, some would say that you belong in Washington DC rather than Wall Street; but I say that your first protest should be made while looking in the mirror.

Update: If you do get raped at OccupyBaltimore, keep it to yourself; or report it to the OccupyBaltimore staff who will arrange counseling for you and the rapist. But they’d prefer to keep the police out of it.

Of course, I’ve got my own set of lyrics for this tune…

I hear there’s a protest
“Occupy Wall Street”
They’ve been there for several days
They’re loud and obnoxious
And they smell like feet
And they whine to get their way

They sit on their ass
And tweet their childish views
To get their college tuition paid
They don’t read the news
Just blame it all on the Jews
Well my friends, we gotta say:

I won’t pay, I won’t pay ya, no way
Na-na, why don’t you get a job?
Smoke and play, rage all day, no way
Na-na, why don’t you get a job?

You haven’t got money
Well then, could you explain
How you keep your iPhone bill paid?
If you want more money
It don’t take a big brain
To find out how that money is made

I won’t pay, I won’t pay ya, no way
Na-na, why don’t you get a job?
Smoke and play, rage all day, no way
Na-na, why don’t you get a job?

Well it must be real easy letting us do the work, oh yeah
Ride on my back and tell me that I’m the jerk, every day

You left your mom’s basement
To sleep on the concrete
To take the stuff that I work hard for
You chant your dumb slogans
To a Marxist beat
Well my friend
I say, “No more!”

I won’t pay, I won’t pay ya, no way
Na-na, why don’t you get a job?
Smoke and play, rage all day, no way
Na-na, why don’t you get a job?

I won’t give ya no money, I always pay
Na-na, why don’t you get a job?
Smoke and play, rage all day, no way
Na-na, why don’t you get a job?