sorry terry, but no. you are not addressing my observations in good faith.
<<As you imply,there are those who would make it in or out.>> this is your one comment which is relatively faithful to my meaning. only, it seeks to downplay the fact that *most* who enlist make it through the military, hopefully none the worse for wear and usncarred by war. and i was not implying that they would make it in civilian society. i said: <<the fact that these individuals enlist is a pretty good indication that, were they to remain in civilian life, they would *not* be. . .engaged [in "selling drugs,robbing and stealing" in my neighborhood]>> does *not* "selling drugs [etc.]" constitute 'making it'? not necessarily. they could still be arrested for driving/walking while black; beaten and sodomized by the arresting officers; condemned by a justice system which is at best indifferent, and at worst genocidally racist, to an unduly harsh mandatory minimum sentence--a truly horrible fate when you consider that they might be beaten or sodomized or killed by their fellow inmates; or the fact, almost ignored by our 'liberal media', that abu ghreib-style 'abuse' of prison inmates has become widespread in american jails; or the fact that now they will not only have to survive in our society as a poor minority, but as a poor minority ex-con; and above all, in light of all this, when you consider the fact that, if you're hispanic or, especially, black, the odds are far greater than for any other group that you didn't actually commit the crime. of cousrse, they might not make it that far, because a trigger-happy policeman might just decide to shoot them on the spot. or they could be killed by a stray gangbanger's bullet, or in a drive-by because the gangbangers mistook them for someone else. or, they could somehow weave their way through this minefield, and live in poverty; as most african-americans and many, if not most, hispanics/hispanic-americans still do. there are a fair number of poor whites who also enlist. while the deck is not so severely stacked against them socio-economically, crime and drugs and gangs do exist in poor white areas, and the fact remains that most poor whites are born into poverty, and will never rise out of poverty. which, again, is why so many enlist. but what if we offered them an alternative? what if we told them "you can join the army/navy/air force/marines and earn so much per month for so many years, as well as college tuition, and perhaps also learn a trade or acquire job skills which will be meaningful in civilian life; as well as, of course, risk being killed or maimed, and/or psychologically scarred for the rest of your life. . .OR. . .you could earn the two thirds as much salary and tuition credits, with the same potential for learning opportunities, in a heirarchical organization structured similarly to the military, all while staying in or near your home area as part of an economical development project." sort of a modern day wpa; an anti-poverty brigade, if you like. how many potential enlistees would choose the second alternative? what if we offered only three-quarters as much financial compensation? how many then? or 100% as much? -chris _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
