Starting at the Bottom

This is how 99% of everyone in the military starts their service

It’s not glamorous and you won’t see it on any recruiting posters, but it is the reality of service. Now, some people say that offering high school students an opportunity to do this for some spending cash is racist. Really?

The young man pictured on the Mess Deck here cost the taxpayers quite a bit of money. First there was his public education from kindergarten to 12th grade. Then, the intensive effort to recruit him, send him to Boot Camp and on to his specialty training (in this case as an aviation electrician). Yet, after all this money spent on him, the Sailor has been assigned to spend 90 days sweeping and swabbing decks, serving food to his shipmates or providing laundry service.

Yup, that is 3 months out of a 6/7 month deployment that this young man will be engaged in these “menial” tasks. He probably isn’t really enthused about the tasks assigned to him and won’t be incorporating any of these endeavors into the sea stories he’ll be telling the folks back home. It’s not a lot of fun and it’s not what he signed up for.

So, why does the military, in this case the Navy, take this young man in whom they have invested so much and have him perform these mundane duties for so long? Couldn’t they just hire some civilians to do it? Isn’t it demeaning?

Some of you already know the answer. Some of you can guess. If you worked in fast food as a youngster, if you started on the loading dock, if you cut lettuce, picked tomatoes or baled hay in the summer, you know the answer.

BBF – Crack Whore Barbie Edition

I would rather suck face with Nancy Pelosi’s underpants than revisit this week. On to the music, shall we? I wrote this song for DWS’s fist. Right after I forced her to donkey punch her nether region.

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This week’s model is a young beauty that originally hails from the Check (fuck you and your fancy spellin’) Republic. Now a Brit, she is in he twenties and can’t seem to keep from looking sick, confused, or high as flippin’ kite. Please welcome some deranged chick with big knockers.

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Technicolor Dreaming

Your Mom practicing for work.

Hands Up, Sucker

About 144 million tax returns will be collected by the IRS for 2011.  Of those, about 47% will pay no federal income tax.  A quick twist of the calculator tells me that about 76 million people will therefore cough up the dough.

The auto bailout cost about $23.6B, which means that the average, federal income tax paying citizen paid about $310 to help support the auto industry in 2011 (this would represent total cost).  Most people would look at this and think that it’s not that big of a deal–except that all of it was completely unnecessary.  The administration used TARP funds to bailout GM and Chrysler so that union pensions and wages would not be reduced as part of the normal bankruptcy process.  The investors took the cut rather than the entire organization, thus preserving a core voting bloc for Obama.  Your $310 was transferred directly to a UAW worker, that averaged $40.33 per hour in wages and benefits, or $83,886 per year.

As part of the reelection campaign, the Obama administration is going to constantly tout the ‘saving of the auto industry’ as a positive accomplishment.  The amount of money poured into the gaping maw of the auto industry is staggering–50 times that of Solyndra–and should be called out for what it is: corruption, straight up.

HHD

Yummy nummy hunky goodness that screams sexy.

Open Letter to our Republican Overlords

I want a do over. Who picked these people? Do you let just every one who has enough ego to run for president, or is it just random lunatics that walk in from under the overpass?

I will not get into the people who have withdrawn. Well except for Rick Perry, he was almost ready for prime time and the best of the field, until he dropped out. I am done with that so lets talk about the rest.

Let me start with Ron Paul. Really? Is he even a republican? He is conspiracy 101. His base is tinfoil hats. Oklahoma City was a inside job? Contrails? 911 truthers? Why do you even let him on the stage? Giggles? To make the rest of them look sane?

Please Don’t Pillage Me!

Pupster just saw the header.  Somebody get him some bacon.  STAT!

In advance of tomorrow’s HHD…

I would like to summarize all of my fellow hostage brethren’s thoughts -
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You are now free to move about the cabin.

[UPDATE:  wiserbud]

Considering this is probably the weakest effort anyone has ever put forward in creating a new poat here at the Hostages (nicely done, Gland), I feel it is perfectly fine to add this critical update.

We recently had a joke thread where we came up with the worst names for charities.  Leon won that thread, hands down, with his brilliant submission, Animosity International.  Seriously, that had me laughing for days afterwords.

At the time, I promised leon that I wold create a logo for that.  And as I am always one to keep my word, here it is:

In my mind, this is now the official Hostage logo.  In fact, if you are so inclined,  you can purchase shirts and other stuff with the logo on it here.

All profits to be used at the next meat-up towards the bar tab.

Now please, go forward and enjoy the rest of your day… you freaks

Monday Muscular Motivational

Howdy folks. Dunno ’bout you, but the weekend damn near whooped my ass. Thank God it’s Monday and I can go back to work and relax a bit.

So, you might be asking yourself, do I look fat?

New game, New Poat