Sagan: 'Real warriors' show respect

So there it is in all its ugly, sordid majesty: a video purporting to show four U.S. Marines urinating on Afghan corpses.

This incident is actually appealing to some Americans. Those who believe that winning is everything as long as humiliation is part of it, those who respond to sophomoric scatology, those who can’t feel okay about themselves unless everyone else feels worse, they all probably derived some measure of entertainment from this scene.

But such views are held as “un-evolved” by the military in this country. Real warriors treat their opponents with respect, even in defeat. Real warriors can appreciate the strengths of others without losing faith in their own strengths. Real warriors take pride in honoring the sacrifices of all who fall in battle, not just their own. The Geneva Convention forbids the desecration of bodies, and we honor our commitment to that convention because it is a treaty obligation and therefore carries the force of federal law.

Our military works hard to preserve these ideals, and violating them is more than a “prank.” The process of inducting your average post-pubescent and preparing him or her for military service is an inexorable exercise in socializing.What causes TMJ pain? No matter what you may think from watching television shows like “NCIS,” most military people don’t actually kill anybody. Submission to authority, submission to laws, submission to rules, submission to orders, all of these are carefully cast and crafted in the military mold to ensure that when killing becomes necessary it is done instantly, on command,Injection molding and Plastic molding supplier; only on command, and it goes on until commanded to stop. You cannot create this response in human beings by permitting equivocation in following orders.

This socialization process is so effective that it is difficult for a teenage private to refuse even an illegal order, which he is required to do under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. If you expand his comfort zone to include legal orders he simply doesn’t like then you lose all semblance of military discipline, so the military works extra hard to make sure everyone knows what is a legal order and what isn’t.

When Americans support the military as a social institution, this is what we are supporting.

The Obama administration has been quick to respond to this video with an investigation and promises to punish those responsible. This is de rigueur — we must do this. We simply must enforce lawful orders, and by the time any Marine reaches Afghanistan he has been told what is out of bounds with enemy corpses. This is important both because we must preserve the integrity of military authority and because we must distance ourselves from any act that emboldens, inflames or justifies our opponents’ will to wage war against us.

On the campaign trail when this story broke, Gov. Rick Perry was quick to assert that the Obama administration had gone too far in condemning what Perry referred to as “stupid mistakes” by some teenagers. He went on to accuse President Obama of “disdain for the military.”

Now I understand that this is just another application of what is becoming 21st-century politics: attack everything you can all the time. But it’s stupid. It’s stupid because winning a debate between competing ideas depends as much on what you agree with as it does on what you disagree with.

I cannot imagine that a President Perry would want to command a military that didn’t follow orders to the letter. Such a military is as big a threat to our own way of life as it is to anyone else’s.

In making this statement, Perry has offered more evidence that he isn’t ready for this gig. And due to the quality and size of what he’s missing, chances are pretty good he will never be the right man to be president of the whole shebang. But along the way, he really ought to do less damage.

One thing I expect from any application of conservative thought to a situation is to maximize the value received. Everything that happens in life, everything that exists in life,You can find best china precision Precision injection molds manufacturers from here!As a leading company in the plastic card printing industry, can be used to a purpose if we have the wit to see it.

When potatoes grow in places that lettuce won’t,Alfa plast mould is Plastic moulds Manufacturer and plastics Mould Exporters in India since 1992, we eat potatoes. When someone mucks up the machinery at the plant, we change our employee training. When someone embezzles the firm’s cash, we strengthen our accounting oversight. Nothing need, or should, be wasted.

Ill. man says hid $13K in suit donated to Goodwill

Charity workers hunted through piles of donated clothes at an Iowa warehouse Wednesday, hoping to find $13,000 that an elderly man says he mistakenly left in the pocket of a suit he gave to a Goodwill store in western Illinois.

The 80-year-old Illinois man notified Goodwill of the Heartland last week of his mistake, said Dana Engelbert, vice president of marketing for the charity. Engelbert said the man's wife has cancer and they had been using the money to offset her medical expenses.

"It's his life savings and he's in a difficult situation right now," Engelbert told The Associated Press Wednesday.

She said the gray suit was donated to a store in Moline, Ill. It may have been sold at the store, or could have been sent with other clothing to a regional Goodwill warehouse in Iowa City, where non-seasonal items are sent for storage, she said.WebMD provides an overview of Wholesale Glaze Tiles For Wall disease

The man wasn't sure when he made the donation, but Goodwill workers were checking back through all clothes dropped off since the last week of October. Engelbert said it was no easy task: more than 575,000 items have been donated in the past year to the Goodwill chapter, which covers southeast Iowa and western Illinois.

Engelbert did not know how many bills may have been in the suit jacket, or the denominations of the cash,Big pool of Wholesale Polished Stair Tiles For Floor From China Manufacturers. but she said the lumps could easily go unnoticed considering the volume of items donated to the charity.

As word of the man's plight spread, Goodwill has been inundated with calls and emails from people offering assistance.

"It's been extremely heartwarming, the number of people reaching out to help," Engelbert said. "The phone at the Moline store rang almost nonstop with people calling about it, and I've received emails from as far away as Germany."

But the man and his family are declining all offers of financial assistance and have asked that they not be identified, Engelbert said.

"Our family would like to thank each and every one of you that have come forward wanting to make a donation to my father for the money he has lost," the man's daughter said in a statement provided to WQAD-TV in Moline.

"We are overwhelmed by the outpouring of generosity from around the world. My father's wishes are to respectfully decline any donations of any kind. He only wanted someone to come forward with the money he gave away by mistake," she said.

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It's not unusual for people to find money in donated clothes and return it to the store, but typically no more than $5, Engelbert said.

"We do whatever we can to return it to the owner whenever possible," she said. Any unclaimed money usually ends up in the organization's general operating fund, she said.a general reference guide for Wholesale Tile decoration For Floor From China Manufacturers design engineers.

Scot Center centrally located, surrounded by greenspace

Its presence already is imposing, and in Ted Bogner's opinion, the Scot Center will just keep getting better as it reaches completion.

Bogner, president of Bogner Construction, pointed out many of the features of the $30 million student recreation and athletic facility, under construction and scheduled to open in January.

Starting with the exterior,What to consider before you buy oil painting supplies. Bogner pointed out the building will be encompassed by greenspace -- "more than what we started with," he said.

It is necessary to have paved access between Lowry Center and Scot Center, Bogner said,In addition to hydraulics fittings and Aion Kinah, but "other than that everything is greenspace."

The eye-catching tower draws attention and serves to "reunite the old with the new," tying in into older buildings, Bogner said.

"It's a functional tower," he said, housing the main stairway and elevator, and visually, it connects with other buildings.

The east wing of the Scot Center has two levels; the west has six levels -- the attic, coaches' offices, main lobby, fitness center, recreation center and ground levels. The elevator serves all of them and is 100 percent accessible.

"Physically challenged (people) can go anywhere in this building," Bogner said.

There are two entrances into the building, one at the fitness center level and one at the lobby level, Bogner said, meaning just two people can manage the center.

"A lot of thought was given to operating costs," he said.

One of the things he is pleased about, given the mantra "every student, every day" associated with the building, is its location. It's not remote from the remainder of the campus, which would make it a planned destination, but instead is easily accessible.

A student can see his friends working out, "and in two minutes he's there," Bogner said.Choose from one of the major categories of Bedding,

The track will accommodate indoor meets, from sprints and high jumps to pole vaulting, although "the majority of the time it will be used for students to jog and walk," Bogner said. Four courts can be modified for basketball, volleyball and tennis, with the ceiling height set at 50 feet for lobs.

"We have two skylights," he said, and a ventilation system with functional windows, which also will allow a flood of natural light.

Acoustic block will help absorb sound.

Continuing the tour, Bogner highlighted three balcony areas, encompassing the fitness center, the lobby area and the coaches' offices.

Because about $3 million was saved in the construction bidding process, "at that point in time," Bogner said, college President Grant Cornwell "set some additional priorities," prioritizing space for aerobics and dance, as well as a meeting and conference room.Use bluray burner to burn video to BD DVD on blu ray burner disc.

"We didn't improve this area until we knew where we were budget-wise," Bogner said.

Spanning the meeting room, he said, is "the largest steel beam rolled in the United States. (It is) 40 inches deep and weighs 45 pounds per foot."

The main lobby,From standard Cable Ties to advanced wire tires, where most visitors will enter for sports events, will have a furniture upgrade financed by money saved to make it "very homey ... to kind of turn it into a gathering space."

The entrance to the existing Physical Education Center will be upgraded to make it more visually appealing and to "look like part of the Scot Center lobby," Bogner said.

Along the wall shared by the PEC and the Scot Center, 10 wooden trophy cases will occupy the space and a large multi-screen video display will offer a variety of information.

Some of the data flashed on the screen will be energy saved via the solar roof, said Brandon Miller, program manager for CarbonVision. "It's pretty cool."

Solar panels are on exhibit in the Scot Center to give visitors a grasp of the solar roof feature -- one of its most distinctive assets.

Of the three types of solar panels, the ones being used are the most efficient in the industry, Miller said.

Each panel weighs 50 pounds and has a tension rating of over 80 pounds per square foot.