When mommy goes off to war, it's rough on kids [sickening]

The Seattle Times ^ | 11/28/06 | Donna St. George

[Allegra]

You give me the creeps.

[trisham]

Be careful of the words you use. "abandoning" is a loaded word and unfair to use in this instance.

************

Let me guess-First Amendment fan?

[steve-b]

Furthermore, to force a Muslim man to strip naked before a foreign woman is to humiliate him beyond Arab imagination.

If it has been established that he's affiliated with the terrorists and reasonably likely to have useful information, after having had a fair opportunity to make a case that he's just an innocent bystander grabbed by mistake, I simply don't see the problem with that.

[trisham]

Besides, what if the mother was widowed?

*************

Then she's a widow.

[steve-b]

Wonder why "dad" couldn't watch the kids while she was gone?

Maybe because "dad" shouldn't be trusted to watch anything more sentient than a goldfish, and that's why he's no longer in the picture?

[91B]

An Army that should be men.

Absolutley, but there was a story in Army Times the other day where the Army's head of diversity (or some such-a bird colonel) called for allowing more women in the combat arms so that more minorities would be promoted to higher officer rank.

Frankly, females will find themselves assigned to combat units a lor more often thanks to the "plug and play" concept of transformation. Many maneuver units are losing combat support elements-like the support and maintenance platoons. Those needs will be filled by randomly assigning support and maintenance units that are not "organic" to the combat units. Since those units can have females assigned, more females will end up in combat units.

[wideawake]

Single-mothers are selfish whores.

The woman in question is a mother who is divorced.

For all we know, she is divorced for no fault of her own, but because her husband left her for another woman or some other reason.

She volunteered to serve her country. She served honorably.

Have you served in the military? Do you really believe that people who volunteer for military service are selfish people?

BTW, I know a woman who is a single mother who has never been married and she has one child. She served in Iraq for a tour while her daughter stayed with her parents.

The woman in question is a God-fearing patriot who has raised a wonderful little girl who is fiercely proud of her mother's service.

And I am proud to call her a friend.

[Antoninus]

How is she "abandoning" her children? They are staying with her mother, right? Be careful of the words you use. "abandoning" is a loaded word and unfair to use in this instance.

I disagree. A mother's first responsibility should be to her minor children. Grandparents should become caretakers of their grandchildren only in the event of serious disability, indigence, or death of the parent. For a single mother to abandon her children to serve overseas in the military is not laudatory. That our system is currently set up to allow such travesties demonstrates the moral vaccuum that afflicts much of our society today.

[sauropod]

Just an observer of what slanted language does to an argument. I was merely calling attention to the language the poster was usingh and calling him on it.

You got a problem with that?

[Antoninus]

You give me the creeps.

Why, because I disagree with you? How can someone who has been all over the world be so intellectually cloistered?

[sauropod]

Ahh yes. "Transformation."

Not a good thing IMO and one of Rummy's biggest failings.

[steve-b]

You might want to try reading the article. Your "indigence" bullet point is in there:

Her National Guard duty, with the 129th Signal Battalion, brought in extra money. Her ex-husband paid child support. Still, she only scraped by, with the help of public assistance.

[trisham]

Just an observer of what slanted language does to an argument. I was merely calling attention to the language the poster was usingh and calling him on it.

You got a problem with that?

************

"Slanted language" is an interesting term. It's you who has a problem with the speech of others, not me. Curious that you would begrudge others their speech, then defend your own right to it.

[LetsRok]

Do you really believe that people who volunteer for military service are selfish people?

She is selfish because she is a "single mother". It has nothing to do with her military service. My definition of a "single-mother" is a woman who has children out of wedlock and has no intention of giving their bastard a father.

[IAmASheeple]

Just to clarify ... you're simply trying to say that many people (wrongly) consider single mothers to be "selfish whores" -- not that you personally consider the two terms to be interchangeable, right?

[Allegra]

Why, because I disagree with you?

No, because you're so nasty and spiteful and rude and seem to have such a very large chip on your shoulder.

You should seek professional help. Seriously.

[sauropod]

Without knowing more about her situation, such as her financial situation and that of her grandparents, and the reasons that went into her signing up, I don't think you can make such a sweeping statement such as "a mother's first responsibility should be to her minor children."

Maybe her signing up to get the pay and health benefits for her family IS fulfilling her "first responsibility. It just so happens that her job calls for deployment every so often.

I'd rather she be serving her country instead of a ward of the state, wouldn't you?

[Last Laugh]

I don't know why she signed up in the National Guard but I bet when she did she didn't envision going off to fight the war of the purple finger either

I bet she didn't. She just saw a free ride on the backs of taxpayers.

Soldiers, on occasion, are sent away to WAR. Like it or not, being a Soldier is what she signed up for. If she did not like doing the WORK for the money, she should have stayed on public assistance and kept her LEGS CLOSED!

[cajungirl]

you prefer the less flattering names? How bout the kids? Wanta call them less flattering names?

[sauropod]

I begrudge using the term "abandon" when her child is in her family's care.

I don't quite get how that is "abandonment." Maybe you could break out the Crayola's and help me out, eh?