Soldier questions Obama's eligibility as president and commander and chief

This guy should be court-martialed for mutiny as of fucking yesterday. This is so against the UCMJ on a whole number of levels not to mention totally offensive. Its one thing to disagree politically, it's a whole other to reject your commander-in-chief out of hand. It is easily mutiny and possibly could be qualified as an attempted coup. Not to mention breaking a whole pile of laws regarding conduct of an officer.

This shit makes me so mad - nothing to do with my opinions of Obama, mind you. It's this guys conduct. Seeing people who are supposedly so patriotic and 'doing their duty' completely break ranks and violate every standard of conduct they are supposedly trying to uphold. It's disgusting and this guy should be thrown in the brig.

Just in case you guys are unfamiliar with the Uniform Code of Military Justice, this gentleman is in clear violation of Article 88:

Any commissioned officer who uses contemptuous words against the President, the Vice President, Congress, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of a military department, the Secretary of Transportation, or the Governor or legislature of any State, Territory, Commonwealth, or possession in which he is on duty or present shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.

He's also most likely in violation of Article 94 (Mutiny and sedition), Article 133 (Conduct unbecoming an officer and gentleman), AND Article 134 (Disloyal statements). And for the record, I am not an expert in the UCMJ (although I did study it quite a bit in school while working towards a minor in law), and I am NOT at present a member of the military and as such can spout my opinion all over the damn place.

I'd like to hear what you guys think (even if you disagree with me) because the subject of whether this guy's argument is legit or not is interesting, but how do you feel about the conduct of officers in the political arena?

MEPS, part 2

I went back to MEPS today; not for a physical but for a consult. So i dragged my ass out of bed at 3:30 in the morning, was out of the house by a quarter past 4, and an hour later i began the whole horrible process. I wore my lucky Habs socks, and I didnt think they were working at first, because true to form, I went in and got yelled at to sit and wait, since they were only processing people who were shipping out first. No problem - i expected it and had brought a book. Then I got yelled at for not joining the other girls (who were shipping) in the inspection room, which apparently I was supposed to get in on despite not shipping out today. Got my happy butt inspected (got naked, showed my hands and feet, got my height and weight taken, got dressed again) and then waited for an hour while they figured out where their own asses were. I got taken down to the Naval Hospital by the duty driver, where I had my endocrinology appointment. Doc was cool, i felt very comfortable with him and he was able to be straight with me and didn't seem to think what he's thinking I have (Late onset nonclassical CAH) is going to prevent me from going in, so there's no issue, they just have to make sure thats what it is. So to blood-sucking I went.

Naturally I got the phlebotomy intern, who, while very cute and sweet, managed to miss my veins twice (once in each arm), and then called for back-up and apologized to me for all the stabbing and kept asking me if i was feeling alright. Back up, a very serious filipina phlebotomist, showed up, stabbed me unceremoniously (and unlike cute guys stabbings, hers hurt), and filled my vials with no problem.

I tried to make the guy feel better by telling him my veins were shy, but he was just a little horrified that my vein was just a little lower than he'd stabbed. Poor kid.

At any rate, I was in and out of MEPS by 11, and everyone was nice to me over the course of the day, and there were no major complications (with the exception of the stabbings and getting a bit lost at the hospital on my way to the appointment) so im blaming the socks and a good attitude.

now i am having a cup of coffee, y'all.

It is important to be honest in one's CV

A proper academic C.V. should include in-depth explanations of research done:
---------------

Michael: (reading CV) "Indepth research on the style and content of antique passenger vessels in related to various factors including reaction time to unexpected situations outside the normal scope of crew duties." ...........wait a minute. You..........

Anna: ....watched the Love Boat for a week. Right.

Busy weekend on campus - Friday was the deadline for Global Studies and Maritime Affairs Senior Thesis, which is our equivalent of the mates exam, and so Thursday night we were all up late trying to get it done. Mine, a whopping 57 pages, was turned it at approximately 0635 hours Friday morning. To celebrate, there were a number of parties, but pretty much everyone showed up at Heather and Alicia's post thesis/birthday party which merged with the last rugby social of the year at Brett's place. It was an amazing party, probably one of the last big "college parties" i'll really get to, so I'm glad I decided to go.

And now....it is Saturday. Which means that it is changeover. I don't know if I've blogged about changeover before, but it's a longstanding tradition around here. The idea is this: At the end of the year, right before mates exams, the graduating seniors (1st class cadets or midshipmen) are relieved of their duties to the corps, and to celebrate this, they have a big formal dance. It's kind of like prom around here. It's a big deal, and we get kicked out of almost every place we have it since you know how sailors party. I say almost because we actually managed to reserve the same place this year. SHOCK. At any rate, the actual changeover represents the changing over of the corps of cadets leadership to new people, and everyone collectively rising in rank. The ceremony was at the beginning of march, but since the corps is lame, we are having the dance now instead of then.

I have been sleeping in curlers, y'all. This is serious business - I didn't even do that for prom!

In equally exciting but less positive news, the secret service raided a certain pair of cadets today for counterfeiting and for cocaine sales. Way to give us a good name guys. While I hate to see any body's life ruined, I'm not unhappy that this happened - people like that can't be trusted and frankly, I don't want them in the industry. That behaviour gets people killed. We already have the most dangerous industry in America; more people die a year in the maritime industry than even in mining. I read a statistic once about the cost of life for every ton of cargo brought into this country, and it was chilling. Safety is fucking paramount because lives are at risk and there is only so much you can control when you are at the mercy of the sea. People who you can't trust, who make decisions like that, quite literally get people killed. It isn't a joke, it's not funny, it's the lives of the people you are with and that isn't something that should be taken lightly.