I saw this article yesterday and thought, here we go again! Let’s have another witch hunt on the military:

More convicted felons allowed to enlist in Army, Marines

The title of the article sounds real bad, doesn’t it? Be sure to notice the type of adjectives used in the article.

Well, there are a lot numbers stated in the article with little context. Only those who think the military is an evil entity to begin with would believe that our recruiters are enlisting really dangerous people, placing our Soldiers and Marines in even more harm.

CJ has his own thoughts on it. Go here.

Surprise ~ guess who is heading up the hearing. Yep, Henry Waxman, Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

(My, he’s been busy! Unfortunately for all his hearings, I haven’t noticed much of a drop in corruption among the Congress.)

“It raises concerns,” said Representative Henry Waxman, Democrat of California, who is chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which requested the information on felony waivers from the Department of Defense. “An increase in the recruitment of individuals with criminal records is a result of the strains put on the military by the Iraq war and may be undermining our military readiness.”

He doesn’t know that for certain. Just more defeatist talking points.

Waxman Requests Pentagon Docs On Recruitment

also ~

Waxman wants answers on military’s conduct waivers

And ~

More Felons Recruited Into Army, Marines

(Go here for a listing of the articles pertaining to this. Read and be amazed…or not…at the take on it by various newspapers.)

You can read the letter he sent to David Chu, the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness here.

Here’s an article about the hearing of the personnel subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee on recruitment from Feb. 2008. And this one also in Feb. 2008:

Superb Performance Reflects Force Quality, Personnel Chief Says

Maybe Henry Waxman has forgotten this:

MILITARY RECRUITMENT STANDARDS: The Senate on Oct. 2 affirmed, 53 for and 41 against, the military’s new policy of relaxing standards in order to meet its recruitment goals. This vote tabled (killed) an amendment to the 2008 defense appropriations bill (HR 3222) that sought to prevent the military from accepting recruits who have committed felonies such as arson and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The underlying bill was later passed on a non-record vote.

Hmmmm….

Can you pick out the “convicts” in this photo? No?

I am so tired of the bashing of our Military in Congress and in the media!

More waivers, you say….

Maybe it’s because kids today are being taught in school that America is Bad and the cause of the whole world’s troubles. Or maybe because they have parents who don’t give a damn about raising them up right or raising them at all. Or maybe because kids aren’t being held responsible for their actions. Or maybe it’s because our media rarely portrays the Military in a positive light. Or maybe because certain members of Congress (name the party!) are determined to do anything to bash this administration - not at all shy about using our Military to do so. Maybe because too many sheeples want to relive the 60’s.

Take your pick.

~ Edited to correct Henry Waxman’s first name.  Must have been getting Harry Reid mixed in with this somehow. 

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 at 8:48 am and is filed under Politics, media bias. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.