Hypocricy in San Francisco? I'm SHOCKED! ;)

Boo to the San Francisco Supes yet again for completing their hypocritical journey this week with the reinstatement of the JROTC in San Francisco.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm actually for the JROTC in San Francisco and always have been. As a voluntary program in our High Schools, the JROTC program allowed some people to take military training over good old fashioned PE classes. I was never a member of the JROTC and had no desire to ever be in the military when I was in High School, but I certainly didn't begrudge anyone else that choice. I knew plenty of good, fine, outstanding young Americans and people of conscience who served in the JROTC. These kids weren't sheep and many of them did not end up in the military following High School.

Also, to be clear, I think George W. Bush will clearly be identified as the single worst President this country has ever seen - and that's with full knowledge of the historical record of all past presidents (I've taken US History about five times now - I could practically teach it).

That said, I was a little miffed during the height of the Bush Presidency when San Francisco decided to kick out the JROTC programs because they feared they were being used to "recruit" kids into the military. The knee-jerk decision to end a long lasting and respectable educational institution because of a bad war in Iraq and a bad President in the White House was akin to spitting on drafted veterans and calling them baby killers because you were against the Vietnam War. Though the San Francisco Supes protested that this was NOT a knee-jerk reaction to an unpopular war, the action was clear for what it was.

So, Now I'm even more dismayed that they would change their minds just four years later and reinstate the program. Clearly, the military needs recruitment even more now than it did in 2004. Do the Supes now think that the JROTC will no longer recruit the kids like they were five years ago?

Of course not! This was never about the kids. This was all about national politics. Bush was bad and this was a way to punish him. Obama is good so there's no need to keep punishing. The Supervisors of San Francisco have proven themselves to be every bit of the naive short-sighted political hacks that they were upset about in the White House.

Its good that the JROTC is back... but for five years, San Francisco lost one of its great educational tools because of stupid politics.

(Now as an addendum, I should add that San Francisco politics has always been way too far out there for most San Franciscans... and yet, they keep voting for these hacks. At least, its entertaining. Most San Franciscan's, believe it or not, are moderate blue collar types. The difference is that we tend to have a very real laissez-faire view of the government intruding on our lives - hence the reason you can have an active JROTC program and a very active Code Pink club in the same high school without any sort of friction. Its weird, but pleasant, once you get used to it. We always tend to say, "Not my cup of tea, but you go for it if that's what you like." The only thing we don't tolerate are Dodger fans. :)