Posted on 03/07/2008 7:10:56 AM PST by Pyro7480
SIMI VALLEY - Shawn Sage long dreamed of joining the military, and watching "Full Metal Jacket" last year really sold him on becoming a Marine.
But last fall, a Los Angeles Superior Court commissioner dashed the foster teen's hopes of early enlistment for Marine sniper duty, plus a potential $10,000 signing bonus.
In denying the Royal High School student delayed entry into the Marine Corps, Children's Court Commissioner Marilyn Mackel reportedly told Sage and a recruiter that she didn't approve of the Iraq war, didn't trust recruiters and didn't support the military.
"The judge said she didn't support the Iraq war for any reason why we're over there," said Marine recruiter Sgt. Guillermo Medrano of the Simi Valley USMC recruiting office.
"She just said all recruiters were the same - that they `all tap dance and tell me what I want to hear.' She said she didn't want him to fight in it."
Sage, 17, said he begged for Mackel's permission.
"Foster children shouldn't be denied (an) ability to enlist in the service just because they're foster kids," he said. "Foster kids shouldn't have to go to court to gain approval to serve one's country."
Mackel, a juvenile dependency commissioner at the Children's Court in Monterey Park, declined through a clerk to speak about any court case or comments she may have made in court.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailynews.com ...
The CDC in Atlanta is odious with self important back slappers, every week is another award ceremony from some leftie to some other leftie, some of the same people get 5 or 6 award banquettes a year as long as they tote the line. Politics is always injected into the awards ceremonies, left wing PC bull$hit etc...All on your tax dollar of course. Lavish trips, gifts, you know the drill.
Can the kid join when he turns 18?
There’s some people you can depend on that will deliver.
Do I agree with the decision? No. But when the kid turns 18, he can do whatever he wants.
$20 says Marilyn Mackel would let a 15 year old get an abortion, or let a 13 year old get the morning after pill.
I wonder what his citizenship status is? Oops, wrong thread!
Seriously, my mom had to sign when I joined at 17. If the kid is a foster child, someone has to allow it. You'd think there is some sort of precedent.
>>What this country needs is a President with an Attorney General and a Justice Department staffed with thousands of lawyers just itching to take on legal idiocy like this.
Wrong, we don’t need no stinking lawyers. We need people with common sense to hold these people up to ridicule - the only thing they cannot stand.
A couple of people in the courtroom with tape recorders replayed over the internet would sure put their skivies in a knot.
One day soon he will join the Marines. One day he will vote. I bet he remembers this judge for a long time and votes appropriately in the future.
Justice isn’t blind, it just has its head up its ass...
I'm not sure about that. I haven't seen any statements by Kubrick that would indicate he hoped it would be an "anti-war" movie.
Kubrick's war films: Paths Of Glory, Barry Lyndon, Dr. Strangelove, and Full Metal Jacket all carry the same basic message: that wars are futile.
In POG the French and Germans fight and fight to gain or lose a few inches of territory in grueling trench warfare and thousands of men die in an hour in a botched attack).
In BL, Barry Lyndon wanders through Europe serving in the British army, then deserting and being captured by the German army, which forces him into service until he can desert them in turn, all the while taking part in battles he doesn't even understand the purpose of.
In DS, Lionel Mandrake is the lone voice of reason, trying to figure out the point of a military strategy dreamed up by apparently mentally unbalanced generals that he believes will inevitably result in the destruction of both sides.
In FMJ, Private Joker is an ambivalent participant in combat during a war whose aims he does not see as particularly meaningful to him or to the Vietnamese.
You nailed it. The operative words there are: "they can't understand ... men...."
And of course there is the comic ‘pettiness’ of the Cold War rivarlries in ‘2001’. I’ve always thought the war films tie in to the general Kubrick theme of a highly taut ‘system’ or plan for group coodination spinning out of control (race track robberies, infallible computers, impregnable hotels, perfect marriages (Eyes Wide Shut)...).
Have you ever heard about the story behind Gus Hasford?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Hasford
He was the Vietnam Vet who wrote ‘The Short Timers’ which FMJ was based on. He was supposedly somewhat disturbed and had problems getting along with Kubrick and dissociated himself from the production early on.
And in Spartacus, the rebels are killed by the Romans at the end.
Yes, those are the plots of the movies, much like John Wayne is killed at the end of The Sands of Iwo Jima, or like how Tom Hanks is killed at the end of Saving Private Ryan.
Kubrick was fairly adept at not making political comments about his movies or what he wanted to convey. He just told good stories.
I don’t think that “war is futile” is what most people take away from his films.
my father LIED to get into the service in WW2......he was very young....didn’t even get out of HS....
and what we have now is a mamby, pamby,soft, "let's go along to get along" crowd with the milinockets the size of marbles...
Yes, although he won't be eligible for the $10,000 signing bonus which is only given if you sign up when you're 17.
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