Nothing sarcastic or political today; just a heartfelt thanks for doing a job I could never do. 
The draft ended before I turned 18. By the time young men had to register, I was too old. I am fortunate in that — I don’t think I could handle combat. I always imagined that if I were drafted, I would end up as the kind of soldier who sat behind a desk and did menial work, like Radar O’Reilly.
My father was drafted into the army just as World War II was ending. He spent the next four years never leaving America, enjoying peacetime, for which I am obviously grateful. As a child of immigrants, he demonstrated to me the glory of America — that within one generation, one could stop being an Italian and instead become an American.
So thanks to all who serve and have served.
On Tuesday I ran a last minute write in campaign for Judge of Elections for my precinct, and the official results have me as the winner.
The Judge of Elections is the person who makes sure the machines work properly, guarantees that everyone gets to vote who is eligible, and otherwise keeps everything running smoothly on election day.
I attribute my electoral success to three factors:
1. A presence at the polls (thanks to Mark Dodel who stood in for a few hours) making that personal touch;
2. A desire to elect new people to replace the old; and
3. No one else was running.
It’s only a matter of time until the Governor takes note of me and appoints me to the US Senate.
In a scene foreshadowed on Sorkin’s “Newsroom”, CBS has admitted that the source they used for their Benghazi report was bad, and apologized for reporting false information.
Well, this should stop all those critics who used the report to claim that there was a scandal here.
Ha ha! Just kidding. We all know that facts don’t mean anything to Obama critics.
A Florida teacher has been suspended for five days without pay after forcing her students to say the Pledge of Allegiance. And rightly so.
“You are an American, and you are supposed to salute the flag,” she said. 
“In my classroom, everyone will do the pledge; no religion says that you can’t do the pledge. If you can’t put your hand on your heart, then you need to move out of the country.”
Such a patriotic attitude! (Insert comic German accent) “You vill obey und salute the government. Ve do not appreciate individual thought here!”
She still doesn’t understand what all the fuss is about, which means maybe this teacher should go back to school and take a remedial social studies class.
This is America — where we don’t force people to love the government. After all, of what use is a forced pledge? If someone forces you to say something against your will, what’s the point? How is it meaningful? Does the irony not hit people? “We are forcing you to pledge against your will — for freedom!!!”
The United States Supreme Court held that no one could be forced to say the pledge over fifty years ago in a case involving the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who persuasively argued that such a pledge violated their religious beliefs concerning worshiping objects or something. The child who this teacher forced to say the pledge was a Jehovah’s Witness, which makes this Florida teacher’s decision even worse.
I am always amused by patriots who want to force Americans to do things like this — which seem to me to be one of the most unAmerican thing you can do. Say the pledge because you mean it, and not because you have to. That’s true patriotism.
ventrellaquest.com 