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Day 1,401, 19:03 • Published in USA USA • by PencilPal

Hello and welcome to the Poor Man's Blanket. I'm your man behind the desk, PencilPal.



When I named the PMB, I wanted something amusing and self-deprecating. Because feigned humility is still humility, right? What I got, unfortunately, was inaccurate with what I am now publishing. A better name would be "PencilPal talks out of his ass about things he knows nothing about, some people nod sadly most people just ignore him." But I think that's a bit too long. The PPTOOHAATHKNASPNSMPJIH doesn't roll off the tongue the way the PMB does. Oh, well.


On to the news!



The talk of the town is militias: do they deserve more funding? Less funding? Should the government take control of them? This seems to be spilling into two battelgrounds. The news (Gnilraps has an excellent article about the subject, most of it over my head) and Congress' forums. With an issue as emotional as militias coming up during election season, one can expect the sparks to fly.

So what do I (a member of the USAF, never joined a militia, knows very little about military history of eUnited States) have to say on the topic? Only what others have already been saying. The militias provide many valuable services to the United States including enormous amounts of influence, serving as hubs of community, and generally being bad-ass. They cover most of their own costs, but don't have the benefit of directly taxing their constituents. For that reason, it's understandable for the United States to help send funds to keep these important institutions afloat. As to those who say that militias act only in self-interest I ask for proof. Because all I've seen is American patriots putting in the time and clicking either in direct obedience of the Department of Defense or helping our allies and interests in other ways. I'd be incredibly surprised to see anything in contrary to that.

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