REWARDING STUPIDITY, JUST LEADS TO MORE STUPIDITY

Shane Bauer/ Sarah Shourd/ Josh Fattal

Take a good look at the products of America's Higher Education System!!!

These three are all recent graduates of the University of California, Berkeley. Can you spot their similarities? If you said they all graduated dumber than they were prior to enrolling, in my opinion you guessed correctly.

In case you're not familiar with these three, (dare I say it), "angelic faces", they were the ones captured after they stumbled innocently in to Iranian territory, because the border wasn't clearly marked, (DUH!!!) back on July 23, 2009. Let's be a little hypothetical for a moment. If I said to you, hey, there's a mine field I know of, and it's half way around the world from here, what do you say, want to go for a stroll? While we're at it, lets see if we can sucker one of our girl friends into going along? May I ask what your answer would be? Let me guess; "Are you out of your ever loving mind?" I am sure it would be something to that effect. What I'm getting at is this, these three young people probably spent a minimum of four years each at Berkeley, and no one told them there was a war going on in Iraq, or that Iran is not an ally in the region. Better yet, considering they were all students, who was it that financed the trip to Iraq in the first place? Parents? Is it possible that their parents are staunch supporters of Nancy Pelosi or Barbara Boxer? Neither one of which are aware that there is a war going on in the Middle-east. Maybe the parents weren't aware of a war either, as their children were in college, and somebody else's children were doing the fighting, so they had no reason to be concerned. Whatever the reason, a call to the local travel agent might have been a good idea, or perhaps a quick call to the state department, I'm just saying... I find it difficult to believe that these three bright UCB students never heard of the war in Iraq, Afghanistan, or that Iran is looking for nuclear weapons to blow up the world. Here's a novel thought, if you want to take a gingerly stroll through a war zone, join the armed forces. There are plenty of brave men and women in the Middle-east who could certainly use a break from the war. Some of them are on their 4th and 5th tours in Iraq or Afghanistan. There is no doubt in my mind that the armed forces could use some bright Berkeley minds. Wait, wait, I am sorry, I said bright Berkeley minds, ones that purposely travel to war torn countries to go hiking the countryside are neither bright or assets to the military.

If a friend of mine said, "I'm going to jump off that 1,000 ft high cliff", I'd say hey that's crazy, don't even think about it, don't do it man!!! I wouldn't say " hey, hold up, I'll jump with you!!!" Bottom line, if my friend decided to jump, then the responsibility for the consequences solely falls on his own shoulders. Idiots do idiotic things every day, it's not the obligation of the rest of society to bail them out, foot the bill, or rescue them from their own stupidity.

I had to laugh at a picture of this student at Berkeley placing things at this alter tree as some kind of tribute to her three friends doing time in an Iranian prison. Perhaps, she should have told them, "hey, Sarah, Shane, Josh maybe no body told you, but we are fighting a war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Iranian government hates America and the west, please don't go, it's a stupid idea!!!" Maybe, just maybe if some one told those young people not to go, it would have kept them out of trouble. If some one did tell them not to go, it's very dangerous there, and they went anyway, then in my opinion, that Iranian prison they're sitting in, is the home they made for themselves, let them sit. Perhaps by the time they do get out, they will have learned something about life. They may actually learn that there are always consequences to your actions, and not all the consequences will be pleasant.

Enough said, I'm happy the Iranians released Sarah Shourd, I also commend who ever put up the ridiculous sum of $500,000.00 bail, I sincerely hope it wasn't hard earned American taxpayer money. We should use taxpayer money to support the men and women of the armed forces, who are in the Middle-east serving their country. I can assure you, the military is not vacationing there.