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***update: Hugh Hewitt interviewed Joel Stein today and posts his thoughts…transcript and audio at Radioblogger…***

Some website has named me the 49th most loathsome person in America. (I’m just ahead of Geraldo. Others on the list: 30) Hillary Clinton; 29) Terri Schiavo; 19) James Sensenbrenner; 13) God; 4) You.)

You want loathsome? I nominate LA Times columnist Joel Stein, who declares today: “I don’t support the troops.” More, if you can stomach it:

I do sympathize with people who joined up to protect our country, especially after 9/11, and were tricked into fighting in Iraq. I get mad when I’m tricked into clicking on a pop-up ad, so I can only imagine how they feel.

But when you volunteer for the U.S. military, you pretty much know you’re not going to be fending off invasions from Mexico and Canada. So you’re willingly signing up to be a fighting tool of American imperialism, for better or worse. Sometimes you get lucky and get to fight ethnic genocide in Kosovo, but other times it’s Vietnam.

And sometimes, for reasons I don’t understand, you get to just hang out in Germany.

I know this is all easy to say for a guy who grew up with money, did well in school and hasn’t so much as served on jury duty for his country. But it’s really not that easy to say because anyone remotely affiliated with the military could easily beat me up, and I’m listed in the phone book.

I’m not advocating that we spit on returning veterans like they did after the Vietnam War, but we shouldn’t be celebrating people for doing something we don’t think was a good idea. All I’m asking is that we give our returning soldiers what they need: hospitals, pensions, mental health and a safe, immediate return. But, please, no parades.

Seriously, the traffic is insufferable.

No, dude, you are.

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Contact Joel Stein here.

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I’m sure he thinks this is funny, too:

James Joyner at Outside the Beltway takes on Stein.

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See also: Chapter 4 of Unhinged–”They don’t support our troops.”

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Reminder: The Los Angeles Times goes down, down, down.

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Previous:

They support the troops…
They support the troops…by skipping school
What anti-military media bias?
Welcoming home the troops/ Seattle hates America
They don’t support our troops
How the Left supports the troops
The war on “Support Our Troops” stickers