Mattis' comments were not meant for civilian ears.

I haven't been reading the paper for the last couple of weeks. I've had this freelance gig on the peninsula. I have to be there on site which means I have to drive on the highway for an hour, be there for a full eight, and drive home at rush hour for another hour. Needless to say, I ain't used to the schedule.

Anyway, I'm only vaguely aware of what's happening in the world through short news breaks on the radio. Something I thought I would weigh in on is the whole flap about what Marine general Mattis said a few days ago. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4234751.stm.

Having served in the Marines, I've known jarheads like Gen. Mattis. These guys are a breed of human who can actually switch this behavior on and off. It's a defense mechanism for dealing with the nature of their jobs. It's why men like this are able to go to war and fight yet come home to their family and live a quasi normal life. Everybody has a different way of dealing with the circumstances of their surroundings. Guys like Mattis deal with it by dehumanising their "enemies".

I certainly don't condone what the General said, but I understand the behavior. It's drilled into Marines the minute they set foot on a Marine Corps Recruit Depot. They're building warriors, not diplomats. The job of a Marine is to "close with and destroy the enemy with fire and close combat", not play tiddly winks with them. I can safely assume that the General never took pleasure in killing the enemy, if indeed he has killed in combat. What he said was a swaggering gesture pure and simple. It was basically a self-masterbatory puffing of the chest to give the General command of the room. People shouldn't read too much into what he said.

I don't and I am as far away from the guy I was in the Marines as I could possibly get.
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And now for something completely different:

http://www.nusion.com/jewishsuperhero/jhc.htm. I'm likin' the Dreidel Maidel.

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Sketch: A little longer than expected. I was noodling this one because there was something always no quite right. But I am happy with the final version. Looks kinda like Ellen Barkin.