NO PROTECTION

I was over at Sgt. Stryker's Daily Briefing, where I read an interesting piece on the speech restrictions faced by US soldiers. Being former Navy, myself, this reminded me of a broader point that would occur to me every now and again while I was serving.

When you join the US Armed Forces, you take an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. In return for your devotion, the Constitution will no longer protect you. You may not speak, or write, or assemble, or pray, or keep/bear arms, or be secure in your person/papers/houses, except as a privilege granted by your superiors and ruled over by one of the most merciless documents ever scripted: The Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Just take a quick breeze through the Punitive Articles, and marvel at the array of relatively common civilian behaviors that gets a soldier some serious trouble. Talk back to a superior - jail time. Late for work - jail time. Creative sex with your wife - jail time.

Look at article 100. You can be executed for taking down the flag at the wrong time.

Of course, all this is absolutely necessary to make the Armed Services an effective engine of destruction in pursuit of its mission to protect the US. There's no way around it. Running a hippy commune ain't gonna get the job done, and that's not my point.

My point is that I'd just like for American civilians to appreciate the fact that, although good soldiers often say, "I'm just doing my job," they are NOT doing a JOB. A job is something you can quit when you have a bad day. These men are voluntary indentured servants, and they serve at the whim and need of the government and they've surrendered every single Constitutional protection that they used to enjoy and take for granted. In exchange, the have the job description of "taking a bullet" for $20,000 a year in salary.

What sane person would sign up for that?

A Patriot.

And God bless them all.

NO, WE'RE NOT CRAZY

Dana's a little worried about us, what with our asking and answering our own questions. There's actually a simple explanation. We've been fighting this Blog War way too long. All that close combat with InstaSybil, and his MPD is starting to rub off on us. But I think we'll recover, won't we Harv?

Damn right, Harv.

Anway, she's also disappointed that I'm less than fond of Trading Spaces. She says it's a wonderful show that's actually inspired her to do some redecorating around the house.

That's exactly the problem. It gives women decorating ideas.

Remember the last time my Beloved Wife got a decorating idea?

SHOPPING TIP

When shopping for new tires for your car or truck, look carefully at the tread pattern. Always select the one that would look better on a hippy.

SIMPSON DRINKS

One of my co-workers is thrilled that season 3 of the Simpsons is out on DVD now. He's having a party and serving martinis to celebrate.

Also, Blackfive (love that new logo, Matt) is celebrating... well, drinking in general, in his fine Irish style. He even includes a good martini recipe:

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TODAY'S LOVE NOTE

(introduction)

A kiss is just another reminder that two heads are better than one.

TODAY’S GRAFFITI CURRENCY



[I'm in Saturday school at West Aurora High School in Aurora IL this bill was already looking rough when I got it. E-mail CLpurtiboi@yahoo.com let me know]

Sadly, the only response was from spammers advertising "XXX Black Peeing Porn".

MNF

First, my condolences to Matt for being a nice guy who has the misfortune to be backing a football team in a basketball state.

Second, Matt, I just need a favor. You know that razor-sharp, ball-catching, wide-open-receiver-getting, run-stuffing, quarterback-crushing team that was running around Soldier Field last night? Yeah, that one. Make sure THAT'S the team you send back to Green Bay.

On a serious note, I really liked the new Soldier field. That's a stadium you can be proud of. I hope that someday (not TOO soon), you have a Bears team that'll be as good.

THE IRAQI QUAGMIRE

Why is it taking "so long" for things to get better in Iraq? Stephen has the answer:

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For 25 years, the people of Iraq lived under the most brutal and harsh of oppression. Anyone who drew any attention and suspicion at all would vanish in the night, or be taken away publicly in daylight. Some people were taken pretty much at random, tortured, and released just so everyone else would remain in fear of the government. Some people were forced to watch their own children be tortured; some such children were maimed or killed. In a situation like that, everyone learns to be extremely scrupulous about saying and doing exactly what they think those in power want them to. When any hint of dissent leads to a horrible death, you don't tend to get many dissenters. And if you hold such an opinion, you lock it deep inside yourself and try to suppress it.

So they're not used to thinking for themselves, and making decisions for themselves. They're not used to being free.

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But things are changing, and after a few months of the populace watching each other NOT being executed for exercising their freedom of speech, the larger mass of the citizens is starting to believe that they finally are free.

Belief isn't enough, however. Exercising your freedom is actually an acquired skill, and there are things that will take time for the Iraqis to learn:

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The IPO people went to Iraq with clear goals. First, they wanted to establish debating societies and newsletters in the Baghdad universities. "These are going to be the seeds of democracy," Yasser explains. "Once you learn to argue against people instead of killing them as Saddam did, you're on your way. We explained to the university students that they could have different newspapers - and even have different opinions in the same newspapers - and it seemed totally surreal to them. They just couldn't understand it. But when they realised that it really was possible and nobody was going to punish them, they were so excited that they were just obsessed.

"They were in the middle of their exams and supposed to be studying, but they insisted on writing and photocopying a newsletter that they distributed everywhere. They wrote articles on amazing things they could find out about on the internet - philosophy and art and the difference between proportional representation and first-past-the-post! It was the best thing in my life, seeing that," Yasser says.

These are things we all take for granted. We grow up in a free society and learn these skills as children. But the students at those Iraqi universities were all born after Saddam took power, and until the invasion, they never knew anything except his oppression. It was a revelation to them that you could disagree with one another. You could even do it in print!

You could get onto the web; you could read any web site you wanted! You could seek out things you were curious about, and no one would monitor you to see if you were subversive! These things we take for granted. These things are completely new to them.

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Things might be going slowly in Iraq, but they are also going much better than the critics would have you believe. I'd really like to thank Stephen for writing this piece, because I never thought of freedom as being a set of acquired skills before, and I really like it when I read something that makes me think a new thought.

I wish he had a tip jar.