Well, I passed by the site of this board today, and all the additional text had been taken down rather sloppily.

And you claim elsewhere to be a patriot? Dissent and even revolution may be patriotic, if the occasion calls for them, but dissuading people from joining up, especially in wartime, is the exact opposite. If you applaud this vandalism, then you have no right to object when those of us on the right question your patriotism.

Hey, Lawrence...

Just going through your archives, and I won't make too many comments, as I'm sure no one will read them, but I had to say something about this one.

First of all....I am not in favor of the current war. Neither Brett nor I thought Hussein was any kind of immenent threat, and that it would be fairly easy to contain him if he was. Evil guy? Yeah. But since when can we get rid of every evil ruler in the world?

That being said.... There really is a place in this world for armies (and navies and air forces, marines and even coast guards). First, because there are evil people in the world, and every once in awhile, they are a dire threat and must be stopped. And there are conflicts in the world that will not be solved by diplomatic means, even if it would have been nice if that had happened. In that case, decent people with another point of view become threats to our country, and we have to mount a defense. We should try to avoid war, but sometimes it is unavoidable. So I think that we should be grateful that there are men (and women) who actually want to be soldiers (or cops--same thing, smaller scale). They want to fight, their talents are geared that way...and they enlist. I have a brother-in-law in the Army who has ALWAYS wanted to be in the army. Bruce is in the Navy, but actually does some highly specialized work in public relations; Mark was a Marine; Ben is in the reserve and wants to be deployed; he really liked his work in Kosovo--he felt it meant more than his day job, handling accounts for Bridgestone. They are willing to take the risks for their country. Do I want my sons to do the same? Nah, not really--I don't even want them to become commercial airline pilots. And if in some horrible future, Bush instituted a draft, or attacked Iran, I would help Jon go to Canada, if he so chose. But I am not a pacifist; some things are worth fighting for, and I am glad that there are people who want to make that their job.
Incidentally....Jesus does not seem to have been a pacifist--he told the soldiers to be content with their pay, not to desert. And as far as the "side effects" listed on the billboard--hey, you can get all of those in real life--Brett amputates all the time. So...I appreciate that there pacifists--and war is something we should try to avoid--but we cannot be so naive as to believe that it is not sometimes necessary, and that a trained military is a bad thing.

Off the soap box!