self censorship

[Dids]

This is probably a forum no-no, but I'm grunching the thread to give a few responses.

I'm torn.

I know my friends who've ended up in the military did so more out of necessity than patriotism. It's a very viable option for a lot of low income folks. Once you're in, making that choice to not be involved in war is pretty difficult.

There's a guy in Seattle who just dodged a court martial (he was tried and the jury hung) for refusing to go to war. So "not pulling the trigger" has a lot of pretty lousy consequences.

Personally, I think killing people is real [censored]. My Dad was a CO from Vietnam because he didn't believe in it, and I'm really lucky that I have the choice not to do that sort of thing, and I'd encourage more people to make the same.

[limon]

"There's a guy in Seattle who just dodged a court martial (he was tried and the jury hung) for refusing to go to war. So "not pulling the trigger" has a lot of pretty lousy consequences."

the consequences are no worse than what judith miller went through for not giving up her source in the treacherous valerie plame outing. i think a soldier should be brave enough to endure as much jailtime as this partisan hack in order to save his soul.