Month: June 2005

Christian defenders of war and the military, and especially those who practically elevate military “service” to the level of the Christian ministry, ought to pay more attention to the words of those who have been in the military instead of disqualifying me from criticizing the military because I have never “served.” Here is a recent “insider’s view” from one of my readers:

“I just read your piece from today’s Lew Rockwell. Well put. I find it hard to believe that so many nominal ‘Christians’ think that the military is some kind of enclave of virtue. I was in the Army for 4 years (’84 -’88). Let us forget, for a moment, that the purpose of the military is to kill and destroy property — as if that is not bad enough. How does the military hold up when it comes to instilling what Christians call ‘values’? Well, I was shocked at the pervasiveness of drunkenness and sexual immorality among my fellow soldiers. A half-hearted review of the divorce and unwed pregnancy statistics of military personnel would give one an outline for a book on military culture. Go to a VA hospital and see which department is the busiest — it will be the alcohol and drug treatment program. Military culture is rotten to the core (despite the clean-shaven, spit-shined facade), and it corrupts those who enter therein.”

L. G.
South Dakota

Antiwar.com is delighted to add a new member to our blog: Laurence M. Vance.

Laurence is a regular columnist for Lew Rockwell.com, where he writes primarly about the issues of war and peace. He is a freelance writer and an adjunct instructor in accounting and economics at Pensacola Junior College in Pensacola, FL. His new book is Christianity and War and Other Essays Against the Warfare State. Visit his website and his archives at LewRockwell.com.

The awareness of empire turns up everywhere these days. Nicolai Ouroussoff on the predictably yclept Freedom Tower:

The darkness at ground zero just got a little darker. If there is anyone still clinging to the expectation that the Freedom Tower will become a monument of the highest American ideals, the current design should finally shake them out of that delusion. …

Unfortunately, the tower is too loaded with meaning to dismiss. For better or worse, it will be seen by the world as a chilling expression of how the United States is reshaping its identity in a post-Sept. 11 context.

The most radical design change is the creation of the base, which will house the building’s lobby and mechanical systems. Designed to withstand a major bomb blast, the base will be virtually windowless. In an effort to animate its exterior facades, the architects have said they intend to decorate them in a grid of shimmering metal panels. A few narrow slots will be cut into the concrete to allow slivers of natural light into the lobby. …

What the tower evokes, by comparison, are ancient obelisks, blown up to a preposterous scale and clad in heavy sheaths of reinforced glass – an ideal symbol for an empire enthralled with its own power, and unaware that it is fading.

Unsurprisingly, Reasonoid Ronald Bailey loves it.

(Via Kevin Michael Grace.)

Remember when George W. Bush teamed up with Ted Kennedy to leave no child behind? Of course they made it mandatory that schools receiving federal money turn over all sorts of personal information about the kiddos to the warfare state.

Well, Mothers Against the Draft has struck gold, and launched Operation: Opt Out:

No Child Left Behind Opt-Out Form
Most parents are unaware that a federal law called the No Child Left Behind Act contains a provision that requires schools who receive public funding to violate family privacy by handing over personal information about students including names, home addresses and phone numbers to local military recruiters.

The good news is that students over the age of 18 or parents of minors may remove their children from this list by submitting a request in writing to their school administrator.

To download and print a No Child Left Behind Opt-Out form for yourself, click here.
To download and print a No Child Left Behind Opt-Out form for a minor child, click here.

JAMR Recruiting Database Opt-Out Form

The Pentagon’s new database, known as the Joint Advertising and Market Research Recruiting Database, contains extensive information on 30 million young Americans between the ages of 16 to 25. The JAMRS database is updated daily with new records and includes such information as social security number, ethnicity, grade point average, areas of study, height, weight, postal and email address, selective service registration, and phone number.

Any student 18 or older can elect to have their name and contact information removed from the Joint Advertising and Marketing Research Database that is being compile by the Department of Defense. Parents may sign the JAMR database opt-out form for their minor children.

To download and print a JAMR Database Opt-Out form for yourself, please, click here.
To download and print a JAMR Database Opt-Out form for a minor child, please click here.

JAMR Recruiting Database FOIA Request

If you would like to know what information is contained in the JAMR Recruiting Database about you or your minor child, it’s easy to find out by filing a Freedom of Information Act Request with the appropriate federal agency.

By law, any student can make a FOIA Request for information contained within the JAMR Recruiting Database on him or herself. Parents can also make the request, but only on behalf of a minor child.

If you’re at least 18 years-old, you can download and print a FOIA request by clicking here.
IF you are the parent of a minor, please click here to download and print the appropriate FOIA request.
To file an online FOIA request for information contained within the JAMR database, please click here.

Get to it, the recruiters are already moving into the middle schools.

From the president’s Tuesday night address:

We live in freedom because every generation has produced patriots willing to serve a cause greater than themselves.

Yes, great Americans like young Republican Collin Kelley:

Kelley told me he’s “sick and tired of people saying our troops are dying in vain” and added, “This isn’t an invasion of Iraq, it’s a liberation–as David Horowitz said.” When I asked him why he was staying on campus rather than fighting the good fight, he rubbed his shoulder and described a nagging football injury from high school. Plus, his parents didn’t want him to go. “They’re old hippies,” Kelley said.

Goddamn hippies, losing yet another war for us.

Munching on a chicken quesadilla at a table nearby was Edward Hauser, a senior at St. Edwards University in Austin, Texas–a liberal school in a liberal town in the ultimate red state of Texas. “Austin is ninety square miles insulated from reality,” Hauser said. When I broached the issue of Iraq, he replied, “I support our country. I support our troops.” So why isn’t he there?

“I know that I’m going to be better staying here and working to convince people why we’re there [in Iraq],” Hauser explained, pausing in thought. “I’m a fighter, but with words.”

But even in an age of greatness, a golden epoch of Bushes, Cheneys, and David Horowitzes, there are some men whose combination of cerebral prowess and intestinal fortitude makes them stand out.

By the time I encountered Cory Bray, a towering senior from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, the beer was flowing freely. “The people opposed to the war aren’t putting their asses on the line,” Bray boomed from beside the bar. Then why isn’t he putting his ass on the line? “I’m not putting my ass on the line because I had the opportunity to go to the number-one business school in the country,” he declared, his voice rising in defensive anger, “and I wasn’t going to pass that up.”

And besides, being a College Republican is so much more fun than counterinsurgency warfare. Bray recounted the pride he and his buddies had felt walking through the center of campus last fall waving a giant American flag, wearing cowboy boots and hats with the letters B-U-S-H painted on their bare chests. “We’re the big guys,” he said. “We’re the ones who stand up for what we believe in. The College Democrats just sit around talking about how much they hate Bush. We actually do shit.”

I tremble for my country when I reflect that God has a mean sense of humor.

While the focus has been mostly on Iraq, with the tragic loss of a second helicopter in Afghanistan and the year barely half over, we have already exceeded the casualty count for the entire previous year of 2004. In fact, it’s the highest death toll of any year in Afghanistan.

2005 – 55 (through 6/05)
2004 – 52
2003 – 47
2002 – 43
2001 – 12

Read more here: Operation Enduring Freedom US Fatalities