To quote Bill Hicks on Rant In E-Minor (Track 15):
You never see my attitude in the press, that's what bugs me. You never see my point of view. For instance: gays in the military. Now, I don't know how y'all feel about it, but gays want to be in the military. Here's how I feel about it, all right?
Anyone dumb enough to want to be in the military should be allowed in. End of fuckin story. That should be the only requirement. I don't care how many push-ups you can do, put on a helmet, go wait in that fox-hole, we'll tell you when we need you to kill somebody...
You know what I mean? I'm so sick... I've watched these fuckin Congressional hearings, and all these military guys, and all the pundits, seriously "oh, the esprit de corps will be affected..."
Excuse me, but aren't y'all fuckin' hired killers? Shut up! You are thugs, and when we need you to go blow the fuck out of a nation of little brown people, we'll let you know. Until then...
My cousin Rutger spent a year in the Dutch army and was discharged shortly after the Don't Ask Don't Tell compromise was reached in the U.S. He said his combat boots were the best thing he got out of the year, and that discipline had started getting pretty strict over in the ranks maintained strictly for the purposes of being able to contribute a minimum number of troops to NATO peacekeeping forces. They'd started encouraging recruits to get haircuts! New rules against patronizing hash bars in uniform were actually being enforced! Despite all this newfound rigidity, Rutger said, something like Don't Ask Don't Tell could never be instituted in the Netherlands: without the queers, he said, the Dutch wouldn't have an army.
2004.09.28 at 07:13 e-hadj says re Gays in the Military: Perhaps your "cousin" also sometimes post as fuzzy and blue? Now THAT would be funny! If not, suggest you keep transcribing Hicks until you begin to understand how humor works on many levels...
2004.09.28 at 19:38 (e-hadj) fuzzy and blue says Thanks for your comment on Gays in the Military. I'm afraid I have no idea what it's supposed to mean (an insult maybe?), but I'm appending it to the writeup in question, because I like to show off my fan mail.
Teeny tiny update, 6 April 2012, which should have gone up September 20, 2011: Goodbye and good riddance to DADT.