Everybody in the Military Today is a War Hero
by Bryce Martin

In the early 1970s, not long after a lottery system was implemented in the latter part of the Vietnam War, the military draft was abolished. Just prior to that, Local Boards called men classified 1-A, 18 1/2 through 25 years old, oldest first.

It's now an all-volunteer military.

Today's all-volunteer way of thinking is wrongly blurring with the past.

In 1964, for example a good many men, given the choice, would not have opted for military duty. It's didn't matter. There was a draft.

So, who were the heroes back then? If you were drafted, but would not have went given the choice (as one does today), and you were captured by the enemy, survived and returned and served your time, were you a hero? After all, you didn't want to be captured by the enemy and you didn't want to be wearing a military uniform in the first place. Would you be any different than someone in your exact position who joined freely and eagerly?

Today, since it is an all-volunteer affair, you can make the case that everyone starts out as a hero just by joining, and hero hash marks increase as more heroic acts follow. Everybody's a hero.

So, was someone such as John McCain a hero merely because he was captured by the enemy? He was from a military family and joined on his own, but, remember, there was a draft on, and the draft had to influence thinking. "Hey, there's a draft on anyway, why not join and make the best of it." Would a reluctant draftee in the same predicament as McCain be a hero as well?

Does being captured by the enemy automatically make one a war hero?

It certainly does now.

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George, George, burning brightly
by Bryce Martin

The most prominent story on the Yahoo front page is how fatherhood has changed Tiger Woods. Sure, like he was Jesse James off the golf course before. The guy's a milktoast, plus he's just a golfer, for Christ's sake.

I had to toss in "Christ" because I was reminded of George Carlin who died recently. I wonder if he took some marshmallows along with him because he'll be in a place where roasting them could be a regular event.

It was Carlin who made a career out of letting us know he was way to smart to believe any of this religion nonsense. Bill Maher can now carry that flag. When you get right down to it, Carlin was just a standard liberal, which is not exactly the same as having a real opinion on weighty matters. It's more a matter of always being on the wrong side of anything with heft.

I did applaud Carlin's distaste for golfers and for our way-out-of-proportion hero worship. I don't know where he went so wrong as to get on the right side of those two items.

When you miss the really big one though, I guess nothing else really matters, by comparison. Actually, I know it doesn't, I'm not guessing.

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McCain Looking More and More Duddish
by Bryce Martin

Streaming headline: McCain Distances Himself from Aide Who Says Another Terrorist Attack Would Benefit Republicans

Why would McCain do that?

A compete moron knows that is a true statement. Maybe none truer in this election year.

The Democrats aren't just weak on national security and terrorism, they're Here-Take-It-If-You-Insist puny thin on putting us all up for grabs.

Anyone who is not aware of that fact should not be involved in our voting process.

McCain? He'd make a good running mate for Obama.

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