Hagel adds urgency to push for ethics crackdown

[No Elephants]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MILITARY_ETHICS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-02-05-21-12-18

Oh, please, There have been horror stories of all kinds since at least Vietnam. Gratuitous killings of civilians, torture, rapes, thefts, cheating on exams, and most of the stories accompanied by claims of cover ups by higher ups, or the occasional singling out one or two wrongdoers for a relatively light punishment, ala Calley and Englund.

But, no Secretary of Defense knew how deep the ethics issues ran? This makes Chris Christie look good.

[Enthusiast]

1. I do believe the frequency of ethics violations

in the military has been on the rise since the invasion of Afghanistan. I think the main reason for this is the culture of permissiveness that exists because of the near worship of all things military since 911. I mean, they're keeping us safe and performing such a selfless essential task. We can overlook small indiscretions. I kid, of course. I am weary of the constant militarism on display at NFL games.

No Elephants, it is corruption from sea to shining sea.

[No Elephants]

2. You should have seen the July 4 concert in Boston after

the Marathon bombing a few months earlier. That too was getting more militaristic by the year. Used to be that people showed up in shorts and such. (It's one of these deals where people have to get on line before dawn to get a good spot for that night's concert.) Then, pretty much the same crowd started going every year and they started dressing in red, white and blue.

It was a really fun, all American type of celebration, with a heavy dose of Boston tradition. I don't think anyone even gets arrested for drinking too much, even though they picnic all day--and I do mean ALL day. That's how wholesome it is.

Then, more and more military started showing up in dress uniforms and more and more military songs were gettting played by the Boston Pops
. Still, okay.

But last year, after the marathon, we were definitely in a police state atmosphere. I don't know how many freedoms I want to give up to government in order to make the terrorists stop hating me for my freedoms.

[Enthusiast]

3. Yeah. We have given up enough freedoms.

:)