The R.S.M. looks up and down the road, glances up at the sign above his shop without noticing it. He goes inside again. A man walks up, reads the sign and enters. He is Mr Man.)

Mr Man: Good morning.

R.S.M.: Morning, sir.

Mr Man: I’d like to join the army please.

RSM: I see, sir. Short service or long service commission, sir?

Mr Man: As long as possible please.

R.S.M.: Right well I’ll just take a few particulars and then…

(Suddenly he looks as though a dim memory has penetrated his skull. He breaks off, looking thoughtful, walks towards the door and exits. He comes out of shop, looks up at word ‘Mary’ tuts and changes the letters round to read ‘Army’. He suddenly looks round and we see a queue of nuns.)

R.S.M.: Shove off! (he goes back inside) Then there’ll be a few forms to sign, and of course we’ll need references and then a full medical examination by the …

Mr Man: Yes. Yes, yes I see. (diffidently) I was just wondering whether it would be possible for me to join… the women’s army?

R.S.M.: The Women’s Royal Army Corps, sir?

Mr Man: Yes. I was just thinking, you know, if it was possible for me to have my choice … I’d prefer to be in the Women’s Royal Amy Corps.

R.S.M.: Well, I’m afraid that the people that recruit here normally go straight into the Scots Guards.

Mr Man: Which is all… men… I suppose?

R.S.M.: Yes it is.

Mr Man: Yes. Are there any regiments which are more effeminate than others?

R.S.M.: Well, no sir. I mean, apart from the Marines, they’re all dead butch.

Mr Man: You see, what I really wanted was a regiment where I could be really quiet and have more time to myself m work with fabrics, and creating new concepts in interior design.

R.S.M.: Working with fabrics and experimenting with interior design!

Mr Man: Yes.

R.S.M.: Oh well you want the Durham Light Infantry then, sir.

Mr Man: Oh.

R.S.M.: Oh yes. That’s the only regiment that’s really doing something new with interior design, with colour, texture, line and that.

Mr Man: I see.

R.S.M.: Oh yes, I mean their use of colour with fabrics is fantastic. I saw their pattern book the other day – beautiful, beautiful. Savage tans, great slabs of black, set against aggressive orange. It really makes you want to shout out, this is good! This is real!

Mr Man: Really?

R.S.M.: Oh yes. I mean the Inniskillin Fusiliers and the Anglian Regiment are all right if you’re interested in the art nouveau William Morris revival bit, but if you really want a regiment of the line that is really saying something about interior decor, then you’ve got to go for the Durham Light Infantry.

Mr Man:. Oh, I’ve had enough of this. I’m handing in my notice.

Oklahoma kiddo @ 171

“I don’t capitalize, but this comment is unnecessarily accusatory and makes me very upset.”

Well now… I wouldn’t want to upset you. ;0)

Out of line and unnecessary.

I just love it when someone attempts to lecture me. Do you have any more for me?

Today there were 9 troops killed and all but one death is attributed to vehicle accidents.

Accidents are ‘non-hostile’ so they are not used statistically as war related.

One of the ‘accidents’ happened when a vehicle flipped over and caught on fire…kind of like what happens when a vehicle gets hit by an IED.

The surge is working…..Rinse and repeat.

-GSD

petraeus: ….
kutz force itself have been pulled out of country and lebanese trainers pulled out.

That would be kuds. Arabic for Jerusalem, or more specifically, the Temple Mount where the Dome of the Rock is located.

theWalrus @ 195

The *only* thing that could possibly help end this war sooner rather than later (much later) would be mass demonstrations and civil disobediences on a scale rivalling those of the ’60s (which I attended).

I agree. How to get from here to there, is the question. Music was a big part of it, but as we learned from the experience of the Dixie Chicks, it’s not going to happen.

Unfortunately, the American people have not been allowed to see the real face of this illegal war. The WH in cahoots with the media have done a fantastic job of not letting us in on the utter tragedy of this war. More American would be inclined to demonstrate if their evening news showed what was really going on there.

1,592 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND..

Citizen theWalrus and the Firepup Patriots:

“The *only* thing that could possibly help end this war sooner rather than later (much later) would be mass demonstrations and civil disobediences like those of the ’60’s…”

Bless your patriotic heart, brother Walrus…there must be an echo in here. Stand the fuck up America…use it or lose it!!!

KEEP THE FAITH AND LOOK THE BASTARDS RIGHT IN THE EYE!!!

Using that kind of language makes me uncomfortable, and worse yet, certain media outlets might lift that quote and paint us all as foul-mouthed America-haters, thereby ruining all of our hard work. I wish you’d be more civil ;)

liavc @ 190

Why are we devoting so much time to arguing about Code Pink??

Because I’ve spent over the past 4 years uncountable hours, hundreds of my own dollars, attending meetings, protesting, sending emails, sending care pkgs to Iraq soldiers from our peace group, organizing, writing letters to the editor, etc. and it is extremely frustrating to watch Code Pink damage any sympathy the public or congresspeople might have for anti-war views. They are actually damaging to the cause. And to have people suggest that they are courageous or effective does make me angry.

Commenting in a blog post is an entirely legitimate place for free speech and debate. The ultimate goal is not to simply piss off the powerful or hear the sound of our own voices disrupting their hearings but to actually accomplish something politically. “Daring” to cause a ruckus isn’t necessarily going to help and I believe it hurts out cause.

How ironic that their foolishness is highly regarded as free speech here, but we are encouraged to refrain from criticizing them. Now who’s advocating “politeness”? Feh.

Disagree with you fundamentally on this. Your so-called politeness will also be attacked as anti-patriotic as ill-mannered, and as against the best interests of this country. Get off your high horse. There are many different ways of carving a goose.

Kathy/Fozzetti @ 161

Quite a few of our “Founding Fathers” were obnoxious rabble-rousers. Not polite or well behaved. There is room enough in LiberalLand for the noisey and the quiet.

Well perhaps we’ll just have to disagree.

Also to OKK:

The Founding Fathers were rabble rousers because of no representation. We have representation, and those Proud Papas made sure that the rules for Congress allowed for minority views and protests. I haven’t seen any criticism or condemnation of Code Pink for its civil disobedience. The sole type of criticism has been aimed at its methodology of disruption and its disregard for the rules of conduct.

As to OKK’s remark about the dead KSU students – having lived a couple of towns away, being a hs student at the time myself, with parents of friends who were on faculty and had joined the student protests, I think your analogy doesn’t fit. The Nat’l Guard troops acted illegally, and finally, there is videotape to prove it. Comparing the tactics of KSU students to Code Pink committee hearing disrupters is apples to oranges. Code Pink is attempting to disrupt a hearing – a venue in which we are all entitled to hear and have proceed uninterrupted. The students were trying to simply send a message – they did not disrupt any public process with the exception of being present on government property.

Please don’t escalate this on these liveblogging threads.

But just in case Christy or another author reads this, I would respectfully request to have a post about this issue at some future time. Civil disobedience is an important topic, and as it is being used visibly, it would be useful to explore it on FDL when tempers are cooled and reason, tolerance and respectful discourse can be cultivated and encouraged.

Just my .02 which isn’t worth the metal from which it’s coined.

Is it really true that Petraeus and Crocker are going on Fox tonight to do an exclusive interview with Brit Hume?

This program brought to you by the good folks at KY Jelly.

-GSD

The Petraeus/Crocker Show Part IV