Dear Editor and chief,
I found this weeks letters content, mature, informitive, generally agreeable, and with an uncommon lack of pettiness. Well done to all; and well done to the friend who shared his clonazepam with me this morning.

The Showstopper,

I think you err in equating the military with patriotism. There is no draft anymore so anyone who joins the military does so knowing that poor foreign policy decisions could involve them in a needless, unjustified war. Serving in the military means that you have to be comfortable with killing, sometimes innocent strangers. Many young people join because they don't have many options. Sadly, some of them join because they think war is glorious and equate mass murder to video games. Also, with regards to pacifism, it is important to note the distinctions between self-defense, preemptive strikes , and nonviolent resistance. It doesn't help to protect our country if we are "defending" it by preemptively attacking the wrong people, as we have in Iraq. I think there is an academic case for how nonviolent resistance might have been very effective in combating the Holocaust. The British capitulation to Gandhi had a lot to do with public relations and the worldwide public perception of their behavior against Indians. It doesn't really matter if Portland's "whitebread art school hipster kids" support the military by joining, they are forced to support the military through tax dollars. Perhaps if the tax dollars were spent helping disadvantaged poor kids and people of color jobs that didn't include random violence and senseless acts of brutality in their description there wouldn't be anything to debate about.

I'm from Portland, I went to art school, sheeit I love white bread (Franz, of course). I joined the navy. Best artistic experience of my modest career. Sometimes a change of uniform can be just the sort of self-defiance that leads to those luscious green creative pastures.

Namby pansies.

"Kill 'em all; let God sort 'em out."

Didn't you ever read The Watchmen?