Seth Keiper

The world is like a ride at an amusement park. And when you choose to go on it, you think that it's real because that's how powerful our minds are. And the ride goes up and down and round and round. It has thrills and chills, and it's very brightly coloured, and it's very loud and it's fun, for a while. Some people have been on the ride for a long time, and they begin to question - is this real, or is this just a ride? And other people have remembered, and they come back to us. They say 'Hey! Don't worry, don't be afraid, ever, because, this is just a ride.' And we...kill those people. Ha ha ha. 'Shut him up! We have a lot invested in this ride. SHUT HIM UP! Look at my furrows of worry. Look at my big bank account and family. This just has to be real.' It's just a ride. But we always kill those good guys who try and tell us that, you ever notice that? And let the demons run amok. But it doesn't matter because: it's just a ride. And we can change it anytime we want. It's only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings, and money. A choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourselves off. The eyes of love, instead, see all of us as one. Here's what you can do to change the world, right now, to a better ride. Take all that money that we spend on weapons and defence each year, and instead spend it feeding, clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would many times over, not one human being excluded, and we could explore space, together, both inner and outer, for ever, in peace.

Let's say this is our HTML structure:

<ul id="nav">
	<li><a href="#" class="active">Example one</a></li>
	<li><a href="#">Example two</a></li>
	<li><a href="#">Example three</a></li>
	<li><a href="#">Example four</a></li>
	<li><a href="#">Example five</a></li>
</ul>

And let's say this is our CSS:

#nav li{display:inline;}
#nav{
	width:8em;
	font-family:sans-serif;
	margin:0 0 0 3em;
	padding:0;
	border-top:1px #000 solid;
	border-left:1px #000 solid;
	border-right:1px #000 solid;
}
#nav a,#nav a:visited{
	width:99.99%;
	display:block;
	background-color:#fff;
	border-bottom:1px #000 solid;
	text-align:center;
	text-decoration:none;
	color:#000;
}
#nav a:hover,#nav a.active{color:#fff;background-color:#999;}

Our nation's top military officer, a veteran decorated with no less than forty-eight military awards and a very distinguished career, made a startling revelation this week: He has moral conviction. The world gasps, hurls insults, and demands an apology. How dare one of the top leaders of our land have a moral belief and share it when questioned!

But that's exactly what happened this week when the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff - the first Marine general ever to hold that position - General Peter Pace, commented in a wide-ranging interview with the Chicago Tribune, "My upbringing is such that I believe that there are certain things, certain types of conduct that are immoral. I believe that military members who sleep with other military members' wives are immoral in their conduct, and that we should not tolerate that."

But then Pace went on to tell the Tribune, "I believe that homosexual acts between individuals are immoral and that we should not condone immoral acts."

Well, stop the presses.

[...]

While the world should be applauding a man who proposes that one of the most important institutions in our country should have moral integrity, instead we hammer him for having a conviction.

But I believe this goes far beyond the whole question of homosexuals in the military and the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. This cuts to the core of the question of whether anyone in public office is free to speak his deepest religious or moral convictions. The Constitution says there will be no religious test for office, and yet we are applying one. We are basically saying that if you are the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, you are not allowed to express your moral or religious views - especially on matters of sexual preference and behavior.

This is another sign that we live in an age that no longer believes in objective truth or a moral order. Moral relativism is the rule, and personal preference trumps all. And government is there to ensure that no one place any restraint on the pursuit of our own desires.

I have long said that C.S. Lewis was prophetic when in 1943 he wrote about the irony of our education system, saying, "Such is the tragicomedy of our situation - we continue to clamor for those very qualities we are rendering impossible... In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst."

Ironic that today, the head of our Joint Chiefs of Staff argues that the military should have consistent policies of moral integrity, and the world demands an apology. Maybe it is time to lock him up: General Pace is guilty. He has committed the intolerable crime of our day: He has stated his conviction in a value-free society that respects only so-called "tolerance."

If there is not such a thing as freedom of speech, even in uniform or out of uniform, how can our service men and women uphold freedom of speech?

your hand on his arm the hay stack charm around your neck strung out and thin calling some friend trying to cash some check he's acting dumb that's what you've come to expect he's wearing your clothes head down to toes a reaction to you you say you know what he did but you idiot kid you don't have a clue sometimes they just get caught in the eye you're pulling him through now on the bus nearly touching this dirty retreat falling out 6th and powell a dead sweat in my teeth gonna walk walk walk four more blocks plus the one in my brain down downstairs to the man he's gonna make it all OK I can't beat myself I can't beat myself and I don't want to talk I'm taking the cure so I can be quiet whenever I want so leave me alone you ought to be proud that I'm getting good marks