First an interesting tangent:

The word "Hippie" or "Hippy" is actually derived from "hip" which is in turn derived from the Wolof word hippi, or heppi (has many other possible spellings). In Wolof it means, "one who has his/her eyes open."

It was originally term used by blacks in the US to refer to friends (black and white). The modern pejorative transformation of the word actually has some aspects of racism embedded in it.

So "dirty hippy" also evokes "dirty n****r," no matter how you slice it, while fascist pig is simply calling things straight. Bush and the U.S. military-industrial complex are fascist pigs.


As far as this "debate" about the "rights" of students to gain "information" about the military goes, a few things are missing that should be said.

The military is a totalitarian institution: if you join you no longer have freedom of speech, or even basic bodily freedoms. You are effectively its ward. Additionally, the military is not required to allow other organizations access to its personell. The military has complete oversight as to who and what other organizations it associates with, while universities do not.

Thus, why should we assume that any attempt to block the military from recruiting on college campuses is a violation of the military's or student's freedoms to associate with or access one another? If the military bans me as a peace activist from entering its academies, boot camps, and regiments, why can't universities do the same? If the democratic will of the university community decides that military recruiters are not necessarily in line with the university's goals, then the school should be able to exercise its freedom of association and ban recruiter access, just as the military does with all other organizations.

Are we to say that the military has more rights than the university or any individual? That the military's rights do not end where my, or my organization's nose begins?

I think not.

-D

p.s. Keep it up SAW! And keep your eyes peeled. Down here in SB our faculty Senate is awaiting the Supreme Court's decision on the Solomon Amend. Afterward we will be moving to ban recruiters, and more.