You have the Right to Remain Silent

Exercising the Right to Silence 
Written by Dan Steinbach

News Alert: New Yorkers have found a solution to solve America’s debt problem: “End the War! Tax the Rich!” 
Over the last week, demonstrators dressed as zombies have flocked by the hundreds to march around the New York Stock Exchange. A group of protestors consisting of college students and middle-age employees are displaying their discontentment with our current economic situation.
Across the nation discouraged Americans are expressing their displeasure with the nation’s financial deficit. Protests have surfaced in Chicago, Oakland, Boston, and St. Louis. These protestors liken themselves to the recent Tea Party movement. 
On October 1st, 700 New York protestors were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and blocking public areas. The response to the arrests from Oakland, California resident Wiljago Cook, in NY to join the protests, is one of many dripping in outrage: “Exposing police brutality wasn’t even really on my agenda, but my eyes have been opened.” 
Yet the majority of accounts show that police did not use excessive force or brutality—they simply did their job. The protestors, however, claim the NYPD’s response effectively silenced their rights of speech and assembly. Since when did arresting protestors on charges of disorderly conduct and blocking public areas equal excessive force or brutality? Not to say the two are mutually exclusive—but are they mutually inclusive? 
Back to the reason for these protests: The main fallacy of simply “taxing the rich” is the rich are taxed enough as it is. The top 10% of the income bracket pay 68% of income taxes. It is easy for us to say that the solution is to tax the rich more—but how often is the easy solution the right solution?

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Former Infantry Man's Opinion on DADT
Written by Laura Stevens

Have you ever had to make a tough decision? Neither option clearly right or wrong...or was it? Many have recently faced this dilemma regarding the repeal of the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” (DADT) Act. 
The DADT prohibited military personnel from discriminating against or harassing closeted homosexual or bisexual service members, but barred openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual persons from military service. On September 20, 2011 the DADT was officially repealed. Now gays and lesbians can serve openly, but they still have to abide by some standards involving public displays of affection. 
So what does this mean to you? Should Christians be against this repeal? Will it really make a difference? How do you think this will affect the morale of the military? 
A former infantry man, Caleb Murphy, shared his opinion on the repeal of this act. 
“The mindset of the common soldier in a combat job is much different than the mindset of a soldier who serves in a support job, so the repeal of DADT might not affect the morale of a support job unit. However, it will affect a combat unit. Guys in combat units are aggressive, love to fight, and cocky. Imagine what happens when a soldier like that is hit on by a gay man...Here's another problem. Two male soldiers are in a relationship, the platoon is ambushed and one of the men in the relationship gets shot. Is the surviving partner going to be able to focus on gaining fire superiority and killing the enemy or is his mind going to be on whether or not his partner is going to make it? I think there are plenty of issues with this repeal. Living as an enlisted man, you don't have much personal privacy, and I think that straight soldiers are going to have a hard time sharing a fighting position or using the shower trailer...while knowing that a gay soldier might be checking them out. To close, I think this is going to cause a lot more problems than President Obama and some of the higher ranking officers who sit in chairs all day think that it will. The Army actually has rules stating that straight soldiers should try to keep their sexual habits to themselves as much as possible, and I think this should apply to homosexuals as well.” 

After hearing what an enlisted man has to say, what are your thoughts?