Time to Reinstitute the Military Draft

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It is time to consider reinstituting the military draft in the United States.   Despite the brilliance of the American volunteer and therefore very professional army, clearly our troops have been exhausted with multiple tours of duty.  The National Guard, which is just that, has been called up into active duty, and that has put a tremendous burden on the Guard itself as well as their families.

The levels of emotional and financial drain have been reported by key military personnel for the past number of years.  It has been reported we have drained the resources of our military personnel by committing them to protracted wars.  We have overburdened their equipment and have depleted our physical resources.  Because of the financial outlay and our need to borrow money to fight this war from nations like China, different military weapons projects have been cut out or reduced substantially.   None of this is any good.

We have had the military draft, or conscription, with us in different occasions.  Initially, during the colonial days, we relied on militias.  Militias were too small and inconsequential to be utilized for the larger and more deadly wars that would follow with the modernization and growth of American into an industrial nation.   Enter the draft so that Armies of both the Confederacy and the Union could furnish enough troops for the now legendary battlefields where between one and two million Americans would die.  Later came conscription for the First World War and then again in the Second World War.

But we were a different nation then.  If we went to war then we called up our forces and manufactured mass weaponry to meet the challenges.  Come peacetime we would reduce our forces substantially and not really modernize our weaponry until the next crisis came upon us.      We did so during the First World War and then again in World War Two.   In World War Two, where the threat to the nation was hardly and abstract we built a military and produced weapons with speed and efficiency that surpassed most imaginations, certainly those of our enemies.

We had become the “Arsenal of Democracy.”   This is no small title and assuredly no small task.   Come the end of the Second World War we realized the world had changed.   We could no longer stand down our military and allow that military to rely on weapons systems that would soon be obsolete.   We had to not only develop new weaponry but to continue to do this so we would not only have parity against any nation’s military but we would in fact be the dominate force.   We learned that in the new world to protect our interests on a global level we had to project our military on a global level.   This meant the continued development of the military and the weapons it would use.

By 1948, just a few years after the end of World War Two, it was evident to protect our interests through military force, when necessary, we would have to establish a peacetime draft.  Essentially, the draft was continued through most of the Vietnam War until 1968 when then President Richard Nixon opted for an all volunteer army.   This was part of the new concept, a military built around technology and professionalism.     This all volunteer army would relieve the burden of  public service.

The volunteer military can be problematic on several levels.    As I mentioned before the all volunteer military is smaller  and in theory more professional.   As a smaller force it doesn’t require the funding of a larger army.   This has allowed us to shut down military bases around the country and in parts of the world.   All good, so far.  In theory.  Reality is a bit different.

But  now we are faced with a military force near exhaustion.  Whether you believe either the Iraqi War or the War in Afghanistan is justified or not there is no denying that are troops have been stretched thin and worn out over time.  Repeated tours have proved hazardous and overwhelming.   Equipment has been overused and spare parts are at a minimum.   Should the United States get into a truly serious conflict, meaning that where the enemy is in possession of advanced weaponry and is consequently much more formidable than Iraq or Afghanistan,  we may be confronting some very serious problems.   We may lack the resources that would assure victory.

Couple this with the growing trend toward the infusion of fundamental religion in the military.   There are reports about evangelical proselytizing  in the Army, Navy, and at places like the Air Force Academy.   Evangelicals have brought pressure to bear on the less religious members of the military or those of a different faith.  They have invoked methods and practices that could be considered coercion.  They have brought to our military an element infused with the Christian Crusade, which is hardly in keeping with the standards and traditions of our military.   This is neither the precepts found in the militia or our civvilian armies of our past.

With regard to history, there are repeated examples where the volunteer army becomes a mercenary army and follows those who either pay it or give it orders.   Mind you, I am not saying this is the looming case with our all volunteer military, but the historic examples are enough to take measure.   Consider also, that the shortage of troops has initiated the expanded use of mercenaries in groups like Blackwater, where the rank and file is loyal to its leadership and carries with it the inherent evangelical element of religious fundamentalists.

Blackwater is a private army.  And because it is a private army we pay its troops a lot more salary, nearly four times the salary, in fact, of our regular forces.  This creates resentment within our regular forces who have to risk their necks for a quarter the money.   This also raises questions of loyalty and issues of oversight, where the private army does not necessarily subscribe to normal military standards of conduct.   There are numerous reports that such mercenary groups as Blackwater do not adhere to the established rules of engagement.   This is already proving worrisome to American citizens and to not only members of this government but to members of governments where this private army is engaged.
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Clearly, the American all volunteer military  is no longer able to function alone, but must be supplemented with a private mercenary force.   In our democracy, this is hardly the precedent we want to establish.

If we are going to continue to serve our national interests by projecting military force then we need to reinstitute the civilian army.  A civilian army will augment the professionals within the service and will help dilute the religious fervor and proselytizing that has proven controversial and disturbing.   There will be less of a crusade mentality as a civilian army will be more eager to get the job done than endure a protracted crusade.      The lack of this religious fervor will enable conscripted  members of other religions and ethnicity to participate without encumbrances.  The civilian army will better understand that its loyalty remains first and always with the American people.

While there may be some difficulty in maintaining the streamlined professionalism of our current forces, this will be augmented by talented civilians who ordinarily would not have served.   These recruits can possess  insight and skill sets in psychology and technology  that may not be as prominent in a smaller force.    They can bring a better cultural understand of our enemies, speak their languages  and interpret for forces on the group.   There is in the end a lot to be said for greater numbers.

I believe we would be a lot less prone to commit ourselves to questionable wars if we had a civilian army.  Surely, we did just that during the Vietnam conflict.   We drafted tens of thousands of kids and sent them off to yet one more questionable war that four decades later has produced little but the revelation of our own foolishness.  It is no small irony that in modern times we  are expanding trade and partnership with the same government we battled for close to a decade.

But we have learned from that mistake.  We have learned because the parents of kids are more willing to question the validity of a war when their kids are involved.  Even the chicken hawks, those that are all for war as long as it doesn’t involve their own children, may reconsider before throwing their support toward conflict.    Simply put, more would be at stake with a civilian army.   We wouldn’t be only sending someone else’s kids to war, we would also be sending our own.

If this were a civilian army, certain things would have happened by now.   Our National Guard and volunteer force would not be overburdened with repeated tours.  They wouldn’t have financial problems, psychological problems, difficulty finding jobs again upon their return from a war they were sent to under specious circumstances.   It is questionable if fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan is truly the role of a National Guard.

We who were once the recruits for Vietnam are now the parents and grandparents of young people who would be going off to war, if we still had a civilian army.  With our own kids invested and our own blood on the line, and not just that of someone else’s kid we would reconsider committing our troops and national economy to this type of battle.    We would wonder a lot more about what the hell we were doing and why.  We would think rather than take refuge in the fact that our lethargy and inability to question resides in some form of patriotism.     In short, this war would have been over long ago.  If it ever got started to begin with.

If we do institute another round of conscription, should everyone go?  No.   Everyone would not have to go into the military, anyway.  Those who were uncomfortable could commit to other forms of public service without the deliberations of being conscientious objectors.   They could work in nation building, our nation instead of someone else’s.   They could work on rebuilding the infrastructure or working for a two year commitment in some form of public service.  They could use their education and skill sets for rebuilding this nation.  They would get to know in their work in recreating the infrastructure or teaching or working in underclass neighborhoods how rest of the country lives.   Nothing wrong with that exposure.

Yes, we would have a larger army, which would incur to some degree a greater expense.  But that expense would be mitigated by public discretion.   A public with their own kids at stake will not be as willing to spend either the money or the lives of its citizens for any war that is not clearly defined as in our national interest.     All around, it would be a bargain.

When Sex Goes to the Dogs

thumb_art_deco_dogLet me begin by saying I enjoy having pets.    Pets are great companions,  and they give you unqualified love in return for very little.  To be the object of adoration,  you just need to pet them, feed, them, change their cages or little boxes every now and then, and take them for a walk.  Pets are healthy for our spirit and made even add years to our life.   And when their life ends, it leaves us wanting and missing them.

I have had at one time or another, either because of children or on my own, a pretty rich assortment of pets.   I have had a couple birds, a frog, an Iguana, enough turtles and fish to populate a small lake, the brief stint with a cat left by a runaway neighbor, and at least a half dozen dogs.   All things considered, I prefer the dogs.

I have loved my dogs, some more than others.   I grew up with a dog loving parent who kept Dog World Magazine in the bathroom for comfort reading.   I went to dog shows and probably knew more types of breeds at nine years old than most adults.

I have experienced the terrible moment when you have to put them down.    I have taken them with me on long trips and spent time walking them and doing all the things dogs love to do. The thing is, no matter how much I have enjoyed my dogs, or other pets, I realize they are not people.  Dogs are much simpler, but still require much attention.  People are  far more complex and tougher to deal with.   Some animal lovers deal well with animals, but have it rough when dealing with relationships, no matter how casual.

Lately, I have noticed more people are pet centric and less people centric.   They adore their pets, bestow on them the affections and attention folks don’t seem to be getting elsewhere.   Pets are not only pets but objects of transferal.    They lavish the kind of love and attention on them they have normally reserved for close friends, family and the people with whom they engage in romantic relationships.

What used to be reserved for people love and romance,  those with whom we have sex, share histories and develop relationships, we give to the dogs.   Perhaps it is the economy and daunting times that people need so much reassurance without complications.   Perhaps it is life and all its disappointments and knowing that tail wagging fur ball loves and accepts you know matter what.    Perhaps we are experiencing levels of arrested development and any relationship more complex than that with the pet or a twenty minute reality show is far too daunting for our childlike sensibilities.

I would like to think this perception applies largely to aging Gen Y people or Boomers.    Here it is somewhat understandable.   Whether for good or bad a lot of Boomers, especially, for reasons unknown to me, are winding it down and resting on what they mistakenly consider their laurels.   They have been hurt in love, carry enough baggage to settle in Paraguay,  and are too set in their ways to adjust to another human brain pan.     Besides, as they are climbing in the years, romance is scarce, sex for a good many is near nonexistent, and there isn’t a whole lot going on, anyway.

For those who were married with children, the kids are out of the house and are soliciting not desiring your advice and counsel.    The children are no longer dependent and will rarely show up for the holidays yet alone paddle every night up to their food dish, do a little begging or lick your hand.   Or give you the dog breath kisses so many seem to adore and even boast about on Facebook.   Notice in Facebook all the people who instead of themselves post photos of their dogs.   Subliminal desires?

So to put it bluntly, the kids are ungrateful little assholes that can barely remember to buy you a birthday card.   The dog is nothing but an everlasting expression of gratitude.   Your kids will barely let you touch them.   The dog will curl up in your lap and in your bed.   When was the last time your teenage or older kid with lie in bed with you as a gesture of affection.  You would have to be sick and dying, or close to it, before most of you would see that day again.  As for those who don’t have and never had children, will then the dog is a definite convenience.  No nasty sex with strangers, in vitro sessions, or adoption overtures.   Just a trip the the pound or a few hundred bucks if you are determined to acquire pedigree.

I see a great many women I know, and  some men.   I watch them thrust their affections on their four legged lovers.    They hug them, kiss them, buy them gourmet food and cute little dog clothes that have the kind of price tags animal rescue groups would covet as a generous donation.   They talk baby talk, and if there is a prospect of a relationship, the dog comes first.  Maybe it is smart, and maybe it is just another rationale for a missed opportunity.

But that is not the only place the pet fetish has fully taken hold.  Blame it on the lousy economy, maybe, but more and more younger people  are not only acquiring dogs but taking them wherever they go.   Living in a high rise building I can see the increase in dog ownership.   I can also smell it in the elevators or see the little urine trails the overanxious canines leave on the floor as they scramble to make it to the great outdoors of Los Angeles.
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Ad when the dogs take sick or are o the verge of dying?   It is a sad moment.  As I have said, I have been there.  But the dog is old, or it is sick, and while we can reconcile it more often with people we have a tougher time letting the animals pass on to pet heaven.   Rather than let old Fluffy go when it is terminally ill or has reached the age where it is barely functional, these people are spending a small fortune for the kind of medical treatment half the people in this country do not receive.   In short, they do more for Fluffy than they would for Aunt Mary, yet alone the ailing kid down the block.

Okay, I am grousing.  And what, you may ask, is the point of all this grousing?   I will tell you.   I believe this sudden embrace of the obsessive canine code is more of a testimony to our abject failure to engage in relationships with people than anything else.  I think it tells us more about our dashed expectations, fed and fostered by relentless commercials and magazine write ups about all the glitz, glamor, and drama that is ephemeral at best, and nonexistent for the most part.  We embrace an illusion and then grow disappointed when it shreds in our hearts.

We think love with a human will be some kind of fairy tale, and life will be a constant adventure.   And then when it doesn’t turn out that way, we shun the possibility and turn to our dogs.    After all, they will give us unqualified love and a surfeit of affection.   They are grateful that we take care of them, and I am sure grateful to the good and caring souls who volunteer at the animal shelters but not the hospitals and hostels.

But the dog can give us affection, but it cannot give us the intimacy that only humans can provide.   Sure humans will give us more grief and disappoint us more than any beast, but they also leave us with complex and richer memories.   Humans are the material from which civilization moves forward.   In our relationships with humans we come to understands ourselves in ways we can never do with animals.   We realize the complexities of love and the nuances and predilections of our sexuality.   We are gifted by their involvement in the arts and sciences.

We will miss the dog, and we will love the dog.   But the people who have impacted our lives are subjects of ongoing reflection.   Through our relationships we comprehend our personal breakthroughs and failures, the measures of our personalities.   We become wiser through these human relationships and we pass this wisdom on to forthcoming generations.

So why the breakdown, besides some of the things I noted?  Why are we finding it so tough to relate to people and preferring to romance our dogs instead of men and women.   I believe it is our reliance on technology that has caused so many to turn away from people and turn to their dogs.   Maybe they have sex and maybe not, but deeper relationships are difficult to develop and sustain if your main form of communication is texting.   If the relationship is broken down to categorical components, behavioral mosaics that either fit or don’t fit into your own lifestyle, it is difficult to advance the romance.     If you want undying and one dimensional love and affection, well people can be tough and more demanding that that.

So with our dogs, we don’t text or email.  We don’t even phone them.  We spend time with them.  We talk to them.  We listen to them.  Part of that listening if to take note of every nuance, every expression, the slightest movement.   We know from their body language what they want.   We understand their nuances and can make the distinction between our dog and another dog, even one of the same species.   We are intimate and affectionate for reasons other than sex.  Well, in best case scenarios.

With people.   It’s different.   We simply don’t have the time to nurture the relationship.   It’s a few characters on a liquid crystal display and a quick roll in the hay.

Good Taste and Dog Food Pate`

Paris-Hilton-Gourmet-Dog-Food-Can

Once upon a time quality branding followed quality product.   In order to be recognized as a premium line, the manufacturers, designers, whatever, had to actually produce quality goods.    You, the consumer, could tell the goods were of high quality because of the materials used and the art and craft of their finishing.   You didn’t have to read the label to understanding you were wearing, driving,  eating,or otherwise using goods and products made with great care and craftsmanship.  Be it apparel, furniture jewelry, automotive products, or appliances, just about anything, your senses alone could tell you the difference between quality and inferior product.

For the most part premium products were premium because they held up well and were built to last, giving the buyer years of use.     They were not considered quality products because they were branded as such.  They were deemed as quality because they actually were better made.   Consumers were raised to know the difference.  At least some consumers were.  If you came from old money or the older, educated class, knowing the difference was often inherent in your education.   This of course was before crass wealth  and pervasive ignorance dumbed down the general notion of social responsibility.  Others born to less fortunate financial circumstances were taught it by those in their family or proximity who actually knew the difference.

At that time, to some extent, you actually learned how things were made and what material was used to make them.   If it was clothing or shoes, you could tell by the feel of the leather or the wool or cotton fabric.   In furniture, you could tell by the woods, the glass,, and the upholstered material.    You knew by the color and the dye, the seams and texture.  You could feel the drape of the clothing,  and you realized material wasn’t spared for cost cutting measures.  You could tell how things were sewn, or fitted together.    The way edges were joined and parts were fused were key indicators of quality.   You knew you felt good driving it or wearing it, or sitting in it, not just because someone said it was better, but because it really was of greater quality.

It was a time when quality preceded branding.  Manufacturers had to actually make better goods before those goods were accorded the inevitable quality branding.  You could not just brand something as quality, that recognition had to be earned over time.   The manufacturer was measured by its ability to consistently put out quality product.  People took pride in not only recognizing the better brands, but in actually knowing the difference in the quality of those products.

But then came branding.   Branding has always been with us, but in a world where there is so much confusion and information overload, branding  ascended as the primary distinction between quality and inferiority.   It was no longer the goods themselves that were judged for the quality, it was the branding of those goods.   Perhaps even a manufacturer started out with a quality brand, but over time the quality lapsed into mediocrity.   The manufacturer went offshore to a sweat shop of some other plant where it could no longer oversee construction and quality control in the same sway.

To be competitive the once quality brand needed to cut corners.  And with it, the manufacturer cut its quality as well.   Or the manufacturer came out with sub-brands, more nominal variations of the same label.   Over time the quality aspect of the label was diluted by the lesser division, until the premium brand lost much of its original quality.  Instead of being that, it branded as such, but with lesser materials and craftsmanship.

Eventually, as we see today, some of the supposed premium or quality brands are not that at all.   At least they are not made with quality materials and construction.   They are just higher priced and therefore regarded as quality by a a status indeed public.  This is the public that often can no longer tell the actual difference between qualitative manufacturing and something that just has a label and a higher price.  Often, it doesn’t even matter.

It doesn’t matter if the good are quality or not.   Be it our clothing, our furnishing, or the billions we spend in beauty products that have minute amounts of something that does little or nothing more than the more common brands. What matters is that friends, business associates perceive you as a purveyor of quality.   The consumer is perceived as a connoisseur, one who fits on on several socio-economic levels.   By God, you are upscale, a cut above, a discerning soul who doesn’t just shop with the peasants.   You know the the difference and what makes it work.  You wear the right labels.

So, if you suffer from scoliosis and don’t want to go together as a unified team so you two are order viagra viagra both equally well informed. Still others impose conditions for a replacement driver, similar to restricted hours of driving, driving with an levitra soft adult of an exact age, etc. Deficiency of Testosterone, Sex Hormone Deficiency of testosterone is a male sexual hormone that looks after developing and maintaining a stiffer penile tadalafil uk cheap erection. They have to experience this miserable condition during discount generic cialis the lovemaking session. No matter that this consumer is only buying a label.  Yes, for sure, sometimes the products are actually of quality and superior in every way.   But just as often they are no different.  Just as often they are made in the same sweat shops as the lesser brands.   Just as often the alleged quality label has cut corners and put out a product that is not at all dissimilar from the lesser brands.   Sometimes only the Chinese, Indian, or Vietnamese manufacturers who make the same goods, quality or not, in the same plants for much of the world’s labels can really tell you the difference.  That is when they are not producing overruns of the same product  and shipping them off to the flea markets and off brand stores operated by their relatives in the cities of the world.  But I digress.

All right, so where does that leave us?   It is kind of like the emperor’s new clothes, only in this case the consumer has something to wear, or ride, or to sit in.   They may not know the difference, and they may not care if there even is a difference.  As long as they can afford it.    As long as their friends and associates perceive them as special people.

But then comes the recession and people are having second thoughts.  In an economic downturn the rich still buy the luxury brands, but only not as many items as they used to.    They buy, but not in that quantity.  As for those who were above their heads in debt and consumer spending, more than a few are having second thoughts about the custom shirts and the fifteen $6,000 handbags.    Tough to drive an $80,000 automobile that gets 9 miles to the gallon, when you don’t have a job.

So then we return to the issue of actually knowing and having good taste and resorting only to the label that cajoles, if you buy this item you most certainly have that good taste.   Well, not really.  Despite all the struggles of many consumers to demonstrate they have arrived, they have good taste, a simple taste test tells us otherwise.  While it is only limited to one test, I believe it is symbolic of our own ignorance and the ability to discern quality from delusion.

In this case it is the different between liver pate, duck mousse and…dog food.   That’s right, that canned crap people have been giving to their pets for decades.  That stuff.   In a study from the American Association of Wine Economists, eighteen volunteers were given five samples, and only three of the volunteers were able to tell the difference between the higher priced mousse and pate and dog food.   Two people claimed the high end pate` was the dog food.  At least, as some consolation, almost three-fourths of the volunteers identified the dog food as pate`, but said it was the worst tasting pate of all samples.

Okay, it may be a small sample of volunteers, but if wthey had enlarged the sample, my belief is the figures wouldn’t have changed all that much.   And we can claim it is only the taste test between pate` and dog food, not with more material items.   True.  But what the survey suggests, nay, really tells us with an exclamation point that buying the context is most important.  If someone says it is quality or luxury, then that is the context.   And that is how we perceive it.

Which we can pay $300 for tees hirts and $400 for a pair of jeans.  Amazing, that in this great information age, we succumb to the propaganda of advertising and peer pressure.   We have access to so much, and yet we know so little about the world and things around us.

Well you spent your money on trinkets and beads.  And dog food.  So eat hearty.

Baseball’s October Classic Will Soon Need Snowshoes

baseball field in snow

Once upon a time in baseball, you had two leagues, eight teams,  and 152 games in a season.   You had the American League and the National League.   Whichever team in each league came out on top was the League Champ, and then they played the other League Champ in the World Series.  Simple.

More to the point, the October Classic or the Fall Classic, as the World Series is known, was over in early October.   The leaves were just beginning to fall.   There was a slight chill in the air, maybe, and the first nip of winter was for the most part just around the corner.  Ball players played the game in shirt sleeves, or wore the long sleeves under their uniforms.   Their baseball caps were the same ones worn through the season.   Their fans, save for the rare occasions, watched the game in windbreakers and sweater.   No big deal.

But now you have the same two leagues, but with three divisions within each league, wild card teams, extended playoffs and more extended playoffs, and on top of it all an extended, 162 game  regular season.   So now, by the time you are done with the season, the playoffs, and, finally, the World Series itself, the October Classic can stretch into early November.   Factor in a couple of rain outs, and Santa Claus may come watch the game.

Now, mind you, I love baseball.  I love the playoffs.   I understand that the leagues extended regular season to pay for the hefty player’s salaries.   With so many teams, and in so many cities, the extended season for the most part is not surprising.   With so much competition, the playoffs are surely exciting for any sports fan.  If your favorite team is in the playoffs, then the excitement is that much greater.

But…it just looks so odd to see baseball players sealed up in hefty thermals.  They wear hood like balaclava things on their head that make them appear like they are off on a Delta Force mission and not preparing to take the baseball field.  Their baseball hats have ear flaps.

The fans are wearing parkas, thermals, and gloves.   They wear rain gear, for winter rain, and snow gear.   They look like they are going to a football game and not baseball.   Everyone, players and fans, are blowing on their hands, drinking warm liquids and hoping more freezing rain doesn’t drop from the skies and douse their few remaining dry spots.

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But this is baseball.  It isn’t football, and it isn’t a trip to Grandma’s house for Thanksgiving Day, or Christmas Shopping.  It only looks that way.

The added cold has to have its impact on the game.  Balls don’t travel quite as far in cold air.  Sliding hurts, collisions hurt more.  Just the impact of the ball, whether it’s in your glove or bouncing off your shins, has to start hurting after awhile.    The ball has to bounce differently on the harder infield group.   Throwing has to be tougher.   In all, what may have been the strong points for a team all season may be altered by the World Series.  I am not saying this as a fact, but you would think it the case.

Anyway, I write this as I watch the Philadelphia Phillies beat on the Los Angeles Dodgers.   I was born in Philly and grew up in L.A., so there is a definitely mix of emotions working for me.   But then, when it comes to watching sheer precision, the most consistent team in executing fundamental baseball, there is nothing like the Yankees.   Make a mistake with the Yankees, and you will pay a heavy price.   But I digress here.

So if the  season gets any longer, baseball’s concession stands will be selling hot toddies and soup.   You will soon see the concession stands selling acrylic mufflers and ear muffs with the team logo boldly emblazoned.   And the people will come in hefty four wheelers, wearing snow boots.   Between baseball and football, out in the post-season parking lot, you will hardly tell the difference.

When You Still Want to Marry a Virgin

Wedding Night 2

We are nearing the close of the first decade of the 21st Century.    Yet there are men who still want to marry a virgin.   Forget the bygone days when the mother-in-law or some other responsible party held up the bloody wedding night sheet to proclaim the chastity of the blushing bride.    Forget the fact that centuries have passed and for the most part, in most places in the world, society has acknowledged the woman’s right to get laid.    Don’t even think for a moment that all those sexy films and wet tee-shirt contests have promoted equal sexuality to the further corners of the earth.    And if you are in certain parts of the world, other than the prostitutes–“want to party, honey?”– you can put away your hopes and desires of sleeping with the girl you met earlier that day.

In some parts of the world, that woman won’t have sex.  She can’t.  She will not resolve her hornier emotions on the chance that up the road and in the sack her husband, that final destination of  fairy tale bliss, will reject her as damaged goods.    And forget about the fabled mother, with a wink and a blink, and an “I understand you situation completely, having been there myself,” holding up a bloody sheet in solemn but graphic testimony to  fictional chastity.    Twenty centuries later, we men are almost wise to that trick.

But then, again, maybe not.  According to a recent article in the Los Angeles Times, the new Artificial Virginity Hymen Kit is more threatening to many male Egyptians than the triumphant return of Cleopatra.   For a mere $29.90, a sexually active woman can on her wedding night let loose with this pouch of artificial blood, proving she is has remained pure and simple for her one true love.  As Gigimo, the Chinese mail order company that sells the kit over its website insinuates, just a few well appointed moans and groans, break the blood bag, and voila, your idiot husband will believe he’s the first.   Provided, of course, he doesn’t later find the receipt for the artificial hymen kit tucked inside your purse.

Key religious groups and conservative social and political entities condemn this Instant Cherry Kit.   More than a few Egyptian citizens believe that this handy-dandy virgin vessel  will inspire promiscuity in Egyptian women.   Confident they can fool their grooms, they will also fool around.   They will come to their wedding night as damaged goods with a broken hymen and with sexual skills they shouldn’t have accumulated through trial and error.    Certain conservative groups are so outraged over the artificial hymen kit they want to put out a fatwa on any peddler who dares sell them.   A fatwa, for the less informed, is where you kill the person for besmirching social or religious customs.  Strong stuff.

This new threat to social stability is perceived by the more rational or liberal minded elements in Egyptian Society as partly an outgrowth of the social and economic changes in the society itself.    Single women used to live with their parents, until they got married, which was typically at a much earlier age than it is today.  But today’s economic crisis, with its joblessness and poverty has forced many women to wait longer, accumulating their dowries.   So you have women single longer and dating longer.   Things do happen.

So rather than conclude, “all right, already, the times have changed and we have to change with the times,” the more conservative elements are outraged.  As noted before, they are concerned promiscuity will spread.     And, you know, probably it will.   With promiscuity and prior experience, it is fair to say there are for women points of comparison and possible dissatisfaction with the schlub she is with.   In other words, there will be discord.    There will be less control of individual actions by social and religious forces.    Life will be chaotic.
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No wonder everyone is upset.   Not that Egypt is necessarily the paragon of order and control.    Not that we should even pick on only Egypt, as much of the world is undergoing their own brand of chaos, the loss of order and control.  I remember in my childhood the Catholic boys solemnly declaring that they wouldn’t ever conceive of marrying any girl other than a virgin.   This, mind you, was  at the cusp of social change in this country, when sex, drugs, and rock and roll, dramatically replaced Leave it to Beaver and Father Knows Best, as our social gyroscopes.   So weren’t those guys in for a rude awakening?

Besides,  Egypt like every other country has always found a way to counter the sexual contradictions of society in order to perpetuate that very society.   Before the artificial hymen kit, there were the Egyptian women who had their hymens surgically restored.  Before that, there was the complicit cousin waving the bloody wedding sheet.  In short, people will screw around.  It is just a question of how open we want to be about it.

As a world, we suffer from hypocrisy.   It’s part of out nature.  We preach one thing and do another.   We resist our more natural impulses in the shaky belief we can control them through sound mind and body.  Whatever that is.   We invoke the celestial to give us guidance.  Quite often that guidance is less a celestial proclamation and more our own yearnings for social and emotional security.   And control.    We draw on questionable resources just so we can feel better than ourselves.  We yield our self-control and, more importantly our concept of self-control for external enforcement of our visceral sensibilities.

Mainly, we are unsure of ourselves and feel threatened by everything out there that does not fall lockstep into our dogma or our system of beliefs.   Conservatives are threatened by one thing.  Liberals are threatened by another.   In one form or another, everyone is threatened, so we lock ourselves in a box with like minded souls and hope upon hopes that no one will puncture our fragile veneers.

Sometimes it is ridiculous.  Like this.   We order from the Chinese a thirty dollar hymen kit so we can proclaim and reinforce the righteousness of our own limitations.   It’s amazing.   Yet on one level we should be grateful.  Seldom does our fragile emotional security come this cheap.