SwiftVets.com

[baldeagle]

Hollywood now proposes that in a new live-action movie based on the G.I. Joe toy line, Joe's -- well, "G.I." -- identity needs to be replaced by membership in an "international force based in Brussels." The IGN Entertainment news site reports Paramount is considering replacing our "real American hero" with "Action Man," member of an "international operations team."

Paramount will simply turn Joe's name into an acronym.

The show biz newspaper Variety reports: "G.I. Joe is now a Brussels-based outfit that stands for Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity, an international co-ed force of operatives who use hi-tech equipment to battle Cobra, an evil organization headed by a double-crossing Scottish arms dealer."

(snip)

On Nov. 15, 2003, an 85-year-old retired Marine Corps colonel died of congestive heart failure at his home in La Quinta, Calif., southeast of Palm Springs. He was a combat veteran of World War II. His name was Mitchell Paige.

It's hard today to envision -- or, for the dwindling few, to remember -- what the world looked like on Oct. 25, 1942 -- 65 years ago.

(snip)

The citation for Paige's Medal of Honor picks up the tale: "When the enemy broke through the line directly in front of his position, P/Sgt. Paige, commanding a machine gun section with fearless determination, continued to direct the fire of his gunners until all his men were either killed or wounded. Alone, against the deadly hail of Japanese shells, he fought with his gun and when it was destroyed, took over another, moving from gun to gun, never ceasing his withering fire."

In the end, Sgt. Paige picked up the last of the 40-pound, belt-fed Brownings and did something for which the weapon was never designed. Sgt. Paige walked down the hill toward the place where he could hear the last Japanese survivors rallying to move around his flank, the belt-fed gun cradled under his arm, firing as he went.

You can read the whole story here;
http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/10849526.html
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"In a word, I want an American character, that the powers of Europe may be convinced we act for ourselves and not for others; this, in my judgment, is the only way to be respected abroad and happy at home." --George Washington

[Navy_Navy_Navy]

Wow, that was well worth reading "the rest of the story."

I think it's the first time I've read anything in the LVRJ that didn't require doubling up on my blood pressure meds.

The comments are too many to read, but some of them are very astute.

It's sad enough that GI Joe is going to lose his American soldier identity - the American soldier has been a bringer of freedom, peace, sustenance and comfort for almost two hundred years.

But, why in the world is an American picture company even THINKING of making a true American hero into some kind of UN weenie?

Disgusting.
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~ Echo Juliet ~
Altering course to starboard - On Fire, Keep Clear
Navy woman, Navy wife, Navy mother

[LimaCharlie]

One of my favorite sporting goods store chains here in ultra-liberal Oregon was G.I. Joe's. This year, they changed it to just Joe's to keep up with the times. I have not been in one since and will never go in one again.
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I was going to become an anarchist, but they had too many rules.