Sounds like one of your friends telling a joke about the old Paranoia RPG, doesn’t it?

I wish it was a joke. Read This. Read the whole thing. This is a retired Lt. Colonel writing it, and it’s simply eye-witness accounting of CURRENT EVENTS.

The big sign on the side of the one and half story shed with the machine gun nest on top said “Homeland Security Internal Checkpoint.” And now we’re all supposed to say, “Hail the Republic.” That’s the new mantra. They showed a bunch of guys being trained at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, probably enlisted and reservists and such. And they kept raising up their right arm saying, “Hail the Republic.”

The sergeant even said that they are duplicating the ancient Roman Legions salute to Caesar, using the right arm upraised with the fist. Instead of “Hail Caesar,” though they say, “Hail the Republic.”

It doesn’t take a hell of a lot of history education to remember another group that imitated that salute. This is a joke, right?

The sergeant on the news report said that all the people involved (100,000 military people) are being forced to swear new loyalty oaths to the United States. He just mentioned the government’s overall policy, which Bush talked about last week, that all federal civilian employees are going to have to take new oaths of allegiance to the “Republic.” And that extends to some members of the military who will be involved in internal security.

What the hell are we doing here?