Officers were dismissive when Tallman tried to discuss his growing inner conflict with them, Tallman attorney Kate Burke says.[...]

Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. wrote a letter urging Tallman's discharge because "our gifted medicine people are small in numbers."[...]

Gen. James T. Conway, the Marine commandant, disapproved the application after a majority of the Conscientious Objector Status Screening Board decided that 'Pvt. Tallman failed to provide clear and convincing evidence that his claims of objection to war in any form were sincere and deeply held.'[...]

Tallman's attorneys will ask for a temporary restraining order in federal court in California to try to prevent his deployment until the court can review the military's decision.

'I'm nervous, but I'm strong in my belief,' Tallman says, "and that's going to take me further than the Marines."

—DenverPost.com, Man's beliefs pit military vs. Navajos

He sounds good. I'm proud of you, friend. Very proud.

And now we have Lt. Erin Watada and Pvt. Ronnie Tallman. The two bravest men in the United States Military. Or at least the clearest of conscience right now. A Hawaiian soldier and a Navajo one; leading the way forward (back?) to sanity.

I'm sure this rising sentiment terrifies the Government, who does not want us to remember that without our muscle, our money, and our minds, they have nothing and are nothing. It is we who have the power, and we who determine what it should be used for. We forget. We've been hypnotized. We think we have no choice. Comandanta Ramona would disagree. Emiliano Zapata would disagree. Martin Luther King, Jr. would disagree. Gandhi would disagree.

Of course the Marines have rejected every effort Tallman has made to withdraw from service. As they will continue to do. But can we expect any different? If men began thinking, and valuing healing and their sense of conscience and spirituality over a culture of killing....

Well, we would certainly not have any more wars like the Iraq Disaster. The militaries around the world would fall to the ground like so much empty uniforms. Leaders could no longer point their well-manicured fingers and order the deaths of thousands. Companies like Halliburton might even starve. And millions more people would be alive to live full, unshelled, non-napalmed lives. And what on Earth could you even call such break down of the System?

Oh yeah. Peace.