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# Spring break at the local movie theater
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/spring-break-at-the-local-movie-theater/
- Published: 2008-04-02T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T23:49:15.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By Steve “the Mailman” Breen Going Postal*

WELL, IT WAS A SLOW WEEK OUT THERE. The political travails of Democratopian March Madness have assuaged into the finer hijinks of Spring Break; relief from the Lioness of Tuzla, the future Commando in Chief, Hillary Clinton, swiftboating herself on a sniper ridden Balkan tarmac with hunter/killer Sinbad in tow; relief from matinee idol Obama tap dancing his way around the epistolary angst of a racist “relative” while throwing his own grandmother under the wheels of “Uncle” Jeremiah’s minority grievance bus; relief from the steamy B-movie exploits of “Client No. 9.”

It seemed that the only bit of real news was the revelation that Obama was related to Dubya … and to Dick Cheney?! Does this mean that Dick and Dub are black? Following the deciduous relationships of arboreal genealogy, one can see the resemblance between Obama and Dubya … look at their ears! Obviously a pronounced family trait. And I wonder how “Uncle” Jeremiah managed the news that his “nephew’s” family had owned slaves? Makes one ponder how that circle squares in a Sunday sermon.

With such a dearth of newsworthy materiel, what’s an op-ed guy gonna do? So I wandered over to the AMC for a matinee showing of the MTV flick “Stop-Loss.” MTV also provides other thought provoking fare as “America’s Next Top Model” and “The Hills.” This flick postured itself as the first anti-war treatise of the current Iraqi War. I call this a “flick” because Americans make “flicks”; the rest of the world makes “films”, especially the French. This flick’s title is derived from the Army policy of keeping a soldier in service after his/her contract of duty has expired. The civilian populace is supposed to express umbrage at this inconvenient truth of military litigious legerdemain and provide yet another reason to extricate ourselves from our responsibilities in the Middle East.You all need gas in your Land Rovers and Prius’, yes? Unfortunately, most “sand crabs” (Navy jargon for “civilians”) don’t realize that this contractual feature of “Stop-Loss” has been in place since the Vietnam War. It is explained to a prospective member before one drops the Mont Blanc on the dotted line. It was explained to me before I entered the Navy in 1984\. It is not some sort of “SURPRISE … gotcha” to keep a member from the easy college money in case something crappy happens that requires and directs you to do your duty.

Yet then again if this inconvenient truth had been known at the outset of pre-production then there wouldn’t be a reason to make a movie, eh?

The biggest slap in the face was director Kimberly Peirce’s depiction of the three main characters returning from their tour of duty to their homecoming in Texas. Never have I seen a complete debasement of military personnel in the tired vein of Vietnam era dysfunctional mythology. Once on leave, all three men proceed to drink, bar fight, DUI, beat their wives/girlfriends and desert their posts because of the stress of war. I take personal offense that the Great State of Texas was chosen for this weak kneed, bed wetting cinematic roadside car bomb as my family is from Texas. One doesn’t need to be a returning war veteran to drink, bar fight or sleep with underage girls when one can find those egregiously misanthropic escapades among civilians … even here in Santa Monica. And the blatant stereotyping of Texans as redneck yahoos belies the fact that the Dallas Opera is older (1957) than L.A.’s (1968).

My son is currently on his second tour in Iraq with the U.S. Navy as I write this. He looks for roadside bombs for a living, defuses/disables them in marketplaces and schools. Afterward he goes out to look for the jihadist scum-lords who planted them and then deals with them in a very prejudicial manner. He isn’t a drunkard and is excruciatingly polite. When he was here on leave, many folks on Main Street met him and none was served up with a black eye or pistol-whipped because he was having war-induced flashbacks.

He took a lot of naps when he came home. Additionally, he has more “foreign policy experience” than Hillary or Obama have ever had under their manicured fingernails. For my son, “war” is not an intellectual construct as postured by the “cut and run” crowd.

He believes in what he does as do many more in the rank and file currently in service. Funny that Peirce never bothered to interview him as a consultant for her chick “flick.” It might have made a better “film.”

STEVE BREEN is a self-described Reagan Republican and the “best looking mailman in the US Postal Service.” He

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 2, 2008.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/040208.pdf?ref=smdp.com)