Written and copied, placed strategically around the Elpis to be read, with a funny cartoon on the back.
"By now most of us have heard the clamor over the event that occurred when some Marines attempted an arrest on the Elpis on the strength of a anonymous tip. The outrage has been felt everywhere, on work shifts, around drinks at Petes, and even muttered from bunk to bunk in the sleeping rooms. You've heard it, I've heard it, we've all heard it… The CMC messed up, knocked a guy down while waving around weapons, who do they think they are, there were kids in the room, the military is out of control, etc.
Don't buy it.
While a few of us aboard have been here since before Warday, most of us are more recent additions, pulled from the radioactive worlds where we might otherwise have slowly died of starvation and radiation, whichever got us first. Instead of that, we were brought up, given beds, food, even a chance to work for our own keep, rather than being eternal refugees. It seems, however, that a few people have taken it upon themselves to push for self rule.
That is one thing… I can see the sense of it. Those of us who are not enlisted do not fit into the military chain of command, and martial law can only ever go so far before it goes bad, I remember enough history to tell you that. I'm not sure if I agree… I don't know if there are enough of us to make self-rule anything other than an empty gesture. Sure, we COULD choose to jump to different coordinates than the Battlestar Group, or perhaps not jump at all next time, but I don't hear anyone talking about that. The whispers for self rule were oddly quiet when the Raiders were shooting at us, as I recall.
My point is not the debate concerning self rule, however. My greatest concern lies in the methods taken by one Mr Rene-Marie, who apparently took it upon himself to make an argument for self rule by way of trying to embarrass the very people we depend on for protection. Again, I can understand it. The man is QUODEL, appointed by the Representative from Virgon. Odds are, he had ties to the old Colonial Government, and based on his Charisma, he was a mover and shaker. Now that life is meaningless, left in the same radioactive dust that claimed all of our lives as well.
But he doesn't fight the Cylons. He doesn't fly CAPS, he doesn't go on patrol, he doesn't watch the DRADIS for trouble. So he seems to have blamed his loss on those who are now in power, treating them as usurpers, and doing his best, in the recent debacle, to make them look stupid by engineering a situation where it would be hard for them not to look stupid, and in front of Miss Koios' school, as well.
So don't buy the hype. Remember who it was who saved us, who continue to risk their lives to protect us. If we as Civilians are to move for self rule, let us do it with dignity, and in a way that shows respect to those who put themselves in the line of fire to protect us. And Mr Rene-Marie, you are not the only one who lost everything. Save your bile for those who actually took it from you.
Natalya Rassvet