The military's attempt to clamp down on milbloggers.

This is dumb, not just because of the free speech implications, but because they are shutting down the voices that could be the most important ones in support of the war. But even if not, it's a violation of the values for which these soldiers (and other military personnel) are fighting. Of course no operational information should be blogged, but there's no evidence that this has occurred. It sounds more like stupid bureaucracy to me (which is the story of the Bush administration, and of every administration). Of course, that's the story of big government itself. Unfortunately, it's not something that we can get around when it comes to making war.

They are also shutting down the chorus of voices from the sandbox that seem to be pretty pessimistic about what's happening there. And unfortunately for the First Amendment, the UCMJ supercedes the Constitution for folks in uniform.

I respectfully disagree with you, Rand.

Leaving aside arguments for the 1st Amendment (which even private corporations can circumvent in some circumstances), there are several reasons that milblogs are a bad idea:
1. Operational security. The press' "leaks" are bad enough - disaffected troops could become an even worse threat if these are permitted.

2. Morale. Again, use the disaffected troops that can give clear, objective pictures and narrative re: their living conditions. Navy ships during combat ops are pretty damned bad - hot, crowded, etc. Troops on the ground have it worse. And, in most cases, it's a necessary evil.

3. Imagine if someone released uncensored audio/video of combat ops - think of those poor Marines that were prosecuted because an embedded journalist caught a terrorist getting "flopped."

Those are just a few examples. Imagine what the WWI/II grunts could have sent home with a milblog - think we would have maintained the stomach to continue with the efforts? Imagine ther milblogs after Iwo Jima, when the invasion of the Nipponese homeland was imminent...

PizzaHog, I can imagine it IMHO and I bet that if there were milblogs during the Second World War, they wouldn't weaken US resolve one bit.