How Dick dodged the draft

With the recent series of articles by The Washington Post revealing the extent to which Dick Cheney has been running this country, it seems appropriate to revisit an old but relevent topic. When the Vietnam war was "surging," what exactly was young, healthy, intelligent Dick doing?

As we know from an earlier interview he gave to the Post, he stated that he did not fight because "I had other priorities in the '60s than military service." I'm sure today's servicemen and women also have "other priorities." But they serve when called. Dick found an interesting way to get out of his service. From Slate:

• Aug. 29, 1964: Dick and Lynne Cheney marry.
• May 19, 1965: The Selective Service classifies Dick Cheney 1-A, "available immediately for military service."
• July 28, 1965: President Lyndon Johnson says draft calls will be doubled.
• Oct. 26, 1965: The Selective Service declares that married men without children, who were previously exempted from the draft, will now be called up. Married men with children remain exempt.
• Jan. 19, 1966: The Selective Service reclassifies Dick Cheney 3-A, "deferred from military service because service would cause hardship upon his family," because his wife is pregnant with their first child.
• July 28, 1966: Elizabeth Cheney is born.
• Jan. 30, 1967: Dick Cheney turns 26 and therefore becomes ineligible for the draft.

Dedicated students of obstetrics will observe that Elizabeth Cheney's birth date falls precisely nine months and two days after the Selective Service publicly revoked its policy of not drafting childless husbands. This would seem to indicate that the Cheneys, though doubtless planning to have children sometime, were seized with an untamable passion the moment Dick Cheney became vulnerable to the Vietnam draft. And acted on it.

Carpe diem!

Who says government policy can't affect human behavior?