Gee, I don't know Joe.

From Review Journal.com:

Hollywood now proposes that in a new live-action movie based on the G.I. Joe toy line, Joe's -- well, "G.I." -- identity needs to be replaced by membership in an "international force based in Brussels." The IGN Entertainment news site reports Paramount is considering replacing our "real American hero" with "Action Man," member of an "international operations team."

Paramount will simply turn Joe's name into an acronym.

The show biz newspaper Variety reports: "G.I. Joe is now a Brussels-based outfit that stands for Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity, an international co-ed force of operatives who use hi-tech equipment to battle Cobra, an evil organization headed by a double-crossing Scottish arms dealer."

Good grief. Is there no end to anti-Americanism in this country? And who is the enemy here? THE SCOTTISH???? What? Are we afraid they will spread plaid to world?

At the link you will find what Paul Harvey might refer to as "the rest of the story." It seems that G.I. Joe was fashioned after a real hero. He was a Marine Corps colonel named Mitchell Paige. A Medal of Honor winner. You can read how he got that award at the link as well.

But there was this important detail:

"When the Hasbro Toy Co. called some years back, asking permission to put the retired colonel's face on some kid's doll, Mitchell Paige thought they must be joking.

But they weren't. That's his mug, on the little Marine they call "G.I. Joe." At least, it has been up till now.

Mitchell Paige's only condition? That G.I. Joe must always remain a United States Marine."

via RWN