The Art of War

The Art of War
Originally uploaded by tink927.

I ran across a blog today. I have copied it below:

Recently Marines in Iraq wrote to Starbucks because they wanted to let them know how much they liked their coffees and to request that they send some of it to the troops there.

Starbucks replied, telling the Marines thank you for their support of their business, but that Starbucks does not support the war, nor anyone in it, and that they would not send the troops their brand of coffee.

So as not to offend Starbucks, maybe we should not support them by buying any of their products!

As a war vet writing to fellow patriots, I feel we should get this out in the open. I know this war might not be very popular with some folks, but that doesn't mean we don't support the boys on the ground fighting street-to-street and house-to-house for what they and I believe is right.

If you feel the same as I do then pass this along, or you can discard it and no one will never know.

Thanks very much for your support. I know you'll all be there again when I deploy once more.

"Semper Fidelis."
Sgt Howard C. Wright
1st Force Recon Co
1st Plt PLT

PLEASE DON'T DELETE THIS, ALLOW IT TO BE PASSED TO ALL IN MEMORY OF ALL THE TROOPS WHO HAVE DIED SO THAT WE MAY HAVE THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE TO SUPPORT THEM OR NOT!!!

Okay, now my meaningless opinion:

I understand the troops are doing a job that most folks just couldn't handle. In fact, I don't think the families of these troops handle these same marines to well when they come back home.

What gets me is the last paragraph (in all caps) . "...so that we may have the right to choose to support...." Isn't this Sargent bitchin' and whinin' about someone/some company not supporting them. Can I puke now?

I work in the medical industry. The company I work for makes an instrument that could and does save lives. Should I get free coffee for that? Nah, probably not.

I hate war and everything surrounding it. When these troops we are supposed to be supporting signed up for the military, did they not know they could be deployed or were they just looking for an easy paycheck, hoping war would never knock on our doors? Whatever. I would personally send cases of coffee or chocolate, or hell, I'd even send some good old fashioned porn to any troops or military personnel who decided to take thier happy asses down to New Orleans and work on the damage and chaos created by Katrina.

A military for peace is what we need. And those troops, I'm sure, would rather go to work, get the job done and return, rather than beg the Americans who don't agree with thier line of work, for free stuff.

Troops, make your requests to the people that love and support you. Don't send out global messages to corporations and cry and moan when we use our right as Americans to decide whether we want to support you or not.

Just for the record. I do support a troop. Not a militia, just a single soldier. I have been raising his daughter for the past 16 years without any help. Yeah, I get child support, directly from the military, not from him. So I will continue to support this soldier, but that's all my little plate can handle.

No, I will not boycott Starbucks, hell, I don't even know if this blog was true. But it sure did get my coffee brewing this morning. We are Americans and we are free to make our own choices. I choose peace.

Fuzziness is security

I love my walls. Not the walls in my apartment, the walls around my little comfort zone.

I have thought recently they might be getting in the way. Nah, probably not. I did put them there for a reason, no matter how distant that reason seems to be now. Regardless, the walls are there and they ain't coming down. My walls are like a fuzzy baby blanket. Sometimes my toes will poke through and the coolness I feel is enough to make me curl right back up under the security of it's fuzziness...

Which is the lesser evil?

I will be so happy when the dang elections are over.

I just found out how much money these morons (Ford and Coker, both) have spent on their "advertising". Ford: 14 million; Coker: 10.5 million. Folks, that's dollars we're talking about. Not cookies, not moon pies, dollars.

Surely Coker doesn't really think just because he claims to have helped restructure Chattanooga by providing housing (yeah right) that all the dough he (or his supporters) have spent talking trash about Ford could have been used to better the rest of Tennessee. Don't misunderstand me, I'm not happy with Ford, either.

You want my vote, here's the deal:

Drive around the metropolitan downtown areas in Tennessee. Drive around the rural Appalachian communities that don't even have running water. Restructure these areas. Let no one be homeless or hungry. Solve this not by providing welfare, but by raising minimum wage to a rate that single parents can actually live with. Take your supporter's contributions and provide quality childcare facilities not run by government employees. Pay the folks who have provided family owned childcare an amount that you, the candidate, could live on.

I think about the total amount spent on the advertising alone, a total of over 24 million dollars. To me, that is an insane amount of money.

I started working on my 16th birthday and I've never stopped. I have two children and the only government help I received was by way of military provided insurance at the birth of my first child. I have not felt any of the positive effects either candidate brags about. Although I am by far, not a patriotic person, I am a law abiding citizen. I wonder how many folks living in Coker's welfare housing have warrants against them...

It sickens me each time one of those rancid commercials airs. But it breaks my heart to know it's not getting any better. With this election brings more dishonesty and corruption right into our very own state. The Tennessee my children will grow to experience will be one of meth labs and even more corrupt politians.