And your yellow ribbons still aren't enough

Since you didnt answer my question, I'll ask you again:
And if the person driving the car has a spouse or child serving in the armed forces, who are you to question their one time expense of $1?

I don't support the war. I've made that abundantly clear. I think we've all been lied to and manipulated by people in power, who are more interested in lining their own pockets and the pockets of their big campaign supporters than they are in any sort of morality.

Nonetheless, I have made and will continue to make modest donations to the comfort of our soldiers overseas. The senselessness of this conflict is not their fault. They've got a job to do and they're doing it as best they can.

If my little donations help them get by, I'm glad of it, regardless of how I feel about the asshats who sent them there. I don't need to advertise with a car sticker.

And I would happily pay more taxes for better gear for soldiers, instead of for the latest million-dollar-per-shot camelseeking missile system.

I have one word to say, Chip. And understand, this is based in the most loving of emotions:

TROLL!

There, I feel a lot better now.

Unless I am mistaken, all but one or two of the 9/11 attackers were citizens of Saudi Arabia. A country unattacked, unchastized (until just recently).

There was absolutely no connection with Iraq. Saddam loathed Al Qaeda.

On Afghanistan, I personally remember the Taliban volunteering repeatedly in the final week to hand BinLaden and his band over to the US, exactly in line with the ultimatum. Newspaper and television interviews with Taliban leaders, offering and guaranteeing to do it. I watched with amazement as the US ignored this total capitulation and ploughed on regardless. I think it was all probably something to do with an oil pipeline the taliban were blocking, and something about continuing to defang Russia.

You guys do know that both Saddam and the Taliban were created, funded, armed, put into power, by the US ? That the US supplied Saddam with his poison gas ?

It's not apathy, it's realism and it's based on my own experiences. And I did not say that it was not possible to support troops without supporting the war - as you no doubt realize. Your rhetorical tar-brush - and it's a transparent one.

My advice is to identify issues-oriented groups that one feels comfortable with, and become involved in "reaching" political leaders through large-scale communication and mobilization. In the present federal and state political climate, that's what works best, because political leaders will take the time to "listen" to the nuances of such groups.

Who am I? I'm someone with an opinion who just expressed it. Neat how that works, eh? I'm also someone who finds exploiting people's sentimentality, nationalism, and altruism for personal gain to be cynical and rather offensive (in a humorous sort of way). Your mileage may vary.

*sells Liona a "Support Our Trolls" sticker*

Where they were born has nothing to do with the groups they were associated with.

I said there was?

I said it would be inappropriate for me to ask such a question. Why did you feel compelled to answer?

As for your motives in asking her whether she was an American, I can't be sure, of course - but I was reading that sentence in the context of your post, and your other posts - and the meaning seemed very clear. I'm glad to hear that your motive was kinder and more accomodating than it seemed.

Perhaps the way you feel about my "inappropriate" question about military service is how a person might feel about being asked if he/she was an "American" in a debate like this one.

Oh.. $1. Im so exploited...

I answered because I don't post to a topic that I don't feel strongly about just to up my post count or throw my opinion in there. Pretty much, it has to be a topic that "strikes home" to me. As you can see this does by my response. You think this was bad, check out the one about Cops piss me off...LOL <oops broke my own rule

In all honesty, I did want clarity about her location. I couldn't tell from her signature and people from different countries who are not involved in the war have a total different outlook/opinion than people from here.

Fair enough. No problem, then.

I don't want the soldiers over in Iraq (or any other country) 'dying for me' or for my country.
I have stated publicly I don't want them too.
I don't want them killing or dying in a war I do not support.

And...
I will not show support of the troops, nor will I support any agency that works to keep them 'happy' over in Iraq or other countries. If our government cannot give them the supplies they need then they need to be pulled out of Iraq.

In 'my' opinion, the war in Iraq is wrong and our government is giving the impression that only our (meaning the US's) rights matter in the world.

And after the destruction that mother nature caused in the Indian Ocean killing over 250k people.... 9/11 isn't so glaring in my mind and I can go back to celebrating my guy's birthday on it with joy.

This is exactly the point. People from Iraq, and Afghanistan are involved totally in these wars and it is becoming clear many, many of them have a "different outlook/opinion".
In fact, the way this is going, almost everyone in the world is "involved in the war" because of the global significance of the new aggressive US stance.

The people of Iran, Syria, Israel, Palestine all have their own opinions and concerns. It is widely believed that the US is acting illegally, is promoting torture, and committing war crimes outside its own territory, for reasons other than those it gives. It is widely believed that it is perpetrating a massive trick on its own citizens, whipping up unjustified fears in order to remove long held and fought-for protections for the citizen. The suggested purpose being to consolidate corrupt power for the elite.

Whether all this is true, I cannot say, but it certainly is widely believed, and it would be best for the world if US voters raise their heads, and at least start considering and discussing the possibility. If it IS true, it might soon be too late to do much about it. If any dissenter could just disappear to Gitmo, never to be heard from (or of) again, how much dissent would there be ?

A bit of intelligent internet research can go a long way. No-one should take such serious suggestions on trust, but should find and weigh the evidence, and make up their own mind. Such things have happened before in the world, but in the information age we have less excuse for turning a blind eye. Previous times it was even easier to keep people ignorant, now we have to navigate carefully through a deluge of confluicting viewpoints.

You have that right.

Maybe opposing the war while providing comfort to the warriors is counterproductive. But it strikes me as simply being humane. Soldiers need to know that the people back home care about THEM, even if they don't care about whatever stupid regional conflict they've been ordered into. That's no less than I'd do for a homeless man or a stray cat

Could you people keep it down? I'm trying to watch American Idol over here!

(great post Ellie).

*wears it proudly, until she realizes she's wearing a sticker that says "SOT" on it*

Well CNN just had a guy on who said the Humvee's were wearing out because the soldiers had extra armour, twice as much as normal. They're "Mainstream" so I dunno about this "first hand account"......

I can give you a "support our drunkards" one for another $1

Isn't it strange how threads just sort of seem to know naturally when it's time for them to end ?

Oh...whoops ! I just messed this one up. Mea culpa. Didn't even check to see which one it was. It just looked So.... Sad.....

There's only so much yuppie-"holier than thou"-bmw stinch some of us can take.

Too much yuppie stench for some of us to stick around.

Yuppie stench?
please.... give that old cry a rest.

Some of us are able to have opinions that don't match the government's.

Yes, and what dangerous targets did we hit in Serbia? Virtually every hospital, church, water treatment facility and the Holocaust Memorial. Oh, and the Chinese Embassy. Great idea.

what does your statement have to do with my post?

My post was simple arithmetic stating clearly for the price of one B2 bomber they could buy enough of these Flak jackets for all the soldiers in the military.

I didnt advocate buying bombers - or anythign of the sort. A couple posts above that one someoen asked about one Weapons program. My statement referred to the fact it wouldnt even require a weapons programs budget - simply the cost of ONE bomber.

My first guess is you read the first few lines of my post - got mad the words "bomber" and "Serbia" were mentioned becuase of damage to non milatary targets - and Responded without bothering to read the rest of my post and evaluate my actual statement.