veteran affairs

I am seeing way more "support your troops" yellow ribbon magnets on mini vans this week. I am guessing it's that christmas consumer spirit that people get at the counter of Royal Farms. Those things are really pissing me off--if in fact, they are all like the $3 magnets sold at Royal Farms for two reasons.

One- Because nowhere on the package did it indicate that it was actually 'supporting our troops'. No charity or donations of any variety. Not even a retroactive donation to the VA's of Vietnam. Its not like its too late to appreciate them too. Let's assume every vehicle comes equipped with an assumed "support our troops ribbon" as we gas them up. So why buy them?

Two- Well its only yesterday that I saw the Ravens purple ribbon magnet- which I am sure isn't $3 and probably DOES have proceeds going to the M&T Stadium. Its only a matter of time when these things are going to become teddy bears and other things my eyes aren't going to be able to handle. I actually had the adolescent urge to find someone with one in the suburbs and tack it on their neighbors. why? To smoke them out before they become the huge fad of the mid 2000s.

Onto bigger smoldering issues. Rumsfeld recently responded to troops in Kuwait that they need to rummage through scrap piles to find armor for trucks because new and fully equipped trucks were headed to Iraq where they were more urgently needed. As if the questioning soldier was being selfish. This comes after the Vanity Fair article identified piles like these yield real health risks by the cheap depleted uranium they are made by. Rumsfeld needs to do a magnet check.