Nra Sticker on my Prius, anyone else?

Sticks and stones..

It's rather disturbing that you're fantasizing about me & other members here, but hey, whatever floats your wagon.

If I invaded another country, I would EXPECT them to fire back at me.
You're a fool if you'd expect otherwise.
If someone invaded your house, would you not shoot at them?
Would you offer them tea & crumpets instead?

So does being in any gang.

Or lack of character. Becoming a trained killer doesn't automatically give one 'character'.

::golf clap::

Big surprise there.

Do you have a matching confederate flag too?
Maybe a 'git-r-done' magnet?

 

This is probably really outdated now, but I typed it a while ago and forgot to actually send it...


What a terrible thread this is! I hate to see all of this. I hate to see an "us and them" issue. Damn sad. Please stop it!

While I am completely against the war and agree with most of your great post about why you are, Neon, I can still say I support the troops! I support my country by demanding that it be just and standing up when I see it in the wrong hands. I don't want to see it damaged, torn, bankrupted, and abused by tyrannus men. I don't want our soldiers shot at, attacked, living in fear, watching each other die, terrified, and fighting in a damned war unless it is absolutely required. I am angry at the current administration because of what they have done to our military forces. When you hold so many lives at stake, you better be damned sure you are doing right or at least try your best to do so, honorably, firmly, compassionately, and wisely.

Understand one thing, though. If your bootay is on the line and they are coming after you, you better pray that you are behind a Marine. That's where I will want to be in that situation. I don't know if they put something in their food, but they are amazingly dedicated and driven and brave, strong, loyal Americans. They are watching out for you and me. Don't you forget it. You should treat them with respect. They should also do such for you. Think about the people in your life. How many of them would give it all to save your nice person? A Marine would in a heartbeat.

I wish this scumbag administration did not send our troops over there and put them in this position. I can't change that - it is in the past - but I want the next president to get our troops the hell out of Iraq and, as an American, I will stand up and cry out. That is the only way I can protect you, Marine guys. I want it done responsibly, in the best, most efficient, safest way possible, but I want our men and women OUT of IRAQ. All those moms and wives who have been out there protesting and being bullied by this administration are standing up for you, whether or not you see it that way.

You best comprehend - our soldiers are fighting for us - they have to. They were forced to by our government and they are doing their jobs, most of them honorably. They face things you can't imagine in your worst nightmares because our government told them to on your behalf. They want to believe in what they are doing over there, just as I want to believe iin my country again.

Marine guys, please try not to take it personally - my being against the war. When I say so, or anyone else does, for that matter, it is not coming out against you at all. I am so very grateful for your service and feel safer knowing that you are on my side. I am angry, disturbed, and deeply saddened by all the lives being lost. It's not right. I believe that what Neon was trying to express was that our corrupt, greedy, government has done us all wrong by sending you over there. It is currently filled with men who are not worthy enough to be in the same room as you, much less send you to fight for their greedy agenda. They do not act with honor, duty, or courage. They hide the truth to manipulate and control others, as well as to protect themselves from the consequences of their deeds. They have the money to do it, too. Our money. Yours. Mine. Every American's.

Wherever you fall on the political spectrum, this is WRONG. Our government was never meant to be what it is right now. This is America. We - ALL OF US - Marines, women, men, liberals, conservatives, black people, white people, latinos, old, and young need to take the wheel and turn our country in a different direction! Fighting each other, instead, will get us nowhere.

The voting public has nearly tripled. Why do you think that is? The American people will speak in November. We are a part of the balance of power...we the people...and it is time we use ours.

 

A marine, fresh out of boot camp (this would have been around 1970 or 1971) told me this story. He was a friend if mine. I have no independent knowledge of the events related, but I don't think he'd have lied to me:

There was a man in boot camp with him (I'll use the name Joe, though I don't remember the actual name my friend gave for him) who rode an imaginary motorcycle everywhere on the base. (In telling the story, my friend illustrates by crouching slightly, putting his hands out as if on imaginary handlebars, and walking awkwardly.) From morning until night, anywhere he went, if he was not required to march or run or otherwise behave in a set manner, he rode his imaginary motorcycle. Standing in line at the mess hall, he'd be sitting on his motorcycle, moving his hand slightly as if moving the throttle, and making motorcycle revving sounds in his throat. They sent him to talk to the psychiatrist, who asked him if he wanted to get out of the marines, and Joe answered, "No sir. I like the marines. Why would I want to leave?"

There may have been more to the story. It's been a long time and the details are fuzzy. But finally they decided the the guy was soft in the head and they gave him a medical or psychiatric discharge. He took his discharge papers, rode his imaginary motorcycle to the gate, showed his papers authorizing him to leave the base, to the guard, and then he got off his motorcycle, pantomimed pushing it over to the guard at the gate, and said:

"You can have my motorcycle. I don't need it any more."

 

Great story.

 

Hmmm...you seem to have been very fortunate for such a great life experience so far...and I hope it continues. Do you think that your chances would have been less likely in most other countries?

As you know, the US armed forces actually do more than "executing a war" that a US President was given authority by the US Congress. Your comparison of the Marines to the Mafia is ridiculous. The Marines can not start a war...much less continue one...and even to lesser extent fund it for 5+ years. Your comments sound like the USA has a dictator and a self controlled & funded military. Hopefully you know, the US President can not fund a war either...Congress must supply the funds.

It is not that I agree with the war, but you seem to focus on the folks that are executing it and not the ones that authorized it and still funding it. Like Congress...and yourself with taxes. I'm assuming that you are still paying your taxes.

With the exception of misguided energies, you seem like a good US citizen. However just a thought and first impressions...you may fit in better as an Iraqi citizen. Iraq could use the help...they are still working out the details of their Constitution. Or you might stay in the US...and help fix any issues that your country needs fixing. And, not "Picking a fight with a US Marine(s)" which is not helpful. The Marines are busy fighting a war that your Congress authorized, your President (yes...I said your President…at least until you renounce your citizenship or just wait a few months for new one) is executing, and you are funding.

You need to 'Git r done'...hopefully you are already working on it. I'm sure that the people of Iraq will sleep better that some organization besides the US military will be providing their security. As for me, I'll stay with the US Marines and the other branches of the military for my security.

 

Congress did indeed give W the permission and the money to wage the war. For that, Congress deserves its share of the blame, and I personally consider Congress collectively, both Rs and Ds to be a pack of lily-livered cowards.

But the war was W's idea, and he, or his handlers, was/were the prime movers and the authors of the mountain of lies and propaganda that fueled the push to war. So W deserves a greater share of the blame.

Taxpayers play their part, by paying their taxes, but there is the mitigating factor that they act under duress: the penalties for refusing to pay tax are severe. So taxpayers deserve some blame, but I think to a lesser degree.

You did not mention the voters (by and large the same people as the taxpayers, just with a different hat) who deserve a very large amount of blame for putting W into the White House in the first place. Although it was a minority vote in 2000 and there was clear fraud in both 2000 and 2004, still nearly half the voters pulled the lever for W, and therefore share a great deal of blame.

Soldiers, who you seem to want to let off the hook, are a very significant part of the picture, because without them there'd be no war. They, too, act under duress, because the penalties for refusing to cooperate are extremely severe, and many of them went in under duress (the "poverty draft.") The comparison of the Marine Corps to the mafia is flawed, as you point out, because the mafia acts on its own initiative, while the Marine Corps (and the rest of the military) follows orders from outside. However, the soldier is a lot like the mafia hit man (often referred to as a "soldier"!) because he kills people he does not know, who have never hurt or threatened him or his family, under orders of his employer. Neither the mafia hit man nor the soldier can leave his job without the seldom-granted permission of his bosses. Both act under duress, but both do, in the end, choose to kill people rather than face the ire of their bosses.

And that's the bottom line: The choice to kill people who have done you no harm because your superiors tell you to.

We all share in the blame: as voters and as taxpayers, we are all guilty. But the soldier is voter, taxpayer, and hired killer.

When I was 19 years old I had to face the draft board. I was requesting conscientious objector status. They asked me, was I not willing to give my life for my country? My answer to them was that I was not willing to take away another person's life, for my country or for anyone. Soldiering is often presented as risking your life for your country; but the other part of it, more significant to some people, is that soldiering is taking the lives of people who have no choice in the matter, and who in the majority are not themselves fighting on the other side.

 

You're so awesome, Daniel. :hail:

 

Thank you. Spokane is a really nice place to live also. Not humid like Florida. And driving distance from the most fabulous hiking in the world. Care to visit?

 

You opinion is noted and I'm laughing in your face.

 

Great post .... I liked this part the best though. :nod:

... Brad

 

No, I don't have an NRA sticker on my Prius. I support the right to bear arms and to protect your home and family but to advertise that personal belief to the public is not really something I am comfortable with. I am not a member of the NRA as I don't believe in all the things they stand for.

 

That is one hell of a "sea story", thanks for posting it!

Had a knuckle head on my boat who one day went down to the Port Quarter, handed the guy on watch his ID card then jumped over board! (In the middle of the Indian Ocean!) Got out of the Brig, went to the Starboard Quarter, did the same thing! Got out of the brig again, (now nicknamed sponson Johnson) painted a bulls eye on his chest and stood in the middle of the recovery area on the deck of our carrier with birds on final approach! That stunt got him a flight to the beach for accommodations in a nice rubber room for an extensive check up from the neck up!

 

I'm sure I would love to one day. Life is too complicated right now for travel, most unfortunately, since it is my favorite thing to do.

 

No F8L you WONT EVER be laughing in my face. You might be laughing to yourself, laughing at your computer, or laughing in your house, but rest assured that you will not be laughing in my face. SaminJax nice posts, hopefully things will settle with you sometime and you can travel more. This is a wonderful country full of amazing sights. SparrowHawk60 always good to hear from you. As to the motorcycle or overboard stories I once saw a disturbed younger individual try to "kill" themselves by pulling the strips out of a safety razor (disposable) he managed to open several small scratches and ran out of steam (We spent several long evening keeping a watchful eye on him until he could be eval'ed and outproc'd.)

 

Got another story for you, gman. My husband was a DI and back in the day when recruits used Wisk to wash their clothes one recruit thought his ticket out of boot camp was to drink some. My husband happened to be out of the squad bay when this happened. When he returned shortly after the swallowing of the Wisk, another DI told him (without mentioning all the details) how Recruit So-and-So wanted to go home and perhaps my husband should speak to him. My husband asked the recruit, who was standing at attention, why he wanted to leave and as the recruit started speaking, big bubbles literally started coming out of his mouth and floating in the air! After that incident, recruits at both San Diego and P.I. were only given powdered detergent.

 

I saw one like that, but it said "Darwin" inside the body. Where would one get something like that?

 

This is on the back of my Prius (the sticker on the right):

 

i will be putting my NRA sticker on this week, after i get her waxed

 

Sad sad day for a bunch of Pri's, and a wonderful day for political vacations. I find it amazing that most people bitch about our politicians, but the only ones fighting against the lobbyists and corruption, are the moderates and liberals, that used to be the job of conservatives.