Call to Alms

I get calls:

HSBC wants me to know something or other.
Someone else tells me I can take out a second mortgage on my house.
Can I speak to Mrs. ...uh...Wanhmmrguher...?
Vote for Quimby.
For just one-hundred dollars you can help poor little Hillary Clinton get the kind of home and massive personal security detail she deserves.

But just the other day I got a call from the US Navy:

“How are you doing, sir? The US Navy is organizing care-packages for the troops serving in Iraq and we are calling to…”

Do you want money?

“No, the Navy just wants to blah troops blah support blah blah…”

Well, if you don’t want money what do you want?

“You can help us and the troops by putting together care-packages and getting your friends and family involved…blah troops blah support…or you could donate some money… ”

Why isn’t the $450-billion defense budget taking care of this already? What about the latest $100-billion supplemental?

“We didn’t get the money…”

Bullshit! You’ve had the money, and you have the money! You want to support the troops? Demand they come home now! If you want to support the Bush policies, send them care packages on your own dime! You want private help? Ask Blackwater, KBR, Triple Canopy, any of the contractors, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz—ask them!

“Were asking everyone sir…”

Bring them home. That’s my support. End of call.

The misbegotten Iraq adventure is not supposed to be a charity. The troops aren’t over there to protect my “freedom”, they are there to execute an insane policy—in that regard they are a victim of circumstance, but then aren’t we all?

This begging has got to stop, and the way to stop it is to eliminate the cause for the begging. Bring them home and give them shelter, not quarters and band-aids.