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December 09, 2004
Crown Sizing
Yesterday, my colleague Bob Cesca wrote about the hideous-looking baseball-mitt sized ribbon-shaped magnets that adorn the cars of the unthinking across our nation.
They are indeed horrible, both aesthetically and ethically. If you know someone who is spending money on these trinkets, remind them that buying one of these DOESN'T support the troops, it supports USA Magnets, Inc. I know. I just talked to Janice, a nice woman at USA Magnets who cheerily told me that, while they don't give a percentage of profits to the troops, they do keep the costs low at the stores near Army bases that sell them. Idn't that great!
But if you go to the USA Magnets website, you'll see something even more disturbing. This magnet here. This "Pray for our President" magnet.
Is it me, or didn't a bunch of Americans go to war and die a little over 200 years ago so that we could rid ourselves of a monarchy? "Pray for our President"?! Sounds a little like "God Save the King/Queen," doesn't it? WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!? Folks, the President is an elected official. He works for US. We are his bosses.
More to the point, why should this elected official who lives in a mansion, has his own chopper and jumbo jet and two getaway estates (one paid for by us), be receiving our prayers any more than the over 100,000 Iraqis we've killed? Or the close to 1,500 Americans we've gotten killed? Or the tens of thousands of vets of this war who have lost arms or legs or eyes?
If you're going to pray for the president, pray that he gets a fucking clue.
Posted By John Christian Plummer | December 9, 2004 12:42 PM | DIGG ME!
Comments
I see these ribbon magnets everywhere. I was astounded when I recently found out that the large retailers like WalMart who are selling these things in mass quantities pocket the profits – not a cent goes to supporting the troops. I refuse to buy and show one on this principal alone.
It reminds me of the Gulf War 1991 when there were large yellow ribbons tied to trees and car bumpers to support the troops. Electric candles were placed in windows everywhere for the same reason. I could never comprehend how this helped in any manner. My family's hardware store sold out of the electric candles normally sold only during the Christmas holiday season. There was no large scale plan in place for that money to be collected and sent to the troops.
I agree with Bob's idea - if you place one of these ribbons on your car, be sure to place one next to it that says you did something about. Otherwise, you're feeding into a false reality.
As for "Pray for Our President" – all I can say is that I am very disappointed that such a primitive, religiously-fueled ideology still exists in this forward moving nation. The only prayer I could offer for the President is for all of the harm he has caused to be undone, however unlikely.
Posted by: dtgriffith ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.bobcesca.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at December 9, 2004 01:48 PM
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