Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Question for Progressives ( liberals) – do you support the troops or not?

By

The next time a liberal tells me they are against the war but support the troops should they be directed to this link? Support our troops?

It is one thing to protest and be against the politicians who mandate war and an entirely different thing to deny our soldiers , sons and daughters the comfort of small gifts from the folks at home . This is a sad testimonial by the radical leftists in Cambridge whose incredible hatred of politicians has now overflowed to a hatred for our own soldiers?  Cambridge has disgraced itself in its hatred for America’s soldiers in the name of political dissent…sad..very sad

Please share widely!
fb-share-icon
Tweet
0

Comments

  1. The article is here. I saw this on RMG and I realized it would be just a matter of time before the gotcha crew posted it here. A little research would have turned up the Chronicle article and led to a more balanced post.

    <

    p>
    We learn that the collection boxes were placed in the rooms where people were voting.  The laws are pretty strict on what can and cannot appear near voting booths. Advocacy of any kind is forbidden there. The Election Commission decided that collections cannot be made a polling stations. Possibly they were being overcautious but that’s not unreasonable.

    <

    p>
    This is not a reflection of the “incredible hatred of politicians”. Nothing has “overflowed to a hatred of our own soldiers”. Cambridge has not “disgraced itself in its hatred for America’s soldiers”. In fact, the City Council unanimously commended the Boy Scouts for their effort.

    <

    p>
    So much for the “hatred”.

    • Ironically T.O./A.B. did not post where you could send the donations if you weren’t “overflowing with hate”. The address is:

      <

      p>
      Troop 45, BSA
      P.O. Box 381241
      Cambridge, MA 02238

    • some small items and a comfort from home by Ms Marsha Weinerman,who decided that the protests of one anti war zealot over ruled the efforts of the Boy Scouts to collect donations for our troops that liberals such as you claim to support.
      Cambridge and it’s radical left wing is a National disgrace.
      America is watching and is disgusted.

      • Tom, I will send a care package to the troops this weekend.  Or rather, I’ll get one assembled.  But before I send it I need to know where/how to send it.  I can’t do it via the Boy Scouts because they are a homophobic organization.  So, I’m asking for your help.  Please provide me with the address of another organization that is not anti-gay that will help me figure out how to send my package, and who to send it to.  Thanks in advance for supporting our troops by helping me support them too.

          • it’s good to get a personal endorsement of sorts, because there are a lot of these orgs out there.  i have no way of knowing whether they’re all on the up and up.

            <

            p>
            i still hope to hear from Tom, though, with his favored org he recommends and their contact number.  i’m sure that he’s done this care package thing dozens of times, so he should know these organizations inside and out.

          • great link, thanks.  the org she works with is Any Soldier.  Just click on the Where to Send button and get a huge long list of contact info for soldiers wishing to receive packages.  Click on a soldier’s name, and read a message from them, which includes anything from pictures to a package wish list.  what a great service!  thanks again, mem, for pointing me to it.

        • …sending a one-way ticket back to the US.

          <

          p>
          Except that there probably isn’t a functioning civilian airport in Baghdad five years after the invasion.

            • …I didn’t even refer to Ms. Porc in this comment.

              <

              p>
              There are a number of reasons why I oppose the “hecklers’ veto” that seems to be prevalent around here, but this is just another reason.

              <

              p>
              If I really wanted to, I could heckler veto all of Ms. Porc’s comments off the site.  It makes no sense to do so, though.

              • a tool of the little band of far left fascists here that try to attack and intimidate any dissenting views that are heard in their little echo chamber. It’s laughable to watch them back slap and bestow 6s upon each other when the “correct’ lockstep doctrine is spewed and then bombard anyone with an opposing view with 0s. It’s incredibly childish and pathetic and I’m sure the editors here see it for what it is.

                • like ratings, rather than helping me find a good care package outfit to work with.  you’ve had all day to chime in about that and you’ve failed.  imo, you’re not pro-troops, you’re anti- whatever you think a progressive is/does.  am i wrong about that?  then put up, or shut up.  help us help to make up for the Boy Scout mix-up.  because that is important to you, right?  it is important to you that the troops get support, right?

                  <

                  p>
                  here’s what i want to know:  at anysoldier.com some soldiers say they’re being moved in x days.  how long does it take for packages to get to them?  should i worry about the package getting there and them having moved on?  will it be forwarded to them?

                • sent to anyone in the military is handled by the military post offices ( ie, APO (Army Post office), FPO ( Fleet post office)Navy, etc.  So regardless if a soldier is moved,they will know to where and his mail will EVENTUALLY catch up with him. I wouldn’t recommend sending anything with a low shelf life.
                  As far as help with sending stuff, just pop into any American Legion or VFW and I’m sure they can help you.

                  <

                  p>
                  Thank you for the nice post.

                • Who is “we”? …the little clique of intolerant fascists here who  attack and insult dissenting opinion because they can’t defend their own position with reality and facts?… that are so enraged and myopic that they can’t participate in a civil debate? Is that who “we” is?
                  Did you notice my previous posts was showered with 6s as the fascist children’s club  thought that doing so was quite witty and clever?
                  Sophomoric humor is about as funny as a broken arm.
                  At least I give you credit for not participating in such adolescent foolishness as this rating farce.

                • …how sure Uncle Tom here is that everyone agrees with him, no matter what he’s saying, no matter the fact that their agreement is silence?  It’s graveyard as fan club…

                • The idea is that if you’re part a majority, even an imaginary one, you’re right.

                  <

                  p>
                  Nomad uses it too, usually combined with a non-sequitur, e.g. “Do you know of ANYONE who denies that this did/does occur? Noone right.” 

                  <

                  p>
                  The reader is left thinking “heck, I don’t even know anyone who’s ever mentioned this.”

                  <

                  p>
                  The corollary argument is “you must be a fool to believe (or not believe) X” — it’s a favorite of the entire RMG contingent, usually combined with a completely unsubstantiated argument, e.g. “How many really lousy engineers do you know hold down cube space strictly based on their demographic profile? Tell me none and you are a blind fool. They are everywhere.”

                  <

                  p>
                  If you think about it, the premise for this entire diary is really just a variant on “have you stopped beating your wife?”

                • My memory of my prep school logic classes is faulty, but the Fallacy Files say the arguments are (in order):

                  <

                  p>
                  – The Bandwagon Fallacy
                  – The Appeal to Ignorance
                  – The Loaded Question

                  <

                  p>
                  Not to mention the Strawman and Quoting Out of Context.

                  <

                  p>
                  It’s a fun site, even if there’s zero chance of the bullies in question responding to logic.

                  <

                  p>
                  http://www.fallacyfi…

            • …if Ms. Porc is so gung ho with the American war on Iraq, maybe she should consider volunteering for the US military.  I’m sure that the military could at least use someone of her typing skills in the Green Zone in Baghdad, if she would have nothing else to offer.

  2. (Repeated from another thread)

    <

    p>
    Where it really matters is U.S. government funding and not Boy Scout collection boxes. This is from 2005:

    House Republicans ousted fellow conservative Chris Smith as chairman of the Committee on Veterans Affairs for his tireless advocacy of veterans rights. Current Chairman Steve Buyer was promoted, in the words of one Republican aide, “to tell the veterans groups, ‘Enough is enough.'”

    Senate Republicans have repeatedly voted down funding increases for vets to keep pace with inflation and meet rising needs.

    The Bush Administration tried to add an enrollment fee and double the prescription co-payment for VA health care.

    And now the VA admits it is $1 billion short on health care funding for this year alone.

    You are barking up the wrong tree. You want to get outraged at the Cambridge election commission. Were the Boy Scouts going to raise $1 billion?

  3. That’s the reason I’m against shoving freshly trained teenagers into the middle of a civil war that is fought on linguistic, religious, cultural, and geographic terms for which they have been left unprepared.

  4. It is just unheard of to be soliciting donations at polling places. We could imagine polling places becoming veritable zoos with the Cancer Society, the Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, the Salvation Army, the Boy Scouts, the Girls Scouts, and the National Autism Association all having tables with literature and soliciting funds. Anyone administering elections would have a humongous headache because you can be sure that Lyndon LaRouche types would try to set up a fake charity and do campaigning — or at least, four part obscene singing — at polling places. Once you open the door to the Boy Scouts you have to treat everyone fairly and fairly quickly you have trouble.

    <

    p>
    What likely happened is that someone at the Election Commission made an innocent mistake by telling the Boy Scouts they could do this in the first place. Then, when someone objected, they finally consulted lawyers, realized their error, and pulled the donation boxes.

    No one has identified the person making the objection. It is speculative to assume that that person is a liberal. He could instead be a radical pacifist, an anarchist, or someone from Westboro Baptist Church.

  5. The link is to the web site “Stop The ACLU.” That is not exactly a particularly reputable web site, as Ed Brayton has demonstrated many times.

    <

    p>
    On the subject matter of the post, although I am neither a conservative nor a liberal/progressive, I support the troops so much that I would prefer that they be withdrawn as soon as possible, to minimize their being used as target practice by the Iraqis.

    <

    p>
    The mercenaries?  I wouldn’t particularly care, except for the fact that my tax money is being used to pay them.  As far as I’m concerned, Eric Prince (fat cat head of Blackwater, one of the mercenary outfits) should be shipped over there.

  6. The City of Cambridge, with all its liberals, is going farther than any other town in protecting the financial security of troops and their families while they serve in Iraq.

    Cambridge city employees serving in Iraq or Afghanistan may soon get their full city salary and benefits while in combat overseas.
    Last week, legislators sent a bill, House Bill 4079, to Gov. Deval Patrick that would allow these payments. Patrick has until this Thursday to sign the bill into law.
    The bill, pushed forward by Cambridge city councilors Tim Toomey, Michael Sullivan, Anthony Galluccio and Marjorie Decker, would protect city employees’ positions in the city government during combat service. “We worked with the administration to come up with something that would protect women and men enlisted in combat operations,” said Galluccio, now a state senator.

    <

    p>
    So, Tom’s Opinion, other commenters have the evidence to show you are wrong about the Boy Scout story, and now here’s evidence that Cambridge and its liberals are stepping up to support the troops. 

    <

    p>
    What is your town, Tom’s Opinion?  How is your town making sure that troops and their families get the support they need?

    • last night on National television, Cambridge Attorney Jeffrey Nathan stated that the Cambridge decision to remove collection boxes was correct as it was viewed that the Scouts collection activities were a  “political statement” and he supported and agreed with it. He refused to address what he believed should have happened if the collection boxes were for aids or condoms. His hypocrisy is astounding. Now we suddenly hear a different tune?

      <

      p>
      Now you point to an article in the Boston (Pravda) Globe that touts a rather hasty piece of “damage control” by Cambridge officials after receiving , I’m sure, hundreds of thousands of Emails from all over America  denouncing their incredibly poor decision to remove support from our troops in the name of “political correctness” were received

      <

      p>
      Of course this after the fact claim that it was an administrative mistake is quite easy to do now that the damage to our troops has been done. Meanwhile the thousands of troops watching Mr Nathan last night must now believe that the Peoples Republik of San Francisico and the Peoples Republik of Cambridge are part of some other country which as we all know by now, is not part of the United States.

      <

      p>
      As to protecting city employee positions.. this is already a law [http://www.dol.gov/v…]. As far as additional compensation ?  The war has been going on for 5 years as liberals like to remind us. Why has it taken so long to try to enact such a law? Troop compensation is quite common in the private sector ie, Sears, and many municipalities throughout America have similar provisions.

      <

      p>
      Read what a poster from your own article link Mike Fitzpatrick, had to say ( in reference to the previous poster’s call to support the troops)
      Mike Fitzpatrick
      2007-11-08T20:49:26

      <

      p>
      “I support this as well. This is the right thing to do. It is also the right thing to do to get rid of the Election Commission executive director. She pulled theBoy Scouts donation boxes out of all the polls on election day. These were a group of Cambridge kids collecting donations of Q-tips and beef jerky to Cambridge residents serving overseas. And one person complained and she caved into this person and removed the boxes. I heard even the police union is upset at this. What has our City become……we don’t even support our own people. But, I bet your %^&*%$ that this would be the same person who would be the first to call for help. These were kids supporting our troops, not supporting the war. They have no political opinion. You couldn’t even find the city hall ballot box, how can you destroy these kids effort? Someone said they also spent a great deal of money advertising it and setting it up as well, which just adds insult to injury. I understand they also have a collection this Saturday behind the Cambridge Armory from 10-4. It’s just a shamed. This city gets a bad reputation over some things, and this is why. How UN-AMERICAN have we become? RESIGN NOW Mrs. Executive Director! We need someone who cares for freedom looking after our elections.”

      <

      p>
      Perhaps after the Election Commission executive director is fired , people will realize that not everyone in Cambridge is a far left nut job

      • …are you reseeding your lawn?

        <

        p>
        As far as I’m concerned, election officials should keep any and all advocacy groups, of whatever stripe, away from polling booths on election day.

        • “they were forced to remove the fliers posted on the bulletin boards above where the boxes/bags were placed, with the ruse of “they’re making a political statement” (as evidenced by the Election Commissioner’s own words and the liberal legal dept of the City)……yet fliers remained that pushed for getting the troops out of Iraq and promoted a college Democrats organization….and one other clearly political one I can’t recall  Sheer hypocrisy.”

          • …you do not have the ability to make telephone calls.  If you did, you might make telephone calls to address your question

            <

            p>
            Then care to explain this from a cambridge resident?

            <

            p>
            to the Cambridge officials yourself.  I suppose that it might have escaped your notice that such won’t happen unless voters complain.

            <

            p>
            As I’ve said before, your sources, such as STACLU, are hardly reliable.

  8. Welcome to the latest edition of the Asa Bearce* Carnival of Disgust. This is the sixth diary in the series on BMG. Supplemental reading is available next door.

    <

    p>
    What do they all have in common? They all share the following process:

    • They all begin with Asa pointing out something that totally disgusts him, e.g., the vicious attack on Rush Limbaugh by Harry Reid or patients speaking Spanish in hospitals.
    • The disgust proves that liberals can — well — be insulted: our leaders are “scumbags” or “spew bile with complete impunity”.
    • Various commenters engage this on a logical level. (Why did such and such happen? Was it right or wrong? Was it by liberals or not? Does the diary even ask the right question? Is this complaint sincere? Is it significant?)
    • Typically, Asa avoids responding to any of the content rather he uses the responses to exercise his newly acquired right, as “proved” by his post, to insult liberals. This is reinforced by his conviction that disagreement represents rage, hate, and a personal attack on him.
    • Spin, rinse, repeat.

    One thing liberals here shouldn’t forget is that there are whole sites devoted to hatred of liberals. Michelle Malkin is probably much cuter than A.B., writes better than him (or than me). Or, if one wants poorly sourced vituperation, Ann Coulter fits the bill. There’s little to be gained by playing the Asa Bearce Carnival of Disgust. You’re not going to convince Asa — and you’re not going to stop him or any of the other Coulter wannabes.

    *The evidence that Asa Bearce = Toms Opinion is overwhelming. The most obvious evidence is the Iranian Dictator Visit diaries:
    Sept 25 at 8:00 pm
    http://www.bluemassg…
    Sept 25 at 8:16 pm
    http://www.redmassgr…
    as Laurel pointed out. There is also a consistent lexical style: two period ellipses is just one. There’s another that I leave as an exercise to the reader.  Massachusetts is always referred to as the the People’s Republik. Both accounts have misspelled “tolerant” with two Ls and “Hillary” with one. Liberals are always full of hate. There’s even a word Asa/Tom appears to have invented that is used a lot on both accounts.

    • it might be worth re-posting this at the head of any further Asa/Tom diary.  It could save us all a lot of time and effort.  it might, however, deprive us of the heap o’ fun we have playing good liberal-insane ranter with Asa/Tom.

    • …is that Asa tried to make my dual handle on BMG/RMG a federal crime worthy of it’s own post.  I was of course hiding in plain sight and several RMGer’s with half a brain and Google knew it all along. 

      <

      p>
      Which is why the actual person behind Asa/Tom is a small, small person.  Convicting me of a humorous deed while secretly denying of the same “crime”. 

      <

      p>
      Tom shuold just admit it or deny it.  Their lack of aknowledgig the “charge” informally implys guilt.

      <

      p>
      PS) While I do agree with the Tom / Asa connection…Tom could also be 3rdvoterparty (or something liek that).  Asa and 3rd’s writing’s and wingnuttery is very similar.

      • …I personally find speculations of this sort somewhat boring. 

        <

        p>
        I went over to RMG a couple of times, found the content of the posts and the dearth of comments somewhat boring, so I don’t particularly care what goes on over there. 

        <

        p>
        Just a thought.

        <

        p>
        NB: As far as I’m concerned, posting and commenting on different weblogs with radically different handles is somewhat fraudulent.  And that’s why I’ve always used “raj,” or some minor variant such as “raj49” or “rajmgk” if “raj” wasn’t available.  “raj” are my initials.  “49” is my birth year and “mgk” are the initials of my spouse.

  9. when they fail to get their way or make their point. It’s even worse when an adult makes them look foolish. When one is losing badly, they erupt with personal assaults and invectives. This is always the lowest point of any failure in a debate- frustration, personal attack followed by enraged stupidity couched as being “witty” (at least to each other).
    Their rancor would actually be funny were it not so adolescent and pathetic.
    Intelligent adult readers here see them for what they are…. a little band of anonymous radical left wing zealots who do not tolerate any dissenting opinion that disputes their views or their lockstep fascist beliefs. Their posts merely reveal this hatred and the unleashing of their fascist frustrations. Pathetic.

    • Speaking of personal attacks, why then did you rate this comment as “6: Excellent”. It is an unflattering photograph of the author of the post.

      <

      p>
      If you are so upset by childishness, personal attacks, invective, personal assaults, enraged stupidity, rancor, adolescent behavior, and lockstep facism, your rating of “6: Excellent” on a childish, rancorous, personal attack is inconceivable — unless you are — to use your favorite invective here as Tom and on RMG as Asa — intellectually dishonest and a hypocrite.

      <

      p>
      Which is it? Are you against personal attacks or are you for personal attacks?

  10. What sort of person seeks out a website designed to silence people who are defending your Constitutional rights? 

    <

    p>
    Homework for you, Tommy:  Read the First Amendment, all 45 words of it, and get back to us on what you think they mean.  And to help you get started on applying the ideas contained therein, here’s a helpful definition of what it means to be an American:  Being an American means you not only have the rights accorded to you by the First Amendment but you also have the responsibility to protect those rights for people you don’t agree with. 

    <

    p>
    Perhaps this exercise will arrest your rapid descent into fascist authoritarianism, but somehow I doubt it.  You are prima facie evidence that we need to be teaching a year-long course called The Rights and Responsibilities of American Citizenship in our public high schools.  In fact, I’ll be using your posts as examples of what ignorance breeds in class.  Cheers! 

    • It’s frightening to think that someone from a so called authority position can impose their own biases and political agenda on captive minds as we see happening all the time. People like Wade Churchill come to mind.
      As far as fascist authoritarianism, perhaps you should share part of your lecture here – “you also have the responsibility to protect those rights for people you don’t agree with. ” with Kbusch, Laurel, et al who seem to have devoted their entire existence on this thread to suppressing any and all dissenting opinion along with a constant barrage of personal attacks.
      So before you lecture me,please see if you can clean up their act as to attempting to suppress the freedom of speech rights of others.
      By the way,as part of your course on rights and responsibilities of American citizenship, I’m assuming that you will be emphasizing that service to the country, especially military service is the obligation of every American. If you need a guest lecturer, I’d be happy to appear as my experience of 12 years of military service might provide  a more balanced viewpoint as to what it means to be an American. Also , as to “what ignorance breeds” posts, I’d be happy to select a few from KB, raj or laurel if, you’d like.I think they’d be excellent examples. Chow!

      • This is plainly absurd.

        <

        p>
        I have the misfortune of having read everything you’ve written here as Tom and at RMG as Asa. I know a fair amount about you: roughly where you live, how old you are, how much money you make, your gender, your marital status, etc. I have only once referred to any of that — and then rather obliquely. For something to be a personal attack it has to be, you know, personal.

        <

        p>
        What I do know is that you have difficulty arguing without being insulting, but let me quote a conservative:

        Please learn to disagree without being disagreeable.  What you perceive as slights are not.  There is a generally accepted rule in civilized debate to treat those you agree or disagree with civilly and the way you would wish yourself to be treated.

        The two of you are acting like junior high school bullies.  If you want to be treated with respect I suggest you do so yourself.  This site is for the civilized discussion of ideas and to draw differences between ourselves and Democrats.

        Yes it is good to point out that Democrats are being disengenious on this Romney stuff, which I think they are by picking and choosing.  It is just as valid for Wavemaker to say that thou shouldn’t protest too much because yes we Republicans do it to.  Pointing out public policy positions is not NEGATIVE campaigning.  As someone who’s job it was in 2002 to do Opposition Research on Marty Meehan I can tell you I live for it, and love it.  But we must be able to take it.

        So please take your sophomoric insults and self annointed roles as the gatekeepers of this site to yourself. You aren’t and never will be.  Please learn to be civil.

      • I’d be happy to appear as my experience of 12 years of military service…

        <

        p>
        Just another MCRD.  Next, you’ll be telling us that you single-handedly won the Vietnam War (computer says no), much as Marion Morrison single-handedly won WWII in the Pacific.  You really are a hoot.

  11. Boy Scouts hate the gays; therefore I would NEVER give them money for ANYONE.

    <

    p>
    “WE ENVISION a Scouting movement in America which once again commands the broad respect of the American people, rededicated to the traditionally unbiased principles of the Scout Oath and Scout Law, and in which the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) values and honors the contributions of its gay (GLBTQ) youth and adult leaders, and welcomes the participation of women and girls, as well as atheists and other freethinkers.”
    ~ http://www.scoutingf…

    <

    p>
    Along with that, ALL REPUBLICANS should be ashamed at how the current Bush administration ALWAYS votes NOT to give money to the troops, vets, and anything else doing with the two groups.

    <

    p>
    CHECK YOUR HISTORY:

    <

    p>
    Republican VS Vets
    http://www.coreymond…

    <

    p>
    Corey Mondello
    Boston, Massachusetts
    http://www.CoreyMond…
    11-19-07

Archives