A wingnut person I used to work with sent me this.

[Puglover]

Last week, while traveling to Chicago on business, I noticed a
Marine sergeant traveling with a folded flag, but did not put two and two
together.

After we boarded our flight, I turned to the sergeant, who'd been
invited to sit in First Class (across from me), and inquired if he was
heading home.

No, he responded.

Heading out I asked?

No. I'm escorting a soldier home.

Going to pick him up?

No. He is with me right now. He was killed in Iraq, I'm taking him
home to his family.

The realization of what he had been asked to do hit me like a punch
to the gut. It was an honor for him. He told me that, although he didn't
know the soldier, he had delivered the news of his passing to the soldier's
family and felt as if he knew them after many conversations in so few days.

I turned back to him, extended my hand, and said, Thank you. Thank
you for doing what you do so my family and I can do what we do.

Upon landing in Chicago the pilot stopped short of the gate and made
the following announcement over the intercom.

"Ladies and gentlemen , I would like to note that we have had the
honor of having Sergeant Steeley of the United States Marine Corps join u s
on this flight. He is escorting a fallen comrade back home to his family. I
ask that you please remain in your seats when we open the forward door to
allow Sergeant Steeley to deplane and receive his fellow soldier. We will
then turn off the seat belt sign."

Without a sound, all went as requested. I noticed the sergeant
saluting the casket as it was brought off the plane, and his action made me
realize that I am proud to be an American.

So here's a public Thank You to our military Men and Women for what
you do so we can live the way we do.

Red Fridays.

Very soon, you will see a great many people wearing Red every
Friday. The reason? Americans who support our troops used to be called the
"silent majority." We are no longer silent, and are voicing our love for
God, country and home in record breaking numbers. We are not organized,
boisterous or overbearing.

Many Americans, like you, me and all our friends, simply want to
recognize that the vast majority of America supports our troops. Our idea
of showing solidarity and support for our troops with dignity and respect
starts this Friday -- and continues each and every Friday until the troops
all come home, sending a deafening message that .. every red-blooded
American who supports our men and women afar, will wear something red.

By word of mouth, press, TV -- let's make the United States on every
Friday a sea of red much like a homecoming football game in the bleachers.
If every one of us who loves this country will share this with acquaintances, coworkers, friends, and family, it will not be long before the USA is covered in RED and it will let our troops know the once "silent" majority is on their side more than ever, certainly more than the media lets on.

The first thing a soldier says when asked "What can we do to make
things better for you?" is. "We need your support and your prayers." Let's
get the word out and lead with class and dignity, by example, and wear
something red every Friday.

IF YOU AGREE -- THEN SEND THIS ON.
IF YOU COULDN'T CARE LESS -- THEN HIT THE DELETE BUTTON"

This lady retired from my office last August and since then has sent me stuff like this on a somewhat regular basis. I would normally just delete them Truth be told we worked together for about 20 years when she retired and we always got along and were fond of each other. When the war started we simply didn't speak about it because it would devolve quickly.

Anyway this morning enough was enough and I sent her back this. I doubt I'll hear from her again which makes me sad but as I said. I've had enough of this stuff. I was sort of nasty but I'm angry that inspite of every thing that has happened this perfectly intelligent person doesn't get it.

"WHAT A PILE OF SHIT! While it is wonderful that someone would escort a dead soldier home it would figure that these knuckdraggers would conclude that wearing RED is going to do something to help our young men and women. Just like those yellow bumperstickers have saved those 3700 something kids from being slaughtered. Ladies and gentlemen. I give you the wingnut mindset. "Preserve the way we live." Translation. "Ah kin drive my four wheelers and use all the gas ah want and not give a shit about the planet, the people we are "steeling" the oil from or worry about somone getting a blow job in the Whitehouse. " PRAISE JESUS" Oh and look at me! Ahm wearin red! Ahm a paytreut!

There, NOW I'm hitting delete!"

[ComerPerro]

1. Its the ultimate in RW propaganda, because they don't have to actually do anything!

Wear red on fridays and pray. Don't do anything that would actually make a difference in the soldier's lives. If you clap your hands and say "I believe in W", and if enough people believe hard enough, we will win.

[Alexia Wheaton]

3. Cons never had anything to offer in the first place.

[ComerPerro]

7. wonder why you never see the email that says:

"That you for your service, and I am deeply and truly sorry for the loss. I now realize that it is my duty as an American patriot to step up, enlist, and protect my family and my country by heading to Iraq to serve with honor".

[MNDemNY]

2. I'll wear PINK, thank you. In support of our troops.

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

4. It's like the stupid right-wing memes are mating and spwaning children...

Here are your Snopes links. Note the name's changed in the story about the soldier on the airplane.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/war/redfriday.asp

http://www.snopes.com/politics/war/johnson.asp

The more the information changes on the second story, the more I believe it's completely false. In this digital age of cut and paste, it's very telling that the only thing that definitely changes in this story is the soldier's name. This story was probably created as complete fiction to try to shame us into supporting the "war" (I call it an invasion, 'cause that's what we did)

[Wcross]

5. Total Bull crap story.

A Marine wouldn't be escorting the body of a soldier home. A Marine wouldn't refer to a dead Marine as "soldier".

Just pointing out the fact that the story is fabricated from the start.

[Puglover]

10. I was wondering if it was Wcross.

But I didn't know enough about the protocal to rebutt.

[Wcross]

23. I NEVER heard a Marine refer to another as "soldier".

I am a former Marine and it just wasn't done. Unless the Marine was the dead soldiers brother or something he wouldn't have been escorting the soldier home.

[MorningGlow]

6. How appropriate--wear the color of blood

"Thank you for dying--keep it up!"
:eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes:

Friday is named for Frigga, the Norse equivalent of Venus, the goddess of love embodying the divine feminine. On Fridays, witches wear green or pink, the colors of love. (Green is the color of the heart chakra.) I will thank those bloodthirsty wingnuts to stick to Tuesday, named for Tiw, the Norse god of war. It's a day of conflict--they can have it with my blessing as long as they keep their hands off Friday.

[sinkingfeeling]

8. Snope's urban legends has a couple of entries on this...

http://www.snopes.com/politics/war/redfriday.asp

[Bucky]

9. I don't really have a problem with that

I got this same email from a fellow teacher in my building last fall. He actually is an ex-Marine and is deeply anti war. He's been a great source of anti Bush jokes too. Anyway, he suggested we do this as a department and I suggested we do this but make clear that it's not just honoring the Marines, but also other service members who've died in Iraq and Afghanistan.

So we did this and after a while some of my students started noticing that the history teachers were mostly wearing red on Fridays. So when they asked me what the red thing was about, I told them about it honoring those who signed up to protect our country dying overseas. In the classes where this was came up (more in the 11th graders than my 10th graders) I noticed kids starting to discuss the topic of the war in addition to all the crap teenagers usually chatter about. Some of my kids would note it to me when there was news of more troops getting killed. One kid in ROTC told me has was cancelling his plans to join the Marines after he graduated.

So don't poop on symbolic acts. They can raise conciousness.

[Puglover]

12. It's the symbolic acts

without any other acts that bug the shit out of me. IE the bumperstickers etc.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

17. I understand why you may wear red

but I see it as analogous to honoring those who stick their head in a fan. Shouldn't we be trying to stop them from being in that position in the first place? :shrug:

[guitar man]

11. soldier?

I smell something fishy here in this story. While technically, Marines are sometimes referred to as "soldiers of the sea", I find it hard to believe that the Marine would have said "I'm escorting a soldier home." He would have said "I'm escorting a Marine home".

So, I think it's appropriate to insert this here now:

[Sequoia]

13. Do what we do........indeed!

"I turned back to him, extended my hand, and said, Thank you. Thank
you for doing what you do so my family and I can do what we do."

[hyphenate]

14. I would support the troops

Most of them did not ask for the shit they're getting.

However, I would simply wear a blue ribbon instead of a red one. As long as that distinction is made, supporting the troops should be a bipartisan effort--getting them home in one piece should be one of our priorities. Can the reds on the other side of the fence say that they want them home as much as we do?

[mitchum]

15. But they left out the part where the hippie spit on the Marine

[The_Casual_Observer]

16. It doesn't happen this way. This story was written by the same

guy who wrote all the other ones where the bystanders spontaneously stand up & applaud the soldier
or the patriotic do-gooder.

[RaleighNCDUer]

22. ...written in his White House basement office... nt

[LSK]

18. this is at least 3 years old

Maybe older.

[Puglover]

20. Well it was in my email this morning.

I don't keep current on the latest RW spew I guess. :shrug:

[Puglover]

19. What to me is most chilling

is that the person who sent me this and various other crapola is (you gotta take my word here) a smart, funny very capable person. Where the disconnect happens, baffles me.

[VotingVet]

21. I don't think I would have responded that curtly

The woman is addicted to Kool Aid and needs to be brought to reality gently. I would have let her know that the story -- as far as it goes -- is touching, but the fact remains that the right wing cowards who shunned their own call to duty are, nevertheless, sending Americans to get blown to smithereens in a war that lacked any justification. The Marine Sergeant, whether real or mythical, demonstrates a sense of honor and dignity that no one -- not a single person -- in the current administration can even begin to understand and appreciate.

I'd be willing to wear red on Friday's -- with a badge that says "Stop the Bleeding, Stop the War" . Other than that, the color red is just an empty symbol, signifying death and maiming, in saecula saeculorum.

I don't want the draft reinstated because it cost 50,000 American lives in the 60's -- and half a million maimings of Americans -- and literally millions of deaths and maimings of Vietnamese. I know we need a military. But we also need people of honor and integrity to lead the nation. We do not have that now and, sadly, I doubt we ever will. These are wretched times.

[Old and In the Way]

24. The color red is also symbolic of the Republican Party - red vs. blue.

We ought to wear blue armbands that say "Support the Troops - Bring them Home Now."

These e-mail trees spin the worst kind of patriotism - using our soldiers to further the political agenda of the Right. The originator should be ashamed of himself....but that's not an attribute of a Republican.

[VOX]

25. Right wing gambit: Worship the troops until they come home broken and battered...then dump 'em.

The right wing gets a star-spangled hard-on watching itself worshipping the military.

But the minute those men and women come home without limbs, or sight, or with PTSD, or with their own voices debunk the faked-up heroics published by the military -- then the right wing cuts these people off from their benefits, from the care that they earned and require, and from the love and concern that they could use dearly.

Has there ever been a horse-flop chain email about a proud Marine accompanying a buddy home -- a buddy who's gone Section 8 with PTSD and is emotionally broken?

No, I don't think so, since that's just too "messy" a tale -- it sure doesn't shoot any nationalistic Viagra into that collective red-white and blue pecker. :grr: