I’m bored.

Anyone who has known me for longer than 10 minutes knows that can ony mean one thing:

Mischief and Mayhem.

Ok, that’s two things. Sue me.

As everyone knows, usually some evil twisted bad guy/gal becomes that way because of a tragic unjust miscarriage of justice in the antagonist’s past that scarred him/her forever….

In my case, it’s because nobody ever trusted me with a Flat Stanley. You know the cute little paper guy that gets mailed around the world and everyone takes pictures with him.

Well, nobody let me play.

(Everyone: “AWWWWWW…..”)

Anybody up for some Photoshop fun?

I propose we circulate EvilMarty®. Flat Stanley’s no good, welfare recipient, beer guzzling cousin from the trailer parks…

I’ll make the Photoshop PSD, and we can circulate him around notorious crime scenes, mass murderers and politicians. Post it in your blog, and ping me.

Then we can have a vote, and the winner will get a premium copy of LotsaFonts! on CD.

*holds back tears* *sniffles*

Then maybe… just maybe, I’ll find something else to blame for my sorry state of bitter bastardhood be a better person.

(Everyone: “AWWWWWW…..”)

Would you do it for me?

All politics aside…

Misty brought up an excellent point about “Supporting the Troops” in my comments recently. Yeah, we all say “We support the troops” (whether you’re for or against the war in Iraq)… but have you given any thought of what it means?

Are we just waving a flag, and talking about it? Or are we actually DOING something to show our gratitude to those who are putting their lives on the line for our country?

I, for one, am very leery of a lot of these online donation places. It’s brings back too many sad memories of all of the September 11th charities, many of which were nothing but a scam. Well-meaning people opened their hearts and checkbooks just to make some heartless con artist richer.

Some tips from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazzette

Why not go straight to the source?
• Marine Corps Community Services - Support our troops: Supplies a list and suggestions what you can do to show your support. It lists places like Operation: USO Care Package, and The Gift of Groceries Program (Helping a soldier’s family out in the rough times is probably the greatest support of all).
• Sgt. Hook’s CIF Warehouse - (via Blackfive) - Sgt. Hook is a blogger, deploying to Afghanistan:

  “All proceeds will go to the Sgt Hook morale fund which will be used to help keep morale up for my soldiers once we get to Afghanistan. I’m hoping to have a BBQ each weekend we are there so that they can enjoy a little down time and count down ‘52′ BBQs until we are mission complete. ”

  The reason I’m linking to his entry, rather than directly to his cafepress site is because I think the better bet is to hit his “donation” button… which is probably what I’ll do next payday.

You can probably check with your local Salvation Army, American Legion/VFW Post and other places to see if they are doing any drives like the two that Amy Riben did here in the Poconos, which were wildly successful.

Besides Misty’s question, a lot of recent stories have really brought this issue to mind:
• Mistake proves costly for widow of hero Marine - Besides losing her husband, a career military man in 1999, a bureaucratic snafu now finds her credit ruined and she’s being garnishiered back money from her benefits. The story broke my heart, and I’ll keep you posted on what’s being done to help her.
• Community support pours in for ailing vet - Here in the Poconos, we are proud to count Harvey Possinger as our own. He is the highest decorated WWII vet living, and a campaign is now in effect to have him awarded The Congressional Medal of Honor… with a pension owing him over $100,000…

  Which he can badly use right now, as he has fallen on hard times. The community has been pouring in donations to this hero recently. He’s not out of the woods yet… but at least he knows how much he is loved.

  It’s the least we can do for him.

  If you’d like to help him, or send him a card of thanks… his address is in the article.

• A touching letter to the editor today (Scroll down) - in which a reader praises a Dunkin Donuts owner that just donated 2 cases of coffee to her nephew’s unit in Iraq. Coffee is in short supply out there.

It’s easy, even trendy these days, to say you support the troops. No matter how you feel about who is in office, or why troops are in combat, these men and women deserve our support and gratitude no matter what.

But sometimes words aren’t enough. It doesn’t keep a soldier company on a lonely night of patrol, it doesn’t keep them entertained when there’s nothing to do, and it doesn’t keep them from missing home.

To Sgt. Hook, his unit, and all of the brave men and women of the armed forces… we pray for you, wish you the best, and hope for a safe return home when your job is done.

Thank you.
You’re making a difference.

An interesting USA today article caught my eye from a few days ago:
Freewheeling ‘bloggers’ are rewriting rules of journalism

Please read it first, form your opinion, and then come on back here and read what I think… let’s discuss this as I’m interested in your thoughts.

Eric thinks…
It’s about change. Or more to the point, how technology is changing the rules on how the games are played. It’s a by-product of the American media failing to inform us, as we have to turn to outside international sources to know “what’s REALLY going on”.

It makes me wonder how much faster it would have expedited Watergate, or changed our views on Oliver North, John Poindexter and other “heroes” of the Iran/Contra scandal, or Reagan’s conroversial remarks at Bitburg. Surely it arrived in time at the tail end of the Clinton/Monica scandal (which could have saved Ken Starr a small fortune of the taxpayer’s money.) And it would have been a great laugh to see rightwing pundits criticize Clinton’s air strike on Osama bin Laden, calling it a “distraction from Monica”, and be able to throw 9/11 in their face three years later (if they were stupid enough to keep it in their archives).

While it’s true, I think Blogland played a major part in the Trent Lott fiasco becoming a (rightfully) bigger issue than it would have normally been…

… I still think bloggers shouldn’t let this new-found power go to their heads though. Blogs are just what it is… a one-sided perspective of the writer’s opinions. It’s not “Facts” or “Gospel Truth”. Don’t flatter yourselves.

It’s op-ed columns, not “objective journalism”. There’s a difference. There is still the need to use legitimate news articles to link to and form opinions. Weblogs are not going to replace news sources… but maybe this will help journalists and editors of the “liberal media” find their balls again.

It will play a large part for Washington, and its out of touch politicians to get an idea of what the people think, and it will change the way campaigners will “play the game” in order to get elected. To me, this article read as a “wake-up call” to folks like Karl Rove and Joe Trippi.

What will it do for our policies? Nothing much. Bloggers will never have the contol over Capitol Hill like lobbyists will. The worldwide protest and outrage against going to war in Iraq is evidence that “money talks”, and that’s the only language that the New World Order understands.

(Update: It appears L.A. City Beat seems to agree with my assessment too.)

Like Trent Lott, bloggers will make sure the Nigerian YellowCake/Valerie Plame fiasco won’t just fade away either.

And much like our administration’s need to operate in secrecy, rule through irrational fear of a faceless enemy, bully the media, and keep the public from asking “why?”… bloggers with alternative views still have internet bullies like The InstaPutz and his followers to keep them in line.

Ask Electric Frontier Foundation co-founder John Perry Barlow. (InstaPutz post)

Let the bloodshed begin…
Like I said, either way I win. :0)