Peace groups criticize Minnesota Twins doll giveaway

[thedrifter]

Peace groups criticize Minnesota Twins doll giveaway


Minneapolis-AP -- The Minnesota Twins' latest giveaway idea is drawing criticism from anti-war groups.

The Twins plan to distribute a G-I Joe action figure at Monday night's game against the Kansas City Royals. The first five-thousand children at the game will get a nearly four-inch high action figure called Duke.

The Twins say the promotion is a way to honor local military personnel.

But groups such as Veterans for Peace, Friends for a Non-Violent World and Women Against Military Madness object to the giveaway and are asking the Twins to cancel it.

Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

http://www.onnnews.com/Global/story.asp?S=1982444


Ellie

:no:

[CplDawson]

http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/help/email.jsp?c_id=min&primarySubject=Other&secondarySubject=None&dest=fanfeedback@twins.mlb.com

Use the above link to E-mail the Twins showing your support!

Use the Title "We Suport GI JOE"

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,124385,00.html

[MillRatUSMC]

"We glorify the warriors, War we don't glorify."

General Robert E. Lee said;
"It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it."

Sitting here among the flora and some wildlife.
Taking in the beauty of this memorial,
You get the feeling,
What some men and women thought enough of,
To give up their alls.

On a plaque here, it's says:
"The cost of Freedom and Peace is buried in the ground."
It reminds us that cost is still being paid in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Today we feel the coolness of a summer breeze and the warmth of the sunshine in a Free America.

Made that way by the blood of countless Patriots.
Give thanks to God for that!

Now some object to the give away of a G-I Joe doll...
Only in America...
Many of these organizations are a contrction of words,
Veteran for Peace.
Than there's these;
Friends for a Non-Violent World,
Women Against Military Madness,
In the words of Col Nathan Jessups USMC played Jack Nickleson;
"If you don't of approve of the security, I provide.
Than I suggest you pickup a weapon,
And stand a post."
I doubt that they will do that

<MARQUEE BEHAVIOR=scroll DIRECTION=left LOOP=infinite>"You cannot be a true man until you learn to obey." General Robert E. Lee</MARQUEE>

http://www.geocities.com/millrat_99/index.html

"The saddest part of the job that I have undertaken is that the armed services by their nature, represent the last resort,
when rational solutions to the country's problems have failed."
~ Lt. Cmdr. Harry Mossman US Navy ~
Remains recover in 1992 and indentified recently.

"A man or woman is measured
by the footprint,
he or she leaves behind".

"They were the best you had, America,
and you turned your back on them".
~ Joe Galloway ~ Speaking about Vietnam Veterans

Semper Fidelis/Semper Fi
Ricardo


Semper Fidelis/Semper Fi
Ricardo

[CplDawson]

The Twins stand there ground!

Dear Sean,

On behalf of the entire Minnesota Twins organization, thank you for your email supporting our Armed Forces Appreciation Night and corresponding GI Joe action figure giveaway! We've been overwhelmed with positive notes about our planned tribute to the real GI Joes and GI Janes who are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to protect and defend this country.

The Twins are proud of the young men and women of the Armed Services and our giveaway will go ahead as planned. Below is the tribute that appears on the GI Joe package:

"Minnesota Twins Armed Services Appreciation Day
Monday, July 5, 2004

This GI Joe action figure is a tribute to the brave men and women
serving the United States in the U.S. Armed Services. Thousands of Minnesotans are supporting our nation as active or reserve members of the Army, Navy, AirForce, Marines and National Guard.

Many are civilian soldiers with families and careers who may be deployed on a moment's notice to trouble spots around the globe. Members of the National Guard are also available, at the
direction of the Governor, to serve Minnesotans during natural
disasters and other emergencies.

The Minnesota Twins salute these courageous men and women, past and present, who put their lives on the line to defend our
country and assist us in times of need."

Your comments and support are greatly appreciated.

Warm regards,

Patrick Klinger
Vice-President, Marketing
Minnesota Twins
(612) 375-7455

[HardJedi]

ya know, it just chaps my rear end. It really doesn't matter what anyone does. Somebody could set up a dang society to give away money every day, and some damn FOOL is gonna protest it. Makes me sick to my stomach. Yes, as Americans, it is their right to protest. Just like it's my right to think of them as pond scum for doing so.

Women against Military Madness? give me a break. Do I love war? No. Do I want to ever kill anyone, or see any of my friends die? HELL no. And I believe this is the way most people in the US armed forces feel. But those of us who choose to serve, do so out of a sense of duty, and we accept the moral resposibility, and the possible concequences of our service.

For a show of support for the "troops" in NO WAY glorifies war, or killing. It is nothing more than a tribute to the individuals who place others freedom and rights above thier own. WHY can't people see the differnce between soldiers, Marines, airmen, and squids, and the politics involved in a war?

Ther has never been, and probably never WILL be, a memeber of our armed services who has died for oil, or whatever the war is being blamed on this time. We shed our blood for a belief in something better. We die, and kill, mostly for the man next to us, or for the belief that if we don't do it now, many more will do it later. Is this a pipe dream? or a lie told to us so that we will satisfy anothers greed? I don't believe so. Those who have never had the honor of serving, will never understand, and for those who have, no explination is needed.

thanks for listening to me ramble.

[gwladgarwr]

My reply to the Twins' organization re: GI Joe giveaway:

You have my unbridled support and thanks for your GI Joe giveaway

As there is a war underway to win the hearts and minds of those who want to embrace freedom, there is also a war here at home to win the hearts and minds of those who believe that freedom simply appears out of thin air - to those who believe that it takes the freedom-loving members of our Armed Forces to make it happen. Those action figures are a small representation and embodiment of the freedom and liberty we enjoy here in the United States and not a glorification of war and violence that is in reality an American's last resort. For children, those action figures are a concrete example of who actually defends our freedom and can also represent their own loved ones.

As a Marine who has served in Iraq, I have seen how war affects people; those who lived under Saddam's tyranny and under that perpetrated by freedom-hating insurgents are not afraid of war being glorified - they are living in it. What they do understand, however, is that it takes someone like GI Joe to make a stand, and many an Iraqi or Afghan child would be thrilled to have a GI Joe - not as a representation of glorification of war, but as the embodiment of those who strive to bring an end to it.

Continue your plans for the giveaway. To those who criticize the giveway, I suggest you send copies of our Constitution and pictures of our war wounded. Thank you.:marine:

[Super Dave]

I just checked out the "Women against Military Madness" website..what a bunch of idiots..They have NO clue who has provided their freedom...

[eddief]

Minnesota has a MLB team?

[greybeard]

Minnesota has a MLB team?

Yeah-2nd place in Central Div- 2 games out of 1st place.

Astros? We won't go there.

[thedrifter]

Why GI Joe Riles the Left
By William R. Hawkins
FrontPageMagazine.com | July 8, 2004

Over the 4th of July weekend, antiwar protesters demanded that the Minnesota Twins baseball team cancel a promotional giveway of "G.I. Joe" action figures. The Twins provided figures of the character "Duke" (the lead character in the G.I. Joe series, who shares his nickname with John Wayne) to 5,000 children who attended the July 5 game against the Kansas City Royals. The promotion was an attempt to honor American service men and women and was done after consultation with local veterans groups. Real veterans groups that is. John Varone, president of the Twin Cities chapter of Veterans for Peace, told the Associated Press that the effort was misplaced. "For gosh sakes, the last place we need to promote war is at our national pastime," he said.

On its homepage, the national Veterans for Peace organization claims its mission is "to restrain our government from intervening, overtly and covertly, in the internal affairs of other nations" and "to abolish war as an instrument of national policy." They also claim a "greater responsibility to serve the cause of world peace" than they showed when they merely served in defense of their own country. The upcoming VFP convention in Boston (July 23-26) will feature an array of far-Left speakers including Howard Zinn and Daniel Ellsberg. At the antiwar rally held on the eve of the Iraq war on April 20, 2002, in Washington, VFP President David Cline also denounced the military campaign against al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. He then not only embraced activists from the Vietnam War era, but also veterans of the Lincoln Brigade recruited by the Soviets to fight in the Spanish Civil War. It is no wonder that VFP objected to distributing toys that promote the ideals of patriotism and steadfast loyalty.

The campaign against "war toys" is another example of American leftists emulating the decadence of socialist Europe. The European Parliament has recommended that its member states ban advertising of war toys and reduce their sale. Sweden, Norway, Greece and Malta have already taken various steps to restrict their sale or import. And it can happen here. The Federal Trade Commission held a workshop last October to deal with issues relating to the marketing of violent entertainment to children, focusing on movies, music and video games. When Jocelyn Elders was Surgeon-General in the Clinton administration, she proposed a national ban on toy guns. The Coalition for Peace Action claims war toys "teach children to accept a militarized world. They teach children that people who look or think differently should be defeated."

When I was growing up, toy guns and toy soldiers were the favorite playthings of my circle of friends. I remember having a plastic Hopalong Cassidy six-shooter, which was superseded by a double-holster Roy Rogers set of chrome-plated cap pistols. Later came spring-action replicas of Thompson sub-machine guns. Our neighborhood gang would spend hours chasing each other around the empty lots down the street. We also fought major battles with toy soldiers on the living room rug and on the back porch. Later, we graduated to wargames recreating history's great campaigns on a table top. Today I join my son in playing video games like "Counterstrike," which depicts American special operations troops hunting down terrorists.

None of my old gang turned out to be public enemies. Instead they became lawyers, engineers, and bankers. My best friend in these childhood "wars" grew up to be an Episcopal priest. This is because we lived in an era with strong values. Television was more violent then, but less morally ambiguous than now. Westerns like "Gunsmoke" "The Wild, Wild West" and "The Rifleman" dominated my viewing. Our idols were the "good guys" who always triumphed in the end. The villains ended up in jail (usually awaiting the hangman) or had already been sent directly to Boot Hill by the hero. And we cheered because we knew that's where the "bad guys" belonged.

It is this very idea of moral clarity that has liberals upset. Physicians for Global Survival claims that war toys like "G.I. Joe" tell children that "the world is divided into ‘goodies' and ‘baddies' where the bad guys are devoid of human qualities and their destruction is desirable. The story-line repetitively casts bad people (as aliens or robots) seeking power to control the world (or city or universe). The ‘good people' vanquish them with violence. The child learns that justice, reason and effective communication do not achieve success. The weapon is a tool of power over others and necessary to deal with evil.....acceptance of war toys by adults socializing children is likely to interfere with inducing values and skills of nonviolent conflict resolution, empathy, compassion and a complex view of the equality and diversity of humankind and the worth of all living things."

One wonders how the Physicians for Global Survival would have dealt with Hitler. We know how they would have dealt with Saddam -- they would have left him in peace and power, free to continue the extreme diversity he practiced in the use justice and reason.

Today's popular culture is filled with anti-heroes who smirk at conventional morality, sneer at authority and behave in ways that are openly irresponsible -- but then prosper as a result. Lust and greed dance in the name of free expression. Fortunately, there are still toys like "G. I. Joe" that teach the proper devotion of strength to good causes. The Joes took their present form in the 1980s in tune with the Reagan era. They are individual "action figures" each with a personal history. "Mainframe" was a computer genius who quit Silicon Valley to join the Marine Corps. "Airborne" gave up a successful law practice to become a paratrooper. "Flint" was a Rhodes Scholar who became a Ranger after becoming "bored with the groves of academe."

In each case, a sector of our overly materialistic, self-indulgent culture is found shallow and unfulfilling. Only by putting their talents to the defense of their country do the Joes find satisfaction. And while modern society asks only a few of its citizens to don a uniform, successful military operations and the diplomacy they empower do require popular support based on the proper ranking of values.

The Joes use violence to defeat their arch enemy Cobra "a ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world" but does anyone really think the simpleton "caring and sharing" philosophy promoted by leftist educators is going to make our lives more secure or put an end to the plots of our enemies?

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=14130


Ellie