Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Dear Mr. President...

...is how I was thinking of beginning a letter to President George W. Bush but I know I probably should not send the letter I am considering sending to him. You see the letter I was considering sending to him was something I just cut out of an email I received. I admit I have no idea who thought it up (that person is a genius) and I would never take credit myself, but I was still thinking about sending it to our current president before it is too late to accomplish what was spelled out in that email. Here is the copy of the email I received, you can judge for yourself whether or not it would be appropriate to send to President Bush (it sure would make him laugh - wouldn't it, and if he pulled it off, it sure would piss off the ultra liberals):

"I am sure that this would really do the trick!

That would make for an interesting Holiday season! You know what would really P**S OFF the Democrats...Bush should resign now.

Then Dick Cheney becomes President (that would really P**S OFF the libs)!!!

Then Cheney appoints Condoleeza Rice as VP (and allow me to add to this email this tidbit: that if he cannot appoint her then he resigns, and the next person becomes VP then resigns, all the way down to Condoleeza Rice in the chain of succession).

Then Cheney resigns two weeks later and Condoleeza Rice, a Republican, becomes the first BLACK - WOMAN President!!!

Yes that should do it alright!!!!!!! "

All it needs is for me to add: Dear President Bush, or Dear Mr. President, then tell him nope it was not my idea but I felt it worthy of sending to him. Then I would have to sign it. Now considering that President-elect Obama will soon be my boss, I was wondering, would this be appropriate for me to send to President Bush? I figure that President Bush has a good sense of humor, I wonder does President-elect Obama have one likewise!

What a truly unique and marvelously mischievous idea.

All the best,
Glenn B

Generosity Of Another Sort

As I said in my last post, so far this year's Soldiers' Holiday Care Package fund has received monetary donations amounting $280. Some people have given pretty sizable amounts, the largest being $50.00. I have got to hand it to them that was generous. Others have given less, and I have got to hand it to them too because what they gave was also generous. StreamLight is again donating a dozen expensive flashlights, that is another form of wonderful generosity. Yet there has been a generous donation that goes beyond those I have just mentioned, not in amount money wise, but in how much of a sacrifice it was to make it.

One of the donations I received, from a source who wishes to remain anonymous, was in the amount of $10.00. It was a cash donation, and besides the cash I donated there was only one other cash donation (you know who you are). I think one of the reasons the person wants to remain anonymous is because of the amount of the gift, and another reason is because that person is humble and is proud at the same time (nothing wrong with being either or both). That person wrote me a note, saying in part: "I wish it could be more". From what I know, the person who sent me that $10.00 made a real sacrifice in order to send that much because that person truly could not afford to send that much money, heck probably could not afford to send anything. Yet the donation was made.

Now you may think - 'What is a measly $10.00 to any of us'. Well with knowing the little bit I do about the person who sent it, I can tell you it is not measly to that person or that person's family. When your income is very low, when you have no reasonable hope to expect your income to be going up any time soon, when you have to eke out a living because circumstances beyond your control put you in a tough spot, when your dignity and work ethic will not allow you to accept government handouts in the form of welfare, well then $10.00 to that person is probably like $50.00, maybe even like $100.00, to the rest of us.

The purpose of this blog-post is not to shame any of you into donating, it is not to try to get any of you who already donated to donate more. Nope those are not the purpose of this post. The purpose of this post is to let the person who donated that hard earned and much needed $10.00 (much needed by that person and that person's family) know that the donation is much appreciated. There is nothing for you to be ashamed about, no reason for you to wish it could have been more, no reason to think it less worthy of note than any other donation I have received toward this effort. As a matter of fact, it is certainly the most generous doantion I have received to date considering your circumstances and you should be proud of yourself.

You know who you are; and while others may guess, I will not tell because I know you would not want me to do so. Heck, I know you would not have wanted me to write this, but truth be told, I wrote it anyway because your generosity deserves at least annonymous recognition. Thank you to you and your family.

All the best,
Glenn B

The Generosity Is Streaming In - StreamLight Does It Again

To paraphrase an email I just sent to Angel DelliGatti of StreamLight:

"Once again I am truly humbled by your generosity. I don't know what else to say except thank you very much. I will of course pass the word onto others about what you have done, and when I shop for lights they will be StreamLights. You folks at StreamLight are so nice it is almost unbelievable, it is people like you who really make this country a great place! I am sure that my Soldiers' Angels soldier for this year - Jamie V., and his fellow troops, will make good use of them.

I would still like to know what price you can offer these at because I would buy at least a few more to ship to the troops. Please don't ad more to the freebie pile, it would be the right thing for us to make a purchase after how nice you have been
."


Why am I humbled. Well, like last year, this year I sent out a few emails making inquiries in an attempt to get discounted pricing on some things to include in this years Soldiers' Holiday Care Package(s). One of those emails was sent to StreamLight. I really did not expect them to duplicate their generosity of last year when they donated 12 flashlights and batteries to the care package effort but that is what they did then, and they are doing it gain this year! She is going to send a dozen NF2-LED lights for the package(s). As far as I can figure, the NF2 stands for NightFighter 2.

When I checked their site, this is what I found for the NightFighter LED lights:

http://www.streamlight.com/product/product.aspx?pid=32

While there is little more that I can say than I did in my above email to Ms. DelliGatti, there is something I have to say: She truly is an Angel, she lives up to her name, and how appropriate since I was put in contact with Jamie V., the soldier to whom I will be sending this year's package(s), through Soldiers' Angels!

One other thing I think I must say is that if you are considering a high quality flashlight, especially for tactical purposes, please consider StreamLight. I have used their products and can tell you they have met and exceeded my expectations in tactical flashlights just as their generosity has far surpassed even my wildest expectations.

As I mentioned in my email, I am hopeful we can also buy some lights from StreamLight, also for the troops. I figure it would be the right thing to do in light of their generosity. I realize that this year there is no way we will be able to supply each guy in our soldier's unit with a light (heck there are 26 guys in his direct unit, not 12 like our soldier from last year). That is there is no way unless you guys are extremely generous. So if you can find it in your hearts, please dig up some of your spare change or bills and send in a donation for this year's effort. So far we have gotten together a total of $255.00 including $160 of donations made via my PayPal account and $95 checks and cash.

As with last year's effort, I will document each and every penny of the donations I spend on this, and 100% of your donations will go to purchases of items to be included in the packages. I will pay for shipping charges to include boxes, tape, and postage to send the care packages to Jamie V. over in Afghanistan, and I have also made a $25.00 (included in the above total) donation toward purchases of items. I will also be donating another $25.00 out of my pocket. I suppose that Ms. DelliGatti's and StreamLights generosity has motivated me to do so - so the total of the monetary donations is now: $280.00.

To those of you who have made donations so far, money or otherwise I say THANK YOU; and likewise to those of you who will be making donations.

All the best,
Glenn B