The Clarks Love Money More than Vets

[gblowfish]

Apologies if posted before, and maybe this ought to be in the DC section.

Washington Post reports that the Federal Military has paid millions to the NFL to "salute" veterans. The Clarks took $250,000. So much for the NFL saluting soldiers out of the goodness of their hearts.

The Chiefs don't need the money. They should send that cash back to the military to buy body armor for active service guys, so we wouldn't have so many "wounded warriors" to salute. This whole thing makes me more cynical than I already am, if that's even possible.

Just salute veterans because its the right thing to do, and pick up the goddamn check. They put their lives on the line for us, it's the least a tax-exempt, multi-billion dollar enterprise like the NFL can do.

I didn't get a harrrump outta that guy......

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...rss=rss_sports

During timeouts at home games, the New York Jets air a Hometown Heroes segment in which a U.S. soldier or two are shown on the Jumbotron and everyone thanks them for their service. The soldiers and three friends get seats in the Coaches Club. It’s a nice salute.

It’s also funded by U.S. taxpayers.

According to Christopher Baxter and Jonathan D. Salant of New Jersey Advance Media, the Department of Defense paid 14 NFL teams $5.4 million from 2011 to 2014 for salutes like the Hometown Heroes segment and other advertising at professional football games. All but $100,000 of that money came from the National Guard.

U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) called the spending wasteful and disingenuous, Baxter and Salant report:

“Those of us go to sporting events and see them honoring the heroes,” Flake said in an interview. “You get a good feeling in your heart. Then to find out they’re doing it because they’re compensated for it, it leaves you underwhelmed. It seems a little unseemly.” …

“They realize the public believes they’re doing it as a public service or a sense of patriotism,” Flake said. “It leaves a bad taste in your mouth.”

Flake added that he has no problem with the National Guard spending money on recruitment advertising at football games. “The problem, he said, was spending taxpayer money on a program that, on its face, appeared to be a generous gesture by a football team,” Baxter and Salant write.

The story goes on to detail what the National Guard gets in return for its spending:

Aside from the Hometown Heroes segment, the agreements also included advertising and marketing services, including a kickoff video message from the Guard, digital advertising on stadium screens, online advertising and meeting space for a meeting or events.

Also, soldiers attended the annual kickoff lunch in New York City to meet and take pictures with the players for promotional use, and the Jets allowed soldiers to participate in a charity event in which coaches and players build or rebuild a playground or park.

The Jets also provided game access passes.

A National Guard spokesman said the agreement with the Jets helps promote and increase “the public’s understanding and appreciation of military service in the New Jersey Army National Guard increases the propensity for service in our ranks and garners public support for our Hometown Team.” A Jets spokesman says the team works with the National Guard just as it works with any other sponsor to tailor in-game advertising.

According to the report, the Colts and Ravens are among the other teams that have similar agreements with the National Guard.

[Brock]

Originally Posted by Baconeater

Ok, I'll give you that 50 years isn't enough, but what is going to be enough? IMO it's going to be an issue as long as you allow it to be. At some point it becomes a crutch.

It's also odd how Mexicans can cross the border with not a pot to piss in, find jobs that allegedly don't exist, develop skills, start businesses and do alright for themselves in just one generation.

It'll never be long enough. If you can't make a life for yourself in America, a self-sustaining, mostly satisfied life, you're just a dumbshit. Not saying you should starve or live in the street, but you might want to at least stop blaming others.

[notorious]

Originally Posted by notorious

You are going to draw the DC assholes into this thread, assholes.

Originally Posted by Rausch

I didn't make it a race thread - you a$$#oles did...

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by J Diddy

BigRedChief is the new black

[J Diddy]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

No matter what BRC, we'll always have Indy.

[Rausch]

Originally Posted by stevieray

and the Irish? the Asians?

The point was that the blatant USING of people as a disposable resource wasn't at all that long ago.

Originally Posted by stevieray

do you know who Wentworth Cheswell was?

As an AMERICAN I'm proud....and we've come this far TOGETHER. From the very start.

....just goes to show that America led the path to FREEDOM., and a "short time " ago, it didn't exist, for ANYONE.

*sigh*
No Steve.
I don't know you and you don't know me.
I don't know $#it and my opinion is based off of my complete ignorance and lack of any exposure to any other ethnicity, that my family is full of...

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by Brock

It'll never be long enough. If you can't make a life for yourself in America, a self-sustaining, mostly satisfied life, you're just a dumbshit. Not saying you should starve or live in the street, but you might want to at least stop blaming others.

I was born into a poor household. I didn't take a single penny from the government to educate myself. I get the pull yourself up your bootstraps argument.

I will admit that because I was white, I had it easier than some non-whites. But, there was nothing special on how I got educated, broke the cycle and didn't raise my son in a poor household. The color of your skin doesn't matter. It may be more difficult and unfair that it is more difficult but its still doable.

[Rausch]

Originally Posted by Brock

It'll never be long enough. If you can't make a life for yourself in America, a self-sustaining, mostly satisfied life, you're just a dumbshit. Not saying you should starve or live in the street, but you might want to at least stop blaming others.

Deserves repeating.

[Rausch]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

The color of your skin doesn't matter. It may be more difficult and unfair that it is more difficult but its still doable.

Read that again...

[srvy]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

These are examples of offshoots to the "OMG that was so long ago get over it" declarations I mentioned earlier.

50 years, people. Not that long ago.

I have a lot to say about this so I'll post it here soon when I get off work.

Take your time another 50 years would be AOK with me.

[-King-]

Originally Posted by crazycoffey

Did not realize you and virus were 400 years old. Yes I'm sure that has been a hard life. But we are, as a society, so much improved. What do you have to get over? And the term used was disenfranchised. Taking all rights away from a race, that most certainly does not describe anything any race is experiencing in America in our lifespan. If you think here's a racial problem that is taking away any of your rights, might I suggest you fix your own attitude first.

Yeah 400 years of slavery is pretty much easy to recover from. Its amazing how some people think.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Rausch]

Originally Posted by -King-

Yeah 400 years of slavery is pretty much easy to recover from. Its amazing how some people think.
Posted via Mobile Device

Jews are so touchy...

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by Rausch

Read that again...

you know what I meant. If not, there is a BRC interpretation class at the junior college on Wednesday nights.

[-King-]

Originally Posted by Baconeater

Ok, I'll give you that 50 years isn't enough, but what is going to be enough? IMO it's going to be an issue as long as you allow it to be. At some point it becomes a crutch.

It's also odd how Mexicans can cross the border with not a pot to piss in, find jobs that allegedly don't exist, develop skills, start businesses and do alright for themselves in just one generation.

No one said its a crutch. But its a fact that black people play on an uneven playing field. A black man makes 75% of the wages a white man makes for the same jobs. A black man is more likely to be falsely accused of commiting a crime or be killed by a police officer. Black people with the same qualifications as whites find it harder to get jobs and post secondary education.

Its an issue because its an issue. Not because we make it an issue.

And no, I'm not saying black people are entirely faultless for their current circumstances.
Posted via Mobile Device

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by Rausch

Black families have grown up for generations being told it will never be equal. Granfathers, fathers, and now this generation finally starts to see it happen.

I'm glad you came in and mentioned a few things. I grow weary of this debate. It's obvious I'm not going to change any minds, but this is some deep, deep psychological shit. I don't think most people realize how powerful the subconscious mind is..

At its core, the issue is that one race can't enslave then systematically disenfranchise another for over 400 years and erase all remnants of racism in 50 years. Blacks may not be turned away at voting booths with poll taxes or lynched in the streets any longer, but there are tons of signs that racism (in an institutional form) is still prevalent. Black and white neighborhoods are not policed the same. Sentences for blacks committing the same crimes as whites are harsher. Job applicants with black names get less calls back than their white counterparts despite providing exact copied résumés.

Sure, pretty much anyone can come to America and "make a life for yourself". There were blacks in the 1880s "making a life for themselves".

One of my favorite things to do is get into a candid conversation about race with a white person. If you get them talking long enough you'll almost always get them to expose some prejudiced viewpoints. And it's not even their fault. It's just a byproduct of being raised in this society (or maybe just human nature?). You can do the same thing for someone of any race, including blacks.

We have come a looooooong way, though. Blacks in America have never had more opportunity and that's due in large part to he VAST amount of whites fighting for equality. Seriously. There have always been whites fighting for the black community, even at the start of slavery in America. White people shouldn't read my posts as an attack. I'm just trying to raise awareness. Once you're aware you can try and make a change. If you're not even aware of it then you can never hope to make a difference.

[J Diddy]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

I was born into a poor household. I didn't take a single penny from the government to educate myself. I get the pull yourself up your bootstraps argument.

I will admit that because I was white, I had it easier than some non-whites. But, there was nothing special on how I got educated, broke the cycle and didn't raise my son in a poor household. The color of your skin doesn't matter. It may be more difficult and unfair that it is more difficult but its still doable.

I cannot speak on opportunity lost due to the color of my skin because I did not experience it. I can speak on the different levels of opportunity afforded to those with wealth in their families. My mother raised me and 2 brothers mostly on her own. I had 2 step fathers who were significant role models but after them she went for losers. I met my father for the first time when I was 13 and didn't see him much after that. I got kicked out of my mothers house when I was 17. For about a a 2 week stretch the world dropped out from underneath of me. I had a job but would have to drop out of school to keep it (no big deal, could care less) and no place to live. A guy at work and his family took me in under the condition I graduated. I lived with them a year and then I patched things up with my mother, she passed away before my senior year, I dropped out but eventually got my GED and basically worked my way up in restaurants to make an okay living. Had some great kids with a bad mother and got custody. Couldn't do both. Funny thing is this website inspired me to go back to school. I was arguing with Saulbadguy and he said 4 years ago "and diddy is the only one stupid enough to think that working at Domino's is a career"

Two weeks later I enrolled in a community college, a year and a half later Pittsburg State. All the while I maintained custody of my child , don't think I made more than $10k in a single year while paying child support on another child from my first marriage and was getting no assistance whatsoever from the second mother and in the middle of it all had open ****ing heart surgery. I took advantage of food stamps, medicaid, loans, you name it....but I made it. I graduated Magna Cum Laude at the age of 40 and in December I got that career. All day every day I go to work as a case manager for those with developmental disabilities, primarily those with Autism, and I fight like hell for them.

It's not a matter of not being given a chance. It's a matter of not willing to fight for that chance.