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Saturday, December 22, 2007

Look who's actually doing something to support the troops
Posted by Jill | 12:31 PM
Remember when the Democratic-controlled Congress, which can't seem to end this war or do anything other than pass resolutions declaring Christianity "an important religion", decided that its most important work was defending Gen. David Petraeus against those blue meanies at Moveon.org?

Well, look who's spearheading a drive to send phone cards to soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan so they can call home during the holidays? I'll give you a hint: It isn't Bill O'Reilly. It isn't Jonah Goldberg. It isn't Rush Limbaugh. It isn't the Christian Coalition.

It's Moveon.org, working with USO:

Dear MoveOn member,

This winter, thousands of U.S. servicemen and women are spending the holidays far away from their families, and calling home can cost them a large part of their paycheck. Troops stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and around the globe actually have to pay for phone calls to the U.S.—and many of them just don't have a lot of money to spare. Imagine being stuck in Iraq, Afghanistan, or Korea and being unable to afford a call to your spouse or kids on Christmas or New Year's Eve.

That's why we're helping the USO to provide thousands of phone cards to troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and around the world to let them call their friends, family and loved ones this holiday season.

These phone cards don't cost a lot—only $15 each, but they are incredibly valuable, providing about 45 minutes of talk-time and holiday wishes for service members.

Can you give $15 to buy a phone card for troops stationed overseas? Click here to chip in:

https://civ.moveon.org/donatec4/holiday_troops.html?id=11827-1466176-BdZUyf&t=2

MoveOn members are committed to seeing our troops come home as quickly as possible, and we'll keep working to make that happen. But right now, supporting the USO is a simple way to make a genuine difference in the lives of brave men and women who've sacrificed a lot for our country.

Can you chip in to buy phone cards for troops stationed overseas this holiday season? Click here to contribute:

https://civ.moveon.org/donatec4/holiday_troops.html?id=11827-1466176-BdZUyf&t=3

Happy holidays from all of us and thanks for all you do.

–Nita, Adam G., Karin, Marika, Noah, Laura, Joan, Wes, Justin, Jennifer, Anna, Eli, Matt, Ilyse, Daniel, Adam R., Carrie, Tanya, and the MoveOn.org Civic Action Team
Thursday, December 20th, 2007

P.S. To learn more about the USO, a non-governmental, non-partisan organization, please visit www.uso.org.


Alternatively, you can also send USO care packages, which let you also enclose a personal message.

Just as pro-life conservatives believe that insurance companies should be allowed to let seventeen-year-olds die in the name of profits, they also believe that supporting the troops and their lives means leaving them in a war zone indefinitely without a clearly-defined mission.

Let's show them who's REALLY got their backs.

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Anonymous Anonymous said...
Calls by US troops FROM the warzone should be FREE, given what we're paying otherwise, or at the very least charged at DOMESTIC LD rates. I suspect a few days of Blackwater charges would pay the phone bills for a year or so!! But alas! I hope those with Internet connections are at least using Skype or similar!

I don't know what the current ripoffs are. My VoIP provider charges $.50/minute to Afghanistan and $.40/minute to Iraq. I'm sure our troops are being charged a substantial premium over that!

I know during GW-I, our buddies the Saudi's were requiring ATT [who was supplying the service using THEIR satellites and equipment] to charge the standard international rates [about $1.00/minute at that time] because they were "bypassing" the Saudi telephone company. So here you had ATT putting through essentially the same domestic phone calls -- same equipment, same satellites, just longer "wire" ...] -- that would be placed between NY and CA... But they weren't allowed to charge cheaper domestic rates because they were "competing" with the local telephone monopoly.. Weren't we there to save their as*es???

PS: Could someone with loved ones over there tell me what the rates are this time? I was involved professionally with supplying services in GW-I, but I've not been following the situation lately!

PPS: By my quick calculation, at $.10/minute -- a fairly high domestic LD rate -- we could provide EVERY ONE of the 160,000 or so troops an HOUR of phone time for under a mil. A few missiles would pay for a year!
12/22/07, 3:06 PM  
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