Uneducated Patriotism is dangerous- VICE video

Pic of the pamphlet being handed
 out in Crawfordville, Fl thurs.

Because often times your well meant support actually hurts more than it helps. Thursday morning a member of our little band called to say that there were people in military uniforms panhandling for money on the streets of Crawfordville, Fl. Her alarm bells went off when she asked a couple of questions that they refused to answer. She had educated herself as to what to look for when it comes to scams, in this case veterans scams. Of course a little street smarts never hurts.

So we rode over to the reported location where we found two individuals in fatigues successfully panhandling money in the middle of Crawfordville highway. And when we say successfully we mean it appeared that the locals could not shove money into the buckets fast enough.  Which motivated us to try and motivate you to engage in:

OPERATION VICE:

VETERANS INFURIATED BY

SELF ENRICHMENT 

(You do not have to be a vet, you just have to take responsibility for your own community)

Person behind the camera: J-Rabbit

Graphics by SabrinaSunshine. Others showed and contributed and need to remain anonymous, but they know who they are.

Before all was over and done with some veterans on motorcycles showed up and the cops came.  But you see, "IT IS LEGAL FOR THEM TO RIP YOU OFF" like this.

So besides the fact that unknowing, well meaning people are getting ripped off, veterans in dire need of help are not getting it!  And though Crawfordville people may be patting themselves on the back and getting a "feel good" rush,  I suspect at the end of the day, the scammers were having a hell of a good laugh.  It's not just Crawfordville folk though, people across the state and nation are being scammed by the "Disabled Veterans Foundation." And others. Including but not limited to, banks, political parties, local, state and federal bureaucracies and on and on and on.....................

The irony is, we spend a lot of time "Begging" local establishments for donations to legitimate "local" causes with little success.  We spend a lot of time attempting to educate people on how they are being ripped by various groups, including but not limited, to the corporate/political arena. But then we ride motorcycles, wear funky clothing, do the research and get the facts. Stupid us. We should just buy Army Surplus uniforms stand on the corner and get money handed to us.

Now we can point fingers and blame lawmakers, police, whoever and demand they do something to stop this sort of thing.  But then that would be abdicating our own responsibility and  accountability.  Because you see, CNN has been reporting on scam veterans charities for a while now and there are various online charity watch sites.

Thomas Jefferson once said:

"If once [the people] become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, Judges and Governors, shall all become wolves. It seems to be the law of our general nature, in spite of individual exceptions." -- Thomas Jefferson to Edward Carrington, 1787

And let us not leave out Einstein, who most think had a brain cell or two, who said,

The world is not dangerous because of those who do harm, but because of those who look at it and not do anything"

Our favorite however has to be Ghandi, who said:

"Be the change you want to see in the world"

The ultimate responsibility is ours. Yours and mine!  

This writer, after obtaining the info in the above video, returned and confronted the "veterans" in question. They left saying they would not be back, but refused to say where they were going. We hope that if enough people see this video they will find no more sheep to fleece.
See Part 2 here:  Uneducated patriotism is dangerous, part two, the guiltyAdd to Technorati Favorites

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