Friday, May 04, 2007

My Letter That the Bee Would Not Publish


I wrote this a week ago and sent it to the Bee. However, it looks like they have chosen not to print it. Oh well...........

Dear Editor:

Our 8th grader brought home a notice from Baird School stating that the technology class was going to sponsor one of the troops in Afghanistan because "they have extremely limited supplies and are living under very minimal conditions." While their desire to help the troops is laudable, I have to wonder what the heck is going on over in Afghanistan.
As of today, the President has all the funding he has ever asked for. Why should our soldiers have to be coping with "extremely limited supplies"? I know the president has not been very concerned about equipping the troops with proper armor, but what else are they lacking that a middle school class can provide? If the President can't get toothpaste and shaving cream to the troops, something fishy is going on, given the tremendous debt these middleschoolers will be paying off for the rest of their lives to fund the Bush occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.
As congress prepares to genuflect and sign another check to fund the wars, maybe someone should take a closer look at why middleschoolers in Fresno are needed to make up for military supply shortfalls!

Jeffrey W. Eisinger