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Steal a yellow ribbon
BY AMY MARTIN
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Possibly bigger than that "Baby on Board" car-window craze, "Support the Troops" magnets are a near-ubiquitous car accessory among Americans nowadays. You can get one at www.flagsoncars.com for $.79, "Lowest price on the Net!!" Www.USAMagnetsandmore.com will charge you $2.99, though they have a much better selection. These, however, are wholesale prices. The suggested retail price for the latter, you’ll see, is $5. When, exactly, does the supporting of the troops come in? Only when you, yourself, send along the profits from your retail sale. The manufacturers make no such promise, nor do you have any assurance when you purchase the magnets that any of the money will go to support any troops. Yet magnets pop up ever more on cars. Fed up with the growing trend, some angry Portlanders are stealing these magnets in protest. One magnet thief said, "It is particularly offensive to see magnets on hummers and SUVs, the vehicles that use more gasoline and clearly do not support the troops." Another magnet thief stated, "If you want to support the troops, take the five bucks and donate that money directly to a non-profit organization. Or better yet, send a care package to Iraq with a personalized note thanking the brave men and women who are out there risking their lives on a daily basis." These Portlanders are not the only ones furious about psuedo-patriotic propaganda; an entire Web site, www.antimagnet.com, has been set up in protest, though they don’t support the stealing of magnets, per se. As of yet no one has reported any stolen magnets to the Portland Police Department. Although several dispatchers from the PPD assured us of this, one dispatcher said, "you don’t want to ask me about that." When questioned if someone had stolen his magnet, he responded, "it probably just fell off."
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