Starbucks and the Marines Email Is False

I got an email from a good friend this morning as follows:

FW: STARBUCKS DENIES COFFEE TO MARINES

Recently Marines in Iraq wrote to Starbucks because they wanted to let them know how much they liked their coffees and to request that they send some of it to the troops there. Starbucks replied, telling the Marines thank you for their support of their business, but that Starbucks does not support the war, nor anyone in it, and that they would not send the troops their brand of coffee.

So as not to offend Starbucks, maybe we should not support them by buying any of their products! As a war vet writing to fellow patriots, I feel we should get this out in the open. I know this war might not be very popular with some folks, but that doesn't mean we don't support the boys on the ground fighting street-to-street and house-to-house for what they and I believe is right. If you feel the same as I do then pass this along, or you can discard it an d no one will never know.

Thanks very much for your support. I know you'll all be there again when I deploy once more.

"Semper Fidelis."
Sgt Howard C. Wright
1st Force Recon Co
1st Plt PLT

PLEASE DON'T DELETE THIS. ALLOW IT TO BE PASSED TO ALL IN MEMORY OF ALL THE TROOPS WHO HAVE DIED SO THAT WE MAY HAVE THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE TO SUPPORT THEM OR NOT!!!

So I Snopes it. Is Snopes a verb yet? Google is. Snopes should be.

Snopes answer concerning this. - FALSE -

Reply to my friend was:

Please send this link back upline to those who received and sent it previously. - Personally I don't care for Starbucks because the stuff they sell is WAYYYYY overpriced and I like to drink coffee black. Why should I pay extra for that? - But it is not fair to them to have people boycott their goods for false reasons. Snopes.com says the rumor is false and backs it up with the real story...
- Paul - prying1 -

Rumor is false and was corrected by Sgt Howard C. Wright - Check Snopes.com's version of events.
or Google/Yahoo search the following words and it will come out as the top hit
- Snopes.com Starbucks Marines Howard C. Wright -

So tonight I get home and check my emails. A friend of a friend from upline (or downline - by this time I don't know which to call it) had emailed back with the simple statement:

Starbuck’s coffee blows anyway!

DANA LEWIS-CITRMS
INDEPENDENT ASSOCIATE
PRE-PAID LEGAL SERVICES, INC.
(310) 542-0992 OFFICE
(310) 999-8640 CELL

After my tears from laughing cleared and I could see again I replied:

Re: Starbuck’s coffee blows anyway!

To quote Glumfeather in the Chronicles of Narnia series, "Too True! Too True!

First time I ever had the stuff was in a Starbucks coffee shop attached to the movie theatres in Galleria Redondo Beach CA. (Artesia and Hawthorne). - The stuff was atrocious and I have the tastebuds of a barbarian. Since then I have had some of the super sweet crap they try to pass off as coffee (Others bought it to convince me I am wrong- I refuse to spend money there but can't stop my wife and daughter...) and I still insist the stuff is overpriced, and has to have flavors added to make it semi-palatable.

Give me any name brand, Folgers, Maxwell, Taster's Choice, hells bells even Postum!


Thanks for the return email on this one. We are not alone. I'm sure there are others....

Paul - prying1 -

So! How do you feel about it. That is, You who have read up to this point. Leave a comment and I'll update this posting with it along with a link to your website/blog (if so desired).

Update: I am not through this post endorsing the boycotting of Starbucks in any way shape or form. If any man woman or child enjoys the stuff I wish them Godspeed. I even buy Starbucks Gift Cards for those that frequent the place. Well. My wife gets them but I so sign the accompanying card...
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Snopes on ATM Theft.

Snopes.com has a sequence of photographs that show some bad guys scamming a good citizen out of his ATM card and his pin number. Then a sequence of photos that show how it was done. Check it out

One way to stay on top of scams and learn how the bad guys are evolving their methods is to frequently visit Ed Dickson's website. - Fraud, Phishing and Financial Misdeeds -

A must visit for those who like to keep their wallet intact.

It seems that the scams the crooks use are usually based on previous scams that worked. Most are not original. Learning about ways others have been taken by con men can set up an alarm in your mind that will hopefully go off before your money disappears. Stay aware.


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Open Letter to Snopes.com

I have Google as my home page. On my homepage I have a line I can click that says, "Add Stuff". One of the things I have added is Snopes.com - The Home page for Urban Legends. - Don't be fooled by pale imitations. Snopes is the best.

Today my Google homepage had a new listing for Snopes.

I saw this view of a Shuttle Launch when I clicked it:

~~AND~~

(Click pics or title above for Snopes page on this.)


Apparently I missed the email as it was going around that said photos were taken from the International Space Station. Snopes corrects it and says they were taken by NASA/JSC WB-57 High Altitude Research aircraft.

Who needs errant emails anymore?

I sent a comment through Barbara and David P. Mikkelson's website with the following message:

I know I've said this before but I'm guessing you don't get tired of hearing it. Just thought I'd let you know that your site is the greatest.

Just saw the space shuttle launch pictures. I didn't get them in my emails. Don't need to now and I'm thinking that people don't need to forward emails anymore. Just send a link to your site. - Thanks -


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Pagan Holiday Generates Big Bucks???

I love Snopes.com - Urban Legends - - Barbara and David P. Mikkelson have one of the best sites on the web. - Informative and humorous both. If you have never visited them I suggest you do so. In fact if you have visited them do so again. Lots of new stuff going up all the time. Chances are you will find something you heard years ago and always believed was true. Visiting them will tell you, as Paul Harvey says... "The Rest of the story."

This is especially true with those pesky emails that get forwarded to you all the time... - Check them out on Snopes before you forward them to your friends and include Snopes reference URL if they are true OR false.

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I had heard a few years ago Halloween is the second-biggest U.S. holiday in terms of retail sales and thought the news a bit depressing. After all it is a pagan holiday and I am a Christian.

A new page Snopes.com has put up (dated 29 Oct 06) informs the world that Halloween is NOT the second biggest holiday in terms of U.S. retail sales. The Urban Legend is just that. An Urban Legend that is typically false.

We have seen an increase in Halloween decorations outside of homes. Sometimes entire blocks vie for the spookiest and scariest home in the neighborhood. This has given credence to the Urban Legend...

Well it seems the truth is that there are several Holidays that top Halloween in retail sales.

* Winter holidays (Christmas): $457.4 billion

* Mother's Day: $13.80 billion

* Valentine's Day: $13.70 billion

* Easter: $12.63 billion

* Father's Day: $9.01 billion

Then comes Halloween in 6th place with a paltry 5 Billion Dollars in retail sales...

Snopes.com gives the reason for the other holidays being on top is because the first five are holidays of giving.

- Quote - unless Halloween evolves into an occasion for giving on a scale considerably greater than handing out a bit of candy to bands of trick-or-treaters, it may not surpass occasions such as Mother's Day and Valentine's Day and approach the #2 slot in retail sales anytime soon. - end quote -

prying1 sez:
It heartens me that in America "giving" and not a pagan holiday is one of the main things that helps keep our economy strong. And it is something we can all do. I suggest doing it a lot in little ways.

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