Don't use soldiers to make money

Priscilla checked out one of the thieving bastards, and is she mad. These particular thieving bastards claim to help soldiers, but all they do is take and bank money.

In Priscilla’s world, nobody messes with soldiers. Nobody.

Our three children have four Iraq tours, two Afghanistans and four deployments to another desert location.

Priscilla says, “Everybody in uniform is my child. They’re all my children.”

A letter asking for money came in an envelope with no organization listed, just a return address:

36585 Penfield Lane
Winchester, CA 93596

Printed on the envelope is: “Your card for a wounded, sick or disabled military hero is enclosed.” Printed in the upper left corner is an American flag.

Priscilla googled the address. Street-level view shows a small building next to a large vacant lot, with a warehouse across the street and some kind of California redneck establishment across from the desert lot.

Also at the address is a sign: “Help Hospitalized Veterans.”

https://www.google.com/maps?q=&layer=c&z=17&iwloc=A&sll=33.589901,-117.121764&cbp=13,281.6,0,0,0&cbll=33.589891,-117.121704&sa=X&ei=aiO7UeCIHIHu9AS4k4GYCg&ved=0CC4QxB0wAA

HHV is not exactly popular with organizations that keep eyes on non-profits.

“On August 9, 2012, the California Attorney General ‘filed a civil lawsuit seeking the removal of officers and directors of Help Hospitalized Veterans, a California charity. The complaint alleges that those running the organization engaged in self-dealing, paid excessive executive compensation and engaged in fraudulent fundraising and other unlawful activities. The lawsuit also seeks to recover more than $4.3 million in funds improperly diverted from Help Hospitalized Veterans. Those funds were meant to support several programs serving veterans and active-duty military, including providing arts and craft kits to hospitalized veterans. Instead, they were used to enrich the organization’s officers and fundraisers.’”

http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3813

HHV has its own ideas, of course. http://hhv.org/ shows pictures of smiling veterans who have found happiness and a new meaning of life through using leather crafts kits from HHV.

I have wondered how it is that somebody decides to make a living cheating people. I would like to talk with those people and find out what happened. Was it their parents, their schools, their friends? Or is there something wrong with the wiring in their brains?

Most people are honest, with small transgressions now and then. But the thieving bastards … Maybe one would say, “I have to make a living.”

And that is when I would slap the (----) out of him. Or her.