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I don't agree with this turkey, but I don't particularly like the yellow ribbon thing. I don't like the yellow ribbons, pink ribbons, red ribbons, red/white/blue ribbons, rainbow ribbons, or any of the other ribbons that people use to signal this or that political cause. I think that they are silly sentimental pap, that just wind up looking bedraggled and pathetic after a few weeks in the rain.

That said, I would never criticize somebody for putting them up. That is their political expression, and they are welcome to it. I only say so here on FR because we are all big boys and girls who can take a little criticism.

I find the yellow ribbons particularly offensive because they were first widely used during the Iranian hostage taking, and were an idea borrowed from a Tony Orlando song about a woman who displayed a ribbon to welcome back man getting out of prison. I thought it was wrong that our US Embassy personnel were being compared to prisoners. I thought that the notion that the hostages would not be welcomed back to be ludicrious. But mostly I did not like them because for 444 days the country just tied ribbons on lamposts and did nothing else to effectuate their release. The yellow ribbons became, for me, a symbol of an impotent government, powerless in the face of Islamic thuggery.

After that, the whole ribbon thing just rubbed me the wrong way. If you want to display your patriotism, put up a flag!

My thoughts on the yellow ribbions are identical to yours, for all the same reasons. It's like you read my mind then posted. That being said, the yellow ribbons mean nothing to me, but the removal of them just grates me the wrong way.

These are some yellow ribbons hanging around all over town. We've got men and women under fire and in hell holes as prisoners of war, at least one with two broken legs and a broken arm. Is it really too much to ask for yellow ribbons to be hung as a reminder of them? I don't think so, and anyone who pushes that idea is a very tiny person to my way of thinking. And no, I wasn't lumping you in there.

I would agree that flags are better, but if it means enough to someone to put up yellow ribbons, for goodness sake leave them up.

This guy from Palo Alto must have far too much free time.
Our soldiers are war criminals? He must be kidding.

Young men and women are fighting so we can all be free from terror. Haven't the actions of human sheilds, suicide bombers, firing at us from Mosques proven we are acting against a terrorist state?
I think a few nights in an Iraqi prison would change his world view.
In summary, get a life. If the ribbons bring comfort to our people, particularly those with loved ones overseas, what harm is there in that?