"GRAB A COKE AND A SMILE!"

Nascar Wife's age is probably showing with the title of this one, but I remember when that was the slogan for Coke.  I also remember "I'd like to teach the world to sing ..."  And the truth is, every now and then I just gotta have a Coke!  I try not to indulge too often, but there are just certain times that only a Coke will do.

Have you ever noticed that alot of Nascar drivers like Coke too?  Well, at least they appear to.  I always wondered why these professional athletes were always chugging away on a Coke, a beverage that really has no redeeming nutritional qualities.  It just didn't make sense that after a grueling race where dehydration is a concern a Coke is the first thing they reach for.

Well .... look a little closer and you will notice two things -- the bottle is always full, and they take one big swig and put the cap back on.

So, what's the deal with that?

There are six drivers that are part of the Coca-Cola Racing Family - Biffle, Hamlin, Logano, Newman, Stewart and Patrick.

Every time one of these drivers takes a chug on a Coke while they are on camera, they earn points. It's called the Coca-Cola Chug for Charity.  Coca-Cola keeps track of those points and periodically tallies the points and writes a check to the charity chosen by the driver with the most points.  In 2010 Ryan Newman won over $60,000 for the Ryan Newman Foundation!!

What a brilliant marketing strategy and a great, easy way for drivers to add to their favorite charity's bottom line!  It's a WIN-WIN all the way around!

"INDEPENDENCE" DAY?

July 4th, 1863 - The Battle of Gettysburg was raging just a few miles from where I live.  Thousands upon thousands of brave men were being led into battle behind a soldier bearing the flag they were willing to die to defend. Many faced certain death.  At the end of that battle, the farm fields were polluted with the lifeless bodies of soldiers from the North and from the South, many of them clutching in their hands their beloved flag.

July 4th, 2015 - Nascar has decided that because of some mentally deranged wack-a-doodle who chose to murder innocent people while wearing a shirt that had a Confederate flag patch on it, you can no longer fly that flag at any of their tracks.  It might offend someone.  Goodness gracious, we wouldn't want that now, would we?!?!

HOW IN THE WORLD DID WE GET HERE?

At the risk of 'offending someone' politically, I know EXACTLY how we got here! ....

MICHELLE OBAMA: "Barack knows that we are going to have to make sacrifices; we are going to have to change our conversation; we're going to have to change our traditions, our history; we're going to have to move into a different place as a nation."

Congratulations Mr. Obama.  You have succeeded in rewriting our history.  And we have rolled over and played dead while you did so.  We have allowed you to get away with it.  Or have we?

WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?

To me, that is the greater question.  We know what Nascar wants to do about it.  Nascar wants you to turn in your Confederate flag and exchange it for Old Glory.  Brilliant!!  Maybe if we eliminate any physical trace of what actually happened 150 years ago, we can all pretend it never happened and we can all just get along.  Yeah, keep drinkin' the Kool Aid, Nascar!!

Have you heard about this latest installment of Politically Correct Insanity?!

Bubba Watson to replace Confederate flag on General Lee with U.S. flag

In 2012, Watson had planned to drive the General Lee during the ceremonial parade lap for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway as part of his duties as honorary race official. However, NASCAR changed its mind, citing the flag on the roof, and decided "it was not in the best interest of our sport."

**NOTE THE DATE - 2012!!!

Yup, Bubba Watson is now going to paint over the Confederate flag on the General Lee, a car from a 70's televison show. Good God!  Now we even have to rewrite television history so that we don't offend anyone!! The ridiculousness of this leaves me almost speechless!!

So, as the mother of children whose great-great-great grandfathers fought and DIED defending the Union, let me say this.  I AM OFFENDED!!

I am offended that my freedom of speech, along with so many other freedoms, is being taken away.

I am offended that our President feels it is his duty to rewrite my history.

And I am offended that Nascar is helping him do exactly that.

IS IT POSSIBLE?

If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then so, it follows, is ugly.  Is it possible for us to consider this flag as a thing of beauty?  I believe it is.

Suppose instead of thinking of it as a racist symbol, a sign of oppression, and a reminder of an especially ugly and tragic time in our nation's history we change our perspective.

Suppose we consider it as a sign of triumph!  A reminder of a time when good men saw an injustice and were willing to die to give their fellow man a better life!  Suppose we teach our children, especially those who still consider themselves bound by the chains of slavery that their ancestors endured, that hundreds of thousands of people died horrible, nightmarish deaths all because they didn't want them to be bound by those same chains!  Men and Women, North and South, Union and Confederate.  All fought to make this a better country.  

THAT, MR. PRESIDENT, IS HOW YOU REWRITE HISTORY!!! 

So, where do we go from here?  I humbly suggest that you continue to fly the flag that you have always flown.  For this Yankee, it is not the flag of the Confederacy.  But if that is your choice, then by all means fly it.  If it offends someone I hope they will say something to you so that you can tell them how important that flag is to all of us.  NO ONE SHOULD BE OFFENDED BY OUR HISTORY.  It is who we are.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY AMERICA!!