COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Monday, May 31, 2010

For so many who gave the last full measure


In Flanders Fields

By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae


In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch, be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.


64 comments:

  1. Somebody had on an author whose dad was one of the six that raised the flag on Iwo Jima.
    3 died their, 2 died early deaths related to their service, dad was the only survivor.

    5,000 Marines, 20,000 plus Japanese.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I gave the last full measure of too damned much beer.
    Went well with the dog meat, tho.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Marvin Glenn Shields (December 30, 1939–June 10, 1965) was the first, and remains the only, Seabee to receive the Medal of Honor. He was also the first United States Navy Sailor to receive the Medal of Honor for action in Vietnam.

    Marvin G. Shields born December 30, 1939, in Port Townsend, Washington, enlisted in the Navy January 8, 1962. Shields graduated from high school in 1958 and had moved to Hyder, Alaska, where he worked the goldmines. After construction training, he served with Mobile Construction Battalion 11, and was with Seabee Team 1104 at Dong Xoai, South Vietnam, June 10, 1965, when a Vietcong regiment attacked. After being wounded, Shields continued to carry up ammunition to the firing line, and after receiving a second wound, insisted on helping a more severely wounded soldier to safety.

    Refusing to consider himself and now greatly weakened, he again exposed himself to enemy fire, volunteering to help knock out a machine gun which had the entire camp pinned down. Shields died from wounds he received after he and others “succeeded in destroying the enemy machine gun emplacement, thus undoubtedly saving the lives of many of their fellow servicemen in the compound.” He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor September 13, 1966.[1] He is buried at Gardiner Cemetery, Gardiner, Washington.[2] His name is listed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Panel 02E, Row 007.[3]

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  4. Wife's dentist is Japanese-Hawaiian, missing 1 leg from service as a Huey Pilot.

    My dentist, of course, is a Haole from Nixon's home town.
    We bitch about giving the country away to the Mexicans.

    Both dentists were involved in Scouts with son.

    Mine has 2 sons that are dentists, and one still in school before he joins them.

    Wife's dentist's son (like most Japanese here, a dedicated Democrat) is thinking about dental school after finding little current value in his liberal arts degree.

    Dad only decided to become a dentist after meeting someone in hospital while recovering from wounds.

    Dr. Shimokawa

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  5. My doc says the last time he visited hometown, Whittier CA, water pressure was extremely low at certain times of day.
    ...mains were designed for single families in single family homes.

    ...now occupied by dozens of illegal invaders.

    ReplyDelete
  6. 1,000 dead in Afghanistan.
    Let's here it for the new
    Compassionate Restraint Service Medal.
    Crystal for Sainthood.

    ReplyDelete
  7. What's wrong with telling the truth?

    (she'll give her last full measure for us guys @ the bar)

    Still love ya, Danica.

    Should get to drive for Penske.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Regarding the previous post: I love the label "activist." What in Hell is an activist?

    I guess I am an activist, as I will actively enjoy my day off.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Excellent point Gag.

    Tip one for me.

    I'll remember you as I chug down the first one.

    After a few, I can't promise anything.


    .

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  10. A flotilla of activists. Is that the same as a ship of fools?

    ReplyDelete
  11. A flotilla of activists. Is that the same as a ship of fools?


    Interesting thing, it's the rodney king thing again...

    Noone notices that the other 5 ships had zero problems...

    Rodney King had a passenger that was completely unharmed...

    I have seen the tapes, i wonder how the moment the IDF landed on the troubled ship the "peace activists" started whacking the IDF with crowbars and started stabbing them...

    The 16 dead were criminal/terrorists. I do not grieve their deaths.

    A lesson learned today.

    Those that seek the death of Israel? No more kid gloves.

    Some day the IDF will rival the rest of the world in death counts...

    But as we speak the rest of the world is still far more successful in killing that Israel...

    Maybe the problems will end when Israel adopts the German, USA, Arab, Chinese or European standards....

    ReplyDelete
  12. Iranian Guards general assassinated in Damascus - French sources
    DEBKAfile Special Report May 30, 2010, 8:37 PM

    Exclusive Al Mezzeh district, Damascus
    The death of Khalil Sultan, a high-ranking general of the IRGC's al Qods external terror branch, at his home in the exclusive Damascus district of Al Mezzeh Sunday, May 16 is now revealed by French intelligence and Syrian exile sources in Paris to have been assassination by an unknown hand.

    The authorities in Damascus said at the time that the general, whom they described as a rich Syrian businessman, sales agent for the Iranian Kordo automobile manufacturers, was killed in the course of a robbery.
    In fact, according to DEBKAfile's intelligence sources, Sultan ran Iranian Revolutionary Guards' covert operations in Damascus and Beirut under deep cover. The gang which burst into his luxury villa and gunned him down with automatic rifles removed only documents and laptops, but did not touch valuables, cash or gold.
    As Tehran's top operative for disposing of anti-Iranian elements in Syria and Lebanon, he worked in conjunction with Bashar Assad's intelligence branches. Their most recent joint project was the roundup of Iranian-Arab exiles from Ahwaz who live in Syria.
    Western sources disclose that his death caused deep shock in top Syrian and Iranian government and security circles. His assassins' success in reaching this top secret agent in the most closely-guarded neighborhood of the capital, seat of Syrian government institutions and domicile of senior officials, has caused Syrian intelligence and the regime as a whole deep embarrassment - particularly after a long series of hits against high-profile Hizballah and Hamas operatives in the Syrian capital's most secure districts - like the case of Hizballah commander Imad Mughniyeh.
    The victim was close to the al Qods Brigades chief Gen. Qassem Suleimeni, who is entrusted with the Islamic Republic's most hush-hush clandestine operations. French sources stress, on the other hand, that he was also a personal friend of the Iranian general who recently defected to the West. They name him as Gen. Reza Baba Hossein, the first time, DEBKAfile's sources note, that this Iranian general has been publicly revealed to be a defector to the West.

    that an Iranian general has been publicly named as a defector to the West.
    Sultan's duties and diverse connections suggest three possible parties may have wanted him dead:
    1. More than one foreign element had an interest in sabotaging Iran's covert activities in Syria and Lebanon and the intelligence partnership between Tehran and Damascus.
    2. Syrian opposition exiles in Paris point the finger at their Sunni compatriots who are involved in activities for weakening Iranian and Shiite influence in their country.
    3. Sultan's friendship with the defecting general may have aroused Tehran's suspicion that he abetted his friend's escape - or even had contacts in Western intelligence himself - in which case, Iranian intelligence would have no qualms about signing his death warrant.

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  13. If Israel shows that she is so easily provoked in a predictable manner does not that play into the hands of her enemies?

    Israel needs US support. Does Netanyahu think that this will be helpful to the Obama Administration in getting their support?

    I do not get this.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I was going to leave this for the memory of US servicemen that gave all.

    Not belittle their sacrifice with talk of the Pirates of the Mediterranean

    I still am going to leave this thread, to those deserving of our respect and memorial.

    Which include none of the folk in the Levant, today.

    ReplyDelete
  15. We've buried just about enough of our kids on foreign soil.

    It's time to bring'em home, and put'em to work building ethanol refineries, and securing our borders.

    If we're not careful we're going to forget we're America, and start thinking we're Rome.

    ReplyDelete
  16. desert rat said...
    I was going to leave this for the memory of US servicemen that gave all.
    Not belittle their sacrifice with talk of the Pirates of the Mediterranean
    I still am going to leave this thread, to those deserving of our respect and memorial.
    Which include none of the folk in the Levant, today.




    But you didnt... and you name called to boot..

    your a criminal.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Deuce said...
    If Israel shows that she is so easily provoked in a predictable manner does not that play into the hands of her enemies?


    What would play into the hands of the enemies of Israel would have been the successful destruction of Israel's deterrence.

    Israel is at war. Turkey sending ships to arm Israel's enemies (while at war) is an act of war.

    Me? I would have sank them.


    Deuce: Israel needs US support. Does Netanyahu think that this will be helpful to the Obama Administration in getting their support?
    I do not get this.


    Deuce, Israel believes that America's leadership has thrown Israel under the bus, just yesterday America threw Israel under the bus with the NPT.

    There are no sanctions against Iran

    Syria and Iran have violated 1701 with Lebanon and America has turned a blind eye.

    Israel is being pushed into a corner and America (under Obama) is helping.

    Israel sees a multi-front major war very soon and does not see ANY help from the USA, except for the USA leading the charges against Israel at the UN.

    America (under Obama) is weakened on purpose.

    Obama has changed the ROE for it's men in battle costing the lives of many more than needed all the while using predators at triple the previous admins..

    Obama is creating a teachable moment, he wants a "post-america" and he's damned sure to get it...

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  18. The price of one year's travails in the Middle East, and S. Asia will get us off Foreign Oil, Forever.

    One Year.

    Forever.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Edison invented the electric light.

    Within Two Years we had built 5,000 Electric Generating Stations.

    The Next 5 Years we built 127,000 More.

    What we need to do now is "Nothing" compared to that.

    ReplyDelete
  20. The Gaza Flotilla and the Maritime Blockade of Gaza
    Legal Background – 31 May 2010



    1. A maritime blockade is in effect off the coast of Gaza. Such blockade has been imposed, as Israel is currently in a state of armed conflict with the Hamas regime that controls Gaza, which has repeatedly bombed civilian targets in Israel with weapons that have been smuggled into Gaza via the sea.



    2. Maritime blockades are a legitimate and recognized measure under international law that may be implemented as part of an armed conflict at sea.



    3. A blockade may be imposed at sea, including in international waters, so long as it does not bar access to the ports and coasts of neutral States.



    4. The naval manuals of several western countries, including the US and England recognize the maritime blockade as an effective naval measure and set forth the various criteria that make a blockade valid, including the requirement of give due notice of the existence of the blockade.



    5. In this vein, it should be noted that Israel publicized the existence of the blockade and the precise coordinates of such by means of the accepted international professional maritime channels. Israel also provided appropriate notification to the affected governments and to the organizers of the Gaza protest flotilla. Moreover, in real time, the ships participating in the protest flotilla were warned repeatedly that a maritime blockade is in effect.



    6. Here, it should be noted that under customary law, knowledge of the blockade may be presumed once a blockade has been declared and appropriate notification has been granted, as above.



    7. Under international maritime law, when a maritime blockade is in effect, no boats can enter the blockaded area. That includes both civilian and enemy vessels.



    8. A State may take action to enforce a blockade. Any vessel that violates or attempts to violate a maritime blockade may be captured or even attacked under international law. The US Commander's Handbook on the Law of Naval Operations sets forth that a vessel is considered to be in attempt to breach a blockade from the time the vessel leaves its port with the intention of evading the blockade.



    9. Here we should note that the protesters indicated their clear intention to violate the blockade by means of written and oral statements. Moreover, the route of these vessels indicated their clear intention to violate the blockade in violation of international law.



    10. Given the protesters explicit intention to violate the naval blockade, Israel exercised its right under international law to enforce the blockade. It should be noted that prior to undertaking enforcement measures, explicit warnings were relayed directly to the captains of the vessels, expressing Israel's intent to exercise its right to enforce the blockade.



    11. Israel had attempted to take control of the vessels participating in the flotilla by peaceful means and in an orderly fashion in order to enforce the blockade. Given the large number of vessels participating in the flotilla, an operational decision was made to undertake measures to enforce the blockade a certain distance from the area of the blockade.



    12. Israeli personnel attempting to enforce the blockade were met with violence by the protesters and acted in self defense to fend off such attacks.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Go to Google and see NOTHING...

    Not one mention of the day...

    ReplyDelete
  22. So now you gotta take your stinking Israeli crap onto a Memorial Day thread? S**t!

    ReplyDelete
  23. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  24. rufus said...
    So now you gotta take your stinking Israeli crap onto a Memorial Day thread? S**t!


    Spoken like a true patriot....

    Actually Gag brought the topic up.

    Mama always said:

    If you have nothing nice to say? Keep your mouth shut...

    Rufus, you comment was, shall we say, said with stupidity and rancor.

    Maybe if you had some class you could have said:

    instead of: So now you gotta take your stinking Israeli crap onto a Memorial Day thread? S**t!

    Please refrain, on this thread from going off topic.

    Rufus, please look in the mirror and repeat...

    "i will get more bees with honey than vinegar"

    ReplyDelete
  25. "1. A maritime blockade is in effect off the coast of Gaza..."

    True enough. But a maritime blockade is an act of war. Israel along with Egypt surround Gaza on three sides. The blockade surrounds Gaza on the fourth. As such, Israel can't maintain the blockade as well as the conceit, as you have expressed here, that they do not have the responsibilities of an occupying force in Gaza.

    You can have it one way or another, not both. To argue otherwise, is like a warden saying because I do not have my guards patrol up and down the halls of the prison I don't really control it even though the only people or goods that go in or out are the ones I allow in or out.

    .

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  26. A special thought and prayer to all those families who have lost loved ones to war. This means you!

    ReplyDelete
  27. Quirk said...
    "1. A maritime blockade is in effect off the coast of Gaza..."

    True enough. But a maritime blockade is an act of war. Israel along with Egypt surround Gaza on three sides. The blockade surrounds Gaza on the fourth. As such, Israel can't maintain the blockade as well as the conceit, as you have expressed here, that they do not have the responsibilities of an occupying force in Gaza.



    ONLY IF EGYPT IS EQUALLY ASSIGNED RESPONSIBILITY



    Q: You can have it one way or another, not both. To argue otherwise, is like a warden saying because I do not have my guards patrol up and down the halls of the prison I don't really control it even though the only people or goods that go in or out are the ones I allow in or out.


    ONLY IF YOU ARE EQUAL IN DISCUSSING EGYPT'S ROLE.


    Otherwise you are using a double standard.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Gag Reflex said...
    A special thought and prayer to all those families who have lost loved ones to war. This means you!


    Thank you. We have lost loved ones in the service of our great nation.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Q: As such, Israel can't maintain the blockade as well as the conceit, as you have expressed here, that they do not have the responsibilities of an occupying force in Gaza.



    WHen America had a naval blockade of Mexico it is not the SAME as the term "occupation force"

    Blockade is one thing..

    Occupation is another...

    why mix up terms?

    ReplyDelete
  30. WIO is playing the blame game.

    "gag brought it up"

    I was merely poking fun at the MSM for the monikers they use.

    Please don't include me in your Jew vs. the world spew.

    Time to crank up the grill. I hope you all enjoy your day.

    ReplyDelete
  31. "ONLY IF YOU ARE EQUAL IN DISCUSSING EGYPT'S ROLE."


    I normally wouldn't equate Egypt with with Israel in any sense, however, since you insist they are equivalent in this case, I have no problem with that. I can readily agree.

    Two peas in a pod as it were.


    .



    .

    ReplyDelete
  32. Gag Reflex said...
    WIO is playing the blame game.

    "gag brought it up"

    I was merely poking fun at the MSM for the monikers they use.

    Please don't include me in your Jew vs. the world spew.

    Time to crank up the grill. I hope you all enjoy your day.





    Not a BLAME GaME... Just a point in fact...

    I could live without your "Jew vrs the World" comment, but I wasnt looking for any support, just pointing out that you IN FACT posted something on this thread 1st.

    GO fire your grill and enjoy your bbq.

    ReplyDelete
  33. "Blockade is one thing..

    Occupation is another...

    why mix up terms?"


    Semantics.

    Isreal controls everything and everybody going in or out. For the vast majority of Gaza residents, Isreal controls what they get to eat, how much they get to eat, when they get to eat it. For me, de facto or de jure, Israel is an occupying force.


    .

    ReplyDelete
  34. Quirk said...
    "ONLY IF YOU ARE EQUAL IN DISCUSSING EGYPT'S ROLE."


    I normally wouldn't equate Egypt with with Israel in any sense, however, since you insist they are equivalent in this case, I have no problem with that. I can readily agree.

    Two peas in a pod as it were.





    Great, now if we can teach you the difference between "blockade" and "occupation"

    One can only hope for the day Israel occupies gaza again, hopefully they will, expel all the squatting arabs to sinai and take and annex Gaza as Israeli.

    Israel needs to do what America has done, What the 21 arab nations have done, What the Europeans have done, What the Chinese have done.

    Expel the garbage.

    ReplyDelete
  35. quirk: Semantics.

    Isreal controls everything and everybody going in or out. For the vast majority of Gaza residents, Isreal controls what they get to eat, how much they get to eat, when they get to eat it. For me, de facto or de jure, Israel is an occupying force.



    Nonsense.

    again you miss 1/2 the equation, EGYPT, the historic holder of GAZA

    Blockade aint occupation..

    you are loose and fast with terms....

    ReplyDelete
  36. quirk, that took you all of 4 minutes to revert back to the blame Israel game...

    congrats...

    ReplyDelete
  37. google just added something about memorial day

    ReplyDelete
  38. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  39. google seems to have 2 loading pages today

    one blank and one with a simple message about our service men and women

    ReplyDelete
  40. Gag Reflex said...
    Regarding the previous post: I love the label "activist." What in Hell is an activist?

    I guess I am an activist, as I will actively enjoy my day off.

    Gag Reflex said...
    A flotilla of activists. Is that the same as a ship of fools?




    yep, I aint a victim, I just report the facts...

    ReplyDelete
  41. "quirk, that took you all of 4 minutes to revert back to the blame Israel game..."

    Easy to do, WiO.

    There is enough blame to go around over there.

    As I said on the last thread, you and rat are interchangeable. The rat makes excuses for the Palis and portrays everything that happens over there as Israel's fault. You are the apologist for Israel. No matter what they do, or how stupid, you are there ready with an excuse or extenuating circumstance. It is never Israel's fault, only the Palis.

    You were the one that posted a foot long blurb on the blockade today. You were also the one who posted a couple feet the other day on how Israel wasn't an occupying power. If I see two truths that appear contradictory, I'll usually question one of them.

    As I told rat on the previous thread, don't try to bullshit a bullshitter.


    .

    ReplyDelete
  42. A deep Thank You to the Veterans.

    ReplyDelete
  43. q: No matter what they do, or how stupid, you are there ready with an excuse or extenuating circumstance. It is never Israel's fault, only the Palis.


    I am biased on the side of the israelis...

    No doubt.

    I am also biased on the side of America

    No doubt.

    The arabs verses the jews is a long fought out war.

    But as for seeking an excuse of everything? naw..

    No excuse for the flotilla issue, I only wish Israel had blown the ship out of the water...

    and your insistence that israel is an "occupying power" verses the correct usage of the term Israel and Egypt have a blockade on Gaza aint semantics..

    But not to fret....

    The world is infected by islamic jihadists and they do seek to murder you, someday you may actually see it, hopefully this will happen BEFORE America becomes a dhimmi...

    Have a nice Memorial Day, I will remember both my relatives wounded and killed and those I share America with that lost their lives in service to us.

    ReplyDelete
  44. Have a good day WiO.

    We all have people to remember today.


    .

    ReplyDelete
  45. "As I said on the last thread, you and rat are interchangeable."-----

    O Wrong O

    Quirk cannot you see
    The difference
    Between yes and no
    And plus and minus
    Between building greenhouses up
    And tearing them down
    Between wrestling with God
    Like Jacob
    Or submitting to fate
    Like Mo?

    ReplyDelete
  46. from the Belmont Club---


    "5. Terry, Eilat - Israel

    We’ll be at war in the very near future. Everyone here knows this. As far as I’m concerned, we’re justified in using EVERYTHING we’ve got in the coming conflict. Say goodbye to Teheran, Damascus, & Beirut, who knows, at the rate things are going these days, maybe say goodbye to Ankara as well. This is the result of appeasement & babbling on about ”peace” by all the idiot liberals. The only thing that appeasement brings is war, and on a much larger scale."----

    ReplyDelete
  47. Not long ago, the mother of a young soldier serving in Iraq had to be officially notified of her son's death. She lives out in a remote village in a country removed that conflict.

    Her son was on his second, and back-to-back, Iraq deployment. He had a family - a young wife and children - in the States.

    He died all alone, in a base latrine.

    We think of those who have lost their lives to bad guys.

    There are those, too, who have lost their lives to finally unbearable strain, hardship, and heartbreak.

    God bless them.

    ReplyDelete
  48. 101. buddy larsen

    –to those wondering if the IDF “overdid” it, it could be that any ‘overdoing’ is the only way to deliver the humanitarian message that those three IDF submarines cruising offshore Iran are not playing games.

    ReplyDelete
  49. Please Rufus:
    These "racial" comments are "not helpful."

    Call in the Deletion Squad!!!

    ReplyDelete
  50. Not all Jews are alike, ya know.
    Hell, some of 'em even vote Republican.

    ReplyDelete
  51. Pakistani Court Orders Access to Facebook Restored

    Goody, I can go back to being a follower of bin Laden.

    ReplyDelete
  52. Editorial: How Many Warnings do They Need?
    Congress and the White House must address gaps in homeland security before our nation’s luck runs out.

    They left out
    "Build the Danged Fence"

    ReplyDelete
  53. No "racist" comments from me, Doug-O. The last time I checked "Israel" was a Country, not a Race.

    ReplyDelete
  54. American Cage fighter 'rips out still-beating heart of training partner'...

    'Satan was in that dude'...

    My client was trying to silence the devil,’ said James Fallman.

    Wyatt has been charged with first degree murder and torture.

    Prosecutors added the torture charge as Powell was still alive when his heart was removed.

    ReplyDelete
  55. rufus said...
    So now you gotta take your stinking Israeli crap onto a Memorial Day thread? S**t!


    This statement is racist. Claiming the caveat that "your stinking Israeli crap" is not specifically is splitting hairs...

    But I dont want it banned...

    I want it to stay up for all times...

    It's the American way! Rufus is entitled to be inbred retarded, Israeli hating asshole, and it's the American way that his words should be a sign upon all he says and does...

    Do not ban hateful words by anyone.

    It is honest...

    At least we all know that Rufus thinks that my "stinking Israeli crap" is just that...

    For that I am pleased.

    ReplyDelete
  56. rufus said...
    So now you gotta take your stinking Israeli crap onto a Memorial Day thread? S**t!

    Mon May 31, 12:31:00 PM EDT


    Actually Gag did, followed by Quirk, followed by WiO, followed by Deuce.

    ReplyDelete
  57. doug,

    How can you sit there unenraged. The Israelis opened their vicious attack with paint balls. Did you hear? Paint Balls!!! Oh, the humanity.

    I smell Ehud "Paint Ball" Barack all over this thing.

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  58. allen...

    Israel is damned no matter what it does...

    So to those that will hate Israel for protecting it'sself?

    GET USED TO IT...

    To protestors that shoot homemade rockets?

    I WANT YOU TO DIE A PAINFUL DEATH.

    To those that support the Palestinians in their cause of Peace (or as I like to call it, GENOCIDE of the JEWS)

    EMBRACE THE FACT THAT YOUR OPINION, YOUR LIFE AND YOUR GENE POOL IS NOT OF ANY MERIT.

    Don't LIke Jews, Israelis or Zionists?

    I am cool with that...

    But don't think I really give one rotten egg that you feel that way.

    ReplyDelete
  59. The more sand that has escaped from the hourglass of our duration, the clearer we should foresee through it.
    http://phoneontherun.com/forum_i68_en/index.php?action=profile;u=48611

    ReplyDelete