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Title: American troops in Afghanistan losing heart, say army chaplains
Source:
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URL Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/ne ... Afghanistan/article6865359.ece
Published: Oct 8, 2009
Author: Martin Fletcher
Post Date: 2009-10-08 09:57:15 by Horse
Keywords: None
Views: 7417
Comments: 240
American soldiers serving in Afghanistan are depressed and deeply disillusioned, according to the chaplains of two US battalions that have spent nine months on the front line in the war against the Taleban. Many feel that they are risking their lives — and that colleagues have died — for a futile mission and an Afghan population that does nothing to help them, the chaplains told The Times in their makeshift chapel on this fortress-like base in a dusty, brown valley southwest of Kabul. “The many soldiers who come to see us have a sense of futility and anger about being here. They are really in a state of depression and despair and just want to get back to their families,” said Captain Jeff Masengale, of the 10th Mountain Division’s 2-87 Infantry Battalion. “They feel they are risking their lives for progress that’s hard to discern,” said Captain Sam Rico, of the Division’s 4-25 Field Artillery Battalion. “They are tired, strained, confused and just want to get through.” The chaplains said that they were speaking out because the men could not. The base is not, it has to be said, obviously downcast, and many troops do not share the chaplains’ assessment. The soldiers are, by nature and training, upbeat, driven by a strong sense of duty, and they do their jobs as best they can. Re-enlistment rates are surprisingly good for the 2-87, though poor for the 4-25. Several men approached by The Times, however, readily admitted that their morale had slumped. “We’re lost — that’s how I feel. I’m not exactly sure why we’re here,” said Specialist Raquime Mercer, 20, whose closest friend was shot dead by a renegade Afghan policeman last Friday. “I need a clear-cut purpose if I’m going to get hurt out here or if I’m going to die.” Sergeant Christopher Hughes, 37, from Detroit, has lost six colleagues and survived two roadside bombs. Asked if the mission was worthwhile, he replied: “If I knew exactly what the mission was, probably so, but I don’t.” The only soldiers who thought it was going well “work in an office, not on the ground”. In his opinion “the whole country is going to s***”. The battalion’s 1,500 soldiers are nine months in to a year-long deployment that has proved extraordinarily tough. Their goal was to secure the mountainous Wardak province and then to win the people’s allegiance through development and good governance. They have, instead, found themselves locked in an increasingly vicious battle with the Taleban. They have been targeted by at least 300 roadside bombs, about 180 of which have exploded. Nineteen men have been killed in action, with another committing suicide. About a hundred have been flown home with amputations, severe burns and other injuries likely to cause permanent disability, and many of those have not been replaced. More than two dozen mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles (MRAPs) have been knocked out of action. Living conditions are good — abundant food, air-conditioned tents, hot water, free internet — but most of the men are on their second, third or fourth tours of Afghanistan and Iraq, with barely a year between each. Staff Sergeant Erika Cheney, Airborne’s mental health specialist, expressed concern about their mental state — especially those in scattered outposts — and believes that many have mild post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). “They’re tired, frustrated, scared. A lot of them are afraid to go out but will still go,” she said. Lieutenant Peter Hjelmstad, 2-87’s Medical Platoon Leader, said sleeplessness and anger attacks were common. A dozen men have been confined to desk jobs because they can no longer handle missions outside the base. One long-serving officer who has lost three friends this tour said he sometimes returned to his room at night and cried, or played war games on his laptop. “It’s a release. It’s a method of coping.” He has nightmares and sleeps little, and it does not help that the base is frequently shaken by outgoing artillery fire. He was briefly overcome as he recalled how, when a lorry backfired during his most recent home leave, he grabbed his young son and dived between two parked cars. The chaplains said soldiers were seeking their help in unprecedented numbers. “Everyone you meet is just down, and you meet them everywhere — in the weight room, dining facility, getting mail,” said Captain Rico. Even “hard men” were coming to their tent chapel and breaking down. The men are frustrated by the lack of obvious purpose or progress. “The soldiers’ biggest question is: what can we do to make this war stop. Catch one person? Assault one objective? Soldiers want definite answers, other than to stop the Taleban, because that almost seems impossible. It’s hard to catch someone you can’t see,” said Specialist Mercer. “It’s a very frustrating mission,” said Lieutenant Hjelmstad. “The average soldier sees a friend blown up and his instinct is to retaliate or believe it’s for something [worthwhile], but it’s not like other wars where your buddy died but they took the hill. There’s no tangible reward for the sacrifice. It’s hard to say Wardak is better than when we got here.” Captain Masengale, a soldier for 12 years before he became a chaplain, said: “We want to believe in a cause but we don’t know what that cause is.” The soldiers are angry that colleagues are losing their lives while trying to help a population that will not help them. “You give them all the humanitarian assistance that they want and they’re still going to lie to you. They’ll tell you there’s no Taleban anywhere in the area and as soon as you roll away, ten feet from their house, you get shot at again,” said Specialist Eric Petty, from Georgia. Captain Rico told of the disgust of a medic who was asked to treat an insurgent shortly after pulling a colleague’s charred corpse from a bombed vehicle. The soldiers complain that rules of engagement designed to minimise civilian casualties mean that they fight with one arm tied behind their backs. “They’re a joke,” said one. “You get shot at but can do nothing about it. You have to see the person with the weapon. It’s not enough to know which house the shooting’s coming from.” The soldiers joke that their Isaf arm badges stand not for International Security Assistance Force but “I Suck At Fighting” or “I Support Afghan Farmers”. To compound matters, soldiers are mainly being killed not in combat but on routine journeys, by roadside bombs planted by an invisible enemy. “That’s very demoralising,” said Captain Masengale. The constant deployments are, meanwhile, playing havoc with the soldiers’ private lives. “They’re killing families,” he said. “Divorces are skyrocketing. PTSD is off the scale. There have been hundreds of injuries that send soldiers home and affect families for the rest of their lives.” The chaplains said that many soldiers had lost their desire to help Afghanistan. “All they want to do is make it home alive and go back to their wives and children and visit the families who have lost husbands and fathers over here. It comes down to just surviving,” said Captain Masengale. “If we make it back with ten toes and ten fingers the mission is successful,” Sergeant Hughes said. “You carry on for the guys to your left or right,” added Specialist Mercer. The chaplains have themselves struggled to cope with so much distress. “We have to encourage them, strengthen them and send them out again. No one comes in and says, ‘I’ve had a great day on a mission’. It’s all pain,” said Captain Masengale. “The only way we’ve been able to make it is having each other.” Lieutenant-Colonel Kimo Gallahue, 2-87’s commanding officer, denied that his men were demoralised, and insisted they had achieved a great deal over the past nine months. A triathlete and former rugby player, he admitted pushing his men hard, but argued that taking the fight to the enemy was the best form of defence. He said the security situation had worsened because the insurgents had chosen to fight in Wardak province, not abandon it. He said, however, that the situation would have been catastrophic without his men. They had managed to keep open the key Kabul-to-Kandahar highway which dissects Wardak, and prevent the province becoming a launch pad for attacks on the capital, which is barely 20 miles from its border. Above all, Colonel Gallahue argued that counter-insurgency — winning the allegiance of the indigenous population through security, development and good governance — was a long and laborious process that could not be completed in a year. “These 12 months have been, for me, laying the groundwork for future success,” he said. At morning service on Sunday, the two chaplains sought to boost the spirits of their flock with uplifting hymns, accompanied by video footage of beautiful lakes, oceans and rivers. Captain Rico offered a particularly apposite reading from Corinthians: “We are afflicted in every way but not crushed; perplexed but not driven to despair; persecuted but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.”
Poster Comment: “The many soldiers who come to see us have a sense of futility and anger about being here. They are really in a state of depression and despair and just want to get back to their families,” ...“They feel they are risking their lives for progress that’s hard to discern,”... “They are tired, strained, confused and just want to get through.”...“We’re lost — that’s how I feel. I’m not exactly sure why we’re here,” ...“I need a clear-cut purpose if I’m going to get hurt out here or if I’m going to die.”...Sergeant Christopher Hughes, 37, from Detroit, has lost six colleagues and survived two roadside bombs. Asked if the mission was worthwhile, he replied: “If I knew exactly what the mission was, probably so, but I don’t.”...sleeplessness and anger attacks were common....The men are frustrated by the lack of obvious purpose or progress....“We want to believe in a cause but we don’t know what that cause is.”...To compound matters, soldiers are mainly being killed not in combat but on routine journeys, by roadside bombs planted by an invisible enemy....“Divorces are skyrocketing. PTSD is off the scale. There have been hundreds of injuries that send soldiers home and affect families for the rest of their lives.”...“All they want to do is make it home alive and go back to their wives and children and visit the families who have lost husbands and fathers over here. It comes down to just surviving,”...He said the security situation had worsened because the insurgents had chosen to fight in Wardak province, not abandon it...two chaplains sought to boost the spirits of their flock with uplifting hymns, accompanied by video footage of beautiful lakes, oceans and rivers.
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#130. To: Ferret Mike (#127)
Time has run out for Obummer to prove himself. This joker is the biggest liar in history. How many more lies are you waiting for?
Of course you give the treasonous-murderous Barry Hussein the "benefit of doubt" - you and he share the same warped core "belief system."
Mike, when a defense bill is offered to the members of both Houses of congress, and they like a family of mockingbirds all vote in the affirmative, the term neocon loses it's punch. A better choice of words is politician, and each and every one is a politician.
His popularity will be in the mid 40s come January/February.
www.cuttingedge.org/news/n1224. cfm was his pick for Secretary of State.
Yes, I know your position on this. But thanks for sharing it again. Perhaps my yard stick is just not the same as yours. And while you can rail at me for the care and time I use to measure President Obama's job performance, that won't change things. One thing is certain, I will use my own standards to measure that as time moves forward. Right now things are about as I expected them to be during the election season; there are good things and accomplishments that have happened and we are moving toward, and things that do not exactly make me happy. The choice for president is a chess move in my mind. Which one of the two choices the system gives us will produce the best environment to get the most of what we need to happen? And that is a typical attitude for an activist from Eugene, Oregon to have, which I am. My views and belief system resonates with that of most my brethren here, though actually I tend to be a wee more conservative then most of them. Because no woman or man will ever be a perfect POTUS, as too much of that determination is subjective, and no human being is or should be perfect. ;-)
-- Quote re-punctuated for clarity --- Well now, reference items of his system of beliefs such as that Muslims have the right to be American citizens and freely practice their religion here as per the First Amendment and legal rulings that have weight in enforcing this contention under the auspices of our system of law that operate under Stare Decisis. Which of course is the legal principle by which judges are obliged to obey the precedents established by prior decisions. Let us use this as an example to address your above quoted assertion. Now, I know you hate all Muslim religious belief, and I assume you don't consider them 'real' Americans who deserve the right to be here or to worship as they believe. I assume as well you don't ever want to see a Muslim as POTUS, or feel Muslims should be in the U.S. Armed Forces, especially in the role as Chaplain. I have Muslim friends, many of whom I got to know while working at Portland Saturday Market, including a retired Egyptian General who made his bones militarily by being a bright light of success in the dark blight of failure the Seven Day war turned out to be for Egypt. I also knew some very talented and dedicated Muslims in the U.S. Army. I support the right for them to be here, to worship as they chose, to witness and promote their faith if they wish to, and their right to serve in the military here, or even for one to serve as president. I submit my belief system in many ways adheres tighter to Constitutional law and even Founder's intent then yours' does. And I do so with the caveat of acknowledging my assumptions of your belief on this example my indeed be wrong. I also submit you have a right to your belief system every bit as much as I have to mine. But I doubt you feel the same way here. It sounds to me in listening to you that you would feeel more comfortable seeing people like me suppressed and stifled. Just as sure as I am that if I am wrong here, that you will let me know that I am.
Your submissions have been found to not ONLY be 'lacking', but COMPLETELY delusional. Again, to what do you attribute your mind-numbingly Traitorous and bereft of your dignity ??? You illegal alien invader loving, pissing on the Constitution, Marxist- collectivist RAT...
Try answering from the brain next time. Answering from the gonads just gives you a really weird verbal salad of a post. My little lacking lackey of a brown boot licking loser. ;-D
My Lord you're a dumb dense sick sack of shit. That's about all you get, Traitor.
I just thought I would take a moment of your time with this post and point out that Mike is your best friend.
“Gold is the money of kings; silver is the money of gentlemen; barter is the money of peasants; but debt is the money of slaves.”
How in the world can a boot licking syco like you take you seriously when you are the biggest cartoon on this website, Fobama butt licker ???
Hey Rotara, why not "Bozo" that "bozo".?
You hang out with shit stains like this but I wipe them off the planet, buck the filer...
That "bozo", buckeroo is already on my "bozo" list.
I object to your language and rudeness. I know you don't like Mike but this has got to stop.
Honestly, I think you guys are a little hard on Mike. Kinda juvenile in my opinion. Reminds me too much of the likes of Byteshredder, yukon, E_Type_Jag, Mad Dog on LP. Just my opinion, for what it's worth not that you asked for it.
I like to keep up with the prey...actually I stay a few steps ahead of the dumb corn holers. If I put ALL of the cock suckers on bozo I wouldn't appreciate the depths of the scum that must be eradicated from my nation. it's just plain good recon...
Fuck that Traitor and every one that stands with these heinous degenerates. You aren't ready to lead, Maggie...
I hear ya'
Here, let me fix that for you: The Jew-in-Chief even may be building a Blood Altar Synagouge in the White House basement for all we know.
TRAITORS TO AMERICA AND BRAINWASHED IDIOTS SUPPORT AND DEFEND ISRAEL. TO HELL WITH ZIONISTS AND THIER AMERICAN FRONTS: AIPAC/PNAC/ADL/JPCA/NAACP/CFR/FEDERAL RESERVE/NWO/SPLC/JINSA/ACLU/FPI/CHRISTIAN ZIONISTS/AEI/FEDERAL MEDIA/HOLLYWOOD, et. al.
wud, you know I love you; but I haven't taken you seriously for numerous reasons for quite some time...
Thank God Almighty I know that THIS HERE isn't the best that THIS NATION has to offer for the recovery and renewed vibrance...
I enjoy diversity, particularly with opinion. I loathe closet cases such as yourself.
“Gold is the money of kings; silver is the money of gentlemen; barter is the money of peasants; but debt is the money of slaves.”
I am leading by example. You don't fight tyranny by being uncivilized and rude. You don't want to vote for me, fine don't vote for me.
I love hypocritical filing Feral Reserve two-faces such as you, buck. Care to answer the question, USRael-funder ?
Hey, what's the title of that movie, where the abused P.O.W. hung the flag upside down to get the warden busted.? That's a awesome flick.>>!!
You, my olde friend, are deluded. But all the best...
Why? Because I don't believe in being an ass?
I don't recall.
So, not only are you a closet case but you love "two faces" such as me. WOW, aren't you hitting below the belt this evening?
“Gold is the money of kings; silver is the money of gentlemen; barter is the money of peasants; but debt is the money of slaves.”
#1 - because you believe that running a worthless campaign at this point will make a difference #2 - because you have chosen to play nice with those that will gladly finish off you, your family and everyone like you You do your thing and I'll do mine. Let's compare notes in 6 months. (Of course, being a Lady is always commendable but we're beyond the bullshit if you will)
Filer or non filer you intellectually dishonest and phony SOB ?
Thanks Buckeroo. I trust he'll figure things out someday.
Congratulations, now your affiliation with the enemy looks to be cemented. Playing 'both sides' has always been your style, twinkie, but this one takes the cup-'cake'...
What do you actually care? You think the world is here to satisfy your personal temper tantrum about a single poster, Mike. You have no real issue with Mike. You only have issue(s) with yourself in the closet, watching yourself in a looking glass with the left hand while wanking off with the right.
“Gold is the money of kings; silver is the money of gentlemen; barter is the money of peasants; but debt is the money of slaves.”
Bullshit, schmuck. You're complicit in the sham. Go Fuck Yourself (as you quaintly say, cock smoking two-face).
I wager you do that all the time to yourself, correct?
“Gold is the money of kings; silver is the money of gentlemen; barter is the money of peasants; but debt is the money of slaves.”
Even the IRA had a political side. I choose Buford Pusser's style.
You'll never answer the question because you know you're a hypocritical feral reserve slave that gladly participates versus taking a simple and real stand. Fuck you, you worthless dying POS.
You gonna let bucky talk to you that way?
In 2007, the FBI reported on concern about white supremacists recruiting soldiers, saying "hundreds" of neo-Nazis were in the active military. But in April, a Department of Homeland Security report on extremism that reiterated much the same point was widely criticized by veterans groups and some conservative politicians as being unpatriotic, leading the Justice Department to retract the DHS report. Critics acknowledge that extremism in the Army is a touchy political subject.
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Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/LatestI am willing to give him the benefit of doubt for now..
#131. To: Ferret Barry, Jethro Tull (#127)
I am willing to give him [Barry Hussein O] the benefit of doubt for now, and this is due to my belief system....
#132. To: Ferret Mike, Cynicom, Liberator, all (#127)
But my contention is that the jury is still out on whether he is wrong in walking the centerline of the road on these wars started by Neocons
#133. To: Liberator (#129)
#134. To: Liberator (#129)
Muslin-in-Chief
#135. To: TwentyTwelve (#130)
#136. To: Liberator (#131)
(Edited)
"Of course you give the treasonous-murderous Barry Hussein the 'benefit of doubt' - you and he share the same warped core 'belief system.'"
#137. To: WEASEL MIKE, miKe mKKarthy, ferret mike, corn flake lying COMMIE GREATER GOOD POS (#136)
I submit my belief system in many ways adheres tighter to Constitutional law and even Founder's intent then yours' does.
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams 
#138. To: Rotara (#137)
#139. To: WEASEL MIKE (#138)
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
#140. To: Rotara, ferret mike (#139)
To Mike: My Lord you're a dumb dense sick sack of shit.
#141. To: OBAMALAMADINGDONGER SUCKING BOOT LICKER, ferret mike, shoonra, miKe mKKarthy, WEASEL MIKE, corn flaker (#138)
(Edited)
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
#142. To: Rotara (#139)
#143. To: buckeroo (#140)
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
#144. To: Rotara (#143)
(Edited)
#145. To: Rotara (#141)
"If, from the more wretched parts of the old world, we look at those which are in an advanced stage of improvement, we still find the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry, and grasping the spoil of the multitude. Invention is continually exercised, to furnish new pretenses for revenues and taxation. It watches prosperity as its prey and permits none to escape without tribute." --Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791
#146. To: Rotara, Original_Intent, christine, Ferret Mike, all (#141)
"The trouble with people is not that they don't know but that they know so much that ain't so." ~ Josh Billings
#147. To: sizzlerguy (#142)
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
#148. To: farmfriend (#145)
I object to your language and rudeness. I know you don't like Mike but this has got to stop.
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
#149. To: Rotara (#147)
#150. To: Liberator (#129)
The Muslim-in-Chief even may be building a Blood Altar mosque in the White House basement for all we know.
#151. To: wudidiz (#146)
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
#152. To: sizzlerguy (#149)
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
#153. To: Rotara (#143)
#154. To: Rotara (#148)
You aren't ready to lead, Maggie...
"If, from the more wretched parts of the old world, we look at those which are in an advanced stage of improvement, we still find the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry, and grasping the spoil of the multitude. Invention is continually exercised, to furnish new pretenses for revenues and taxation. It watches prosperity as its prey and permits none to escape without tribute." --Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791
#155. To: buckeroo (#153)
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
#156. To: Rotara (#152)
#157. To: farmfriend (#154)
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
#158. To: Rotara (#157)
You, my olde friend, are deluded.
"If, from the more wretched parts of the old world, we look at those which are in an advanced stage of improvement, we still find the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry, and grasping the spoil of the multitude. Invention is continually exercised, to furnish new pretenses for revenues and taxation. It watches prosperity as its prey and permits none to escape without tribute." --Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791
#159. To: sizzlerguy (#156)
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
#160. To: Rotara (#155)
#161. To: farmfriend (#158)
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
#162. To: buckeroo (#160)
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
#163. To: buckeroo (#140)
#164. To: buckeroo (#163)
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
#165. To: Rotara (#162)
#166. To: buckeroo (#165)
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
#167. To: Rotara (#166)
Go Fuck Yourself
#168. To: Rotara (#161)
#1 - because you believe that running a worthless campaign at this point will make a difference
#2 - because you have chosen to play nice with those that will gladly finish off you, your family and everyone like you
"If, from the more wretched parts of the old world, we look at those which are in an advanced stage of improvement, we still find the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry, and grasping the spoil of the multitude. Invention is continually exercised, to furnish new pretenses for revenues and taxation. It watches prosperity as its prey and permits none to escape without tribute." --Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, 1791
#169. To: buckeroo (#167)
"If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
#170. To: Rotara (#166)
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