Bob rediscovers his amazing PROOF of the 7 Bridges of Konigsberg!

Re-filched from Australian Mathematics Trust. For supplying the map and the names of the bridges, I won 2 t-shirts!

Unbelievable! Unbelievable!

I Googled "Yankee Magnetic Software" (my fictitious corporation which I invented to get Free Crap from computer companies) and some lovely gentleman had posted the QuickBasic code to my Konig7 program!

Konig7 PROVES that it is impossible to cross all 7 Bridges, each bridge only once, and return to the place you started!

The names of the Bridges:

Greune
Koettel
Schmiede
Honig
Hohe
Holz
Kraemer

I've lost this program 3 computers ago -- but now I got it again!!! Thanks Gordon Shumway!!!

===========

From: Gordon Shumway
To: All
Date: 2003-03-15 20:00:08
Subject: Seven Bridges

DECLARE SUB FrTh ()
DECLARE SUB UnFrTh ()
DECLARE SUB Logiq ()
DECLARE SUB Menu ()
DECLARE SUB NoMenu ()
DECLARE SUB Pat1 ()
DECLARE SUB Pat2 ()
DECLARE SUB Pat3 ()
DECLARE SUB Koni ()
DECLARE SUB Slp ()
DECLARE SUB SlpSlo ()
DECLARE SUB Brugge ()

    D$ = CHR$(148): RRPS = 8: SHRT = .01

    CLS : T100K = TIMER: FOR AA = 1 TO 100000: NEXT AA
    T100K = TIMER - T100K: IF T100K < 0 THEN T100K = T100K + 86400
    SCREEN 12

A04: CLS : Koni: Menu: LOCATE 29, 11: PRINT "        "; : LOCATE 20, 1
    PRINT "         The 7 Bridges of K"; D$; "nigsberg": PRINT
    PRINT " On Sunday strolls, citizens of K"; D$; "nigsberg"
    PRINT " tried to cross all 7 bridges, each only once,  "
    PRINT " and end where they started. No one ever could. "
    PRINT " But no one could prove it was impossible.      ";

    LOCATE 2, 52: PRINT "           KONIG7           ";
    LOCATE 3, 52: PRINT "     Copyright (c) 2002     ";
    LOCATE 4, 52: PRINT "      by Robert Merkin      ";
    LOCATE 6, 52: PRINT "  Yankee Magnetic Software  ";
    LOCATE 7, 52: PRINT "     Northampton MA USA     ";
    LOCATE 9, 53:  PRINT CHR$(34); "Solving things you never";
    LOCATE 10, 53: PRINT "even knew were problems!"; CHR$(34);
    LOCATE 12, 52: PRINT "   bobmer.javanet{at}rcn.com  ";
    LOCATE 13, 52: PRINT "   http://users.rcn.com/   ";
    LOCATE 14, 52: PRINT "          bobmer.javanet/  ";
    LINE (400, 0)-(635, 235), 12, B

    D$ = CHR$(148): RRPS = 8: SHRT = .01

    CLS : T100K = TIMER: FOR AA = 1 TO 100000: NEXT AA
    T100K = TIMER - T100K: IF T100K < t100k =" T100K" href="http://users.rcn.com/" target="new">http://users.rcn.com/   ";
    LOCATE 14, 52: PRINT "          bobmer.javanet/  ";
    LINE (400, 0)-(635, 235), 12, B

A08: G$ = INKEY$: IF G$ = "" GOTO A08
              IF G$ = "X" OR G$ = "x" THEN SCREEN
0: CLS : END

 : NoMenu: DZRT = SHRT: Pat1: DZRT = 2: Slp: Koni
           DZRT = SHRT: Pat2: DZRT = 2: Slp: Koni
           DZRT = SHRT: Pat3:                Menu

A12: G$ = INKEY$: IF G$ = "" GOTO A12
         IF G$ = "R" OR G$ = "r" GOTO A04
         IF G$ = "X" OR G$ = "x" THEN SCREEN 0: CLS : END

LINE (400, 0)-(635, 235), 0, BF: Koni
LOCATE 1, 52: PRINT "After centuries of trying,  ";
LOCATE 2, 52: PRINT "some K"; CHR$(148); "nigsberg
students    ";
LOCATE 3, 52: PRINT "wrote Leonhard Euler (1707 -";
LOCATE 4, 52: PRINT "1783), Europe's greatest    ";
LOCATE 5, 52: PRINT "mathematician, and asked him";
LOCATE 6, 52: PRINT "to solve the puzzle of the  ";
LOCATE 7, 52: PRINT "7 Bridges.                  ";

LOCATE 9, 52:  PRINT "Euler's notation:";
LOCATE 11, 52: PRINT "   7 Bridges      abcdefg   ";
LOCATE 5, 9:   PRINT "c"; : LOCATE 5, 18:  PRINT "d";
LOCATE 5, 31:  PRINT "g"; : LOCATE 14, 9:  PRINT "a";
LOCATE 14, 18: PRINT "b"; : LOCATE 14, 31: PRINT "f";
LOCATE 10, 25: PRINT "e";

A16: G$ = INKEY$: IF G$ = "" GOTO A16
         IF G$ = "R" OR G$ = "r" GOTO A04
         IF G$ = "X" OR G$ = "x" THEN SCREEN
0: CLS : END

LOCATE 13, 52: PRINT "   4 Land Zones   ABCD      ";
LOCATE 2, 39:  PRINT " C "; : LOCATE 17, 39: PRINT " B ";
LOCATE 10, 5:  PRINT " A "; : LOCATE 10, 39: PRINT " D ";

A20: G$ = INKEY$: IF G$ = "" GOTO A20
         IF G$ = "R" OR G$ = "r" GOTO A04
         IF G$ = "X" OR G$ = "x" THEN SCREEN
0: CLS : END

: Brugge: LOCATE 9, 52:  PRINT "To Euler, the 4 Land Zones  ";
      LOCATE 10, 52: PRINT "ABCD were more important    ";
      LOCATE 11, 52: PRINT "than the 7 Bridges.         ";
      LOCATE 13, 52: PRINT SPACE$(27);

A24: G$ = INKEY$: IF G$ = "" GOTO A24
         IF G$ = "R" OR G$ = "r" GOTO A04
         IF G$ = "X" OR G$ = "x" THEN SCREEN
0: CLS : END

LOCATE 13, 52: PRINT "The Word DA means:    ";
LOCATE 15, 52: PRINT "     Cross from zone D";
LOCATE 16, 52: PRINT "             to zone A";

A28: DZRT = SHRT: FOR XX = 29 TO 18 STEP -1
CIRCLE (((XX * RRPS) + 4), ((18 * RRPS) + 4)), 2, 0
PAINT (((XX * RRPS) + 4), ((18 * RRPS) + 4)), 0: SlpSlo: NEXT XX

DZRT = 1: Slp: XXL = (18 * RRPS)
           XXR = (29 * RRPS) + 8
           YYC = (18 * RRPS) + 4
LINE (XXL, (YYC - 4))-(XXR, (YYC + 4)), 10, BF
LINE (((21 * RRPS) - 10 + 4), (17 * RRPS))-(((26 * RRPS) + 10 + 4), (20 *
: SlpSlo

G$ = INKEY$: IF G$ = "" GOTO A28
         IF G$ = "R" OR G$ = "r" GOTO A04
         IF G$ = "X" OR G$ = "x" THEN SCREEN
0: CLS : END

LOCATE 13, 61: PRINT "C";
LOCATE 15, 73: PRINT "C"; : LOCATE 18, 60: PRINT "by
either bridge.";

A32: DZRT = SHRT
FOR YY = 3 TO 15: CIRCLE (((17 * RRPS) + 4), ((YY * RRPS) + 4)), 2, 0
PAINT (((17 * RRPS) + 4), ((YY * RRPS) + 4)), 0: SlpSlo: YYY = YY: NEXT Y

DZRT = 1: Slp: YYH = (3 * RRPS)
           YYL = (15 * RRPS) + 8
           XXC = (17 * RRPS) + 4
LINE ((XXC + 4), YYH)-((XXC - 4), YYL), 10, BF
LINE (((17 * RRPS) - 6), (5 * RRPS))-(((17 * RRPS) + 14), (14 * RRPS)), 1
: Slp

DZRT = SHRT
FOR YY = 3 TO 15: CIRCLE (((8 * RRPS) + 4), ((YY * RRPS) + 4)), 2, 0
PAINT (((8 * RRPS) + 4), ((YY * RRPS) + 4)), 0: SlpSlo: YYY = YY: NEXT YY

DZRT = .5: Slp: XXC = (8 * RRPS) + 4
LINE ((XXC + 4), YYH)-((XXC - 4), YYL), 10, BF
LINE (((8 * RRPS) - 6), (5 * RRPS))-(((8 * RRPS) + 14), (14 * RRPS)), 12,
: Slp

G$ = INKEY$: IF G$ = "" GOTO A32
         IF G$ = "R" OR G$ = "r" GOTO A04
         IF G$ = "X" OR G$ = "x" THEN SCREEN
0: CLS : END

FOR LL = 1 TO 25: LOCATE LL, 52: PRINT SPACE$(28); : NEXT LL: NoMenu
LOCATE 1, 52: PRINT "A Path that crosses 7   ";
LOCATE 2, 52: PRINT "bridges can be described";
LOCATE 3, 52: PRINT "by an 8-letter Word.    ";
LOCATE 5, 52: PRINT "ABDCABDA means:         ";
LOCATE 7, 52: PRINT "         Cross from A   ";
LOCATE 8, 52: PRINT "                 to B   ";

DZRT = .05: CIRCLE (((17 * RRPS) + 4), ((20 * RRPS) + 4)), 3, 13
PAINT (((17 * RRPS) + 4), ((20 * RRPS) + 4)), 13
FOR YY = 21 TO 34: CIRCLE (((17 * RRPS) + 4), ((YY * RRPS) + 4)), 2, 0
PAINT (((17 * RRPS) + 4), ((YY * RRPS) + 4)), 0: SlpSlo
YYY = YY: NEXT YY: FOR XX = 17 TO 30
CIRCLE (((XX * RRPS) + 4), ((YYY * RRPS) + 4)), 2, 0
PAINT (((XX * RRPS) + 4), ((YYY * RRPS) + 4)), 0: SlpSlo
XXX = XX: NEXT XX: Menu

A36: G$ = INKEY$: IF G$ = "" GOTO A36

: NoMenu: LOCATE 9, 52: PRINT "      then cross to D";
FOR YY = 34 TO 18 STEP -1
CIRCLE (((XXX * RRPS) + 4), ((YY * RRPS) + 4)), 2, 0
PAINT (((XXX * RRPS) + 4), ((YY * RRPS) + 4)), 0: SlpSlo
YYY = YY: NEXT YY: DZRT = .05: Menu

A40: G$ = INKEY$: IF G$ = "" GOTO A40

: NoMenu: LOCATE 10, 52: PRINT "      then cross to C";
FOR YY = 17 TO 2 STEP -1
CIRCLE (((XXX * RRPS) + 4), ((YY * RRPS) + 4)), 2, 0
PAINT (((XXX * RRPS) + 4), ((YY * RRPS) + 4)), 0: SlpSlo
YYY = YY: NEXT YY: FOR XX = 30 TO 8 STEP -1
CIRCLE (((XX * RRPS) + 4), ((YYY * RRPS) + 4)), 2, 0
PAINT (((XX * RRPS) + 4), ((YYY * RRPS) + 4)), 0: SlpSlo
XXX = XX: NEXT XX: DZRT = .05: Menu

A48: G$ = INKEY$: IF G$ = "" GOTO A48

: NoMenu: LOCATE 11, 52: PRINT "      then cross to A";
FOR YY = 2 TO 18: CIRCLE (((XXX * RRPS) + 4), ((YY * RRPS) + 4)), 2, 0
PAINT (((XXX * RRPS) + 4), ((YY * RRPS) + 4)), 0: SlpSlo
YYY = YY: NEXT YY: DZRT = .05: Menu

A60: G$ = INKEY$: IF G$ = "" GOTO A60

: NoMenu: LOCATE 12, 52: PRINT "      then cross to B ...";
FOR YY = 19 TO 34: CIRCLE (((XXX * RRPS) + 4), ((YY * RRPS) + 4)), 2, 0
PAINT (((XXX * RRPS) + 4), ((YY * RRPS) + 4)), 0: SlpSlo
YYY = YY: NEXT YY: Menu

A64: G$ = INKEY$: IF G$ = "" GOTO A64
         IF G$ = "R" OR G$ = "r" GOTO A04
         IF G$ = "X" OR G$ = "x" THEN SCREEN
0: CLS : END

A68: LOCATE 14, 52: PRINT "How many Path Words   ";
LOCATE 15, 52: PRINT "can be spelled with   ";
LOCATE 16, 52: PRINT "any combination of    ";
LOCATE 17, 52: PRINT "A B C and D?          "; : WZT = 0: Logiq

A72: G$ = INKEY$: IF G$ = "" GOTO A72
         IF G$ = "R" OR G$ = "r" GOTO A04
         IF G$ = "X" OR G$ = "x" THEN SCREEN
0: CLS : END

A76: LOCATE 14, 52: PRINT "A Path Word can't have";
LOCATE 15, 52: PRINT "AA or BB or CC or DD  ";
LOCATE 16, 52: PRINT "in it. Why not? How   ";
LOCATE 17, 52: PRINT "many Path Words now?  "; : WZT = 1: Logiq

A80: G$ = INKEY$: IF G$ = "" GOTO A80
         IF G$ = "R" OR G$ = "r" GOTO A04
         IF G$ = "X" OR G$ = "x" THEN SCREEN
0: CLS : END

LOCATE 14, 52: PRINT "                        ";
LOCATE 15, 52: PRINT "A Path Word can't have  ";
LOCATE 16, 52: PRINT "BC or CB in it. Why not?";
LOCATE 17, 52: PRINT "How many Path Words now?"; : WZT = 2: Logiq

A84: G$ = INKEY$: IF G$ = "" GOTO A84
         IF G$ = "R" OR G$ = "r" GOTO A04
         IF G$ = "X" OR G$ = "x" THEN SCREEN
0: CLS : END

LOCATE 14, 52: PRINT "In a Solution Path, the ";
LOCATE 15, 52: PRINT "First letter must equal ";
LOCATE 16, 52: PRINT "the Last letter. Why?   ";
LOCATE 17, 52: PRINT "How many Path Words now?"; : WZT = 3: Logiq

A88: G$ = INKEY$: IF G$ = "" GOTO A88
         IF G$ = "R" OR G$ = "r" GOTO A04
         IF G$ = "X" OR G$ = "x" THEN SCREEN
0: CLS : END

LOCATE 14, 52: PRINT "In a Solution Path,     ";
LOCATE 15, 52: PRINT "CD or DC must occur only";
LOCATE 16, 52: PRINT "once. Why? How many     ";
LOCATE 17, 52: PRINT "Path Words now?         "; : WZT = 4: Logiq

A92: G$ = INKEY$: IF G$ = "" GOTO A92
         IF G$ = "R" OR G$ = "r" GOTO A04
         IF G$ = "X" OR G$ = "x" THEN SCREEN
0: CLS : END

LOCATE 15, 52: PRINT "BD or DB"; : WZT = 5: Logiq

LOCATE 26, 52: PRINT "QED! No Path exists which  ";
LOCATE 27, 52: PRINT "satisfies these (and other)";
LOCATE 28, 52: PRINT "Rules of the puzzle!       ";
LOCATE 29, 7:  PRINT "    ";

A96: G$ = INKEY$: IF G$ = "X" OR G$ = "x" THEN SCREEN
0: CLS : END
         IF G$ = "R" OR G$ = "r" GOTO A04 ELSE GOTO A96

SUB Brugge
SHARED RRPS

LINE (((8 * RRPS) - 6), (5 * RRPS))-(((8 * RRPS) + 14), (14 * RRPS)), 12, BF
LINE (((17 * RRPS) - 6), (5 * RRPS))-(((17 * RRPS) + 14), (14 * RRPS)), 12, BF
LINE (((30 * RRPS) - 6), (5 * RRPS))-(((30 * RRPS) + 14), (14 * RRPS)), 12, BF

LINE (((8 * RRPS) - 6), (23 * RRPS))-(((8 * RRPS) + 14), (32 * RRPS)), 12, BF
LINE (((17 * RRPS) - 6), (23 * RRPS))-(((17 * RRPS) + 14), (32 * RRPS)), 12, B
LINE (((30 * RRPS) - 6), (23 * RRPS))-(((30 * RRPS) + 14), (32 * RRPS)), 12, B

LINE (((21 * RRPS) - 10 + 4), (17 * RRPS))-(((26 * RRPS) + 10 + 4), (20 * RRPS






END SUB

SUB FrTh

LINE (450, 442)-(546, 468), 13, B
LOCATE 29, 59: PRINT "[F]reeze";

END SUB

SUB Koni
SHARED RRPS

LINE (0, 0)-((49 * RRPS), (37 * RRPS)), 10, BF         ' green
LINE (0, (7 * RRPS))-((49 * RRPS), (12 * RRPS)), 9, BF ' Pregel high
LINE (0, (25 * RRPS))-((49 * RRPS), (30 * RRPS)), 9, BF ' Pregel low
LINE (0, (7 * RRPS))-((3 * RRPS), (30 * RRPS)), 9, BF ' Pregel left
LINE ((22 * RRPS), (7 * RRPS))-((26 * RRPS), (30 * RRPS)), 9, BF ' Pregel
: Brugge

END SUB

SUB Logiq
SHARED WZT, DZRT

DZRT = .5: NoMenu: FrTh
PP = 0: PW$ = "DDDDDDDD"          ' prime the pump
LOCATE (19 + WZT), 59: PRINT "0";

Q08: AA = 0
Q12: AA = AA + 1: IF AA = 9 GOTO Q24

CC = 0: UU = ASC(MID$(PW$, AA, 1)) + 1: IF UU = 69 THEN UU = 65: CC = 1
MID$(PW$, AA, 1) = CHR$(UU): IF CC = 1 GOTO Q12

'    ++++   new string complete   +++++++++++++++++++++++++

Q24: IF WZT < hcd =" 0:" cc =" 1" hcd =" HCD"> 1 GOTO Q64

Q26: IF WZT < hbd =" 0:" cc =" 1" hbd =" HBD"> 1 GOTO Q64

Q27: IF WZT = 0 GOTO Q60
IF WZT <> RIGHT$(PW$, 1) GOTO Q64

Q28: BB = 0
Q32: BB = BB + 1: IF BB = 8 GOTO Q60

IF WZT = 0 GOTO Q32
IF MID$(PW$, BB, 1) = MID$(PW$, (BB + 1), 1) GOTO Q64
IF WZT < pp =" PP"> "DDDDDDDD" GOTO Q08
LOCATE (19 + WZT), 73: PRINT "done"; : UnFrTh: Menu

END SUB

SUB Menu

LINE (40, 442)-(219, 468), 13, B
LOCATE 29, 7: PRINT "[ ]  [R]eset  e[X]it";

END SUB

SUB NoMenu

LINE (40, 442)-(219, 468), 0, BF

END SUB

SUB Pat1
SHARED RRPS

'     "Another trolley always comes along." -- "McTeague"
'     this bucket brigade logic is sort of strange, but it works.

CIRCLE (((18 * RRPS) + 4), ((18 * RRPS) + 4)), 3, 13
PAINT (((18 * RRPS) + 4), ((18 * RRPS) + 4)), 13
FOR XX = 19 TO 30: CIRCLE (((XX * RRPS) + 4), ((18 * RRPS) + 4)), 2, 0
PAINT (((XX * RRPS) + 4), ((18 * RRPS) + 4)), 0: SlpSlo: XXX = XX: NEXT XX
FOR YY = 17 TO 2 STEP -1: CIRCLE (((XXX * RRPS) + 4), ((YY * RRPS) + 4)), 2, 0
PAINT (((XXX * RRPS) + 4), ((YY * RRPS) + 4)), 0: SlpSlo: YYY = YY: NEXT YY
FOR XX = 29 TO 8 STEP -1: CIRCLE (((XX * RRPS) + 4), ((YYY * RRPS) + 4)), 2, 0
PAINT (((XX * RRPS) + 4), ((YYY * RRPS) + 4)), 0: SlpSlo: XXX = XX: NEXT XX
FOR YY = 3 TO 34: CIRCLE (((XXX * RRPS) + 4), ((YY * RRPS) + 4)), 2, 0
PAINT (((XXX * RRPS) + 4), ((YY * RRPS) + 4)), 0: SlpSlo: YYY = YY: NEXT YY
FOR XX = 9 TO 17: CIRCLE (((XX * RRPS) + 4), ((YYY * RRPS) + 4)), 2, 0
PAINT (((XX * RRPS) + 4), ((YYY * RRPS) + 4)), 0: SlpSlo: XXX = XX: NEXT XX

END SUB

SUB Pat2
SHARED RRPS

CIRCLE (((30 * RRPS) + 4), ((3 * RRPS) + 4)), 3, 13
PAINT (((30 * RRPS) + 4), ((3 * RRPS) + 4)), 13
FOR YY = 4 TO 18: CIRCLE (((30 * RRPS) + 4), ((YY * RRPS) + 4)), 2, 0
PAINT (((30 * RRPS) + 4), ((YY * RRPS) + 4)), 0: SlpSlo: YYY = YY: NEXT YY
FOR XX = 29 TO 17 STEP -1: CIRCLE (((XX * RRPS) + 4), ((YYY * RRPS) + 4)), 2,
PAINT (((XX * RRPS) + 4), ((YYY * RRPS) + 4)), 0: SlpSlo: XXX = XX: NEXT XX
FOR YY = 19 TO 34: CIRCLE (((XXX * RRPS) + 4), ((YY * RRPS) + 4)), 2, 0
PAINT (((XXX * RRPS) + 4), ((YY * RRPS) + 4)), 0: SlpSlo: YYY = YY: NEXT YY
FOR XX = 16 TO 8 STEP -1: CIRCLE (((XX * RRPS) + 4), ((YYY * RRPS) + 4)), 2, 0
PAINT (((XX * RRPS) + 4), ((YYY * RRPS) + 4)), 0: SlpSlo: XXX = XX: NEXT XX
FOR YY = 33 TO 2 STEP -1: CIRCLE (((XXX * RRPS) + 4), ((YY * RRPS) + 4)), 2, 0
PAINT (((XXX * RRPS) + 4), ((YY * RRPS) + 4)), 0: SlpSlo: YYY = YY: NEXT YY
FOR XX = 9 TO 17: CIRCLE (((XX * RRPS) + 4), ((YYY * RRPS) + 4)), 2, 0
PAINT (((XX * RRPS) + 4), ((YYY * RRPS) + 4)), 0: SlpSlo: XXX = XX: NEXT XX

END SUB

SUB Pat3
SHARED RRPS

CIRCLE (((29 * RRPS) + 4), ((18 * RRPS) + 4)), 3, 13
PAINT (((29 * RRPS) + 4), ((18 * RRPS) + 4)), 13
FOR XX = 28 TO 17 STEP -1
CIRCLE (((XX * RRPS) + 4), ((18 * RRPS) + 4)), 2, 0
PAINT (((XX * RRPS) + 4), ((18 * RRPS) + 4)), 0: SlpSlo: XXX = XX: NEXT XX
FOR YY = 17 TO 2 STEP -1
CIRCLE (((XXX * RRPS) + 4), ((YY * RRPS) + 4)), 2, 0
PAINT (((XXX * RRPS) + 4), ((YY * RRPS) + 4)), 0: SlpSlo: YYY = YY: NEXT YY
FOR XX = 18 TO 30
CIRCLE (((XX * RRPS) + 4), ((2 * RRPS) + 4)), 2, 0
PAINT (((XX * RRPS) + 4), ((2 * RRPS) + 4)), 0: SlpSlo: XXX = XX: NEXT XX
FOR YY = 3 TO 34
CIRCLE (((30 * RRPS) + 4), ((YY * RRPS) + 4)), 2, 0
PAINT (((30 * RRPS) + 4), ((YY * RRPS) + 4)), 0: SlpSlo: YYY = YY: NEXT YY
FOR XX = 29 TO 8 STEP -1
CIRCLE (((XX * RRPS) + 4), ((34 * RRPS) + 4)), 2, 0
PAINT (((XX * RRPS) + 4), ((34 * RRPS) + 4)), 0: SlpSlo: XXX = XX: NEXT XX
FOR YY = 33 TO 18 STEP -1
CIRCLE (((8 * RRPS) + 4), ((YY * RRPS) + 4)), 2, 0
PAINT (((8 * RRPS) + 4), ((YY * RRPS) + 4)), 0: SlpSlo: YYY = YY: NEXT YY

END SUB

SUB Slp
SHARED T100K, DZRT

ZZ = (100000 * DZRT) / T100K: FOR TT = 1 TO ZZ: NEXT TT

END SUB

SUB SlpSlo
SHARED T100K, DZRT

DZRTSLO = .05
ZZ = (100000 * DZRTSLO) / T100K: FOR TT = 1 TO ZZ: NEXT TT

END SUB

SUB UnFrTh

LINE (450, 442)-(546, 468), 0, BF

END SUB

--- Peach v1.69
* Origin: Rockford Files * (248)398-6601 * (1:120/483)
SEEN-BY: 633/267 270
@PATH: 120/483 481 228 261/38 123/500 106/2000 633/267

snapshot from the USA's War On Drugs

Comment to Nicholas Kristof's

Time to Legalize Drugs?

oped column in The New York Times:

===========================

545. June 19, 2009 1:50 pm Link

I hope they free my brother someday. He has been in prison for 18 years for selling LSD. He is a non-violent “deadhead” drug offender. He received 2 life sentences with no parole. He sent LSD through the mail which made it federal and he sent it to friends which made it a “conspiracy.” He had 1 prior charge for LSD and a no contest plea for Ecstacy. This made him a “career criminal.” So, life in prison, without the possibility of parole. Timothy L. Tyler, 99672-012. My Dad also received a few hits of acid and served 8 and 1/2 years for the same case. My dad had one prior of marijuanna from 30 year prior, so this was a minumum mandatory 10 years in prison. He died in prison when he was 53. Timothy V. Tyler. You can check on bop.org inmate search.

Anyway, the punishments do not fit the crimes. I miss my brother. He was 22 when he went in, and he’s 40 now, almost 41. He can only hope Obama gives him a pardon I guess. I pray…I cry.

— Carrie Tyler

SOLSTICE! Wake up you Sleepyhead! Rub your eyes! Get out of bed!

Oh yes please click for larger!

I caught Solstice Sunrise at the Sunwheel in 2007 (I really don't like waking up to see the sunrise; usually when I see the Dawn I am catching it at the end of a really rowdy all-night party), and it was Beyond Charming.

The drive to the Sunwheel had clear skies, and Jupiter was HUGE and BRILLIANT as the Morning Star. (I didn't know it was Jupiter, but the young astrophysicist host did.)

So MAYBE I'll catch it again. Or MAYBE I'll catch the SUNSET gathering, which, for some mysterious reason, is always much better attended.

But the images above -- THIS is the one I really want to see!

==============

SUMMER SOLSTICE 2009
Sunrise and Sunset Gatherings
at the SUNWHEEL

University of Massachusetts
Amherst, Massachusetts USA

.................sunrise....sunset ==================================
Sunday 21 June.....05:00.....19:30
Monday 22 June.......EDT.......EDT ==================================

The public is invited to witness the passing of the seasons by joining Dr. Judith Young of the U-Mass Department of Astronomy to watch the Sun rise and set over the tall standing stones in the U-Mass Sunwheel for the Summer Solstice of 2009.

The sunrise and sunset events will be held on both Sunday & Monday, 21 and 22 June 2009. Visitors for the sunrise viewing should arrive at 5:00 a.m., and visitors for the sunset viewing should arrive at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.

These gatherings celebrate the Solstice, International Year of Astronomy, and 11 years of Sunwheel seasonal events for the public, which have attracted over 10,000 visitors.

This year, the instant of the Summer Solstice is

01:46 a.m. EDT
Sunday 21 June

For those interested in learning about the sky, there will be a presentation which will include the significance of the solstices & equinoxes, the cause of the seasons and phases of the Moon, the story of building the Sunwheel, and discussion of other calendar sites around the world, including Stonehenge & Callanish.

There will also be an explanation of the Moon's 18.6-year cycle, also called the Major Lunar Standstill. Bring your questions, your curiosity, and be prepared for cool temperatures and wet ground.

The gatherings typically last 1 hour, and are held in all weather except rain.

Donation: A $3 donation is requested to help with the cost of the additional sitework and future events which are planned. Sunwheel T-shirts & sweatshirts will also be available for purchase.

The UMass Sunwheel is located south of McGuirk Alumni Stadium, just off Rocky Hill Road. The Sunwheel can easily be reached from the center of Amherst, following Amity Street to the west, on the right hand side of the road about 1/4 mile after crossing University Drive.

* more information on the U-Mass Sunwheel

* more information on the Moon's 18.6-year cycle

* information on other programs offered by Dr. Judith Young

The Sunwheel is a project conceived by Dr. Judith S. Young, Professor of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

e-mail: Judith Young at young@astro.umass.edu

==============

Tomorrow
from the musical comedy "Annie"
(sung by little girl in whiney, annoying voice)

The sun'll come out
Tomorrow
Bet your bottom dollar
That tomorrow
There'll be sun!

Just thinkin' about
Tomorrow
Clears away the cobwebs,
And the sorrow
'Til there's none!

When I'm stuck in a day
That's gray,
And lonely,
I just stick out my chin
And Grin,
And Say,


Oh
The sun'll come out
Tomorrow
So ya gotta hang on
'Til tomorrow
Come what may
Tomorrow!
Tomorrow!
I love ya Tomorrow!
You're always
A day
A way!

Tomorrow! Tomorrow!
I love ya Tomorrow!
You're always
A day
A way!

My new binoculars!!!

Click for larger!

Nicholas Kristof is having an epiphany!

513. June 17, 2009 8:28 pm

Your comment is awaiting moderation.

Yo Nicholas — your ambivalence was passive kerosene to help the War on Drugs make America the world’s No. 1 Prison. We have more prisoners than China. We have more prisoners than Russia. So thanks for the decades of ambivalence, it was mother’s milk to the scoundrels who’ve grown rich and powerful from the War on Drugs.

Let President Richard Nixon clue you in about what the War on Drugs was all about from the get-go. He explained his drug policies to his chief of staff H.R. Haldeman:

“… you have to face the fact that the whole problem is really the blacks. The key is to devise a system that recognizes this while not appearing to.”

(From Haldeman’s 1994 memoirs.)

Of course you’re not a racist. But thanks for enabling 40 years of racists. Keep on Ambivalencing!

— Bob Merkin

=============

The New York Times
(daily broadsheet USA /
also owns and is threatening
to close The Boston Globe)
Saturday 13 June 2009

Time to Legalize Drugs?

by Nicholas Kristof

My Sunday column looks at the 40-year “war on drugs” and argue that it has failed and that it is time for a dramatic rethink of drug policy. I haven’t written about drugs before because I’ve been ambivalent — in particular, I’ve worried that liberalization would lead to an increase in drug use. I’m not one of those who thinks that drugs are fine — on the contrary, I’ve seen how narcotics can devastate families, even countries. My home town of Yamhill, Oregon, has been hit hard by the Meth explosion.

Yet over the last year I’ve swung toward liberalization, for three reasons. First, the evidence suggests that any increase in use from liberalization would be minor, if there was one at all. Second, Mexico and Afghanistan have shown how American drug policy empowers foreign cartels/terrorists and destabilizes foreign countries. Third, the tens of billions of dollars spent on the drug war seem a vast misallocation of resources at a time we’re struggling to pay for education and health care.

I don’t know precisely what policy I’m in favor of. Decriminalization to start with, as some European countries have done. But maybe we should look at a legalization model as well, with state liquor stores or pharmacists selling narcotics and raising money through taxes. With cigarettes we’ve seen that an aggressive combination of taxation and public health campaigning can reduce addictive behavior, so maybe those are the better tools to apply to narcotics. I hope to continue looking at these issues and thinking about them. Your thoughts most welcome.

- 30 -

ghastly liars' & scoundrels' Iraq War could be YOUR lucky opportunity!

Okay a few posts ago we published a mysterious WTF e-mail, with a BBC link which the guy promised would explain the mystery.

We clicked and read the BBC story.

NOW we know what the e-mail was all about!

Hot Damn! Money! Money! MoneyMoneyMoneyMoney!

AS ALWAYS, Vleeptron absolves itself from all responsibility if you should e-mail the author of the original e-mail and negotiate with this gentleman regarding your share of the Loot.

Personally, as a former U.S. Army soldier, I find it incredible that U.S. soldiers may have kept some of the Loot for themselves, and now are trying to find an Honest Person (like, for example, YOU) to help them smuggle the Cash out of Iraq.

But if it all works out for you, please observe the traditional Vleeptron protocol and buy me a whomp-ass Lobster Dinner at a fancy-schmantsy restaurant.

============

BBC News (UK)
Last Updated: Wednesday, 30 April, 2003, 12:28 GMT 13:28 UK

Stash of money
found in Baghdad

Foreign currency worth nearly $200,000,000 has been found in a Baghdad neighbourhood, the US military say.

Troops found $100,000,000 and 90,000,000 euros in 31 containers, US Central Command said.

The money has been flown out of the country to a "secure location" for counting purposes and will eventually be returned to Iraq to help rebuild the country, the US said.

Last week, US troops found more than $650,000,000 in the same area of Baghdad.

Soldiers questioned

The latest banknotes were discovered between 23 and 26 April in an area of Baghdad secured by members of the US 3rd Infantry Division, according to a US statement.

The funds will eventually be returned to the Iraqis to help rebuild their nation.

It did not specify exactly where the money was found, although the funds were said to have been kept in containers.

The statement said the containers were flown from Baghdad International Airport on Sunday under an escort of police officers, criminal investigators and financial experts.

"The money arrived at a secure location for counting purposes at approximately 10:30 that morning," the statement said.

"Soldiers of the unit in charge of the counting took approximately five hours to finish this count.

"Funds will remain secure until a stable government is established in Iraq and will ultimately be returned to the Iraqis to assist in the re-building of their nation."

The funds which were found last week are also being held at an undisclosed location.

The money had been hidden behind the false wall of a house searched by US troops. It is thought the stash could have been left by fleeing regime leaders.

Five US soldiers are currently being questioned by military officials after some of that money was allegedly stolen following its discovery.

- 30 -

UK blizzard snowman / snowperson CORRECTION

There is a really nifty SNOWMAN here, click on it and see it, but Vleeptron wishes to make a correction:

Peaches' kids did not make the snowman when the schools were closed during the blizzard in London, but they made the snowman in the UK city of BRISTOL.

There, now everything on VleeptronZ is PERFECT.

Sugar Babe what's the matter with you / You don't love me like you used to / Sugar Babe it's all over now

Sugar Babe
by Tom Rush
                                                       
G
Sugar babe what's the matter with you
....C 
You don't love me like you use to do
G...........D.............G
Sugar babe  it's all over now


G
Sugar babe what's the matter with you
.......C
You're running round  with somebody new
G...........D.............G
Sugar babe  it's all over now


G
All I want my sugar to do
......C
Is to make five dollars and give me take two
G..........D.............G
Sugar babe it's all over now


G
Gonna  go downtown and get me a line
......C
And I hope that woman changes her mind
G..........D.............G
Sugar babe it's all over now


Sugar babe what's the matter with you
You don't love me like you use to do
Sugar babe it's all over now

Sugar babe what's the matter with you
It ain't your honey but the way you do
Sugar babe  it's all over now

eat or be eaten / you eat life or life eat you / our week on Cape Cod / I'll never kiss your lips again / They buried you today

Please click on image.

First of our Cape Cod photos. The ice cream parlor, Sundae School, had a player piano; for 25 cents it would play one or two 1950s rock n roll tunes. One of them was

Teen Angel
(1959) written by Jean Dinning and Red Surrey
sung by Mark Dinning

That fateful night the car was stalled
upon the railroad track
I pulled you out and we were safe
but you went running back

Teen Angel can you hear me?
Teen angel can you see me?
Are you somewhere up above
And am I still your own true love?

What was it you were looking for
that took your life that night?
They said they found my high school ring
clutched in your fingers tight

Teen angel can you hear me...

Just sweet sixteen
and now you're gone
they've taken you away
I'll never kiss your lips again
they buried you today

Teen angel can you hear me...
Teen angel teen angel answer me please

There was one sunshiny, hot day; the rest of the week ranged through a gale, thunderstorms, dense fog, rain. S.W.M.B.O. says our cottage rental contract warned that you can't get your money back if the weather sucks.

Actually, I found the weather Interesting, often beautiful -- the weather of the Atlantic Ocean. The beam from Chatham Lighthouse would slash through the fog that blanketed Mill Pond at night every 20 seconds. But on two nights the ocean wind cleared the fog and rain clouds completely, and I saw night skies clear enough to recognize constellations. Shooting stars flamed down.

Our cottage was originally a clam shack, where diggers would bring their haul of oysters, clams and mussels. The tiny two-storey cottage was surrounded with a solid covering of oyster shells.

Two cottages away was a working boatyard with railroad tracks descending into the pond to winch large boats in and out of the pond.

The pond had lots of horseshoe crabs -- to the best of my knowledge, nobody cooks and eats them. On the shore we saw deer and bunnies, and on the sand in the morning in front of the cottage were raccoon tracks; they came with the tides to eat the shellfish. Fish leapt out of the water. There were long-legged wading birds, duck and Canada geese families floating across the pond, and a black bird that dove straight down to fish, maybe a cormorant. Gulls would fly high with a clam or oyster in their mouths and drop them on rocks to smash them and get at the meat inside. Some locals said there were more deer on Cape Cod today than during Colonial times.

I don't know what local marine biologists and ecologists would say, but Mill Pond seemed incredibly clean, healthy, and teaming with life, all trying, around the clock, to eat each other. We were a part of that. We ate lots of seafood, fish and chips, oysters, I had some delicious duck breast smothered in crushed peppercorns, and every restaurant, inexpensive or fancy, served lobster rolls -- lobster salad in a hot dog bun.

huh?

----- Original Message -----
From: SGT.LARRY HILLS
Sent: Saturday, June 13, 2009 5:55 PM
Subject: Greetings From Major Williams Mark,

Greetings From Major Williams Mark,

I know you would be surprised to read from someone relatively unknown to you before. My name is SGT. Larry Hills, a member of the U.S. ARMY USARPAC Medical Team, which was deployed to Iraq in the beginning of the war in Iraq.

I would like to share some highly personal classified information about my personal experience and role which I played in the pursuit of my career servingunder the U.S 1st Armored which was at the fore-front of the war in Iraq.

Though, I would like to hold back certain information for security reasons for now until you have find the time to visit the BBC website stated below to enable you have insight as to what I'm intending to share with you, believing that it would be of your desired interest one-way or the other.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2988455.stm

Also, could you get back to me having visiting the above website to enable us discuss in a more clarifying manner to the best of your understanding. I must say that I'm very uncomfortable sending this message to you without knowing truly if you would misconstrue the importance and decides to go public. In this regards, I will not hold back to say that the essence of this message is strictly for mutual benefit of you and I and nothing more.

I will be vivid and coherent in my next message in this regards. Meanwhile, could you send me a mail confirming you have visited the site and we can partner in the project i have. Please email me on this email:
(majorwilliams@sify.com)

NOTE: you must not forget that this must surely be of a mutual benefit to both of us, i assure you.

In God We Trust
Major W. Mark.

Postalo Vleeptron celebrates AML 10th Anniversary / I'm getting off light! 10th Anniversary = TIN!

Oh yes certainly click image.

Message #28523 of 28523

AML's artists have mastered nearly every aspect of mail art and faux postage -- perforations, selvedge, cancellations, etc.

But one dimension of mail/post has escaped this community.

It is Postalo Vleeptron's ambition to pioneer the reproduction of this dimension:

Late, tardy, slow, unreliable mail.

Until our mail art can be slow, unreliable, misdelivered, and delayed for unconscionable lengths of time, our mail art can never truly reflect and resemble the authentic government mail/post which inspires our efforts.

PV's first experiment in LateMail (tm) is this here stamp celebrating AML's 10th Anniversary, which Postalo Vleeptron posts as a file today -- what? A week, 10 days after the deadline for the Anniversary call?

Anyway, surely this adds a previously unknown dimension of authenticity to mail art and faux postage.

My 10th wedding anniversary is coming up soon, and I just had to research what physical token of my Love & Devotion I will soon have to spring for.

Surprise! I'm getting off light: Tin!

Hey! Don't snicker at tin! The Phoenicians sailed past the Pillars of Hercules and hung a right (a nautical term) into the North Atlantic to mine tin in Britain!

Not because anybody's heart goes pitta-pat at a necklace made of tin. But because tin is extremely useful in making a variety of useful, important and beautiful alloys.

Like pewter. So Postalo Vleeptron celebrates AML's 10th with an 18th-century English pewter sconce what I filched off the Web, never mind where.

A pewter sconce gets screwed to a wall, but unless your wall is inside a trailer/caravan, you can't have a wall without William Morris wallpaper. This is Morris' "Acanthus" wallpaper made from woodblocks in 1875.

(And probably still for sale. You could fall asleep every night gazing at this; it could leach into your dreams.)

One reason this mail is late is that it takes a little while to send mail back and forth between Planet Vleeptron (in the nearby Dwingeloo-2 Galaxy) and Earth (in the Milky Way).

Anyway that's Postalo Vleeptron's lame excuse for this late mail, which also resembles the lame excuses of authentic government postal authorities.

Happy Anniversary! Hope ya likes the stamp!

Bob

Commemorative Issues Administrator, Postalo Vleeptron
Poortown, Ciudad Vleeptron
Vleeptron
Dwingeloo-2

News from Italy, Sardinia, Libya / Sports Final edition of il Smutto publishes from D'Angelo's Sandwich Shop, Cape Cod, Massachusetts

You MUST click!

The Daily Mail (tabloid, UK)
Saturday 13 June 2009

The truth about Berlusconi
and his phone calls
to my 'little anchovy':

.......Former boyfriend of
.......lingerie model speaks out

By Nick Pisa

Silvio Berlusconi promised to explain his relationship with a teenage model as the personal and political scandal engulfing him intensified yesterday.

The Italian premier, 72, said he would address parliament about his ties with Noemi Letizia, 18, which have dominated the country's media for a month.

72 - 18 = 54

The pressure increased yesterday when her former boyfriend claimed they split up because she was spending too much time with the wealthy politician.

Personal calls: Noemi Letizia wearing a diamond necklace given to her by the Italian premier. Right, modelling lingerie

Gino Flaminio, 22, said Miss Letizia stopped being 'the Noemi or little anchovy, as I called her, that I knew'.

He also claimed Mr Berlusconi had lied about being an old friend of the family, saying he called the model out of the blue after seeing some of her photos.

The controversy erupted when it emerged Mr Berlusconi had gone to Miss Letizia's birthday party and given her a gold and diamond necklace.

His wife Veronica Lario, 52, then announced she was leaving him and seeking a divorce, claiming he 'spends too much time with minors'.

Mr Flaminio told how the politician and model's relationship began around last October when Miss Letizia had done a photo shoot for her modelling book and sent it to an agency in Rome.

He said the portfolio was picked up by a friend of Mr Berlusconi, who later went to the premier's house and inadvertently left it there.

'One afternoon while she was studying, Berlusconi personally called her - not his secretary or assistant,' said Mr Flaminio.

Estranged: Silvio Berlusconi and his wife Veronica

He added that Mr Berlusconi asked her questions for several minutes before revealing his identity.

Mr Flaminio added that he often listened in when the pair spoke. In one call, the premier asked about Miss Letizia's schooling, her interests and her parents.

'Berlusconi had a fatherly attitude and I didn't like it. I told her I didn't like it. She is a sweet and innocent girl.'

He said he and Miss Letizia broke up after she said she was going to Mr Berlusconi's Sardinian villa for New Year.

'Noemi told me there were around 30 girls there and they were given bungalows in the grounds to sleep in.

'She said Berlusconi treated them well and laughed and joked with them.

'I would call her mobile and she would not answer. So I called Roberta, a friend who was with her, but she kept telling me Noemi was busy.

'They flew back on the Prime Minister's personal plane. When she got back, she wasn't my Noemi, she wasn't the Noemi or little anchovy, as I called her, that I knew.

'It became clear we had no future. It was as if Britney Spears was seeing the local butcher on the corner.'

In an interview yesterday, recorded before Mr Flaminio's interview in the La Repubblica newspaper, Mr Berlusconi said there was nothing 'negative' about the
relationship.

He added that he would talk about it in parliament but without setting a date.

Yesterday Miss Letizia's father Benedetto said he and Mr Berlusconi met in 1990 but their friendship grew in 2001. Soon after, Mr Letizia introduced Mr Berlusconi to his daughter, then aged 10.

The tycoon, he said, told her to 'consider me like your grandpa'. Mr Letizia joked she should call Mr Berlusconi 'Papi' as he was not old enough to be a grandfather.

- 30 -

COMMENTS (20)

I rather like Mr Berlusconi myself. For 72 he looks amazing.

- Maureen Muirhead, South Kensington, London, 26/5/2009 4:02
Click to rate Rating 25

Report abuse

How boring Gordon Brown seems.

- p.doff, audierne france, 26/5/2009 2:09
Click to rate Rating 25

Report abuse

Since Tone dragged The Wicked WItch of the West out of Downing Street, this old man has to be the undisputed Clown of Europe!

- Charlotte Southon, Hadleigh, England, 26/5/2009 0:29
Click to rate Rating 27

Report abuse

At least he's not stealing from the taxpaying public like the uk politicians.

- peter, Redland Bay, Australia, 25/5/2009 20:20
Click to rate Rating 19

Report abuse

Poor Italy, someone rescue her.

- Sarah, Brighton, UK, 25/5/2009 17:47
Click to rate Rating 14

Report abuse

Silvio we're waiting................. This should be good for a laugh !!!

- Elisa, Italy, 25/5/2009 16:36
Click to rate Rating 24

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His soon to be ex-wife looks like Natalie Imbruglia

- J G, Billericay, 25/5/2009 15:17
Click to rate Rating 7

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Please! If Noemi was a boy, the press would be cheering Berlusconi's "lifestyle choice!" Good for him!

- Carl, Los Angeles, USA, 25/5/2009 14:26
Click to rate Rating 9

Report abuse

At a guess Burlesquoni will come just as clean as is necessary to prove that everything was 'open and above board'. That this man is a head of state defies all comprehension. He makes Bill Clinton look like a boy scout by comparison.

- Bwj, Uk, 25/5/2009 12:26
Click to rate Rating 8

Report abuse

A minor? She looks like an adult, could get married without her parents' permission. I guess there is a new standard for world leaders - fidelity required. Let Hillary know.

- ted logan, Greensboro, NC, 25/5/2009 12:17
Click to rate Rating 3

Report abuse

What a flaming clown!

- Larry, Vancouver, WA, 25/5/2009 11:49
Click to rate Rating 6

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you brits should be the last one to teach about morality, look at your royal family and your politicians

- megan, milan italy, 25/5/2009 11:43
Click to rate Rating 10

Report abuse

a 5300 uk pound, not dollar necklace to a very young, sexy and impressionable girl with whom he has no relationship.What a kind man!! makes me feel a 'cheap charlie'.I wonder if he was able to put this into his Government expenses as essential expenditure to further national growth and help to make inroad into new territories.His wife is wise to dump him and perhaps Italy should consider this as well.
TR Brighton Sussex

- Dr T Ronald, Brighton,Sussex,England, 25/5/2009 9:55
Click to rate Rating 1

Report abuse

watch italian tv... full of YOUNg girls in VERY short skirts and VERY old guys who do not make an avuncular impression.
i ma sorry for mrs. lario, and also for the young girl. and for the country i live in as being represented by this immoral person berlusconi is embarrassing.

- renata, italy, 25/5/2009 9:17
Click to rate Rating 12

Report abuse

The beauty of all this, Silvio "papi" as the girl called him, is detracting from the real problems, economy, election and the Mills trial. Mr. Berlusconi is indignant of the press, what he needs is the British press and then he would have casue to be indignant. The Fleet streets bulldogs are nothing in comparison to the Italian Puddles journalists. It is high time that all the laws which have protected the Presidente del Consiglio (Prime Minister for you) are removed and he is made to face the music. With all due respect to him as a business man he is exceptional but when he comes to politics is beginning to be a liability to Italy, that said like in the UK, the rest is not much better, in some cases much much worst.

- loris, milan, 25/5/2009 8:10
Click to rate Rating 4

Report abuse

of course I absolutely desagree with Mr Franceschini, Berusconi has NEVER been found alone with the girl, there were ALWAYS crowds of people around. It's clear he had nothin to keep hidden and so there's nothing to be explained!He's so popular so it's natural he meets lots of people and ..most of his fans are very young becouse he speaks their language.The point is that the left-wing KNOWS he cannot be defeated politically so they try...by other means!!!

- Davide, Cagliari- Sardinia Italy, 25/5/2009 7:56
Click to rate Rating 7

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poor man - everything he does is under constant scrutiny. all that wealth and no privacy. what a life.

- Julie, LONDON, UK, 25/5/2009 7:46
Click to rate Rating 5

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This man is a joke. But so are our politicians.

- taff, wales, 25/5/2009 6:19
Click to rate Rating 6

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Why do they have to wash dirty linen in public; how common can they get.

- J Thomas, Lincoln England, 25/5/2009 6:15
Click to rate Rating 1

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Money Money Money must be funny in a rich man's world.

- keesa, italy, 25/5/2009 5:33

Nihil Obstat! Bob posts to VleeptronZ and doesn't have to eat an Italian cold cut grinder while connecting to the Internet!

By all means click on the images!

We're in Chatham, Massachusetts USA, in a tiny 2-storey cottage on the shore of Mill Pond, at the end of Eliphamet's Lane (I don't know who Eliphamet was). If I had a sailboat -- there are about 20 moored in the Pond -- I could sail a mile under a drawbridge, through Stage Harbor, and (if I were suicidally insane) would be merrily sailing on the Atlantic Ocean.

At night about every 20 seconds the beam from Chatham Lighthouse flashes across the Pond. At dawn and sunset there are deer, big bunnies, leaping fish, Canada geese, and long-legged wading shorebirds. The cottage was originally a clam shack, where clam and oyster fishermen would bring their haul in; the cottage is surrounded by about a million oyster shells. We've seen a black bird dive straight down from quite a height to fish. A few meters down the shore is a full-blown boatyard which returns its repaired boats to the water down a ramp of brown rusted railroad tracks by a slow winch.

Some idiot has a motorboat moored in the pond, and though he/she/it has never used it while we've been here, the idiot flies Old Glory from the mast day and night, rain and shine.

Well, idiots can love our Flag too. Who am I to say that it's unpatriotic to wear the Red, White and Blue as a thong or bikini?

New neighbors moved into the cottage next door two days ago, a couple from Long Island with a very new baby named Julia, I think short for Juliana. Just after sundown as I was outside having a smoke, I heard the young mother sing a lullabye to put Julia to sleep. In the dark it was beautiful and haunting. The next day mom was kind enough to write the words for me:

Los pollitas dicen
pio pio pio
cuando tienen hambre
cuando tienen frio

and my Spanish is just excellent enough to translate a text intended for the infant Julia, who perhaps knows how to say "Papa" and "Mama":

The little chickies say
pio pio pio
when they are hungry
when they are chilly

I hope my request for the lullabye has not made mom self-conscious about singing at night. Today if I see my neighbors I'll ask her the Spanish word for lullabye.

ATTENTION ALL PROTESTANT
DIVINES READING THIS POST:

Our cottage neighbors live on the eastern half of Long Island, and drove here by taking the ferry across Long Island Sound to New London, Connecticut -- just as I did 10 years ago.

Of course I was riding shotgun in a black hearse with a dead body in the back that reeked mildly of formaldahyde. Other than that, our ferry trip was exactly like theirs.

S.W.M.B.O. found this cottage for our week on Cape Cod via an Internet ad which promised us Wi-Fi. At first it seemed our laptop was receiving the Wi-Fi signal, but demanded a Secret Password, which the cottage owner had neglected to give us. We had important e-mail business to do when we arrived, and ended up having to drive 5 miles west to a highway D'Angelo's Sandwich Shop with a huge sign that said

FREE WI-FI

and conducted our business while eating submarine sandwiches and clam chowder. Yesterday S.W.M.B.O. spent 40 minutes on the phone with Todd and Tifani at the cable company, and managed to get the fucking Internet working, so this essay is largely an exercise in proving once again -- like my backpack train trip through Quebec and the Maritimes -- that I can roam Planet Earth dragging my laptop AND post to my blog. Nihil Obstat.

The map with the Sea Serpent in the Atlantic Ocean was also created here on Mill Pond. The light green state (technically a Commonwealth) is Massachusetts; brown is Connecticut; the darker green is the USA's smallest state, Rhode Island.

Besides Chatham, the map shows Wellfleet, which is the centerpiece of our trip, because it still has a Drive-In Movie Theater; and Provincetown, which is the only Honky-Tonk place in all of upscale, chi-chi Cape Cod. Provincetown is one of the USA's homosexual Meccas, and its airport has direct flights to another, Key West, Florida.

My brother in Maryland is having a bit of a Health Speed Bump, and I may at any instant have to disrupt my holiday and dash down to see him. From here I'll take the bus to Kingston, Rhode Island, where I can catch AMTRAK's premier medium-speed train, the Acella, to DC. The USA is the world leader in slow, unreliable trains.

I still like trains more than I like flying. A lot more. Unless the plane is very tiny and screwy and the flight is somewhat terrifying, like the Short-Take-Off-Landing on the island of Saba (cf. YouTube, keyword: Saba), which has Earth's shortest airstrip (not counting drug-smuggling airstrips). If the pilot fails to stop in the very short length, the plane falls over a cliff and all aboard crash on ocean rocks about 300 feet below.

Okay, I'm gonna post this crapola now before the cottage is struck by lightning, the power and the cable go out, and we are electrocuted.

~ ~ ~

Enjoy first run double features every night starting May 23rd at the only Drive-In Theatre on Cape Cod. Built in 1957, the Wellfleet Drive-In hosts a 100' x 44' screen, and a state-of-the-art FM stereo sound system that decodes modern sound tracks. Don't have a radio? That's OK! Mono original speakers are available for your listening pleasure. There's a playground and snack bar too!The Wellfleet Drive-In Theatre is open from late April through mid September.

Fri. June 5th thru
Thurs. June 11th
UP
Rated PG for action and peril
8:35pm
&

STAR TREK
Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action and violence and brief sexual content
Starting approx.
10:25pm

PSYCHO BEACH PARTY (NR)
&
OFFICE KILLER (R)
$12 per person
NO theatre passes accepted
NO discount coupons accepted
A NIGHT AT THE DRIVE-IN!!!
Thursday, June 18
Movie at Dusk
Fri. June 12th thru
Weds. June 17th
UP Rated PG for action and peril
8:40pm
&
STAR TREK Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action and violence and brief sexual content
Starting approx.
10:30pm

We're outta here / Berlusconi and his Girl Scout troop

Publicke Notice

Okay, in a few mnutes we are Out Of Here, we going to Cape Cod for 1 week.

We got the laptop, and if the entire Vleeptron community will pray and burn incense, maybe I can keep posting and even get e-mail, like I did on the crazy backpack train trip through Canada last year.

I don't think they sell il Smutto on the Cape, which is a bummer, but if anybody gets any more hot new photos of Noemi and Berlusconi's Girl Scout troop camping out and roasting marshmallows, please send them to me.

new photos of poolside yoga class in Sardinia / Grazie Mensch-on-the-Ground!

Click, gets bigger.

I guess I've been a little embarrassed to mention one of the publications of the Agence-Vleeptron Presse intergallactic media empire, but here it is, il Smutto, A-VP's Italian supermarket checkout tabloid.

I might have kept it a secret, but we have received this day, from our mensch-on-the-ground in Mitteleuropa, these very excellent long-range telescopic photographs of Villa Berlusconi on Sardinia during a recent get-together with the Prime Minister hosting several young ladies, apparently including his new young friend Noemi Letizia.

Il Smutto yelled STOP THE PRESSES! and is now bringing you these interesting poolside photographs. I don't know who the old man with his Bratwurst hanging out is, and I don't know who the nude young lady is. Your guess is as good as mine.

I don't think the woman is Mrs. Berlusconi, but I could be wrong. I don't think she was invited to this party.

I hope you can read Italian. If not, check out the nude young babe and the old dude with his schwanz flapping around, and make up your own translation.

I think our Mensch-on-the-ground is really maturing as a photo-journalist. He is beginning to have an acute appreciation of What News Is.

Il Smutto wishes to caution its readers not to jump to any hasty conclusions about the goings-on at Villa Berlusconi. There could be a variety of perfectly innocent explanations for these things -- a sudden fire drill, or yoga and exercise classes.

Il Smutto is available at all finer supermarkets in Italy, in the Santa Pasta neighborhood of Ciudad Vleeptron, and in markets all over lo Stato di Mangiare.

the Chabad-Lubavitcher way to Peace in the Middle East / stfu you Holy Schmuck

Comment (apparently later deleted) to the story below on the e-edition of The Jewish Daily Forward:

Robert Merkin
Thu. Jun 4, 2009

There's a Chabad House down the road from me, and I've always wondered why it gives me the creeps, and why I always hit the gas pedal to speed past it.

I am grateful to Rebbe Manis Friedman for clarifying why the Chabad-Lubavitch Kult gives me the creeps and makes me break the speed limit to make it recede swiftly in my rear-view mirror.

Arabs, Palestinians, Muslims are children of God, and thus my brothers and my sisters. May we all, as the Vulcans say, Live Long And Prosper, in respect, brotherhood, shalom, salam and Peace.

To borrow the texting patois of youth, I sincerely hope Rebbe Friedman will stfu. He is one sick schmuck, and at the most fragile moment I have ever witnessed for Planet Earth, he slimes us all with poison, kerosene, hate and drek.

Keep his Jonestown Talmud far from me, my community, my neighbors, my planet. You can put Holy Lipstick on a chazer, but he's still a chazer.

==================

Jewish Daily Forward (founded 1897)
English-language weekly
New York City USA
Wednesday 3 June 2009 (e-edition)
Friday 12 June 2009 (paper edition)

Popular Rabbi’s Comments
on Treatment of Arabs
Show a Different Side of Chabad

by Nathaniel Popper

Like the best Chabad-Lubavitch rabbis, Manis Friedman has won the hearts of many unaffiliated Jews with his charismatic talks about love and God; it was Friedman who helped lead Bob Dylan into a relationship with Chabad.

But Friedman, who today travels the country as a Chabad speaker, showed a less warm and cuddly side when he was asked how he thinks Jews should treat their Arab neighbors.

“The only way to fight a moral war is the Jewish way: Destroy their holy sites. Kill men, women and children (and cattle),” Friedman wrote in response to the question posed by Moment Magazine for its “Ask the Rabbis” feature.

Friedman argued that if Israel followed this wisdom, there would be “no civilian casualties, no children in the line of fire, no false sense of righteousness, in fact, no war.”

“I don’t believe in Western morality,” he wrote. “Living by Torah values will make us a light unto the nations who suffer defeat because of a disastrous morality of human invention.”

Friedman’s use of phrasing that might seem more familiar coming from an Islamic extremist has generated a swift backlash. The editor of Moment, Nadine Epstein, said that since the piece was printed in the current issue they “have received many letters and e-mails in response to Rabbi Friedman’s comments — and almost none of them have been positive.”

Friedman quickly went into damage control. He released a statement to the Forward, through a Chabad spokesman, saying that his answer in Moment was “misleading” and that he does believe that “any neighbor of the Jewish people should be treated, as the Torah commands us, with respect and compassion.”

But Friedman’s words have generated a debate about whether there is a darker side to the cheery face that the Chabad-Lubavitch movement shows to the world in its friendly outreach to unaffiliated Jews. Mordecai Specktor, editor of the Jewish community newspaper in Friedman’s hometown, St. Paul, Minnesota, said: “The public face of Lubavitch is educational programs and promoting Yiddishkeit. But I do often hear this hard line that Friedman expresses here.”

“He sets things out in pretty stark terms, but I think this is what Lubavitchers believe, more or less,” said Specktor, who is also the publisher of the American Jewish World. “They are not about loving the Arabs or a two-state solution or any of that stuff. They are fundamentalists. They are our fundamentalists.” Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League and a regular critic of Arab extremists, said that in the Jewish community, “We are not immune to having these views. There are people in our community who have these bigoted, racist views.”

But, Foxman warned, Friedman’s views are not reflective of the Chabad rabbis he knows. “I am not shocked that there would be a rabbi who would have these views,” Foxman said, “but I am shocked that Moment would give up all editorial discretion and good sense to publish this as representative of Chabad.”

A few days after anger about the comment surfaced, Chabad headquarters released a statement saying that, “we vehemently disagree with any sentiment suggesting that Judaism allows for the wanton destruction of civilian life, even when at war.”

The statement added: “In keeping with Jewish law, it is the unequivocal position of Chabad-Lubavitch that all human life is G-d given, precious, and must be treated with respect, dignity and compassion.”

In Moment, Friedman’s comment is listed as the Chabad response to the question “How Should Jews Treat Their Arab Neighbors?” after a number of answers from rabbis representing other Jewish streams, most of which state a conciliatory attitude toward Arabs.

Epstein said that Friedman was “brave” for stating his views so clearly.

“The American Jewish community doesn’t have the chance to hear opinions like this,” Epstein said, “not because they are rare, but because we don’t often ask Chabad and other similar groups what they think.”

The Chabad movement is generally known for its hawkish policies toward the Palestinians; the Chabad Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, rejected peace accords with the Palestinians. Rabbi Moshe Feller, the top Chabad rabbi in Minnesota, said that the rebbe taught that it is not a mitvah to kill, but that Jews do have an obligation to act in self-defense.

“Jews as a whole, they try to save the lives of others,” Feller told the Forward, “but if it’s to save our lives, then we have to do what we have to do. It’s a last resort.”

Friedman is not a fringe rabbi within the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. He was the English translator for the Chabad Rebbe, and at the rebbe’s urging, he founded Beis Chana, a network of camps and schools for Jewish women. Friedman is also a popular speaker and writer on issues of love and relationships. His first book, “Doesn’t Anyone Blush Anymore?” was promoted with a quote from Bob Dylan, who Friedman brought to meet the rebbe.

On his blog and Facebook page, Friedman’s emphasis is on his sympathetic, caring side. It was this reputation that made the comment in Moment so surprising to Steve Hunegs, director of the Jewish Community Relations Council: Minnesota and the Dakotas.

“Rabbi Friedman is a best-selling author who addresses some of the most sensitive issues of the time,” Hunegs said. “I intend to call him and talk to him about this.”

But Shmarya Rosenberg, a blogger and critic of Chabad who lives a few blocks from Friedman in Minnesota, says that the comment in Moment is not an aberration from his experiences with Friedman and many other Chabad rabbis.

“What he’s saying is the standard normal view of a Chabadnik,” Rosenberg said. “They just don’t say it in public.”

For his part, Friedman was quick to modify the statement that he wrote in Moment. He told the Forward that the line about killing women and children should have been in quotes; he said it is a line from the Torah, though he declined to specify from which part. Friedman also said that he was not advocating for Israel to actually kill women and children. Instead, he said, he believed that Israel should publicly say that it is willing to do these things in order to scare Palestinians and prevent war.

[The Torah is the Hebrew original text of the Five Books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy.]

“If we took this policy, no one would be killed — because there would be no war,” Friedman said. “The same is true of the United States.”

Friedman did acknowledge, however, that in self-defense, the behavior he talked about would be permissible.

“If your children are threatened, you do whatever it takes — and you don’t have to apologize,” he said.

Friedman argued that he is different from Arab terrorists who have used similar language about killing Jewish civilians.

“When they say it, it’s genocide, not self-defense,” Friedman said. “With them, it’s a religious belief — they need to rid the area of us. We’re not saying that.”

Feller, the Chabad leader in Minnesota, said that the way Friedman had chosen to express himself was “radical.”

“I love him,” Feller said. “I brought him out here — he’s magnificent. He’s brought thousands back to Torah mitzvah. But he shoots from the hip sometimes.”

Contact Nathaniel Popper at popper@forward.com

- 30 -

Comments

Southern James
Wed. Jun 3, 2009
Had this been a Christian or Muslim cleric speaking such a load of venom, it would plastered all over the TV and the papers. I thank Moment Magazine for having the courage to expose religious nutjobs within their own ranks.

RoninTT
Wed. Jun 3, 2009

Hey Friends,

I want to thank the Forward for posting this original statement by the Chabad Rabbi! What courage! Yofi for you!

For Foxman; Shame on you! (Foxman said, “but I am shocked that Moment would give up all editorial discretion and good sense to publish this as representative of Chabad.”) Are we to take this to mean that we are not to uncover the zealots in our midst? Shine a light on them for what they truly are?

Again, much love to Forward for representing ALL jews. Not just the interest of the religious - Foxman. I am quickly loosing love for the ADL with your comments here.

Rabbi Feller, Friedman does not read the Torah I know. Yet, he assures I will never know Chabad.

yonason
Wed. Jun 3, 2009
And what's wrong with pointing out that the "morality" of Western invention is flawed? We DO need to fight them, no-holds-barred. They shoot rockets at our civilians, and people like "Southern James" could care less. Their Imams spew hatred for us and for America, and not a peep. But when we say it's time to take the gloves off, and fight like we mean it, then the little "S.J's" of the world talk about how "bad" we are. Rabbi Friedman is right, if we took the fight to them, and crushed the evil instead of trying to appease it (which, in case anyone hasn't noticed, has not only no worked but makes matters ever more worse), then peace would come swiftly. The West is destroying itself with it's foolish notions. G-d won't let Israel be destroyed, but those who are trying to destroy us, and those who aid and abet them won't survive.

And RoninTT, I don't need your "assurance" of anything, as if you were any kind of expert. Read what King David did to the Philistines of his day, and you will see Rabbi Friedman is pretty mild by comparison.

Our enemies will, as King David said in Psalms, fall into the trap they have made for us.

esthermiriam
Wed. Jun 3, 2009
Believing in Evil, it would follow... and variations on the theme are not hard to find.

Yosef ben Matitya
Wed. Jun 3, 2009
Kudos to Forward on this expose. In truth, this is no "different side" of Chabad. Chabad has refined it's "double speak" into an art. Towards the outsiders, (uninitiated jews and gentiles alike) they come across as almost christians in their "universal love", tolerance to all, etc...; they aren't God's policemen, rather God's salesmen. Among Ana'sh -anshei shlomeinu- or initiates however, they feel free to expose their fangs; be it towards the arabs, other jews who don't buy into their version of 'judaism', orthodox and others alike, zionists, officers of the IDF . Love turns into disdain and often overt outright hate!

Neil
Wed. Jun 3, 2009
This is the 2nd time in as many weeks that I hear a prominent Jew going Amalek when talking about Muslims. Recently an Israeli politician used similar terminology about Iranians. Sounds to me like hubris. And we all know what that precedes.

JMB
Wed. Jun 3, 2009
Chabad showing its true colors in public understandably due to open criticism of israel policy in some US circles they always believed what friedman is saying its just that they're venting their anger as stalwart ally US is understanding the harm these C-L extremists are doing to the US.

Akiva
Wed. Jun 3, 2009
R. Friedman can think what he wants, but in my 25 years going to Chabad shuls never have I heard this before. Now that I have it sounds like a good idea to me.

Robert
Thu. Jun 4, 2009
Rabbi Friedman shows the true face of zionism.Amazing how many posts here defend this mad rabbi.I know such Rabbis as late Elmer Berger or the Rabbi who publihes Tikkum Magazine! They are real followers of Judaism. But too bad they are in minority! On political side we have such mad men as Daniel Pieps,Alan Dershowitz,Joe Liberman Schuer the US Congress man et al.They are loud mouth and a disgrace to Jewish people.

Parave Rebbe aka Marvin Kravetsky
Thu. Jun 4, 2009
That old adage holds true .'fight fire with fire!' The black people of America have a derogatory phrase that holds true as well and especially with my Jewish Bretheren. Unce Tom Jews is a rampant malady with us Jews never mind Uncle Tom's cabin. Also remeber the English Prime Minister who said there will be,"Peace in our Time" Look what happened to the world and to the Jewish Nation of Europe! The Chabad Rabbi deserves praise and support for what he said and a very emphatic, Yash Koach!

Yosef ben Matitya
Thu. Jun 4, 2009
re:Marvin Kravetsky's posting yeah, red neck bigots, jewish bigots, german bigots, polish bigots are all the same. question is, how jewish is mannis friedman faith. what is left in it? first they discarded monotheism now they are out in the open scrapping middos. bunch of phoneys.

Moshe' Dovid ben Yakov
Thu. Jun 4, 2009
I wouldn't be so quick to criticize the Rabbi. Did anyone flinch when the Navy Seals shot dead the 3 Somali Pirates holding the American transporatation boat captian? What's the difference between that and Israeli held hostages? Hard lines have been drawn and not by Jews concerining Israel. They want us DEAD for crying out loud! That includes you Yosef ben Matitya. Judaism is not a Turn the other Cheek way of life. It is forbidden to kill but not to defend. We were given land after the Holocaust by the UN. After constant attack we Occupied uninhabbited areas or areas we had been attacked from. Palestinian refusal to ever work things out diplomatically and bitching and moaning all the while to people like you only strengthen their cry and weakens Israeli stability. Wake up and smell the coffee.

yonason
Thu. Jun 4, 2009
JUST A SLIGHT CORRECTION

"It is forbidden to kill but not to defend." -- Moshe' Dovid ben Yakov

Actually, it is forbidden to murder, which is not what the Rabbi is advocating. However, when someone is coming to kill you, you are required to defend yourself, and if the enemy is hiding behind his civilians, who may very well be just as guilty as he, there is no sin in killing them too, IF that is unavoidable.

So, I repeat to the rest of the anti-Semites and self hating Jews.... All the Rabbi is saying is that we have to go all out in letting the enemy know not to start up with us. The sooner we start valuing our lives over theirs, the more of our lives AND THEIRS we will save!

yonason
Thu. Jun 4, 2009
To tell the truth, though, I AM embarrassed by what Rabbi Friedman said, or at least part of it - the apology! Sure, I think he didn't explain himself very well in his first, and grossly misinterpreted statement. But that merely requires clarification, not contrition.

The Rebbe himself said it was unthinkable that the IDF would risk the lives of Jewish soldiers in order to save any of the enemy. He didn't want the enemy to die, but in war you have to think of yourself first. Anything short of that is a recipe for defeat.

We do not want them to die...
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/807777/jewish/Should-I-pray-for-the-death-of-terrorists.htm

...but if it comes to a choice between me and my family, and them and theirs, please G-d let it be them - until the come to their senses, and then we can truly live in peace.

Meanwhile, here's what every Jew needs to know (I hope the links I've put in come out OK)...

http://sichos-in-english.org/books/eyes-upon-the-land/01.htm

max
Thu. Jun 4, 2009
this is monstrous.

Jeff
Thu. Jun 4, 2009
Basically, Abe Foxman is saying that this story should not have been published so as not to give Jews a bad name. Is that what the ADL is for? To protect the image of Jews, kind of like - i don't know, not allowing us to see the daily murder and starvation of Palestinians because it may make the Jews look bad? I see how it works, now. Abe has no problem conflating everything that happens in a day with the latest scourge of anti-semitism, but shed some light, tell the truth about the dark side of Judaism, and it's suddenly "hands off"?

David
Thu. Jun 4, 2009
So there you have it: The crazy statements of this extremist rabbi expose in public what many Chabad people usually keep hidden for PR reasons, along with their belief that the Lubavitcher Rebbe is the risen Messiah.

And we have a few of (a) the vile supporters of these views posting here too, along with (b) the usual crowd of ignorant people flirting with antisemitism ("the Zionists expose their true colors" etc, of course forgetting that Chabad is DEFINITELY NOT a Zionist group, while "the Rabbi who publishes "Tikkun" IS a Zionist). Don't bother posting here, the readers of the Forward are politically liberal and not interested in your hate. So Yonason, Robert etc GO AWAY.

Menahem
Thu. Jun 4, 2009
My most heartfelt thanks and congratulations to The Forward for publishing this: I already started forwarding the article to my mailing list, both here and abroad. I can only confirm that I heard with my own ears this type of language from Chabadniks.

Ben
Thu. Jun 4, 2009
As a Jew, I say unhesitantingly that Jesus was a better rabbi than Mr. Friedman, and that perhaps he should read some of the man's sermons.

Menahem
Thu. Jun 4, 2009
I just want to add, after reading some of the comments, that the Rebbe held different views, largely misinterpreted or intentionally disfigured by some of his followers. After all, we must bear in mind that he always spoke Yiddish: every word is translated (and at times "betrayed"). A very sad case of a very enlightened leader betrayed by some of his own followers/epigons.
Holly
Thu. Jun 4, 2009Rabbi Friedman has created a massive PR disaster for Chabad.
Arvin Khadr
Thu. Jun 4, 2009it's fortuitous for the world that everyone see what Israel is really about, and that's murdering women and children with WP weapons it buys from the U.S. (EDO CORP) and uses with abandon in Gaza and elsewhere, even though it's a WAR CRIME to do so.

Robert Merkin
Thu. Jun 4, 2009I think my earlier comment about this Holy Meshuge has been deleted.

Wasn't I warm and cuddly like the Rebbe?

I'll re-post my comment on my blog:

http://vleeptronZ.blogspot.com

but I thank The Forward for this astonishing story, and hope The Forward will let me say again:

Arabs, Palestinians, Muslims are children of God, and thus my brothers and my sisters. May we all, as the Vulcans say, Live Long And Prosper, in respect, brotherhood, shalom, salam and Peace.