War Blog
By: FrontPage Magazine
FrontPageMagazine.com | Friday, August 06, 2004
KERRY CAMPAIGN TRIES TO SHUT DOWN AD
Via Drudge:
DNC Lawyers Work To Muzzle Swift Boat Vets' Ad
HUMAN EVENTS has obtained a copy of a letter which lawyers for the Democratic National Committee and John Kerry have sent to television station managers attempting to suppress the blistering anti-Kerry TV spot created by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (click here to view the ad) and first reported here on HumanEventsOnline.com.
The letter claims the ad is "false" and "libelous" and suggests, in not-so-subtle terms, that TV stations should use their "legal authority" to refuse any requests for advertising airtime, stating that "because your station has this freedom [to refuse the ad], and because it is not a 'use' of your facilities by a clearly identified candidate, your station is responsible for the false and libelous charges made by this sponsor" (emphasis added).
As their first piece of evidence of the ad's supposed lies, the DNC/Kerry lawyers claim that the veterans in the ad "purport to have served on Senator Kerry's SWIFT Boat in Vietnam" but, "in fact, not a single one of the men who pretend to have served with Senator Kerry was actually a crewmate of Senator Kerry's." The problem is that none of these men claimed to have served on Kerry's SWIFT Boat. They simply said they "served with John Kerry" -- and they did.
The letter goes on to make several more misleading statements about the advertisement, in an attempt to protect Kerry's "war hero" record.
Click here to see the letter.
Also, the Swift Boat Vets have responded to McCain's criticism of the ad:
"Swift Boat Veterans for Truth has more than 250 members, many of whom were wounded or highly decorated in Vietnam.
We purchased with our blood and service the right to be heard, to set the record straight about our unit, and to tell the truth about John Kerry's military service record.
We respect Senator McCain's right to express his opinion and we hope he extends to us the same respect and courtesy, particularly since we served with John Kerry, we knew him well and Senator McCain did not."
Rear Admiral Roy Hoffmann (ret.), Founder and Chairman of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
Update: I think this threat from the Kerry campaign was a bad move, it makes them look like they are hiding something and increases interest in the ad. You would have thought they would have learned their lesson from their handling of the NASA pictures.
Can you imagine what the reaction would have been in the media if the Bush campaign had sent a letter like this to Michael Moore. For the all the talk of censorship we here about by people like Moore, this is the first real example I have seen of it. As Tim Robbins would say, "there is a chill wind blowing", only this time he would be right.
Instapundit has a lot more reactions here.
MOORE LIES AGAIN
Here is another Michael Moore lie (via A Collection of Thoughts):
As a former green beret, who is still involved in that tight-knit community, I was “shocked and awed” when I saw Michael Moore during an interview at the DNC actually say that “Bush did not have Special Forces on the ground in Afghanistan for more than two months after 9-11.” That was laughable; it was such a stupid, bold-faced lie. Many, many green berets and ex-green berets know that two A-detachments were on the ground in Afghanistan within forty-eight hours of the 9-11 attacks.
Robin Moore, a friend and the author of the number one best seller The GREEN BERETS, wrote of those detachments in THE SEARCH FOR BIN LADEN. Just about everybody in SF, also knew that MG Geoff Lambert, then commanding JFK Special Warfare Center, had those Special Forces team members on alert within two hours of the first jet hitting the World Trade Center tower one.
One of those brave Green Beret sergeants who served on those two teams and who lost his leg was probably sitting at home gnashing his teeth while hearing such trash. It is a feeling many of us have each time we hear those well-meaning apologists, “doves,” and Michael Moore-followers, do to the brave young men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan what was done to our men and women serving in Vietnam. It must stop now! There is much more to the post, read the rest. Thursday, August 5, 2004
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KERRY WAS ASKED TO LEAVE VIETNAM...
...Bush-blogger and radio talk show host Kevin McCullough has the exclusive:
Lt. Thomas Wright admitted to me on the air today several exclusive and revealing looks at the Vietnam service of John Kerry.
Wright's first claim was that as his former commanding offcier, Wright frequently had to confront Kerry over willful disobedience to orders aboard Swift Boat patrols.
On frequent occasions Wright stated that Kerry would randomly fire at "things he thought were moving" along the shoreline. Wright stated that the protocol was only to fire when the unit was receiving hostile fire. Wright explained that part of the Swift Boat patrol's goal was to develop contacts with non-combatants living along the rivers being patrolled.
Wright pointed out that firing on the people you were meant to develop contacts with generally worked against the goals.
Wright also points out that when confronted about his defiance of patrol rules, Kerry would make claims of not hearing the orders, knowing the protocols or "thinking that he saw something".
Wright's boldest claim was that after Kerry had in fact received his third purple heart, Wright along with two other ranking officers basically flat out asked Kerry to leave Vietnam. The reason being his behavior continually put the group in greater vulnerability and danger.
Visit Kevin's site for a summary and complete audio of the interview.
UPDATE: CLICK HERE TO SEE THE SWIFT VETS NEW AD ON JOHN KERRY!!!
Wednesday, August 4, 2004
www.blogsforbush.com
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AVOIDING VIETNAM
John Kerry, quoted by the Boston Globe:
"I didn't really want to get involved in the war," Kerry said in a little-noticed contribution to a book of Vietnam reminiscences published in 1986. "When I signed up for the swift boats, they had very little to do with the war. They were engaged in coastal patrolling and that's what I thought I was going to be doing."
But two weeks after Kerry arrived in Vietnam, the Navy changed the swift boats' mission to patrolling the Mekong river to attract enemy attention, a dangerous job to be sure. (hat tip: Spinsanity)
But John Kerry also said last February that President Bush's Air National Guard service was a way to avoid Vietnam:
Bush was referring to remarks such as those made by Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), his likely presidential challenger, equating Guard service with avoiding the draft during the Vietnam era. But Kerry said, "I've never made any judgments about any choice somebody made about avoiding the draft, about going to Canada, going to jail, being a conscientious objector, going into the National Guard." (Emphasis added)
Kerry seems to think that draft dodging and volunteering for the Guard were equivalent.
Anyway, the situation is this:
Kerry went to Vietnam and asked to be assigned to a swift-boat unit in the hope he wouldn't see combat. His unit's mission was changed and he did see combat.
G. W. Bush, OTOH, became an F-102 fighter pilot in the Texas Air Guard and was assigned to a fighter wing that was sending pilots to fly in Vietnam.
It is a common misconception that the Air National Guard was a safe place for military duty during the Vietnam War. In actuality, pilots from the 147th Fighter Interceptor Group, as it was called at the time, were actually conducting combat missions in Vietnam at the very time Bush enlisted. In fact, F-102 squadrons had been stationed in South Vietnam since March 1962. It was during this time that the Kennedy administration began building up a large US military presence in the nation as a deterrent against North Vietnamese invasion.
F-102 squadrons continued to be stationed in South Vietnam and Thailand throughout most of the Vietnam War. ...
... the F-102 was serving in combat in Vietnam at the time Bush enlisted to become an F-102 pilot. In fact, pilots from the 147th FIG of the Texas ANG were routinely rotated to Vietnam for combat duty under a program called "Palace Alert" from 1968 to 1970.
Furthermore, Bush asked to be sent to Vietnam.
Fred Bradley, a friend of Bush's who was also serving in the Texas ANG, reported that he and Bush inquired about participating in the Palace Alert program. However, the two were told by a superior, MAJ Maurice Udell, that they were not yet qualified since they were still in training and did not have the 500 hours of flight experience required.
Bill Hobbs has exhaustively documented Bush's military record. Thursday, August 5, 2004
MADRID BOMBING: "DATED INTELLIGENCE"
Recall that barely a day after the federal government issued its increased alert level for New York and surrounding regions, many media began scoffing that much of the captured information on which the alert was based was not recent. But recall as well "that pieces of the surveillance - including images - were apparently updated as recently as this January" (link).
Remember what happened in Madrid last March 11? Almost 200 people died in near-simultaneous al Qaeda bombings of railroad cars and stations. Now we know,
One of the most sobering pieces of information to come out of the investigation of the March 11th bombings is that the planning for the attacks may have begun nearly a year before 9/11. In October, 2000, several of the suspects met in Istanbul with Amer Azizi, who had taken the nom de guerre Othman Al Andalusi—Othman of Al Andalus. Azizi later gave the conspirators permission to act in the name of Al Qaeda ... . [emphasis added]
To those accusing the Bush administration of political opportunism in declaring the alert this week, I ask you: Had Spanish authorities gained information about the attacks beforehand, should they have disregarded it because it was "dated intelligence?"
Update: Regarding the elevated alerts in the northeast, British intelligence has reason to believe that actual attacks are planned for Sept. 2, less than a month from now. Wednesday, August 4, 2004
www.donaldsensing.com
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Fox News reports: "Iraq evidence led feds to Albany mosque." According to the report:
Information found in Iraq led federal investigators to become suspicious of an Albany, N.Y., mosque leader, FOX News has learned.
Last summer, U.S. troops discovered Yassin Muhhiddin Aref's name, telephone number and address in a book left behind in a vacated terrorist training camp, a U.S. official told FOX News. The book also revealed that Ansar al-Islam, the group running the camp, had given Aref a title: "the commander."
Aref, 34, is the Imam of the Masjid As-Salam mosque in Albany, N.Y. He and one other mosque leader were arrested Thursday and charged with helping an undercover informant posing as a weapons dealer who was plotting to buy a shoulder-launched missile that would be used to kill the Pakistani ambassador in New York City.
I've been reading news accounts of the Albany arrests for the past half hour; this report is the first I've seen with news of the Iraq connection.
HINDROCKET adds: Isn't this a really, really huge story? Liberals have made it an article of faith that there was no possible connection between Iraq and any terrorists who could possibly threaten us. This has been proved wrong on many levels. But why isn't this the ultimate refutation?
We've known for a while that terrorists associated with al Qaeda in northern Iraq, operating under the protection, if not--we still don't know--the active direction and collaboration of Saddam's regime, were supplying ricin for attacks in Europe. We now know something that the Bush administration has apparently known for a year, that the same Iraqi terrorists were working with and, I think it's fair to assume, supporting and funding Islamofascist terrorists here in the United States. Specifically, Islamofascists in Albany, NY, who were trying to buy shoulder-fired missiles to shoot down aircraft.
Now, someone tell me: Why doesn't this end any possible debate on the relationship between Saddam's regime and international terrorism, in its most directly threatening form?
GREAT MOMENTS IN DEMOCRATIC ORATORY
If Americans are searching for a leader to fight a more sensitive -- in French, le mot juste would be soigne, would it not? -- war on terror, John Kerry wants you to know he is the man:
I believe I can fight a more effective, more thoughtful, more strategic, more proactive, more sensitive war on terror that reaches out to other nations and brings them to our side and lives up to American values in history.
John Kerry, remarks as delivered before the 2004 UNITY Conference, 8/5/2004. Thursday, August 5, 2004
www.powerlineblog.com
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THE SECRET DIPLOMACY OF JOHN F KERRY
It's so secret that no one knows what it actually involves, and Kerry is not letting anyone in on the secret.
This is simply mind-boggling, but the headline says it all: "Kerry touts convention showing, hints at Iraq plan":
"Asked about Bush's Iraq policy during an economic event here [in Iowa], Kerry bristled slightly in recalling news accounts that suggested he 'hasn't spelled out' his vision for rebuilding Iraq and bringing home US troops.
" 'I have spelled it out, and let me make it very clear, ladies and gentleman, very clear,' Kerry told about 350 voters and business leaders gathered here. 'Statesmanship means something. Leadership in building alliances means something'."
We know that statesmanship means something and that leadership in building alliances means something also, but we still don't know what exactly these things mean in the Kerry-world. It's well beyond pathetic that after two years of crisis and controversy over Iraq, one of the main critics of Bush's policies (and at the same time their occasional Congressional supporter) can only be described as "hinting" at having his own alternative plan, which at this stage anyway seems to come down to "Foreigners hate Bush, they love me, please elect me so they will be nice again and we'll all live happily ever after." That's not a foreign policy; it's a domestic political opportunism masquerading as foreign policy.
The wit and wisdom of John F Kerry continues:
"The truth is, it is not just the United States of America that has an interest in not having a failed Iraq, in not having a base of terror now, in not having an instability in the Middle East. The world has a stake in that outcome, and the Arab countries above all have a stake in not having a civil war right in their neighborhood. The Europeans have a stake in not having a complete breakdown, and greater anger in the Muslim world, because they have Muslim populations. And yet none of them are at the table. Nothing could underscore more the failure of diplomacy of this administration."
Kerry is right; just about everyone in the world has a stake in a peaceful Iraq and a peaceful Middle East. So if all the others have an interest in seeing such outcome, and yet they do nothing to make it happen, it's certainly not "the failure of diplomacy of this administration"; it's a testament to political cynicism of the countries involved. For goodness' sake, it's not the job of American diplomacy to make sure that other countries act in their own interest; they're not children, they know that veggies are good for them and should eat them. And if they persists with their "cut off my nose to spite my face" tantrums, they will one day reap what they have sown. That will be a failure and a tragedy, but it won't be one of American diplomacy.
And lastly, this from the Democratic nominee, in lieu of details of his Iraq plan:
"I will do the diplomacy necessary, and I have heavy cards to play -- I'm not going to lay 'em all out on the table, no future president, no president should negotiate this in public. But let me tell you, I've got big cards to play to bring people to understand the stakes here."
Which roughly translates to "I'm not going to tell you what I'm going to do, and how I'm going to do it, but vote for me anyway, suckers." In the world of "big cards" it's called a bluff.
Secret diplomacy has had its day, mostly before World War One, but at least its practitioners had the liberty of not being encumbered by democracy. Matternich never had to tell the plebs what their betters were up to, but he was never elected to anything. With any luck, Kerry won't be either. Friday, August 6, 2004
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KERRY KNOCKS BUSH FOR INACTION ON 9-11
Before a gathering of journalists in Washington, DC today, John Kerry criticized President Bush for his actions on 9-11-01 following the attack on the World Trade Center. Kerry blasted Bush for not acting swiftly, and instead choosing to sit with children in a Florida classroom.
"Had I been reading to children and had my top aide whispered in my ear, 'America is under attack,' I would have told those kids very politely and nicely that the president of the United States had something that he needed to attend to -- and I would have attended to it."
Read on.
First, it's telling that Kerry is using Michael Moore's propaganda as a playbook in his campaign. This has a definite whiff of desperation about it.
Secondly, where exactly was John Kerry that morning when America was under attack, and what was he doing?
In an interview with Larry King on CNN, July 8, 2004, Sen. Kerry was asked where he was the morning of September 11th. Here is part of his response:
Kerry: "...And as I came in [to a meeting in Sen. Daschle's office], Barbara Boxer and Harry Reid were standing there, and we watched the second plane come in to the building. And we shortly thereafter sat down at the table and then we just realized nobody could think, and then boom, right behind us, we saw the cloud of explosion at the Pentagon..." (emphasis added).
It should be noted that the second plane hit the World Trade Center at 9:03 a.m., and the plane hit the Pentagon at 9:43 a.m. By Kerry's own words, he and his fellow senators sat there for forty minutes, realizing "nobody could think."
In other words: Sen. Kerry, who criticized President Bush for not rushing out of the Florida classroom for seven minutes, sat paralyzed with his colleagues for a full forty minutes. He is hardly in a position to criticize President Bush for "inaction."
Hat Tip: Shamelessly copied from RedState.ORG
ANNAN ADMITS MULTILATERAL FORCE
John Kerry must think of himself as quite the diplomat. He believes his warmth and charm is enough to convince the international community into committing troops to Iraq. That would be quite a feat -- one that even Kofi Anan, the very leader of the international community, cannot pull off:
UN staff returning to Iraq will have to rely on the US-led multinational force for protection, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan says...
Mr Annan said the UN had not received any firm offers from countries for the separate dedicated protection force it had hoped to have in place in Iraq...
"We are forced to rely on the multinational force to give us protection," Mr Annan said...
"We haven't had much success attracting governments to sign up for the dedicated force."
Examine closely those last two sentences. First Kofi says the U.N. must rely upon the "multi-national force. What's that? Yep. Multinational. Even the Democrat's hero Kofi Annan sees their "go it alone" canard for what it is: pure bull-pucky.
Second, General Secretary Annan himself hasn't had success putting together a dedicated force for Iraq. How then does Kerry hope to do so? Thursday, August 5, 2004
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SAN FRANCISCO ANTISEMITISM WATCH
More than 50 campaign signs for San Francisco Supervisor candidate David Heller were defaced last night with swastikas inside Stars of David: Swastikas Scrawled On SF Supe Candidate’s Campaign Signs. (Hat tip: Jheka.)
Kerry Tries to Shut Down Swiftboat Veterans
Lawyers for the Kerry/Edwards campaign and the Democratic National Committee are trying to shut down the advertisement from Swiftboat Veterans for Truth, threatening TV stations that choose to air it.
PALESTINIAN CHILD ABUSE
A Palestinian boy holds a gun during a rally of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades militant group in West Bank city of Nablus on August 5, 2004. ... Photo by Abed Omar Qusini/Reuters
ROP PLANNED ATTACK ON HEATHROW
Even as the British Council persecutes journalists who criticize Islam, British security services are discovering Islamic plots to bomb Heathrow Airport: Al-Qaeda ace may have been arrested in UK. (Hat tip: Ed Moran.)
British authorities are believed to have foiled a well-developed plot to bomb Heathrow Airport by one of al-Qaeda’s most senior operatives in Europe. The agent, known as Abu Eisa al Hindi, is believed to be among 13 men arrested by anti-terrorism police in Britain this week.
Twelve of the men, aged 19 to 32, are still being questioned by Scotland Yard detectives on suspicion of being involved in the “preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism”. Police have declined to confirm that Abu Eisa, described as al-Qaeda’s European chief, is one of those detained. If he is among those seized, it is believed his arrest may have been linked to the recent capture of al-Qaeda operatives in Pakistan.
Intelligence sources in Pakistan and the US have described the possible arrest of Abu Eisa as a vital breakthrough against attacks that authorities suspect are being planned in Britain and the US. An unnamed US official told The Washington Post he had access to detailed surveillance of five financial institutions in Washington, New Jersey and New York that was said to have been stored in the computer of a suspect arrested in Pakistan.
The key Pakistani operative has been identified as Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan. He is believed to have been in direct contact with Abu Eisa about plans for an attack at Heathrow, the busiest airport in the world. Thursday, August 5, 2004
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BOILERPLATE FOR DENOUNCING TERRORISM
Daniel Pipes' Blog:
I recently wrote an analysis exposing "CAIR's Phony Petition" in which I concluded that its Not-in-the-Name-of-Islam effort "seeks to clean up Islam's image without doing anything of substance."
Well, it gets even worse. Sound Vision, a project of the radical Bridgeview Mosque outside Chicago, has produced "A sample statement/resolution of condemnation" for use with the media when Islamist terrorism once again rears its ugly head. Sound Vision helpfully suggests that "Your Islamic center can adopt, rewrite and issue the following statement to your local media." It also advises users to "replace ‘Muslims of America' with the Muslim community of your city" and "type this or your modified version on your Masjid or Islamic center's letterhead." It even explains that to fax the press release to the news desk of local media outlets you can "find the fax numbers in your yellow or white pages."
Then follows the meaningless boilerplate statement. July 30, 2004
CALLING ISLAMISM THE ENEMY
Daniel Pipes' Blog:
Although I sense much backsliding in the current war – with Candidate John Kerry and many others advocating a return to the law enforcement model rather than the war model – I also see that there is a growing inclination to assert that Islamism, not "terrorism," is the enemy, something I consider vital if this barbarous enemy is to be defeated. Here are some notable examples, in reverse chronological order, of individuals and institutions being willing to call a spade a spade:
Barbara Ehrenreich: "let's stop calling the enemy ‘terrorism,' which is like saying we're fighting ‘bombings.' Terrorism is only a method; the enemy is an extremist Islamic insurgency. ("The New Macho: Feminism," The New York Times, July 29, 2004)
The 9/11 Commission: the enemy is "Islamist terrorism…not just ‘terrorism" some generic evil." (The 9/11 Commission Report, July 22, 2004) I discuss this recognition at length in "The Triumph Of the 9/11 Commission." July 22, 2004
www.danielpipes.org
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Thursday, July 5, 2004
www.signonsandiego.com
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THE CROCODILE EATS YOU ANYWAY
So here's a link to No Caliban (hat tip: Donald Sensing) who points out that the attack on Madrid was planned two and half years before the event. Long before Operation Iraqi Freedom, before Spanish participation in Iraq, bomber Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed was planning to kill people in Spain.
In June, Italian police released a surveillance tape of one of the alleged planners of the [Madrid] train bombings, an Egyptian housepainter named Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed, who said that the operation "took me two and a half years." Ahmed had served as an explosives expert in the Egyptian Army. It appears that some kind of attack would have happened even if Spain had not joined the Coalition -- or if the invasion of Iraq had never occurred.
Planning to kill them because of who they were. Those who advocate appeasement as a means of propitiating terrorist wrath are, like the shamans who offered human sacrifice to alter the course of weather, the deluded engaged upon the inutile: a thoroughly modern Marxist activity. But what appeasement by Sudanese blacks can buy them peace? According to the BBC:
More than one million people have fled Sudan's Darfur region, the victims of what UN officials have described as an "ethnic cleansing" campaign by a group of Arab militiamen. Many thousands have been killed and human rights groups say there has been a systematic campaign of rape, intended to humiliate and punish non-Arab groups.The Janjaweed have attacked black Africans from the Fur, Massaleet and Zagawa ethnic groups with a ruthlessness that has not been seen in the region for some time, report aid agencies and the refugees themselves. They have killed, raped, maimed, looted and burned down tens of thousands of village homes, displacing hundreds of thousands of people.
Surcease will come with death or when they utter the secret message, one well understood by BBC correspondent Frank Gardner as he lay bleeding in a Saudi street.
Riddled with bullets, BBC correspondent Frank Gardner pleaded for his life in the Saudi capital shouting to bystanders to help a fellow Muslim, a police officer said today. "I'm a Muslim, help me, I'm a Muslim, help me," the British father of two daughters cried in Arabic, the officer said. Mr. Gardner was stretched on the road, covered in blood from multiple bullet wounds in a slum area of southern Riyadh known as a hotbed of hardliners. A fluent Arabic speaker with a degree in Arab and Islamic Studies, he was carrying a small copy of the Koran, the Muslim holy book, a device used by Western reporters to try to reassure Islamist militants.
It isn't enough to say, as the Philippine Foreign undersecretary did when capitulating to those who held one of their citizens hostage, "I hope the statement that I read will touch the heart of this group. We know that Islam is the religion of peace and mercy." It falls far short of the mark. No Caliban nails it. "These terrorists do not want our money or land or respect. They want our souls."
Addendum:
Good news in a way. Attempts by the Democratic Party to portray itself as the "War Party" and to cast John Kerry in the role of a warrior are a backhanded admission that appeasement is no longer a respectable public position, at least in America. On its face, the liberal establishment has executed one of the most astonishing countermarches in public policy history behind the falsely ebullient facade of the convention. Yet on closer inspection, their new determination to fight terrorism is still a Jim Crow form of pacifism, an effort to perpetuate the antebellum policies beloved by the Party base in acceptable phrases. There are warlike sounds without an enemy named; a candidate reports for duty without articulating a strategy for victory. It is the Band of Brothers speech without an Agincourt, either pending or envisaged. But it is the first crack in the monumental edifice of Left, and while small, a disturbing and tingling tremor runs to the top of its highest battlements. Is it ...
the little rift within the lute,
That by and by will make the music mute,
And ever widening slowly silence all.
The little rift within the lover’s lute
Or little pitted speck in garnered fruit,
That rotting inward slowly molders all?
Maybe. Thursday, August 5, 2004
www.belmontclub.blogspot.com
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