“No,” says I, “I don’t. And I don’t care to, nuther. I’ve lived till now and done without it, and had my health, too. But as soon as you tell me, I’ll know, and that’s soon enough. I don’t see any use in finding out things and clogging up my head with them when I mayn’t ever have any occasion to use ‘em. There was Lance Williams, he learned how to talk Choctaw here till one come and dug his grave for him. Now, then, what’s a crusade? But I can tell you one thing before you begin; if it’s a patent-right, there’s no money in it. Bill Thompson he –”

“Patent-right!” says he. “I never see such an idiot. Why, a crusade is a kind of war.”

I thought he must be losing his mind. But no, he was in real earnest, and went right on, perfectly ca’m.

“A crusade is a war to recover the Holy Land from the paynim.”

“Which Holy Land?”

“Why, the Holy Land — there ain’t but one.”

“What do we want of it?”

“Why, can’t you understand? It’s in the hands of the paynim, and it’s our duty to take it away from them.”

“How did we come to let them git hold of it?”

“We didn’t come to let them git hold of it. They always had it.”

“Why, Tom, then it must belong to them, don’t it?”

“Why of course it does. Who said it didn’t?”

I studied over it, but couldn’t seem to git at the right of it, no way. I says:

“It’s too many for me, Tom Sawyer. If I had a farm and it was mine, and another person wanted it, would it be right for him to –”

“Oh, shucks! you don’t know enough to come in when it rains, Huck Finn. It ain’t a farm, it’s entirely different. You see, it’s like this. They own the land, just the mere land, and that’s all they DO own; but it was our folks, our Jews and Christians, that made it holy, and so they haven’t any business to be there defiling it. It’s a shame, and we ought not to stand it a minute. We ought to march against them and take it away from them.”

“Why, it does seem to me it’s the most mixed-up thing I ever see! Now, if I had a farm and another person –”

“Don’t I tell you it hasn’t got anything to do with farming? Farming is business, just common low-down business: that’s all it is, it’s all you can say for it; but this is higher, this is religious, and totally different.”

“Religious to go and take the land away from people that owns it?”

“Certainly; it’s always been considered so.”

Jesus was Polish.

His Parents Wladislaw and Janowska Jakubowitz emigrated from Lublin in 1897, and relocated to Des Plaines Illinois, where Wladislaw found work in a shoe repair shop.

Des Plaines is the home of the first McDonald’s opened by Ray Kroc, which is preserved as a “museum” on Lee Street, north of downtown.

Whew…nice speech! Happy new year to you too!

Well Mulga’s right about one thing anyway.

I’m a computer program from an inexhaustible sewer. No he’s not imagining it.

Meanwhile, and being as you all did SO well on the Blood or Ink test, let’s try multiple choice, and see who figures this one out.

Jesus was

1) Polish
2) Fijian
3) Icelandic
4) Thai
5) Jewish
6) Inuit
7) Croation
8) All of the above
9) none of the above

It is as though Israel realizes the futility of its actions and, as a result, is spending billions and employing legions of ‘thought police’ to build and maintain its Potemkin Village.

Know that, progressive sites are being monitored, and that agent (state, foreign) provocateurs are engaged. This will help in keeping topics on point and avoiding ‘those with facetious arguments,’ who wish, by all means, not to be avoided.

Cheers All.

You wrote an excellent summation. I totally agree.

Thanks!