Francis by Patrick J. Marrin for October 30, 2023

Amen. The war has me heartsick.

Pencils don’t have lead; it’s graphite and carbon.

“Pencils don’t have lead; it’s graphite and carbon.”

‘They’ always want their fights to be graphic.

Every war is two conflicts: the military conflict and the political conflict.

Israel has no choice militarily. It has a duty to defend its citizens. However, if they don’t address the political issues, those of us who are still around in the next decade will be having this same conversation again.

As a military officer, it was my duty to fight wars. I would not want to fight this one.

Urban warfare is the ugliest kind of warfare. Neither side is truly going to win this one. The losses will go beyond territory held, military equipment and body count.

There will be much “collateral damage” which is a very sanitized version of saying “ordinary people who have the misfortune of not being able to get out of the way of the fighting.”

One side will ultimately claim victory, but victory is not peace.

Maybe Robert E. Lee had it right, “It is well that war is so terrible, lest we grow fond of it.” The fighting will stop when one or both sides gets tired of fighting. Is the conflict really over, or is it in recess?

“War is not healthy for children and other living things” evermore true today.

“War is diplomacy by other means.”

-Carl von Clausewitz.

“WAR! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing. (say it again)”

Enough lead to sink the country into the sea—that’s a lot of lead!

Pencil leads are not really made of lead. They’re made of graphite.

Robert E. Lee did speak correctly.Now some Americans want to strip him of his legacy!