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From: robison@eosp1.UUCP (Tobias D. Robison)
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: Re: Ronald reagan / Bombing USSR
Message-ID: <1073@eosp1.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 20-Aug-84 12:59:58 EDT
Article-I.D.: eosp1.1073
Posted: Mon Aug 20 12:59:58 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 21-Aug-84 00:23:02 EDT
Organization: Exxon Office Systems, Princeton, NJ
Lines: 27

References:

I'd like to emphasize how difficult I think it is to make such a
joke.  Even when I view Russia as an evil country, I never stop feeling
that the majority of its adult citizens are reasonable, ordinarily
special sorts of people like you and me, who mean us no particular
harm.  I believe I am related to many of them, possibly over 100,000
by 4th or 5th generation ties, and possibly the majority of them by
7th or 8th generation ties.  They bear some responsibility for the
actions of their government, but in a totalitarian state that degree
of responsibility is difficult to assess, and should be made on a case
by case basis.

A large percentage of the population consists of young, innocent
children.

How could I ever make a joke about bombing them?
Place me in President Reagan's shoes, and I might have said something
like this:

Congress has just passed a law outlawing Russia and making all its
residents citizens of the United States.  They're in the backroom
recalculating Social Security benefits now...

- Toby Robison (not Robinson!)
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