who gives a damn about gilad shalit?!

everyone's talking about the cost of trading prisoners being too high; it's a dicey subject, because it's understandable that we don't want to release dangerous terrorists back into the wild where we know they'll strike right back.

let's not talk about the cost of feeding those prisoners. or sheltering and educating them at our expense when our children are forced to run around under fire instead of studying in schools and universities like other kids their ages all over the world. because that's exactly the kind of punishment our taxpayer's money should be viciously meting out to our enemies.

let's talk about the hidden cost that we're paying by not rescuing gilad, a cost that we're paying for every day that he's not returned, paying for with more than just a handful of our lives: as the years go by and no action is taken, our soldiers will become less and less certain that the government who's sending them out is willing to look out for them.

you used to know that you weren't going to be left in the field. now? who knows?

so why should they stick their necks out? and why should their mothers let the army take them away?

i'm not telling you what i think we should do. but i'm convinced that what we're not doing is thinking about the long term effects of this disaster.

and that poor kid's been there for five long years, in which each of his days is probably more than a lifetime of heartache for any one of us. i'm pretty damn certain that our government doesn't give a damn about that kid. and i'm beginning to worry that our government doesn't give a damn about the rest of us kids, either.

hey, big boss men who i didn't vote for: you want to buy my faith in the machine? take a chance on his freedom. you're already paying for it, we're already paying for it, and our goddamned future is paying for it.

c'mon, chiefs. take your heads out of your bums and sort this shit out. if it's by violent means, so be it. if it's by negotiation and compromise, so be it. but DO SOMETHING.