Tom Piercy, I subscribe to the Listserve Digest, so only received it this morning. Do you also object to the overtly Christian sentiments that are expressed here on the Pate Listserve at Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas? After all, they are not "relevant to the stated topics of the list, 'the PATE surname and variations' [nor] help us move forward research on the Pate family lines." To call "political spam" a patriotic remembrance of our brave military, many who gave their lives to save England and the rest of Europe, is shameful on your part. Europe should also be celebrating Memorial Day with us, because, if not for the over 400,000 lives (in five years) of America's finest men who died on foreign soil, Europe would be in the 65th year of the Third Reich celebrating Heil Hitler Day, except for those unfortunate enough to be Jews, Gypsies, Slavs, mentally/physically handicapped, and other "undesirables". This is not to mention the over $2 trillion (in today's dollars) spent in the defense of Europe, and over $100 billion spent in the reconstruction of Europe after the war (even to our former enemies). These funds were raised through taxation of ordinary Americans, just like the people who subscribe to this listserve. I guess gratitude is too much to expect. Since you expressed concern about "genuine Pate researchers", I was curious to see what your contributions have been to "help us move forward research on the Pate family lines." So I did a quick search of the listserve archives and found only three messages posted by you. Two were sniping at messages posted by others (including this one), and the other had nothing to do with forwarding Pate research. With great sincerity, A. J. Pate Houston, Texas, USA ___________________________________________ Date: Mon, 31 May 2010 13:42:47 +0100 From: Tom Piercy <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [PATE] Memorial Day I am sure the sentiments expressed here are made with great sincerity. However, I would like to ask how they are relevant to the stated topics of the list, "the PATE surname and variations" or how they help us move forward research on the Pate family lines. It would be a shame to lose genuine PATE researchers because of political spam. -- Tom Piercy Rothwell, Northants, UK.