I was taken aback by the crazed attack on the messenger by Rick Witschonke. Rich Bottles REPORTED this item, he didn't seem to be producing them. The inappropriate thing is Witschonke seems to think that only what he believes is worthy. There is a LONG history of items being used for political purposes. I believe that the rhetoric that was bandied about President Bush was MILES above the fairly innocuous phrase used on this note.

In regard to the feedback (or should I say “blowback”) on the piece on the anti-Obama slogan written on a dollar bill, I fully understand and respect the opinions of those who might disagree with this or any other particular political message, but I think their reactions might be a bit misplaced and in some cases perhaps a bit hypocritical, even if unintended.

As I recall, an article some months ago detailed the stamped dollars being circulated by the “Occupy Wall Street” crowd, and I do not remember the same sort of outcry. It could be argued that the OWS messages did not mention a specific candidate or politician by name, but we were in the run-up to a Presidential election season and the battle lines were clearly drawn in regard to who supported or did not support that political movement.

Coins or currency that have been emblazoned with a political message are highly collectible and historically significant. As a collector, I have been happy to add examples to my collection regardless of the political sentiments being expressed.

I am completely and enthusiastically in agreement with our Editor’s assertion that “… the fact that this is a contemporary numismatic item is all the more reason to discuss it now. I've said again and again that the time to collect and document ephemeral numismatic items is here and now, in the present. There will never be a better time. “

If I write something obscene about a republican political figure on a dollar bill will you publish it?

I agree that with several people I have corresponded with that the political propaganda "Obama Sucks," on a dollar note is not appropriate for The E-Sylum. But does anyone know the origin of "that sucks" or "he sucks," etc.?

When I was a young man in the Army many years before the Vietnam War, I was trained as a member of a team of about a dozen men and acquired the military occupational skill of Infantry Reconnaissance & Intelligence Specialist. During the training, we were taught how to use current and old weapons. If we ran out of ammunition with our weapon and picked up something from the enemy, we would be able to effectively use it. One of my mentors was my First Sergeant, a combat veteran of World War II and the Korean War, and he taught us how to use many US and foreign weapons from World War II.

When one of the men commented "that sucks" when a weapon jammed, the First Sergeant asked us if we knew where that saying came from? No one knew. He told us that starting in World War II, when a man was hit in the chest and it included the lungs, the chest and lungs would fill up with blood and there was a sucking sound coming from the one or more holes. It was called a "sucking" chest wound. When a medic or someone working on the wounded man and heard the sucking sound, he knew the man would not make it because he did not have the skills and medical supplies to help him. So when it was determined that the man's wound was a sucking chest wound, he would give him some morphine, if available, to dull the pain and comforted him until he died.

Now you know where "sucks" comes from. I bet there is not one in a million people who know this so you are now in rare company.