If the House Republicans don’t believe President Bush anymore…

… when can I expect to see the Republican House members introduce a bill for an immediate and total pullout from Iraq?

No abilities, desires, or talents?

A scholar then asked:

“Could you advise me of a proper vocation, Master?”

He then said:

“Some men can earn their keep with the power of their minds.  Others must use their backs and hands.  This is the same in nature as it is with man.  Some animals acquire their food easily, such as rabbits, horses and elephants.  Other animals must struggle for their food, like flamingos, moles, and ants.  So you see, the nature of the vocation must fit the individual.”

“But I have no abilities, desires, or talents,  Master,” the man sobbed.

“Have you ever thought of becoming a stockbroker?” the Master queried.

From The Profit
by Kehlog Albran

While banks fail, the USDA is busy caging Hemingway’s cats

I’ve sent the following missive to my Congressman, Christopher H. Smith (R-4-NJ), and to the Secretary of Agriculture.  You might consider the same if you think the Federal Government has more important things to do then harrass domestic cats.

=======================

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/09/25/hemingway.cats.battle.ap/index.html

Could someone check on why the USDA wastes time on trying to throw cats off their late owner’s property when we have more pressing matters at hand?  Maybe their jobs need to be eliminated and their positions transferred to whoever oversees banks – instead of CATS?

Thank you.

Iraq war cost about as much as bailout – and rising

Whether the Iraq war is good or bad, there’s one salient fact: we can’t afford it anymore.

As of July 23, 2008, we’ve spent over $660 billion dollars on Iraq.  The bank bailout is only $40 billion more, and the first stage under the current proposition  is $310 less.

Can we afford any politician who believes staying in Iraq for several more years has the good of the people of the United States of America truly at heart?  We’re throwing money down a sinkhole – Iraq/Babylonia has been constantly at war, with minor breaks, for over five thousand years – we ain’t stopping it in 7, or 11, or even 30!

What we are doing is wasting money we need here at home.

There’s a limited amount of value in the American dollar: we print more, it’s worth  less.

We can spend that money on Americans or we can squander it around the world.  It’s really that simple.

Quote Updates 9/22

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT):

“If an institution is too big to fail, then that institution is too big to exist.”

http://sanders.senate.gov/

Walter Kittredge (1863):

“Many are the hearts that are weary tonight, wishing for the war to cease; many are the hearts looking for the right, to see the dawn of peace.”

http://www.merrimackhistory.org/Walter%20Kittredge.htm

Anton Szandor LaVey:

“It’s too bad that stupidity isn’t painful. Ignorance is one thing, but our society thrives increasingly on stupidity. It depends on people going along with whatever they are told. The media promotes a cultivated stupidity as a posture that is not only acceptable but laudable.”

http://www.satanicchurch.com/content/9-sins.aspx

Brendan Cathbad Myers:

“When most pagans think of ethics, they usually think of the Wiccan Rede — a highly utilitarian idea which has nothing to do with virtue. I’d like to change that.”

http://www.wildideas.net/cathbad/

Ken Sanzel:

“Not every story has a point. Sometimes you just bend spaghetti to watch it break.”

For the Fallen

Sometimes a poet, writing of one matter – in Laurence Binyon’s case, the English Expeditionary Force in the First World War – will write words so timeless that those parts not specifically tied to place or time re-echo through the ages whenever a like event occurs.

The second, fourth, sixth, and seventh verses of For the Fallen by Laurence Binyon, for this eve of 9/11:

Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

[…]

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

[…]

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.