Bush At The OPEC Summit-No Wonder Gas Prices Are So High

Six nuclear warheads on air-launched cruise missiles were mistakenly carried on a flight from North Dakota to Louisiana last week.

"A B-52 bomber was mistakenly armed with six nuclear warheads and flown for more than three hours across several states last week, prompting an Air Force investigation and the firing of one commander, Pentagon officials said Wednesday." Nuclear Bombs Mistakenly Flown Over US By PAULINE JELINEK

Virgil has been unable to confirm reports that the plane also carried 20 kilos of Ice Nine, which, if dropped in the Mississippi or the Gulf, would have made the nukes irrelevant.

Wexford and Cork in All-Ireland Camogie Final Next Sunday, September 9.

"Wexford captain Kate Kelly was in stirring form as Stellah Sinnott's charges booked a place in the Gala All-Ireland Senior Camogie championship final for the first time since 1994 thanks to a 2-18 to 0-14 win over Galway in Nowlan Park on Saturday."
FIRST EVER CAMOGIE CD-. The Girls of Wexford goes on sale this week throughout the county. The lead singer is Teresa Shields, who was the goalkeeper on the first ever-winning Wexford team in 1968." To hear the Girls of Wexford song by Teresa and the Stars Click Here.
The Wexford lasses have momentum & spirit, but Cork has the tradition. It will be an exciting match.
This is Laois vs Meath in theJunior All Ireland finals.

Republican President Bush Leaving More of Us: Dirty, Poor, and Despairing.

Kilkenny 2-19 Limerick 1-15-Cats Take Their 30th To Tie Cork.

"Kilkenny claim their 30th All-Ireland Hurling title to draw level with Cork in the all-time standings. Having lead from the second minute, the defending champions played with authority and style to emerge as convincing and deserved winners. After the match, manager Brian Cody dedicated the victory to goalkeeper James McGarry and his family following the death of his wife Vanessa earlier this year."
For some hurling basics, click here.

Arrogance & Ignorance Are A Dangerous & Cruel Combination.

Thanks to Gene.

Kilkenny v Limerick, All-Ireland SHC final, Sunday, 2 September, 3.30pm

"It's the All-Ireland SHC final of 2007, and the big question is, 'will it be a repeat of 1973 or 1974?'

We're always tempted to look at the history of All-Ireland pairings, even when it has been 33 years since the two counties in question met. It was Kilkenny who were hurling kings in '74. The previous year, it was Limerick who had triumphed over the Cats.

But that's history. This is now. And the reality is that Limerick have an incredibly tough task if they are to put the finishing touch to what has been a fantastic year for Richie Bennis and his charges."

In honor of hurling, hurlers, & Ireland, here's Joe Connolly’s famous speech spoken with dignity, clarity and passion after Galway's win over Limerick in the 1980 All-Ireland Final. Click here.

Bush, Clinton, Giuliani, & Romney Share Ambition & Cuba Policy. Obama, Edwards, & Dodd Looking Better Every Day.

"Surprising as it may be, Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani, New York's' own presidential contenders, have something in common: Both support policies on Cuba that have failed for 46 years." Hillary and Rudy share tired view on Cuba policy by Albor Ruiz
Obama's right on Cuba Hillary, Mitt, & Rudy know it, but will say anything they think will help them bet elected. Some people want to be president too much to be a good president.

TheGreats

Though they shared the same last name, Catherine TheGreat & Peter TheGreat were not close relatives. The rumors about Catherine & the horse, unlike the rumors about McGregor & the goat, are not true. She simply paid the price that powerful, competent women paid back then. My how times have changed. Haven't they?

Aging, Death, and Our Close Mammalian Cousins.

"Virtually hairless, venerably wrinkled and very nearly blind, naked mole-rats . . . remind some zoo-goers of little old men. The resemblance is more than coincidence." CU biologist: Mole-rat Methuselahs bolster evolutionary theory of aging By Roger Segelken

Letting Go.

This advice from Julia to CJ about a specific situation has broader application in our moment to moment lives. (No, Coach, it doesn't have anything to do with lack of tenacity or giving up. It has to do with letting go, which is even different from "knowing when to fold um" which is probably as close as I can come for you)

"I Never Had Sex With That Senator, Larry Craig, & I'm Not Gay"- Mitt Romney

"Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney distanced himself Tuesday from one of his top Senate supporters, comparing his actions to President Clinton's affair with an intern . . . "
What a dufus.

Virgil Believes In Mother Theresa

Jesus, Mary, Buddha, & Kwan Yin deserve the utmost respect and are worthy of emulation. Still, the lady of the day is Mother Theresa. She faced the world and its horrors without believing that a spook was taking care of and guiding her. She did her best to alleviate the suffering of others in spite of her own pain and without expecting a reward or fearing punishment. “. . . for the last nearly half-century of her life she felt no presence of God whatsoever . . .That absence seems to have started at almost precisely the time she began tending the poor and dying in Calcutta, and - except for a five-week break in 1959 - never abated. Although perpetually cheery in public, the Teresa of the letters lived in a state of deep and abiding spiritual pain. In more than 40 communications, many of which have never before been published, she bemoans the ‘dryness,’ ‘darkness,’ ‘loneliness’ and ‘torture’ she is undergoing. She compares the experience to hell and at one point says it has driven her to doubt the existence of heaven and even of God. She is acutely aware of the discrepancy between her inner state and her public demeanor. ‘The smile,’ she writes, is ‘a mask’ or ‘a cloak that covers everything.’ Similarly, she wonders whether she is engaged in verbal deception. ‘I spoke as if my very heart was in love with God - tender, personal love,’ she remarks to an adviser. ‘If you were [there], you would have said, 'What hypocrisy.'’” Mother Teresa's Crisis of Faith By DAVID VAN BIEMA in Time.
Mother, showing us your human tortured side may be your greatest gift. I guess that we're all hypocrites to some degree. If you were one, I wish we had a few million more like you.

Just Sadness

That people like Mark Foley & Larry Craig choose not only to deny who they are, but also to condemn others like them may be funny on some level. See, Rep. Barney Frank on Sen. Larry Craig & Other GOP Hypocrites. Right now, to Virgil, the situation brings nothing but sadness for them, our nation, and the world we live in. Stan the Man sent me these quotes this morning that seem appropriate.

“The reward for conformity was that everyone liked you except yourself.”- Rita Mae Brown
“To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.”- Abraham Lincoln
“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”- Voltaire
“To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest.”- Mohandas K. Gandhi

Being A Princess Is No Picnic

“I stopped behind a soccer mom type vehicle. On the left side of the rear window there was some kind of sticker about gymnastics with ‘Courtney’ under it and on the opposite corner was a cheerleader megaphone with ‘Jennifer’ under it. When we are growing up, Mom, especially, is there to make sure that the whole world seems to have been made for us. Dad and the school and whom ever else gets paid for doing so, all pitch in support. Then one day you can buy liquor and everything changes. At that point, Mom and Dad will want little Jennifer and Courtney off the tit and married. A passel (if they are lucky) of young men will want on the tit without getting married. Mother nature (on the guys side as usual) will want them pregnant, married or not, and the free market economy will want them on an endless economic treadmill that leads to dropping dead, where they will make their final contribution as consumers at the funeral home. Some things would like to kill and eat them, other things would like to infect them, while most things, including the universe at large, could not care less whether they exist or not. I suppose that is the reason that they set the drinking age where they do.” By James, The Bruce.

Deportees-the Real Problem Is Illegal Employers.

“Politically, it's not a civil rights issue, it's a jobs issue. ‘Mass deportations’ and ‘Fences’ are hysterics and false choices offered by the politicians and repeated by the media. If we start arresting, convicting, and penalizing ‘Illegal Employers,’ non-citizens without a valid Social Security number will leave the country on their own and legal workers would be paid fair wages.” Greg, the Real Problem Is Illegal Employers by Jonah

Ten Minutes of Tex Sex With Commentary By Molly Ivins.

The Pirates

These guys are good. Cousin Jim plays first base. Not the defensive position-he's actually first base.

The Out of Body Experience-Is God Within?

“The brain, which abhors ambiguity, . . .forces a decision that can . . . involve the sense of being in a different body.
The research provides a physical explanation for phenomena usually ascribed to otherworldly influences, . . In what is popularly referred to as near-death experience, people who have been in the throes of severe and sudden injury or illness often report the sensation of floating over their body, looking down, hearing what is said and then, just as suddenly, finding themselves back inside their body. . . .” Studies Report Inducing Out-of-Body Experience By SANDRA BLAKESLEE

"It Is Better to Have Loved and Lost than to Have Never Lost at All."- Lester Moran

Thank you for those wise words Lester. I have some friends & kin who need to hear um. I'm gonna dedicate those words to all of our sick & shut in friends and them that's been dumped. I'm also gonna send um Once A Day by Connie Smith & The Last Thing On My Mind By Tom Paxton. They go somethin like iss.