Christians For The Mountains? Virgil Says Amen.

"The earth is the LORD's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein." Psalms 24:1
Boozman a dope? Amen again. "Boozman . . . dismisses without considering any correspondence from individuals urging concern for conservation of natural resources. Perhaps this right-wing bunghole fueled by Wal-Mart would listen to Christians For The Mountains, a network of persons 'committed to advocating that Christians and their churches recognize their God-given responsibility to lie compatibly and sustainably upon this earth God has created.' It is nondenominational and non-partisan, but it does take a critical prophetic stance in advocacy for justice, righteousness, and peace for the land and its inhabitants." From Bewildering Boozman in The Fayettevillage Voice.
If you let Boozman get away with this kind of thing unchallenged because he's a "nice guy" or "well meaning, but stupid" you don't have a heron your ass and may not have one on your water ways much longer.

Liberty, Death, & Such.

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for dinner. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote." Ben Franklin may not have said this, but it does raise a good point about the danger of tyranny of the majority. Is the right to bear arms a First Amendment right, as Dr. Steve says? Does the constitution have a built in right of revolution? Thomas Jefferson did say, "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it’s natural manure."
This is all pretty disturbing. We shouldn't need revolution or armed lambs if the constitution is working and respected. And, I don't trust the lambs a damned bit more than the wolves. Too bad I'm not the enlightend despot of this world. I'd arm only folks like FOV's Jane & Jennifer who would shoot as a last resort and only those who needed shootin.
Thanks to Ken.

Lawman

The best ranger BBL ever had. His swiftness is still talked about today. Texas Red never cleared leather.
It's also rumored that he helped take out Bad Bob, the albino. "The original Bad Bob, not Dirty Bad Bob from New Mexico."

Benedict XVI-The George W. Bush of Popes.

The Pope, in his in his inerrant wisdom, says condoms could actually make the AIDS epidemic worse. "He said AIDS 'could not be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems'. Instead, the Pope favours abstinence and a moral attitude toward sex." Pope Benedict says condoms make AIDS epidemic worse by Anna Hipsley
See, also The Pope on Condoms and AIDS in The New York Times.

Maybe this good Scotswoman could get his attention as well as his Secretary's Bum

Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Duit.

Though I'm partial to Druids and suspicious of foreign Christians (even kidnapped Welshmen) who change things, St. Patrick was some Welshman. Thanks to Rev. Sandi for providing this:
From 365 Saints by Woodeene Koenig-Bricker:
Today, everyone, no matter what their heritage, can be a little Irish. For someone whose life contains as much fiction as fact, St. Patrick is arguably one of the most famous saints of all times. Although he is probably best known for shamrocks (and green beer), he is also believed to have written the hauntingly beautiful prayer entitled “The Breastplate of St. Patrick.” Containing the request “Christ shield me this day: Christ be with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me,” the prayer goes on to say, “Christ in quiet and in danger, Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.”
Altho’ we can’t be absolutely certain Patrick is the author, this ancient prayer is a perfect reflection of his life and beliefs. Like all the saints, Patrick centered his life in Christ. Everything he did was done out of a passionate belief in the message of Jesus Christ. In a time when few people could read and write, Patrick’s life became a living gospel.
Likewise, our lives reflect the gospel we espouse. If we adhere to the gospel of materialism and consumerism, our actions will demonstrate our conviction. If we follow the gospel of self-interest, it will be apparent to all we meet. If like St. Patrick, however, we embrace the true gospel, which calls for selflessness and sacrifice, we become messengers of life and hope for a fallen world.
When people meet me, what message do I convey? Do I reflect my beliefs in both
word and deed?
And I would add, am I mindful of the message my life conveys?
I think St. Patrick would also want to honor Rosin The Bow & that cruel remorseless old foe on his day.

To mark St Patrick's Day, Faith Central has compiled 10 celebratory tidbits, some myth, some fact, on the Patron Saint of the Irish.
1. The potato crop was traditionally planted in Ireland after March 17
2. Blue not green is the color originally associated with St Patrick. "St Patrick's Blue" is used on Ireland's Presidential Standard or flag, while the Irish Guards sport a plume of St Patrick's blue in their bearskins. The emphasis on green is thought to be linked to "wearing the Green", a symbol from the 18th century on, of sympathy with Irish independence.
3. St Patrick is patron of fishermen in the Loire, where a legend associates him with a blackthorn bush. The saint is said to have slept beneath it, and when he awoke the next day, Christmas, the bush flowered, and was said to have continued to do so every Christmas until its destruction during the First World War.
4. A regiment of the Mexican army in the 1846 -8 War between Mexico and America was named after St Patrick. Members of the Batellón de San Patricio included Afro-Americans freshly liberated from the slave plantations of the South, and the soldiers were granted Mexican citizenship afterwards.
5. The first St Patrick's Day parade took place in 1737 in Boston, followed in 1762 by New York. George Washington allowed his soldiers a holiday on March 17, 1780 as "an act of solidarity with the Irish in their fight for independence."
6. Until the 1970's, all pubs were shut in Ireland on St Patrick's Day, and the sole venue selling drink the annual dog show. Lenten fasting - and the obligation to abstain from meat - were lifted on the day, which most families would begin with Mass.
7. St Patrick's Day is a public holiday in Ireland and also in Monserrat "the Emerald Isle of the Carribean," so called because it was settled in 1633 by Irish migrants from St Kitts.
8. According to legend, on the day of Judgement, while Christ judges all other nations, St Patrick will be the judge of the Irish.
9. Since 1962, tons of green dye are tipped on St Patrick's Day into the Chicago river, although the quantity has reduced, for environmental reasons, from 100 to 40.
10. Should you wish to carry on celebrating St Patrick after March 17, in the United States, you might visit the four Shamrocks in the USA including Mount Gay-Shamrock, W.Va or the nine cities named Dublin, including Dublin, Ohio (the largest Dublin in the U.S.) and Dublin, Georgia.

From St. Patrick's Day: Facts and Legends
See also, 10 Things You Didn't Know About Ireland- "More Guinness Is Sold in Nigeria Than in Ireland . . .Ireland is the third largest market for Guinness. Nigeria is at second, and the U.K. is the first."

A Rotten AIG.

Midnight On The Water (2 versions) & Bonaparte's Retreat

David Bromberg also does a wonderful version of Midnight On The Water.

This One's to Oliver-You Can't Play a Piano Unless You Can Play "Down Yonder."

With apologies to his sister who is a wonderful pianist & good folk too.

Get Um Dan

Birmingham by Randy Newman
Thanks to Sammy

Erin and Lillian

Right Wing Email

I got an email this morning forwarded by a friend to friends asserting that Louisiana Senator Landrieu is responsible for spending two hundred fifty billion dollars on New Orleans after Katrina.

That I have friends that send these things around is worrisome to me. We need to teach children in school to spot rank propaganda and to be skeptical of things that seem absurd – they probably are. These emails never prove to be right, just right wing but they go round and round endlessly, this one for over three years now apparently! What is it about people that such emails can do that?

The first lie in this one is that the legislation was about New Orleans. It was about the entire State of Louisiana and the impacted areas of the Gulf Coast; a misrepresentation that invalidates the various mathematical calculations it asserts: dollars per person, dollars per house etc.

The end theme of the email, its agenda, is we have too much government and our taxes are too high.

The difference between a third world economy and a first is not the color of the national flag, the bible being read or the genetic code of the residents; it is the presence or absence of public infrastructure, education and effective stable government, all fundamental to a functional private sector and prosperity. We have been through a period of denying the necessity for government and are paying a heavy price for it.

When we are spending too much on education, when the financial system is as stable and well run as the post office, when regulatory agencies are ahead of problems like madoff not behind, we can talk about taxes being too high. Until then, to all my friends, please don’t send me anymore such noise.

Thanks

Spanking away depression

(In Re Virg’s immediately preceding post asserting a scientific basis for a daily spanking as a treatment for depression.)

It is Dr. Bruce's theory that in most people (those not chemically out of whack in the first place) depression requires two things: a really Shitty life situation and an opportunity and inclination to obsess on it. Doing so sets up a negative feedback loop in brain chemistry by which the happy hormones are consumed in the flood of unhappiness/stress hormones invariably making life's circumstances worse and so round and round and down and down.

Since we are all mortal, when you get to the point in life where oncoming death is palpable in the body and visible in mirror it is easy to get depressed; again, if you have the time and inclination to obsess on it. Depression thrives amidst even modest affluence - others are too busy surviving to think about getting old and dying or any other problem for that matter.

Good to have the kids out of the house or none to start with so that you have even more time to brood on your situation and besides it is hard to get depressed if you feel needed by others that are important to you. Depression, not being good for relationships, it is easy to add that to the mix of reasons to be unhappy thereby solidifying the condition. Drinking is a release but too much screws with brain chemistry and sleep which does the same so both feed a lack of energy. Work becomes a chore and who has energy to work out or stay active with a borderline hangover most every day? All of this does wonders to build a poor self image and a sense of worthlessness. So excess booze is both cause and effect. None of this is good for libido either - not sure one can be depressed and be getting a lot of sex, certainly if you are you aren’t. (Might be a good research project.)

Anyone doubt that the occurrence of depression is skewed in a socioeconomic and age demographic?

So where are we? Overweight, out of shape, empty nester, in a dysfunctional relationship, poor sleep habits, drinking too much, low self esteem, working left handily in a burnout mode, obsessing about the end of youth, and impending disability and death.

They call it depression. You don't have to have all of these just some to qualify. If you have all of them they call that suicide.

Cure - stop obsessing, find/recover a friend/lover, reduce the booze, get some sleep and exercise, figure out how to find reward in the job or get a new one....All easier said than done...but...it is reality.

Never going to ditch the mortality but this dying thing takes too long (maybe as much as thirty - forty years) to spend it all depressed. Besides there is a good side to mortality as you don’t have to pretend to be happy forever and you can be sure that you have at least one more good fucking coming to you.

Two glasses of red wine a day taste better than three, plenty of fruit and exercise...get rid of boring old fart depressed friends that don't know how to have fun anymore...turn the news off, it is too late for you to do anything much about it now...Someone needs to make a list for happy living.

A daily spanking from someone of the opposite sex, dressed in revealing black leather? Hummm? Better to give than receive.

Spanking Cures Depression & Addiction-Beats the 12 Steps & Pills.

As many of you know, Virg, and the Snoddys in general, tend to drink too much and suffer from depression. We also have nothing against light flagellation between consenting adults for good, clean fun. We are, however, reluctant to take this cure until someone we know has tried it and verifies that it works and is not just a big pain in the butt. Volunteers?

SPIKE
What\'s the Best Way to Whip an Addiction?
www.spike.com
Spike Full Episodes Spike Video Clips Spike on Facebook

What's the Best Way to Whip an Addiction? | Movies & TV | SPIKE.com

"Siberian scientists believe that addiction to alcohol and narcotics, as well as depression, suicidal thoughts and psychosomatic diseases occur when an individual loses his or her interest in life. The absence of the will to live is caused with decreasing production of endorphins - the substance, which is known as the hormone of happiness. If a depressed individual receives a physical punishment, whipping that is, it will stir up endorphin receptors, activate the “production of happiness' and eventually remove depressive feelings.
Russian scientists recommend the following course of the whipping therapy: 30 sessions of 60 whips on the buttocks in every procedure. A group of drug addicts volunteered to test the new method of treatment: the results can be described as good and excellent.
Doctor of Biological Sciences, Sergei Speransky, is a very well known figure in Novosibirsk. The doctor became one of the authors of the shocking whipping therapy. The professor used the self-flagellation method to cure his own depression; he also recovered from two heart attacks with the help of physical tortures too.
'The whipping therapy becomes much more efficient when a patients receives the punishment from a person of the opposite sex. The effect is astounding: the patient starts seeing only bright colors in the surrounding world, the heartache disappears, although it will take a certain time for the buttocks to heal, of course,' Sergei Speransky told the Izvestia newspaper.
The whipping therapy has not become a new discovery in the history of medicine. Tibetan monks widely used it for medical purposes too. Soviet specialists used a special method of torturing therapy at mental hospitals. They made injections of brimstone and peach oil mixture to inspire mentally unbalanced patience with a will to live. A patient would suffer from horrible pain in the body after such an injection, but he or she would change their attitude to life for the better afterwards." from Whipping therapy cures depression and suicide crises
They highlighted how, in the 19th century, German doctors had achieved positive results on everything from depression to pneumonia by caning their patients. Marina Chuhrova, who took part in preparing the report, said of the 10 patients she caned regularly to test the results: 'At first they didn't like it, but when they started to feel the benefits they kept asking for more.' The Russian team is now charging for the sessions, getting $A140 for a standard treatment. Research by other scientists has suggested endorphins can be obtained by less painful means. Foods such as chocolate or chilli peppers can also lead to enhanced secretion of endorphins. Exercise, acupuncture, massage therapy and sex can also stimulate endorphin secretion, but the Russian team say none of those methods is as effective as a good caning. Dr Speransky, head of biological sciences at the Novosibirsk Institute of Medicine, said you could eat chocolate, exercise then have a caning. 'That way you can get a maximum dose of endorphins.'" from A good caning takes some beating By Allan Hall in Age

Big Ted's Gone Like Snow On The Water. Hope He Comes Back Soon.

Cheers!

" . . .drinking caused an average loss of muscle somewhere around the 33% range. This is called 'alcoholic myopathy' and a decreased rate of protein synthesis has been liked to it. . . . .Alcohol is empty calories, 7 calories per gram to be exact. And it slows your metabolism, a pretty mean combination. So while you are drinking, your half-assed metabolism has completely given up on burning fat, and is just trying to keep up with the flood of extra calories!. . .But the biggest kick about alcohol for us guys is it lowers testosterone levels! Testosterone is what helps us build muscle. But that isn't all, it raises estrogen levels! . . .Testosterone levels appear below average even up to a week later. So if you are going out and getting drunk every weekend, your testosterone levels may not have been normal for quite some time" See, Alcohol's Curse By: Dean Goudie
Maybe the cure is not so bad compared to becoming a braindead blob of fat.
Then, on the other hand, D.W. Washburn didn't take it & he's doing fine.

More Family Values-You'll Get Our Pornography When You Pry Our Cold Dead Fingers From It.

"Those states that do consume the most porn tend to be more conservative and religious than states with lower levels of consumption, the study finds. 'Some of the people who are most outraged turn out to be consumers of the very things they claimed to be outraged by,' Edelman says. . . . The biggest consumer, Utah, . . .Eight of the top 10 pornography consuming states gave their electoral votes to John McCain in last year's presidential election – Florida and Hawaii were the exceptions. While six out of the lowest 10 favoured Barack Obama. Porn in the USA: Conservatives are biggest consumers by Ewen Callaway

Family Values.

I remember going to the depot when I was a kid and saw the "colored" waiting room. I told my mother I wanted to go in and see all the colors. She shushed me up and told me that she would explain later.
Is there a difference between English only & White's only? Though an earlier version of English was the language of Jesus, I agree with The Fayettevillage Voice in Is English a "Family Value" Now? that speaking it is not a family value. I also agree that the country may have more pressing problems than making English the national language. Sad that we can't see the results of our ignorance and hatred until someone like Billie Sings it to us.

This Lad, Jock, Has A Talent Not Unlike Me Own.

For a lesser, shorter, but still good, version of The Gallant Forty Twa by Ryan's Fancy, click here.
Even the McDonalds don't object to displaying the Black Watch Tartan when it is so labeled.

MTA

GOP SELLING DOPE(S) AGAIN-What A Rush!

Thanks to Gene & Judge C.

Preserving Freedom In Iraq-Taking Care Of the Widows & Orphans.

"'If we give the money to the widows, they will spend it unwisely because they are uneducated and they don't know about budgeting. But if we find her a husband, there will be a person in charge of her and her children for the rest of their lives.'
Mazin al-Shihan, director of a city agency in Baghdad that plans to pay men to marry Iraq's war widows" From Newsweek-PERSPECTIVES
IF ANY OF YOU OWE MONEY TO MY MARY, PLEASE, FOR HER OWN GOOD, SEND IT DIRECTLY TO ME.

If Bella, Tara, Kyle & Jason Don't Inspire You, You're Uninspirable.

Yes, golf ruins a good walk, but this kid is amazing.

Kyle Lograsso @ Yahoo! Video

"What In The Wide Wide World of Sports? Both Obama & the Sheriff Surprise NeoCons.

“I know they’re gearing up for a fight as we speak. My message to them is this: So am I.” President Obama See, What Part of ‘Stimulus’ Don’t They Get?
Bobby Jindal, Mark Sanford, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, & Rush Limbaugh don't get it any more than these cowboys. Of course, they still have a pocket full of tin.