New Dollar Bill

From a friend in Texas.

It's Hard, Really Hard

Other Parts Of The Middle East

From Politico. It's short.

Ray Puts It All In Perspective

Read Ray in New Orleans on the sad plight of the trader folks who inhabit Greenwich, Connecticut, who may no longer be able to send their children to private schools and give huge amounts to charity. Ned Lamott (Remember him? The Dems ran him against Liebermann.) says, "This is our Katrina...."

Ray says:

If this was really your Katrina, I would feel for you, man. Because you would be facing such total destruction and demoralization, and you would have to face it without being able to take solace in brass bands or real food or Mardi Gras, because when all is said and done, you still live in a shithole called Connecticut.

To my readers from Connecticut: The views expressed are not necessarily those of the blog owner. After all, Paul Newman lived there. I report; you decide.

H/T to Oyster at First Draft.

Woman/Man - Prayer Poems

A WOMAN'S POEM:

Before I lay me down to sleep,

I pray for a man, who's not a creep,

One who's handsome, smart and strong.

One who loves to listen long,

One who thinks before he speaks,

One who'll call, not wait for weeks.

I pray he's gainfully employed,

When I spend his cash, won't be annoyed.

Pulls out my chair and opens my door.

Massages my back and begs to do more.

Oh! Send me a man who'll make love to my mind,

Knows what to answer to "How big is my behind?"

I pray that this man will love me to no end,

And always be my very best friend.


A MAN'S POEM:

I pray for a deaf-mute gymnast nymphomaniac with huge boobs who owns a bar on a golf course, and loves to send me fishing and drinking. This doesn't rhyme, and I don't give a shit.


From my daughter. I'd been about to chide her for falling down on her job of supplying me with material, but she's back at work.

A Mighty Rant By Athenae

From A. at First Draft on the theme that the economic troubles we are seeing today did not start yesterday, or two weeks ago, or even two years ago, and where has everyone been all this time that we did not pay attention and get to work on a fix? Exactly. Read the whole post.

Because I'm sorry, but we have seen this before. We have seen world event after world event after domestic horror after domestic horror offer the party the opportunity to stand up and say, "Not this time. Just this far, and no farther, and it stops right now." We saw it in 2004 with Kerry and we saw it in 2005 with Katrina and we saw it in 2006 with the new majority and we saw it this year with FISA, the turning point at which no one turned. The place to make a stand, at which everyone remained sitting right where they were. I mean, I'm sorry, I know he's a wacky little elf and all, but Dennis Kucinich has been screaming this shit since 2003, when I first became aware of him:

Yet the most impassioned applause of the day was reserved for Kucinich. Introduced by Leo Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers of America, as "the only vegan in Congress," Kucinich took the stage to John Lennon's "Imagine" and proceeded to conjure the heyday of American progressivism by promising a new version of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration. "We're gonna rebuild America's cities, and we're gonna do it with America's steel," he roared, his voice far larger than his elfin frame. In his spellbinding speech, Kucinich laid out a lefty's dream platform: Medicare for all, money pulled out of the Pentagon budget to pay for schools and other domestic programs, and "total nuclear disarmament." He spoke to the crowd's fury over the war in Iraq, getting a screaming standing ovation when he cried, "This war was wrong! This war was fraudulent! We must expose this administration!"

Kucinich's words from 2003 apply quite well today. His dream for America is my dream for America. I believe that I became aware of Kucinich in the run-up to the Iraq War, speaking in the House of Representatives with his strong voice against the war and predicting what a disaster it would be, and he's been my favorite member of the House since then. He was my first choice as Democratic candidate for president. As Athenae says, "...he's a wacky little elf," but I love him. And where do we go from here with this mess?

Here's what Kucinich said on the floor of the House Sunday:

The $700 billion bailout for Wall Street, is driven by fear not fact. This is too much money in too a short a time going to too few people while too many questions remain unanswered. Why aren't we having hearings on the plan we have just received?

Why aren't we questioning the underlying premise of the need for a bailout with taxpayers' money? Why have we not considered any alternatives other than to give $700 billion to Wall Street? Why aren't we asking Wall Street to clean up its own mess? Why aren't we passing new laws to stop the speculation, which triggered this? Why aren't we putting up new regulatory structures to protect investors? How do we even value the $700 billion in toxic assets?

Why aren't we helping homeowners directly with their debt burden? Why aren't we helping American families faced with bankruptcy. Why aren't we reducing debt for Main Street instead of Wall Street? Isn't it time for fundamental change in our debt based monetary system, so we can free ourselves from the manipulation of the Federal Reserve and the banks? Is this the United States Congress or the board of directors of Goldman Sachs? Wall Street is a place of bears and bulls. It is not smart to force taxpayers to dance with bears or to follow closely behind the bulls.

I hear ya, Dennis.

I'm no expert on the economy, and I don't know how we are to dig ourselves out of the deep economic hole in which we "suddenly" find ourselves, but what Kucinich says makes sense to me.

Happy Birthday, My Darling Daughter!

 

My daughter is on the left, just in case you didn't work that out. She has a pretty smile, doesn't she? The picture is from our lunch last week. I may have to delete this, because she did not want me to post the picture.

Adventus Reporting From Houston

On Hurricanes And Power Outages

Rmj waxes lyrical and philosophical on hurricanes and power outages here, here, and here, or anywhere in his recent posts at Adventus. He endured the ravages of Hurricane Ike and its aftermath, and is still without power, except for a cable connected to a neighbor's generator. Lyrical and philosophical on hurricanes and power outages, for crying out loud! After reading his posts, I doubt that I'll ever write about either of those subjects again.

Rmj writes well and is so learned that I'm a tad jealous of him, and I can't resist poking a bit of fun at him over his post titled Is This All There Is?, written just before Ike had arrived in Houston.

UPDATE: Rmj has power now.

Feast of St. Michael And All Angels

A 13th-century Byzantine icon from Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai

Readings:

Eucharistic:
Psalm 103 or 103:19-22
Genesis 28:10-17
Revelation 12:7-12
John 1:47-51

Daily Office:
AM Psalm 8, 148
Job 38:1-7;
Hebrews 1:1-14
PM Psalm 14, 150 or 104;
Daniel 12:1-3 or 2 Kings 6:8-17;
Mark 13:21-27 or Revelation 5:1-14

PRAYER

Everlasting God, who have ordained and constituted in a wonderful order the ministries of angels and mortals: Mercifully grant that, as your holy angels always serve and worship you in heaven, so by your appointment they may help and defend us here on earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Do you prefer the icon above or the statue below?


St Michael's Victory over the Devil, sculpture above the main entrance to St. Michaelis in Hamburg, Germany.
Or the coins?


Archangel Michael as represented on a coin of Emperor Michael V.

Oy! Render unto Ceasar....

Orders of angels according to Pope Gregory I:

Seraphim
Cherubim
Thrones

Dominions
Principalities
Powers

Virtues
Archangels
Angels

Hymn

Ye watchers and ye holy ones,
Bright seraphs, cherubim and thrones.
Raise the glad strain, Alleluia.
Cry out, dominions, princedoms, powers,
Virtues, archangels, angel choirs.
Oh, praise Him! Oh, praise Him!
Alleluia, Alleluia,
Alleluia.

J Athelstan Riley

Images from Wiki.
Hymn and list of orders of angels from James Keifer at the Lectionary.

Blogger Mark Getting Help

Those of you who have been following Mark's story will be relieved to know that folks on the local scene are now aware of his situation and will move ahead to help him.

Thanks be to God!