Hey, Lilly don't worry about trespassing. I usually hang out in my cave. The grizzly bear and me made a pact. As long as I stay on my side of the cave and don't start any fires we can coexist. The smoke gets to him so I go outside if I have to make a camp fire. If I catch a lot of fish I try to bring him back some. He takes care of the IRS and the bill collectors, lol. We have a symbiotic relationship. So far no complaints except for the bats. I am still trying to work out something with the bats, lol.
I would express it through poetry. Poetry can be therapuetic. It can help you collect your thoughts. It allows you to be honest. Ever read a dishonest poem? Do you think one can exist?
Sorry I missed this thread first time around. Thanks for bringing it back up. Your threads are awesome. I remember hearing that beggars can't be choosers growing up. I think a person can choose who they want to beg from. I think a person can choose not to beg. How come this question wasn't posted a year ago, huh? I would have probably missed it then, too, lol. Romantically involved too soon. Thanks that explains my first marriage. Oh, man did I compromise. I still don't like humble pie, lol. Good luck to anyone who thinks they could find and define me, lol. Sorry I had trouble with that question. I guess it is because I think I should find and define myself. I might not be satisfied with someone else's definition of me. Someone finding me now that sounds interesting. I think the trend is keep a comfortable distance, in other words, lets just get close to keep it entertaining but far enough away so that we can stay comfortably numb and alone. I know I have been my worst enemy and friend many times.
I agree the media can work people up. I remember the "shock and awe" they called it. It was treated like a big fireworks display. I remember the humanitarian words of how the bunker buster missiles were actually only killing the military of Iraq and not the civillians. 911 was a terrible thing and I don't want to make light of it. I agree that war can seem inevitable. Wars and rumors of wars I can remember reading. I just don't think war is the best overpopulation answer to combat overpopulation. My question is how has war made your life better?
I haven't heard the new album. Yellow Brick Road was good. Ever heard of the song Tobacco Road? I forgot who sang it. I watched Dylan recently on PBS. I thought he was good on his guest appearance on the Dharma and Greg show.
Wow, Jay you work a lot of hours. I worked at Buddy's Sausage House in Red Bay and my dad was born in Hamilton. Jay do you have any information on that Mercedes Plant? I think it is in Tishimingo.
I guess growing up with my dad first in Korea then Germany then Viet Nam I didn't get to see him much. The I think of the children that will never see their parents. Do you remember that song?
Country Joe & the Fish
I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die-Rag [Take 1 - 09 65] Oh this is, this is just a try out. It's not ... 'Fixin'-To-Die-Rag', 'Fixin'-To-Die-Rag', Take 1. One, two, three, four. Well, come on all of you, big strong men, Uncle Sam needs your help again. Yeah, he's got himself in a terrible jam Way down yonder in Vietnam So put down your books and pick up a gun, Gonna have a whole lotta fun.
And it's one, two, three, What are we fighting for ? Don't ask me, I don't give a damn, Next stop is Vietnam; And it's five, six, seven, Open up the pearly gates, Well there ain't no time to wonder why, Whoopee! we're all gonna die.
Yeah, come on Wall Street, don't be slow, Why man, this is war au-go-go There's plenty good money to be made By supplying the Army with the tools of its trade, Just hope and pray that if they drop the bomb, They drop it on the Viet Cong.
And it's one, two, three, What are we fighting for ? Don't ask me, I don't give a damn, Next stop is Vietnam. And it's five, six, seven, Open up the pearly gates, Well there ain't no time to wonder why Whoopee! we're all gonna die.
Well, come on generals, let's move fast; Your big chance has come at last. Now you can go out and get those reds 'Cause the only good commie is the one that's dead And you know that peace can only be won When we've blown 'em all to kingdom come.
And it's one, two, three, What are we fighting for ? Don't ask me, I don't give a damn, Next stop is Vietnam; And it's five, six, seven, Open up the pearly gates, Well there ain't no time to wonder why Whoopee! we're all gonna die.
Come on mothers throughout the land, Pack your boys off to Vietnam. Come on fathers, and don't hesitate To send your sons off before it's too late. You can be the first ones in your block To have your boy come home in a box.
And it's one, two, three What are we fighting for ? Don't ask me, I don't give a damn, Next stop is Vietnam. And it's five, six, seven, Open up the pearly gates, Well there ain't no time to wonder why, Whoopee! we're all gonna die.
I agree with you there. Besides what is listed I think of Western Expansion. I mean blow it all to hell and back, then later come in and fix it all nice and pretty. Then just leave? The strategy eludes me.
But Batiste, Eaton and retired Col. Paul X. Hammes were unsparing in remarks that suggested deep anger at the way the military had been treated. All three served in Iraq, and Batiste also was senior military assistant to then-Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz.
Batiste, who commanded the Army's 1st Infantry Division in Iraq, also blamed Congress for failing to ask "the tough questions."
He said Rumsfeld at one point threatened to fire the next person who mentioned the need for a postwar plan in Iraq.
Batiste said if full consideration had been given to the requirements for war, it's likely the U.S. would have kept its focus on Afghanistan, "not fueled Islamic fundamentalism across the globe, and not created more enemies than there were insurgents."
Hammes said in his prepared remarks that not providing the best equipment was a "serious moral failure on the part of our leadership."
The United States "did not ask our soldiers to invade France in 1944 with the same armor they trained on in 1941. Why are we asking our soldiers and Marines to use the same armor we found was insufficient in 2003," he asked.
Hammes was responsible for establishing bases for the Iraqi armed forces. He served in Iraq in 2004 and is now Marine Senior Military Fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies, National Defense University.
Eaton was responsible for training the Iraqi military and later for rebuilding the Iraqi police force.
He said planning for the postwar period was "amateurish at best, incompetent a better descriptor."
Public opinion polls show widespread dissatisfaction with the way the Bush administration has conducted the war in Iraq, but division about how quickly to withdraw U.S. troops. Democrats hope to tap into the anger in November, without being damaged by Republican charges they favor a policy of "cut and run."
By coincidence, the hearing came a day after public disclosure of the National Intelligence Estimate. The report was completed in April and represented a consensus view of the 16 disparate spy services inside government, according to an intelligence official.
WASHINGTON - Retired military officers on Monday bluntly accused Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld of bungling the war in Iraq, saying U.S. troops were sent to fight without the best equipment and that critical facts were hidden from the public. "I believe that Secretary Rumsfeld and others in the administration did not tell the American people the truth for fear of losing support for the war in Iraq," retired Maj. Gen. John R. S. Batiste said in remarks prepared for a hearing by the Senate Democratic Policy Committee. A second witness, retired Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, assessed Rumsfeld as "incompetent strategically, operationally and tactically ...." "Mr. Rumsfeld and his immediate team must be replaced or we will see two more years of extraordinarily bad decision-making," he added in testimony prepared for the hearing, held six weeks before the Nov. 7 midterm elections in which the war is a central issue. The conflict, now in its fourth year, has claimed the lives of more than 2,600 American troops and cost more than $300 billion (euro234.1 billion). Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan, the committee chairman, told reporters last week that he hoped the hearing would shed light on the planning and conduct of the war. He said majority Republicans had failed to conduct hearings on the issue, adding, "if they won't ... we will." Since he spoke, a government-produced National Intelligence Estimate became public that concluded the war has helped create a new generation of Islamic radicalism and that the overall terrorist threat has grown since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Several members of the Senate Democratic leadership were expected to participate in the hearing. Dorgan said Republican lawmakers had been invited. Even before the session convened, Republicans counter-attacked. "Today's stunt may rile up the liberal base, but it won't kill a single terrorist or prevent a single attack," Sen. Mitch McConnell said in a statement. He called Rumsfeld an "excellent secretary of defense." It is unusual for retired military officers to criticize the Pentagon while military operations are under way, particularly at a public event likely to draw widespread media attention.
H.R. 5122 and S. 2766, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007 provides a comprehensive outline for the Department of Defense annual priorities. The bill also blocks the Department of Defense's proposed TRICARE fee increases and zeroes out co-pays for generic and formulary mail order prescriptions for military beneficiaries.
The bill provides for a 2.2 percent pay increase for the military as President Bush requested in his February budget.
Additional war funds would bring the total approved by Congress for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since Sept. 11, 2001, to more than $500 billion, with another installment likely to come next spring. The bill would be the first of 11 spending bills to clear Congress for the budget year beginning Oct. 1.
The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service estimates that the total price tag for U.S. military activities in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as counterterrorism activities around the world, will significantly exceed the half-trillion-dollar mark over the next fiscal year.
This projection, spelled out in a new 36-page report, is based in part on a little-noticed White House Office of Management and Budget estimate in July that projects $110 billion in fiscal year 2007 war funding, $8 billion less than the Defense Department required in fiscal year 2006.
“Based on this OMB projection, cumulative war funding . . . would reach about $549 billion,” states the Sept. 22 CRS report, “The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan and Other Global War on Terror Operations since 9/11,” written by Amy Belasco, a defense budget expert.
The report also estimates that the monthly costs of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan will move 20 percent higher to $9.5 billion in 2006. In FY-05, the Pentagon spent $6.4 billion each month, on average, for Iraqi operations; $1.3 billion for operations in Afghanistan; and $180 million for enhanced base operations; in FY-06, those figures are on track to increase to about $8 billion for Iraq and $1.5 billion for Afghanistan, according to the report.
Between fiscal years 2001 and 2006, Congress has appropriated roughly $437 billion to fund a range of activities related to countering Islamic extremists around the world, including military operations, base security, reconstruction, foreign aid, embassy costs and veterans' health care, according to the report.
The Senate and House are slated to vote soon on a FY-07 defense appropriations conference bill that includes a $70 billion “bridge fund” to pay for war costs in the first part of the new fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.
If enacted, this would fund the first few months of operational costs and bring total war appropriations to $507 billion. The July OMB projections estimated a total of $110 billion in FY-07 war costs, including the $70 billion bridge fund; this would leave the military in need of another emergency supplemental appropriations bill next spring for $40 billion to pay for continuing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan .
Kathy, I went through that when my wife died. I call it the grief ball. All these emotions, feelings and thoughts all coiled up in a ball. You can share it with them because they are gone. I get together and share it with other widows and widowers each Sunday at 4:30 pm. The ball is rage, guilt, regrets, pain, trauma and you name it. When I was singing with the residents at the nursing home Gaynel came up and gave me a hug. She goes to the meetings with me. She comes to visit the nursing home. She has remarried but has faced so many tragedies. The last meeting she said she was just so sensitive and we could relate. Seeing the videos and following along in the workbook really helps. It helps me to be more sensitive about the feelings of others but at the same time is desensitizes me where I can move on with my life. Death is a natural part of life. I found a small box of dolls that Dottie had collected. They were like the angels she collected. The dolls were beautiful porcelain and wrapped up in tissue paper. I took them over to my mom and she said she would love to have them. I am trying to deal with all the triggers that set me off in crying fits. I plan to take the Christmas box of lights and little ornaments so my sisters can enjoy them. When I become strong enough to deal with the love letters; I know I will have made some real recovery. I am not there, yet. I can deal with the pictures but the letters still mess with my head. I believe there will always be regrets but I feel like I am still in contact with her. Call it freaky or whatever but I still feel her presence.
Beer tabs are good for making bass lures. If men are attracted to beer tabs and fish are attracting to beer tabs then both men and fish can have a fatal atraction. Maybe this could have been the premise for the movie Fatal Attraction. I am not sure thought since I didn't get to see the movie.
Skippy, breaks are good. Sort it out in your head and come back. I have had to take breaks from this place. Take some time off for good behavior. There will be a place for ya when you get back.
RainbowSlider Forum Posts (7,174)
RE: Beggars and Choosers....
Hey, Lilly don't worry about trespassing. I usually hang out in my cave. The grizzly bear and me made a pact. As long as I stay on my side of the cave and don't start any fires we can coexist. The smoke gets to him so I go outside if I have to make a camp fire. If I catch a lot of fish I try to bring him back some. He takes care of the IRS and the bill collectors, lol. We have a symbiotic relationship. So far no complaints except for the bats. I am still trying to work out something with the bats, lol.