Down to less than a week now.  A couple of issues of DL left to go.  I have like zero time to get this issue out, so let’s jump right in!

A quick prayer from Joe:

My muscles are sore, but they work. I did not sleep well last night, but God woke me up. My wallet is not full, but my belly is. I may not have it all, but God gives me what I need. My life is not perfect, but my life is good. 

I’ve truly been blessed. Thank you Lord. Amen.

We have these on our base.  They work quite well.

 

 

Yup, that’ll be me in a few days…

 

 

Not everyone will get that one.

 

 

 

 

Political Quotes . . .

1. *Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.
— Mark Twain


2. *We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
— Winston Churchill


3. *A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
— George Bernard Shaw


4. *A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money.
— G. Gordon Liddy


5. *Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.
— James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)


6. *Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries.
— Douglas Casey, Classmate of W.J.Clinton at Georgetown Uni. (1992)


7. *Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
— P.J. O’Rourke, Civil Libertarian


8. *Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.
— Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)


9. *Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
— Ronald Reagan (1986)


10. *I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.
–Will Rogers


11 *If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free.
— P.J. O’Rourke


12. *If you want government to intervene domestically, you’re a liberal.
If you want government to intervene overseas, you’re a conservative.
If you want government to intervene everywhere, you’re a moderate.
If you don’t want government to intervene anywhere, you’re an extremist.
— Joseph Sobran, Editor of the National Review at one time (1995)


13. *In general, the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other.
— Voltaire (1764)


14. *Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you.
— Pericles (430 B.C.)


15. *No man’s life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session.
— Mark Twain (1866)


16. *Talk is cheap-except when Congress does it.
— (Meandyou)


17. *The government is like a baby’s alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other.
— Ronald Reagan


18. *The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery.
— Winston Churchill


19. *The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin.
— Mark Twain


20. *The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.
— Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)


21. *There is no distinctly native American criminal class save Congress.
— Mark Twain

That one is so cool!!!!

 

 

Here’s a little essay that Pete shares with us every year, not Aussie Pete, our other Pete.  I truly love this story. It marks the TRUE spirit of Christmas for me.

The cost of a gift.

 

It was a Christmas many, many years ago. A four year old little girl was filled with the expectations of all that is Christmas. Wide eyed with joy and excitement over the thought of Santa Claus coming down her chimney and leaving her a present, full of wonder of what it would be, a new baby doll, maybe a bicycle, maybe even a new doll house. She wondered and hoped as she fell asleep that Christmas Eve.

What that little girl did not know was that her family had fallen on very hard times. This was a time long before unemployment payments, food stamps and all of the other safety nets we have today, times were hard, very hard and there was very little money for even putting food on the table for this Mother and Father and their five children, let alone buying Christmas presents for them. But still, the little girl slept that night comforted in the believe of the magic of Christmas.

She awoke that Christmas morning to find one gift with her name on it, with newspaper as it’s wrapping. Inside she found a book, a used book, a book so used and worn that the cover was long gone. It was the only thing her Mother and Father could come up with to give her but, it was something.

Now, I know what you’re thinking but, the little girl loved that book, she loved it so much that she carried it with her everywhere and asked anyone and everyone to read it to her. She had so many people read it to her that even though she could not read, she could read that little beat up, worn out little book because, she followed the words as it was read to her. She loved her book so much and that love of books and reading would follow her all the days of her life.

I know this story to be true, the year was 1922, the book was Little Black Sambo and the little girl….that was my Mother.

My Grandma and Grandpa Sutton’s inability to pay for a gift gave my mother the greatest gift she could have received that Christmas morning. They gave her a hunger for the knowledge, the stories, the adventures and thrills she found in books and love of reading that followed her for the next 95 years of her life.

The cost of that gift was simply the love Grandma and Grandpa had for a four year old little girl.

 

May you find the real gifts, the real love and the real magic of Christmas this year…..

Pete

Thank you my dear friend. That true story always brings a tear to my eye, maybe because I, too have such a love affair with words. Regardless, I expect to receive it again next year.

The young man told his father, “I want to marry a good woman, a smart woman, one who’ll be a good mother to our kids, a woman who will make me happy.”

His father told him he’d better make up his mind.

A psychology student was to help a professor in conducting a personality test. The room was set up with various props in order to move through the assessment quickly. The first person to enter the room started through the test. 

“How does this glass of water look to you?”

Person 1: It is half empty.

Student writes ‘pessimist’ in his report.

Person 2 enters the room. “How does this glass of water look to you?” 

Person 2: It is half full.

Student writes ‘optimist’ in his report.

Person 3 enters the room. “How does this glass of water look to you?” 

Person 3: Looks like you have twice as much glass as you need there. 

The student looks totally blank and goes to consult with the professor. 

“Oh them!”, the professor says, “I forgot to warn you about the engineers! They have no personality.” 

I miss the days when happiness was a backyard swing and laughter echoed down the block. When we rode bikes until sunset, shared home-cooked meals, and trusted the world around us. We didn’t need much to feel rich, just each other and a little bit of peace.

Thank you.

 

 

The guy I pay to pick up  poop in my backyard just found out I don’t have any pets.

Yesterday, I left work pretending to be sick.
Today, two colleagues didn’t show up, saying they caught it from me.
Freaking liars!

If you’re attracted to both women and men but neither of them are attracted to you, that means you are Bi-Yourself.

Or we ARE that one friend.

 

 

And that’s it my friends…I am now way behind in my nightly stuff, so I have to dash.  Until Saturday, May you be Blessed in all ways by our Father in Heaven!  My love to you all!