Clarification

For my beloved Boyd. *Update your blog! Purty pleeze?*

Can't run until I'm 35, which happens in 2013. I would be the VP mate.

Some stances on the issues...

1. No perks for office. Cattle car, no 1st class crap. Fast food, no 5* restaurants. If you don't want to foot the bill, why the hell should the tax payer?

2. Term limits on Congress. If they want only 2 terms for the Pres, they only get 2 terms. (I'm personally against term limits but if its good for the goose, its good for the gander.)

3. Congress would be salary capped at the same amount the Pres gets. They wouldn't be allowed to vote a pay raise without a Federal ballot to the voters. Keeps 'em more honest if they have to ask to get more money for not giving any more services.

4. Mandatory 2 years of service to your nation. The military is NOT an option - ie, you could join but not for 2 years, keep enlistments at what they currently are length wise. If you serve, you avoid the 2 year commitment, but you commit to more time that way. You could build roads, string power lines, clean streets, install drainage pipes, run irrigation lines, et cetera as forms of service to your nation.

5. Pay raise for the military, NOT tied to inflation so you're just above poverty level.

6. Flat tax rate - 10-15% off the top. Removal of tax shelters, and implementation of punishment via heavy fines for hiding funds in off-shore accounts, Swiss numbered accounts, et cetera. Total chucking of the 'tax code' currently in use.

7. Removal of ALL perks for those out of office - no security, no free rides, no nada. The military has to bust ass for 20 years to get retirement benefits, why the hell should a politician that sits on their ass get anything after only 8 years?

8. No gifts from anyone over $300. The US military lives by this rule, why the hell should an elected official with more money get a pass on ethics?

9. A serious issue is why are the 'servants' being paid more than their masters?

10. Raising the military and teachers to the status they belong on - why are those who lay their lives down, and educate your young worth less $$ wise than fake tits and fat cats?



Does that help? :D

Machinations to office

Oh my fellow American patriots, harken well and tell me your thoughts.

If 2 women ran for office (1 black, 1 white), with military backgrounds and world travel. Polyglots both, historians, and deeply service orientated. Mother and Maiden, strong on the military, and internal issues.

Would you vote for them?

Ahhh, knowledge

I love acquiring it, and I see it as a goal to learn something new every day. With the help of a fellow blogger, far more knowledgeable than I, I've learned several new things and re-enforced other things.

May I have the honor of introducing Paleoglot? The man is near to a fount of Etruscan knowledge, though I got to him through analysis of the Piacenza liver. His analysis is very well reasoned, though many of the technicalities of Etruscan language escape me.

I suggest you have a good root around his archives, they're really interesting. He also uses tags much more efficiently than I do. For anyone who desires a deeper understanding of linguistics and proper study of them versus what's sold to many a college student of the modern world, he is a breath of fresh air. For the layman, he may be too technical but fall back to learning something new every day, a term perhaps?, and you'll be able to understand him and rationally look at proto constructions of language with a critical and more informed eye and ear.

Memorial Day

In Flanders Field - John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.






Dirge for Two Veterans - Walt Whitman

THE last sunbeam
Lightly falls from the finish'd Sabbath,
On the pavement here, and there beyond it is looking,
Down a new-made double grave.

Lo, the moon ascending,
Up from the east the silvery round moon,
Beautiful over the house-tops, ghastly, phantom moon,
Immense and silent moon.

I see a sad procession,
And I hear the sound of coming full-key'd bugles,
All the channels of the city streets they're flooding,
As with voices and with tears.

I hear the great drums pounding,
And the small drums steady whirring,
And every blow of the great convulsive drums,
Strikes me through and through.

For the son is brought with the father,
(In the foremost ranks of the fierce assault they fell,
Two veterans son and father dropt together,
And the double grave awaits them.)

Now nearer blow the bugles,
And the drums strike more convulsive,
And the daylight o'er the pavement quite has faded,
And the strong dead-march enwraps me.

In the eastern sky up-buoying,
The sorrowful vast phantom moves illumin'd,
('Tis some mother's large transparent face,
In heaven brighter growing.)

O strong dead-march you please me!
O moon immense with your silvery face you soothe me!
O my soldiers twain! O my veterans passing to burial!
What I have I also give you.

The moon gives you light,
And the bugles and the drums give you music,
And my heart, O my soldiers, my veterans,
My heart gives you love.

Never Underestimate

The power of a child. George Boon, one of the fathers of Romano-British archaeology and a force to be reckoned with in the archaeological community, wrote many letters supporting the protection of Roman remains in Britain following WWII. A series of them have been found in the archives of Bristol, and they're very well written for an 11 year-old boy, but you can read the drive and determination quite clearly.

Just a note

This is just a quick note to the lady I saw while I was waiting at Taco Bell for lunch today.

You are way too beautiful to be crying over someone saying you weigh too much. The kind of soul and mind you showed is far better than some vapid little airhead who's more worried about what number is in your jeans than the heart you've got.

Warning!

For your own health and mental well being, do NOT ask me "what's your problem" or any variation of it. I will tell you, and chances are you won't like it. Just for future reference.

Playing for Change

You don't have to agree with everything they say, or stand for, but they've gathered together some fantastic world musicians in their "Playing for Change" series.

Stand by Me

If you ever want to hear someone channeling Bob Marley ins spirit and power, One Love is for you.

There is a series of other videos, and where you can buy the disk and singles.