<----don't you just hate
(sung to the tune of jingle bells...)
Oh, dashing through the slime
in a big, black, shiny hearse,
past witches casting spells
to place a nasty curse -
o'er the tombs we ride,
screeching with delight,
oh, what fun it is to sing
a spooky song tonight!
oh halloween...halloween...
bats are overhead,
now's our chance to play
and dance
with all of the undead!
Have a ghoulishly fun Halloween gang!
"WASHINGTON (AP) -- Videotape shot by a Minnesota television crew traveling with U.S. troops in Iraq when they first opened the bunkers at the Al-Qaqaa munitions base nine days after the fall of Saddam Hussein shows what appeared to be high explosives still in barrels and bearing the markings of the International Atomic Energy Agency...."
of course, you can link to the rest of the story, right here.
and the video link here...
I guess that "if" was a pretty big IF after all, Armandt - huh?
"It has been the political career of this man to begin with hypocrisy, proceed with arrogance, and finish with contempt" ~Thomas Paine
questioning Queen came for a visit; and because she didn't kiss his
combat booted feet and camouflaged arse in the proper order, and
agree with his choice of woolen blinders, (by brazenly voicing a
general warning about the company he keeps at the
altar of his idols...)
The self proclaimed King of (now obvious) Selective Free Speech,
dideth promptly and most pompishly stomp on the now shunned
and questioning Queen in double time order.
This then, is how it happened...
````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
i wonder why george dubya didn't think to inform us of the 338 tons
of unguarded and now, missing explosives....
Comment from floralilia - 10/25/04 10:04 AM
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Flo,
I'm not an Administration spokesman, but I'll take a shot at
your question...
Beside the fact that it wouldn't be the President's job to notify us of that
kind of thing, perhaps the SECDEF or an appointed spokesperson
should be the one doing the informing of that level of information.
Presidents have more important things to tend to than "play-by-play."
Being as they claim they were notified only in the past month, my
immediate reaction is they didn't announce the information sooner
since they were likely in the throws of an investigation. Why would
they tip their hat to inform potential bandits that they were coming
under the microscope?
I'm sure the administration would have liked more time to investigate.
(I'm sure they would too - to cover their arse....hey! anyone notice how
many times I've used the word "arse" lately?...)
Certainly, noone expects that any administration has 100%
knowledge of everything going on throughout the battlefield.
It's unfathomable.
And why would anyone tell anybody they've left anything of value
to the enemy - unguarded? The site wasn't even a high priority on
the Mission Essential Vulnerable Area list. (niiice..) Not knowing
the full story, I have to think that the military was tending to higher-risk
areas elsewhere. (of course!)
I know. If we had more people there, this probably wouldn't
have happened
If the Dems (primarily) hadn't slashed the size of the military,
we'd have more people we could put there.
That damned cause and effect comes back to bite every time.
(why yes, yes it does...)
Comment from armandt - 10/25/04 10:34 AM
````````````
holding good ol george to accountability...
i don't know why i was thinking "the buck stops here." silly me.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/v-pfriendly/story/
126699p-113448c.html
ah well, it doesn't matter - it's just considered high explosives
under the bridge, another day of easy pickins for
the insurgents - c'est la vie, lah de dah..
- it just goes to show, once again, that they were
not as prepared for this war as he and dick hitler
wanted us to believe. (gasp!)
Comment from floralilia - 10/25/04 4:10 PM
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````
(stomp)
Flo -
For one, it's not even known if the explosives weren't
moved before the war even started. Jumping to
conclusions after believing the first thing you hear is
selective ignorance at best. (ya think?)
For another, "Dick Hitler?" You're comparing Cheney to Hitler?!
That reflects on YOU, not on the Vice-President.
You've got the right to say what you want, but to be that
irresponsible and wreckless with your Freedom - that'snot
the Freedom I fight for. That's the kind of wrecklessness
I fight against. (?)
Game on.
Comment from armandt - 10/25/04 4:19 PM
````````````````````````````````````````````````````
I love it when people jump to conclusions and step on their...
well, on their vulva. (whatever that means...)
NBC News now reports that the "now" missing 380 tons of
explosives at al-Qaqaa were ALREADY missing on April 10,
2003 when US forces arrived (with an embedded NBC news
crew) to secure the facility - only ONE day after the liberation of Iraq.
One day? That sounds pretty efficient to me.
If NBC is correct, and if we should have secured those weapons
sooner than one day after Iraq was liberated, then wouldn't
we have had to invade Iraq sooner? Is that what Kerry
and his lemmings are now telling us? That we went in too soon,
but we didn't go in soon enough?
Am I the one living in an alternate universe here?!
(well...
Comment from armandt - 10/25/04 10:33 PM
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````
"if" nbc is correct...
Comment from floralilia - 10/26/04 12:00 AM
and the grande finale: (justifying my demise to another journaller)
Tara,
You're comparing apples and oranges.
No. I don't support "any" Free Speech. (yes. i see that now)
It's not a free for all. With all of our Rights come very real
Responsibilities. (yes dad.) There are laws against using one's
Free Speech to yell fire in a crowded theater and against other
forms of un-necessarily inciting mass hysteria.
(mass hysteria? rolling my eyes)
If you scan through the comments, you'll see someone (me)
refering to the VP as Dick Hitler. That person later linked
to a page of Hitlerquotes in another comment. I deleted it.
(I didn't: http://en.thinkexist.com/quotation/Great_liars_are_also_great/170869.html )
I wont tolerate someone using my journal to promote Hitler, (promote!?!)
his quotes or their selectively ignorant, irresponsible and ridiculously
unsubstantiated connections between ANY American politician and Hitler.
(how patriotic of him.)
Let me be clear. I wont tolerate anti-American speech in my Journal. (unless of course, it be Kerry bashing) They can exercise that Freedom in their own Journal. (and I am...)
I'll be damned if that kind of speech is going to wrest (http://www.m-w.com)
in my journal!
Comment from armandt - 10/26/04 6:44 PM
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
And so, after the King's last rant, the questioning Queen was then stripped of her Hell Bent for Greatness Award, locked out, and forever and one day banished from the Land of Hypocrisy. The End. No strike that...
It's - And the Queen lived happily ever after,
~The End.
tons of explosives...
Dear Mr. President The Buck Stops Here, Commander and Chief,
George Dubya and the puppetmaster Dick Hitler -
The timeline is of no consequence. What is though, is this -
unlike the supposed WMD's - you and the UN already knew about
these (now missing) explosives with certainty before the war -
you also knew where, what type and quality, what purpose,
and how much was stored there -
and still you and your intelligent war advisors chose not to make
this site and probably many others - a top priority - to secure
and safe guard it.
I guess maybe you all were just meaning to get around to it? Is that it?
guess what - I don't have to be a war "expert" to see the obvious.
Hell, you'd get better results consulting a schoolyard full of kids
playing tag for better strategy plays.
And no, this isn't Monday morning quarterbacking from the
peanut gallery - Simply, this is just your bad war planning. But we'll
never hear your administration admit that now, will we...
God only knows how big this particular iceberg is going to get...
I can't wait to see just how much damage we're all potentially in for...
so yes Mr. President, I believe I have a right to be a little pissy on your
handling of the war.
And yes, I still believe that you were not as prepared for this
war as you and Dick Hitler and the rest of your gang wanted
us to believe you were, going into this.
So don't piss on my back and tell me it's raining.
Unlike Armandt, I know the difference.
~ Guess my opinion and free speech are only free - as long as it agrees with the world spun according to our big, little man, Armandt....
also otherwise known, in some smaller circles as, - Sir Armandt, the Hypercritical Hypocrite....
just goes to show, eh? - hitler is as hitler does....
ah well, c'est la vie...
AOL and now, Armandt - proud recipients of my
"You Can Kiss My Royal Floralilian Arse Award."
"Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it"
~A. Hitler
to unabashedly self promote.
Okay gang - I've recently listed a few of my paintings on Ebay - if you're interested in owning an original piece of floralilia art - then by all means - bid away!
A portion of all sales will be donated to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Society.
The Harlequin and His Companion (the two saltimbanques)
"Blue Vase with Flowers"
"Serenity Shoreline"
While Bush continues to look for WMD's - maybe he should also look for the MISSING 338 TONS of high-density explosives too...
niiiice going George Dubya...
mother and child
(so cancer was to be my future)
these dubious breasts...
the very keepsakes
of her life,
and my death.
~2001floralilia
Necessary Illusions
Well, I see the hospital beds have now been replaced
by polished cherry and
cream quilted lining
rose-colored lights, dimly lit -
to hightlight and warm your cool skin.
The necessary illusions in place now.
Mementos from loved ones too, photos
and trinkets neatly tucked
here and there along side you,
soft sobs, uneasiness, stand behind me.
Funeral flowers to the right of you
funeral flowers to the left of you
funeral flowers above you
and even under you,
all carrying messages of love,
and loss,
and rememberance.
(You hate gladiolas.)
And look, over there,
your husband,
your two small children
the littlest unsure of where you are, really.
Standing shakily as escorts
receiving, in duty, well-wishers
comforting awkward others even.
(Your son doesn't want to be there.)
I look hard for you again,
in that ravaged worn body
under all that manufactured brown hair,
but you aren't there,
are you...
You, wonderful you,
are right here beside me
cursing the make-up artist.
~2001floralilia
In honor of Breast Cancer Awarness month, I thought I would share with you some poems I wrote in memory of two of my good friends, Michele and Sharon - who both died too young, at age 38, of breast cancer.
Sharon found a small pea-sized lump - went for a Mammogram - and was told to wait and recheck it in six months. Upon rechecking it they found spots on her lungs, liver, and brain. She fought a vicious battle and lost her life to breast cancer three years later. She left behind a husband and two small children.
Some of you might remember me talking about Michele a while back - She had fought breast cancer literally all of her childbearing years. She was considered to be in remission, having celebrated five years free of cancer. Just weeks after delivering her second child, a baby girl, and while nursing her with her one good, remaining breast - she felt pain in her left shoulder.
Tests showed the cancer back - firmly imbedded in her bones. She too, fought with every fiber of her being - and lost the battle two years later. Two more small children were left behind.
Two mothers dead, four children motherless, two families destroyed, two friendships gone.
Michele, Sharon - I miss you. Every day, I miss you.
Ladies please. Check your breast regularly. Get your Mammograms yearly. Doing so is the singlemost effective way to give you the best advantage should you too, be called into battle. About one in five of us will, you know.
brave goddess warriors
I remember the luncheon
of Breast Cancer Survivors,
a celebration of collective battles,
a war rally
of the otherworldly kind.
To the right of me, my sister
looking frightened and already tired
yet still cheering the tribal cries
with false bravado
at the prospect of now,
her second battle,
with the insidious and invisible Monster.
This time,
she
was to be
The Chosen One -
in this room full of casualties and prisoners of war.
This time
it came back
for Her
unwilling to accept defeat
from this most worthy opponent,
who wore the pink ribbon
of Purple Heart and Medal of Honor.
This time,
it came
to claim,
as it's decided rightful owner - Her Life.
No matter how tattered,
how weathered,
how maimed.
This time just for sport - and thrill of chase,
this savage cat chased this field mouse
in a game of cruelty
designed to deceive,
despair,
and destroy.
And this time
she was not to slip through
it's claws
or parasitic rank fangs.
No, this time
it would bite down hard -
and drink
her slowly,
more slowly
than even before
- as payment for making it wait.
That Bloated Dark Lord,
who waited in the shadows of her remission
who eyed her so quietly and carefully
until her fear was replaced with hope
and her hope was replaced
with security
at completing her five-year tour of duty.
That Mercy-less One,
was back to
obscenely rape
with unequalled stealth and determination -
That Evil One,
who attacks with
such silent precision
that shatters the worlds
beyond even its victim
so
matter
of
factly...
And still she defied -
and vowed the fight
with dazzling otherworldly abilities
with courage
and convictions that surpass
even the most seasoned, elite
soldiers of conventional wars.
Yes, I remember the luncheon
that honored the breast cancer survivors.
Those Brave Goddess Warriors
whose individual and combined strengths
know no bounds.
~2001floralilia
Okay, in all fairness, perhaps I have been a little too hard on George Dubya and Dick Hitler...
I thought I would balance it out some with a little something from the Kerry Campaign..
"Go, balloons. I don't see anything happening. Go, balloons. Go, balloons. Go, balloons. Stand by, confetti. Keep coming, balloons. More balloons. Bring them. Balloons, balloons, balloons! More balloons. Tons of them. Bring them down. Let them all come. No confetti. No confetti yet. No confetti. All right. Go, balloons. Go, balloons. We're getting more balloons. All balloons. All balloons should be going. Come on, guys! Let's move it. Jesus! We need more balloons. I want all balloons to go. Go, confetti. Go, confetti. Go, confetti. I want more balloons. What's happening to the balloons? We need more balloons. We need all of them coming down. Go, balloons. Balloons. What's happening balloons? There's not enough coming down. All balloons! Why the hell is nothing falling? What the f--- are you guys doing up there? We want more balloons coming down. More balloons. More balloons."
--Democratic Convention producer Don Mischer, overheard on CNN having an apoplectic seizure when the balloons failed to drop from the ceiling of the Fleet Center in Boston"
everyone happy now?
good.
it's breast cancer awareness month...
or at least have someone else do it for you.....
need info? click here
Okay, so lets take a closer look at the man, a pacemaker heartbeat away from the current President - this video is full of interesting nuggets...and the transcripts are right there for the reading too...
"So now you know, if you graduate (with a C) from Yale you get to be President, if you drop out (actually flunk out twice)- you get to be Vice President..." ~George dubya Bush
if you'd rather read - well here ya go ----> Ascent to Power
now go class, do your homework.....
Can someone please tell me why George Dubya keeps calling me personally to have me send in my absentee ballot? This is the third call so far...
When I plan on voting in person ...
Now I wonder is there something going on - what if everyone did as George said - and people voted AND sent in their absentee ballot - hmmm...
the ramifications of that, are well....slimy....
Tell me - who else is getting these kind of calls from George Dubya and Dick Hitler?...
is the Kerry organization calling anyone?
The Queen would like to know.
RESUME:
George W Bush
The White House, USA EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE
LAW ENFORCEMENT:
I was arrested in Kennebunkport, Maine in 1976 for driving under the influence of alcohol. I pled guilty, paid a fine, and had my driver's license suspended for 30 days. My Texas driving record has been "lost" and is not available.
MILITARY:
I joined the Texas Air National Guard and went AWOL. I refused to take a drug test or answer any questions about my drug use. By joining the Texas Air National Guard, I was able to avoid combat duty in Vietnam.
COLLEGE:
I graduated from Andover and Yale University at the bottom of my class. I was a cheerleader at Yale.
PAST WORK EXPERIENCE:
I ran for U.S. Congress and lost.
I began my career in the oil business in Midland, Texas in 1975.
I bought an oil company, but couldn't find any oil in Texas. The company went bankrupt shortly after I sold all my stock.
I bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a sweetheart deal that took land using taxpayer money.
With the help of my father and our right-wing friends in the oil industry (including Enron CEO Kenneth Lay), I was elected Governor of Texas.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS GOVERNOR:
I changed Texas pollution laws to favor power and oil companies, making Texas the most polluted state in the Union. During my tenure, Houston replaced Los Angeles as the most smog-ridden city in America.
I cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas treasury to the tune of billions in borrowed money.
I set the record for the most executions by any Governor in American history.
With the help of my brother, the Governor of Florida, and my father's appointments to the Supreme Court, I became President after losing by over 500,000 votes.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS PRESIDENT:
I invaded and occupied two countries at a continuing cost of over one
billion dollars per week.
I spent the U.S. surplus and effectively bankrupted the U.S. Treasury.
I shattered the record for the largest annual deficit in U.S. history.
I set an economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12-month period.
I set the all-time record for the biggest drop in the history of the U.S. stock market.
I am the first president in U.S. history to enter office with a Criminal record.
I set the the all-time record for most days on vacation in any one year period.
After taking-off the entire month of August, I presided over the worst security failure in U.S.history.
I am supporting development of a nuclear "Tactical Bunker Buster," a WMD.
In my State Of The Union Address, I lied about our reasons for attacking Iraq, then blamed the lies on our British friends.
I set the record for most campaign fund-raising trips by a U.S. president.
In my first year in office over 2-million Americans lost their jobs and that trend continues every month.
I set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12-month period.
I appointed more convicted criminals to administration than any president in U.S. history
I set the record for least amount of press conferences than any president since the advent of television.
I presided over the biggest energy crisis in U.S. history and refused to intervene when corruption involving the oil industry was revealed.
I presided over the highest gasoline prices in U.S. history.
I have cut health care benefits for war veterans and support a cut in duty
benefits for active duty troops and their families -- in war time.
I have set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously protest me in public venues (15 million people) shattering the record for protest against any person in the history of mankind.
I've broken more international treaties than any president in U.S. history.
I'm proud that the members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in U.S. history. My "poorest millionaire," Condoleeza Rice, has a Chevron oil tanker named after her.
I am the first president in U.S. history to order an unprovoked, pre-emptive
attack and the military occupation of a sovereign nation. I did so against
the will of the United Nations, the majority of U.S. citizens, and the world
community.
I created the Ministry of Homeland Security, the largest bureaucracy in the
history of the United States government.
I am the first president in U.S. history to have the United Nations remove
the U.S. from the Human Rights Commission.
I withdrew the U.S. from the World Court of Law. I refused to allow
inspectors access to U.S. prisoners of war detainees and thereby have
refused to abide by the Geneva Convention.
I am the first president in history to refuse United Nations election
inspectors (during the 2002 U.S. election).
I am the all-time U.S. and world record-holder for receiving the most corporate campaign donations. My largest lifetime campaign contributor, and
one of my best friends, Kenneth Lay, presided over the largest corporate bankruptcy fraud in U.S. history. My political party used the Enron private jets and corporate attorneys to assure my success with the U.S. Supreme Court during my election decision.
I have protected my friends at Enron and Halliburton against investigation
or prosecution. More time and money was spent investigating the Monica
Lewinsky affair than has been spent investigating one of the biggest
corporate ripoffs in history.
I garnered the most sympathy for the U.S. after the World Trade Center
attacks and less than a year later made the U.S. the most hated country in
the world, the largest failure of diplomacy in world history.
I am first president in history to have a majority of Europeans (71%) view
my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and security.
I changed the U.S. policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded
government contracts.
I have so far failed to fulfill my pledge to bring Osama Bin Laden to justice.
RECORDS AND REFERENCES:
Please consider my experience when voting in 2004..
Ya hear?
http://www.bushcanbiteme.com/fun.shtml
"Oh yeah." --Vice President Dick Cheney, after being reminded that he and Sen. John Edwards had met three times previously, despite claiming they had never met prior to the debate
"Let me finish!" --President Bush, during the first presidential debate, after nobody interrupted him, leading to speculation that he might have been hearing voices
"I'm going to be real positive, while I keep my foot on John Kerry's throat." --President Bush, on his debate strategy
"The president is an alien. You heard it here first. The president is an alien. That's your quote of the day. He has been getting information from Mars. The shock of the debate will be the president's alien past will be exposed, which is why that box is there." --Bush campaign manager Ken Mehlman, on the bulge in Bush's back during the first debate
"America saw two very different visions of our country, and two different hairdos." --President Bush, on the vice presidential debate
"I own a timber company? That's news to me. Need some wood?" --President Bush, during the second presidential debate, failing to realize that he qualified as a small business owner on his 2001 federal tax return because of his part ownership of a timbercompany
"That's a source that didn't even exist 10 years ago. 400,000 people make some money trading on eBay." --Vice President Dick Cheney, arguing that the economy is doing better than reported due to eBay
("If we only included bake sales and how much money kids make at lemonade stands, this economy would really be cooking." --Sen. John Edwards, mocking Cheney)
"Can we win? I don't think you can win it." --President Bush, after being asked whether the war on terror was winnable
Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." --President George W. Bush (Watch video clip; read more Bushisms)
"The really rich people figure out how to dodge taxes anyway." –-President Bush, explaining why high taxes on the rich are a failed strategy
"F**k off." --Vice President Dick Cheney to Sen. Patrick Leahy, during an exchange on the Senate floor about profiteering by Halliburton
"I've seen how things can work out pretty well for a C student." -President Bush, delivering the commencement address at Louisiana State University
"Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere!" --President Bush, joking about his administration's failure to find WMDs in Iraq as he narrated a comic slideshow during the Radio & TV Correspondents' Association dinner
"The root word for befuddled is fudd, and the prefix for fudd is Elmer. He's the poor little dupe with the lightbulb head (with nary a watt in it) who is the volunteer foil for Bugs Bunny's lightning antics. He's practically taunted by the universe. Thank goodness he's too dim to realize it.
Elmer is most often cast as the hunter on the trail of Bugs or Daffy Duck, or both, although he often turns in his shotgun to take on other roles.
Because he takes everything at face value (he is not deep enough to take things any other way), he is easily confused. Elmer brings Bugs home for dinner (rather, as dinner) only to have the "wascawwy wabbit" dupe him into thinking there is a terrible outbreak of "rabbititus" and that they must be quarantined.
He is easily influenced, even by his enemies, and is more than willing to believe anything he is told, which plays right into Bugs's specialty. He is like a child, curious and incapable of true wariness, which makes him the perfect target for Bugs, whose well-being Elmer is constantly threatening.
The thing that sends Elmer into a fury is being made a fool, but he is such a fool that most of the time, he never notices. And he's got dozens of cartoons to prove it. "
Because this story shouldn't die an easy death -
there is a difference - a rather big difference - between being a poor, unprepared and unpolished speaker....
and a bobbing headed marionette puppet President of the United States of America....
so like many of you watching the first debate, I saw the "bush bulge" with my own eyes and thought, oh - look he's wired for a lapel mic....
until I realized there was no lapel mic...
So just who was he channeling? God, Elmer Fudd, Karl Rove perhaps?
Either way, the transmissions must have been garbled from time to time, which would explain his halting and poor responses and frustrated body language...and just who was he talking to when he stated blankly - "I, I , uh...Let me finish!.." when no one was trying to interrupt him...
to use Bush's own words - it's an "absurd asinuation," of course.....I'm just saying.....
Here ye! Here ye! One and all -
Let it be forever known from this day forward that the Queen of Floralilian Flimflammery doth hereby present to one and all, a new alchemist to the land of J-land.
In honor of all things smelling good, the Queen doth hereby recognize and appointeth Donah42, of hippies in yuppieland, also known as shopkeeper and proprietor of the Earthmother's Cupboard, the official title of
~Lady Amy, the Alchemist of Amazing Aromas~
for her tireless efforts of providing the masses with gentle infusions of all things beautiful and earthly in the form of potpourri and hand-made sachets, thereby making J-land and elsewhere, a far happier place to reside, not only in the form of delighting the physical senses, but also for improving one's state of mind. And that indeed, dear friends, is no small thing.
The Queen also urges all those currently afflicted with hebetudinous tendencies (now see, if you were paying attention to the entry below this, you would already know what that means...) to rush over to the earthmother cupboard and purchase your very own dose of earthly delights. Menfolks, that means you too. I promise you, you will be happy that you did, and for some of you, your sock drawer will be even more delighted that you did...
So signeth the Queen,
~X
on this XI day of October, Anno Domini MMIV - you may now enter it into the royal logbook. Amen.
Main Entry: al·che·my
Pronunciation: 'al-k&-mE
Function: noun
2 : a power or process of transforming something common into something special
3 : an inexplicable or mysterious transmuting
hebetudinous (heb-i-TOOD-n-uhs -TYOOD-) adjective
Dull or lethargic, especially relating to the mind.
[From Late Latin hebetudo (dullness), from Latin hebes (dull).]
"Examination of precedents led Floralilia to her conclusion, but she had
something to say first: (of course)...'It would be hebetudinous and obtuse to fail to
be cognizant of the adverse consequences of a ruling in this case."
James J. Kilpatrick; A Clown And a Blowhard on the Bench of Flimflammery; Buffalo News; Apr 10, 1993.
"The audience waits in a kind of hebetudinous fixation, perhaps astonished
at the perfectly sustained level of mediocrity."
Kevin Kelly; 'Aspects of Floralilian Love'; The Boston Globe; Apr 27, 1990.
This past May, we were proud to see our firstborn graduate from Ursinus College - I thought It would be nice to share these dynamic words from this dynamic speaker with you - I hope you too, are as spellbound....
A Final Word
Commencement Address given by
The Reverend Peter J. Gomes
Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and
Pusey Minister in The Memorial Church
Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusetts
at
Ursinus College
Collegeville, Pennsylvania
May Fifteenth. Two Thousand Four
Ladies and Gentlemen of the graduating class, I take great pleasure in being here today, and receiving for very little what you will receive for very much. My degree is much easier to get than is yours, and therefore I have every reason to be happy and delighted to be a part of this company: I shall claim my degree for the rest of my life and dine out on it for many years. People will ask me, "Who are you, that Ursinus should give you an honorary degree?" and one could make a number of replies, including that one is a friend of the president. Perhaps, however, the best answer will be that I happened to be at the right place at the right time.
I envy those of you sitting here at the front; for once upon a time I was as bright, as cheerful, as attractive and as agile as you are now. I well remember my graduation day, which seems just like yesterday, and I know that if you’re not careful, very shortly – and sooner than you might imagine -- you will look as I do now, and as the others sitting here on the platform. So, my great advice to you is to cherish the day, seize the moment, hold onto it for as long as you can, and have your parents and grandparents take as many pictures as possible, for the day will come when you will look at those pictures and find it impossible to believe that they were of you.
There is a long time between this moment and picture-taking time, however: I am aware of that, and my job is to fill that time. Think of it this way: the longer I speak, the longer you can postpone reality, because, when I’m finished, you’re toast. I will do my best: my job is to speak, your job is to listen, and, if you finish your job before I finish mine, I hope you will be charitable enough to wait, for I will catch up with you.
In my long and happy career, I must confess that there is nothing that I enjoy more than an occasion of this sort. Weddings are a pain, funerals can be depressing, but Commencement is full of infinite possibility, and it’s very exciting. That’s why all those people on the other side of the red velvet rope have traveled from hither and yon to be here before dawn this morning. This is a case of vicarious pleasure and delight, for we are all voyeurs looking at you, and wishing in some real sense that we were you. Consider the number of false starts and mistakes under this tent on the other side of that rope. What a disaster! Those are people who had many opportunities and who regularly ‘screwed up’ – just look at the state of the country and the world, if you doubt my capacity for analysis. We’ve all made terrible mistakes, and it would be wonderful ifwe could start all over again, if we could be you now, with a blank slate, a full diploma, and a tank of gas, ready to begin the great adventure of life.
Now, I know that some of you are listening, because you know as I know that there is less here than meets the eye. I know that. Some of you are here by the grace of God, and others of you are proof that it is still possible to fool a lot of the people a lot of the time. We understand that; but that notwithstanding, in some sense I’d rather be where you are than where I am. So cherish the moment, hold onto the day: it is downhill from here.
A Commencement address, as we know, is intended to be filled with pious generalizations and advice, and I have a quantity of each for you, to prove that I know how to do this and intend to do it. My advice is easy to give, although it may be difficult to take: I looked in a book of advice for some good advice to give to bright young people such as yourselves, who will not have to take advice from anybody as soon as you leave here, and the best piece of advice I found came from Alice Roosevelt Longworth, Teddy Roosevelt’s daughter, and herself a part-time wit of nearly a century ago. This is what she said:
"
I have a simple philosophy: Fill what’s empty; empty what’s full; and scratch where it itches."You will not go wrong, ladies and gentlemen, if you base your life upon something as simple and as basic as that, and you will end up where Alice Roosevelt Longworth ended up: dead. There is little you can do about that for that is the fate that awaits us all, but before you die it falls to me to say something that may be a little more tangible, and perhaps a little more useful than
"Scratch where it itches." There are three things I wish to say. Remember, preachers always preach in threes, and it’s not because we have three points, for we have only one point, but we say it in three different ways. What is that? Because every audience, including yourselves, is divided up into thirds. Think of it. There is the third listening to me right now, asI speak; there is the third that is waiting to listen; and there is the third that has ceased listening, and they’re all coming and going at different times, so to say the same thing in three different ways gives hope that they will all get the one point.There are three things that every college graduate should remember, and there are three points that I wish to make. Here are the three things that you must remember:
1) It is not who you know, but whom
2) It is the second mouse that gets the cheese
3) Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment
I suspect that these are all well known in your own lives and by your own experiences. If you
’re lucky, there are a lot of second mice in this class, and a lot of people whose bad experiences will soon be turned into good experiences; and on the basis of that wisdom you too may someday have the privilege of giving a Commencement talk. I can’t wait to hear it. There are three things now that I’d like to say to you as you take your places in the larger world and leave this particular place.First is that I wish for each of you a great calling in life, a good vocation; and by
‘vocation’ I don’t mean a job, although that won’t do any harm to any of you and I hope you find one sooner or later -- I know I speak for your mother and father when I hope that you find a job sooner rather than later. When I say ‘vocation,’ though, I’m not talking about a job, per se, or about what it is that you do to make a living. Rather, I am speaking about what it is you will do to make a life, and in my business we call that a ‘vocation,’ a ‘calling,’ something that makes a difference not so much to the world or even to the community, but to you. A great calling is what I hope for you, and a great man has defined vocation in this way:"
Where your great joy meets the world’s great need."Frederick Buechner said that, and I don
’t know of a better definition of vocation. Many of you have wasted a lot of time and many people-hours here at college, studying things in which you have absolutely no interest and perhaps less competence. I know that, you know that, it’s the nature of the world. My guess is that there will be from this class a physicist or a chemist or an historian or a musician, and if those things interest you, fine, and, if you’re decent at them, all the better, but that is not all we wish for you.We wish for you something that gives you such enormous joy and satisfaction that it defines your life, gives you a sense of being, of doing something that is worthwhile, and that trumps every job, every task, and every situation in which you find yourself. A vocation is that which defines your life, and the great adventure in life is finding what that vocation is and following it. Let it shape your life in such a way that your joy that comes from it may respond to some great need in the world. Where your joy meets the needs of others the magic, the mystery, the absolute glory of a life well lived and worth living will be yours. You
’ve just begun that adventure here,and, if Ursinus has served you as well as I think it has, it has pricked your interest, ignited your curiosity, and you will be restless, as you ought to be, until that moment where joy and need converge, and you discover what it means to make not just a living, but a life worth living. So, the first thing I wish you, ladies and gentlemen of this college class, is a marvelous vocation; and, for as long as it takes you to find it, may you have the time, patience, and perseverance to do so.The second thing that I wish for you is a wise and lovely use of your talents. I’ve read the propaganda that this college puts out, for it’s a wonderful machine that cranks out all the prose about Ursinus, and the stuff it says about you is literally unbelievable. You are the brightest class that has ever come to Collegeville, you are the most interesting people the world has ever seen, you have discovered the thrilling conjunction of theory and practice, and you will set the world aflame. Well, we can’t wait. That notwithstanding, I suspect that in each of you and among all of you there rests a remarkable talent, a capacity to do things that you have not yet imagined that you can do. You are gifted, talented; there is something in you, either imaginative or latent, ready to move, that will present something wise and good and creative and responsible and imaginative. You have talent, and you’ve excelled here, whether on the fields of athletic endeavor, or in music, or in the creative arts, or in the laboratory, or in the library, or in the classroom. There is something, some project you’ve engaged in, some bits of independent study in which you have discovered some of your talent. So, find that talent, develop that talent. My guess is that, as life goes on, and you go along with it, those talents are going to come forward, for there is something that each of you has to do, and each of you has the means to do it that will enrich the rest of us along with you.
A talent is not simply something to possess; remember, your talent is not yours to command but yours to obey, and when you hear the voice of your talent whistling in your ears, listen to it and follow it, and great and extraordinary things will come as a result of it. Talent is not just skill; talent is capacity ready to be summoned into life, and you all possess it in great abundance. Seewhere this mysterious force takes you. You will be surprised, you will be delighted, and by God’s grace you will be filled with wonder and joy.
Vocation and talent: those are things that one expects to be abundant here in a liberal arts college, and spoken of on Commencement day, and your parents are nodding that this talk seems to make sense: so far, so good, things are going according to script, according to plan. The third thing that I wish for you may surprise them, however, and even my colleagues behind me, for the third thing may seem frivolous to some of you or impossible to others of you, but my dear young friends, I wish you happiness. Happiness. As I look over you quickly you don’t look like the happiest bunch of people in the world; you’re full of anxiety, I know. ‘How long is this going to go on?’ you’re thinking. ‘Will my envelope be empty?’ ‘I’m going home without a job, I’m going to have lunch with my Aunt Mary and my tiresome Uncle Bob…’ You have reason to be anxious: I understand that. There are even some of you who petitioned for a form of student tenure so you never have to leave. It’s like Groundhog Day: you will always be seniors at Ursinus College. Well, what a horrible thought that might be! I recognize your anxiety, but I wish you in life genuine happiness, and I am going to give you a definition of happiness that belongs to one of those dead white males who still find their way into your curriculum here, for which I am very grateful. It is from an old fellow named Aristotle, who defined happiness in this way:
"
The exercise of vital powers along lines of excellence, in a life affording them scope."Happiness:
"The exercise of vital powers." You have those vital powers; I look at you, and I see vital powers incarnate. Do you know that as I speak to you, you are at the peak of both your intellectual and your sexual prowess? Are you aware of that? Although, by now you are considerably less potent than you were when I came…. You are at the height of it all! Your mind will never again be as supple as this; your body will never again be quite as willing to obey you as it is now. You take it all for granted, but these vital powers are yours to exercise, and my advice is that you’d better exercise them as quickly as possible because sooner than you wish you are going to be on the other side of that red velvet rope, admiring another collection of people with vital powers. Happiness is the exercise of those vital powers, but not just in any way, says Aristotle, but "along lines of excellence" in the best way that you can possibly do it. There is no place for mediocrity or second best in the well-thought and well-lived life. You don’t have to win everything, but you do have to do everything with the passion of a winner, and people who don’t come in first may very well have won in some real sense because they have performed at the height of their ability along the lines of excellence. Is there not some joy when you know you have done something well? You may surprise yourselves. Some of you are even surprised to find yourselves here today! See what happens when extraordinary things happen to you? "The exercise of vital powers along the lines of excellence" – and the finalqualification – "in a life affording them scope."You are all venturing out into a life thatis real and demanding and full of trouble and opportunity, and the way that you construct your life will help you to find the scope of your vital powers. Happiness is the opportunity to be able to do what needs doing and what you
’re good at doing. That is what Aristotle suggests: scope for your talent, scope for your soul, scope for your mind, scope for your body, scope for your passion—those vital powers that are within you along the lines of excellence. Happiness is not a goal; it is a consequence, a result of all ofthese things. If you say that your ambition in life is simply to be happy you won’t be, for happiness will always elude you. Happiness comes as a consequence of these other things.So, for you, I wish a sense of genuine vocation, I wish the service of marvelous talent, and I wish for you genuine happiness in a life of great scope and opportunity.
How will you proceed? Will you be assured of success? I
’m not paid well enough to speculate on just how well you may or may not do in life; that is what your reports to the Alumni Magazine are meant to track for the rest of your lives, and I’m sure they will. I don’t know whether you will succeed; what I do know is that you will encounter many frustrations and failures, and that how you deal with them will in the long run determine how well you have lived your lives. Anybody can deal well with success; ask a failure how to manage, and you might learn something.There
’s a poem that I close with that says that whatever effort you apply may well be the right effort in the ultimate sense of what you’re trying to be, and do, and define. One can be frustrated in listening to the radio, watching the television, reading the papers, and you may think that with your new B.A. or B.S. degree you will not make any difference at all. Who’s going to care what you think about the great issues of the day? What difference will your vote, your thought, or your opinion make in the great maelstrom of life? Well, here’s an answer, from Howard Thurman:You say the little efforts that I make
Will do no good.
They never will prevail
To tip the hovering scale where
Justice keeps in balance.
I do not think I ever thought they would,
But I am prejudiced beyond debate
In favor of my right
To choose which side shall feel
The stubborn ounces of my weight.
I pray that the
"stubborn ounces of [your] weight" will always be found on the side of adventure, virtue, and imagination, and that what has been begun in this unreal and lovely environment called ‘college’ will sustain you all the days of your life.Let me close with a limerick, the only clean limerick that I know. We all know,
"There once was a girl from Nantucket…" but that’s not what I have in mind for you today. This is a limerick addressed to people like yourselves by a very wise old man who gave me the honor of being his friend, the poet David McCord. In my last words to you today, this is how the limerick goes:Blessed Lord, what it is to be young:
To be of, to be for, be among --
Be enchanted, enthralled,
Be the caller, the called,
The singer, the song, and the sung
We sing your praises, and wish you great and glorious lives. Don
’t waste a second. Good-bye.From the desk of the Head Profit, Brendan Dillon, Co-ruler of The One True Religion:
The World Oligarchy and True Religion have been growing at an astounding rate. I would like to commend all of you for spreading the word and referring friends to the Holy Website, and I encourage you to continue to do so.
With growth, however, comes change. Under the membership system that has been in place for years, the Prophets page of the website has become long and unweildy. For that, and other practical reasons, we of the Co-Rulers have decided to institute reforms over our membership, including the redefinition of "Prophet."...
.....If you are not on any of the above lists, you are among the Sheeplike Followers. If you, or your titles, are not listed on the Holy Website, let me know and I will update the site. Also, if anyone wants new titles, let me know and I'll add them.
The Prophets and Followers page can be found here:
http://www.holyducttape.com/ttr/prophets.html
--
Brendan, the Duct Tape Avenger, | brendan.dillon@us.army.mil
GPG; 1SG, KPS OPC; SC, HQ, SURLI | http://www.holyducttape.com
and my Sheeplike follower response:
oh holy head prophet Brendan -
i wasn't sure where to respond to your latest communique - as i have been admonished in the past to posting (spamming?) to the royal message board at truereligion@yahoogroups.com - so i just sit quietly on the sidelines.
and baaa, away. I have been vocal from time to time, in the promotion of the one true religion, on my blog, as the Queen of pointless posting and floralilian flimflammery. To which i have managed to acquire some loyal and unsuspecting followers of various rumanant mammals of the Ovis kind.
is that even possible? a sheeplike follower having sheeplike followers of her own? Please advise.
however - i respectfully submit to you, that i am, still, the keeper of the official secret holiday sheepdip recipe - even while under covert AOL operations.
On the other hand, if you deem me worthy of appointing me to yet another level of honor - I wouldn't object. For after all - I did call long distance to personally report that I was unable to make this last year New's Years bash at the Fortress of Doom.
what a curious call that was - i must say -
they seemed to not have even heard of me....
i have supported the royal efforts by purchasing mugs and stickers - one of which sticks proudly somewhere along the back of a state troopers patrol car - he just doesn't know it yet.
wish i had the digital there, believe me.
anyway - i must be off now to save babies and dying women - for somebody has to do it.
in all things i remain steadfast to the cause,
floralilia
loyal sheeplike follower
update: In response to the Baa Response: "Ok, I've added the title to your name on the page."
at the risk of making
political waves...<------now shoo...
critical thinking....now there's a new thought...
Arguments for the Electoral College
Proponents of the Electoral College system normally defend it on the
philosophical grounds that it:
* contributes to the cohesiveness of the country by requiring a distribution
of popular support to be elected president
* enhances the status of minority interests,
* contributes to the political stability of the nation by encouraging a twoparty
system, and
* maintains a federal system of government and representation.
Recognizing the strong regional interests and loyalties which have
played so great a role in American history, proponents argue that the
Electoral College system contributes to the cohesiveness of the country
by requiring a distribution of popular support to be elected president.
Without such a mechanism, they point out, presidents would be selected
either through the domination ofone populous region over the others or
through the domination of large metropolitan areas over the rural ones.
Indeed, it is principally because of the Electoral College that presidential
nominees are inclined to select vice presidential running mates from a
region other than their own. For as things stand now, no one region
contains the absolute majority (270) of electoral votes required to elect a
president. Thus, there is an incentive for presidential candidates to pull
together coalitions of States and regions rather than to exacerbate regional
differences. Such a unifying mechanism seems especially prudent in view
of the severe regional problems that have typically plagued geographically
large nations such as China, India, the Soviet Union, and even, in its time,
the Roman Empire.
This unifying mechanism does not, however, come without a small
price. And the price is that in very close popular elections, it is possible that
the candidate who wins a slight majority of popular votes may not be the
one elected president -- depending (as in 1888) on whether his popularity is
concentrated in a few States or whether it is more evenly distributed across
the States. Yet this is less of a problem than it seems since, as a practical
matter, the popular difference between the two candidates would likely be so
small that either candidate could govern effectively.
Proponents thus believe that the practical value of requiring a
distribution of popular support outweighs whatever sentimental value may
attach to obtaining a bare majority of the popular support. Indeed, they
point out that the Electoral College system is designed to work in a rational
series of defaults: if, in the first instance, a candidate receives a substantial
majority of the popular vote, then that candidate is virtually certain to win
enough electoral votes to be elected president; in the event that the popular
vote is extremely close, then the election defaults to that candidate with the
best distribution of popular votes (as evidenced by obtaining the absolute
majority of electoral votes); in the event the country is so divided that no one
obtains an absolute majority of electoral votes, then the choice of president
defaults to the States in the U.S. House of Representatives. One way or
another, then, the winning candidate must demonstrate both a sufficient
popular support to govern as well as a sufficient distribution of that
support to govern.
Proponents also point out that, far from diminishing minority
interests by depressing voter participation, the Electoral College actually
enhances the status of minority groups. This is so because the votes of
even small minorities in a State may make the difference between winning
all of that State's electoral votes or none of that State's electoral votes. And
since ethnic minority groups in the United States happen to concentrate in
those States with the most electoral votes, they assume an importance to
presidential candidates well out of proportion to their number. The same
principle applies to other special interest groups such as labor unions,
farmers, environmentalists, and so forth.
It is because of this "leverage effect" that the presidency, as an
institution, tends to be more sensitive to ethnic minority and other special
interest groups than does the Congress as an institution. Changing to a
direct election of the president would therefore actually damage minority
interests since their votes would be overwhelmed by a national popular
majority.
Proponents further argue that the Electoral College contributes to
the political stability of the nation by encouraging a two-party system.
There can be no doubt that the Electoral College has encouraged and helps
to maintain a two- party system in the United States. This is true simply
because it is extremely difficult for a new or minor party to win enough
popular votes in enough States to have a chance of winning the presidency.
Even if they won enough electoral votes to force the decision into the U.S.
House of Representatives, they would still have to have a majority of over
half the State delegations in order to elect their candidate -- and in that case,
they would hardly be considered a minor party.
In addition to protecting the presidency from impassioned but
transitory third party movements, the practical effect of the Electoral
College (along with the single-member district system of representation in
the Congress) is to virtually force third party movements into one of the two
major political parties. Conversely, the major parties have every incentive to
absorb minor party movements in their continual attempt to win popular
majorities in the States. In this process of assimilation, third party
movements are obliged tocompromise their more radical views if they hope
to attain any of their more generally acceptable objectives. Thus we end up
with two large, pragmatic political parties which tend to the center of public
opinion rather than dozens of smaller political parties catering to divergent
and sometimes extremist views. In other words, such a system forces
political coalitions to occur within the political parties rather than within
the government.
A direct popular election of the president would likely have the
opposite effect. For in a direct popular election, there would be every
incentive for a multitude of minor parties to form in an attempt to prevent
whatever popular majority might be necessary to elect a president. The
surviving candidates would thus be drawn to the regionalist or extremist
views represented by these parties in hopes of winning the run-off election.
The result of a direct popular election for president, then, would likely
be a frayed and unstable political system characterized by a multitude of
political parties and by more radical changes in policies from one
administration to the next. The Electoral College system, in contrast,
encourages political parties to coalesce divergent interests into two sets of
coherent alternatives. Such an organization of social conflict and political
debate contributes to the political stability of the nation.
Finally, its proponents argue quite correctly that the Electoral College
maintains a federal system of government and representation. Their
reasoning is that in a formal federal structure, important political powers
are reserved to the component States. In the United States, for example, the
House of Representatives was designed to represent the States according to
the size of their population. The States are even responsible for drawing the
district lines for their House seats. The Senate was designed to represent
each State equally regardless of its population. And the Electoral College
was designed to represent each State's choice for the presidency (with the
number of each State's electoral votes being the number of its Senators plus
the number of its Representatives). To abolish the Electoral College in favor
of a nationwide popular election for president would strike at the very heart
of the federal structure laid out in our Constitution and would lead to the
nationalization of our central government -- to the detriment of the States.
Indeed, if we become obsessed with government by popular majority
as the only consideration, should we not then abolish the Senate which
represents States regardless of population? Should we not correct the
minor distortions in the House (caused by districting and by guaranteeing
each State at least one Representative) by changing it to a system of
proportional representation? This would accomplish "government by
popular majority" and guarantee the representation of minority parties, but
it would also demolish our federal system of government. If there are
reasons to maintain State representation in the Senate and House as they
exist today, then surely these same reasons apply to the choice of president.
Why, then, apply a sentimental attachment to popular majorities only to the
Electoral College?
The fact is, they argue, that the original design of our federal system
of government was thoroughly and wisely debated by the Founding Fathers.
State viewpoints, they decided, are more important than political minority
viewpoints. And the collective opinion of the individual State populations is
more important than the opinion of the national population taken as a
whole. Nor should we tamper with the careful balance of power between
the national and State governments which the Founding Fathers intended
and which is reflected in the Electoral College. To do so would
fundamentallyalter the nature of our government and might wellbring
about consequences that even the reformers would come to regret.
Conclusion
The Electoral College has performed its function for over 200 years
(and in over 50 presidential elections) by ensuring that the President of the
United States has both sufficient popular support to govern and that his
popular support is sufficiently distributed throughout the country to enable
him to govern effectively.
Although there were a few anomalies in its early history, none have
occurred in the past century. Proposals to abolish the Electoral College,
though frequently put forward, have failed largely because the alternatives
to it appear more problematic than is the College itself.
The fact that the Electoral College was originally designed to solve
one set of problems but today serves to solve an entirely different set of
problems is a tribute to the genius of the Founding Fathers and to the
durability of the American federal system.
Now class, don't you feel just a wee bit smarter? Good. I do too. Thank you Mr. Kimberling. Class dismissed.
hmmm.
