I start with the front page, then the editorials, then the rest of the front section. I read the local news, the entertainment section, the comics and the bridge column. I read the business section, the health and food sections. I don't think there is a bigger buy for the money than a good newspaper. I like to keep track of what's going on in the world, and in our own country, even when it's disturbing, as it has been lately. The current administration seems to want to keep us all frightened so that they can stomp on our civil liberties at will.
He said:
Humanity i love you
because you would rather black the boots of
success than enquire whose soul dangles from his
watch-chain which would be embarrassing for both
parties and because you
unflinchingly applaud all
songs containing the words country home and
mother when sung at the old howard
Humanity i love you because
when you're hard up you pawn your
intelligence to buy a drink and when
you're flush pride keeps
you from the pawn shop and
because you are continually committing
nuisances but more
especially in your own house
Humanity i love you because you
are perpetually putting the secret of
life in your pants and forgetting
it's there and sitting down
on it
and because you are
forever making poems in the lap
of death Humanity
i hate you
e.e.cummings
She said:
Not for a Nation
Not for the flag
Of any land because myself was born there
Will I give up my life.
But I will love that land where man is free,
And that I will defend.
Edna St Vincent Millay
Thursday, December 22, 2005
Thursday, December 15, 2005
It's All About the Shopping
There are religious groups trying to get their members to boycott Walmart because the giant merchandiser hangs "Happy Holiday" signs instead of "Merry Christmas" signs in its stores.
There are a lot of good reasons to boycott Walmart, and I don't shop there. Their employment practices are terrible. They do everything they can to stifle union activity so that they can continue to pay their employees minimum wages. Most of their employees cannot afford the health insurance they offer, and are forced to rely on Medicaid, which the rest of us pay for. They draw in suppliers, and then pay less every year for their products so that the suppliers are forced to close their plants in the U.S. and manufacture their products overseas. Even Levi Jeans finally caved to Walmart and closed its last U.S. plant. I prefer to buy stuff made in a country that has good labor laws. Then there are the illegal immigrants who clean the stores at night and don't even make minimum wages. Walmart was shocked (!) to discover there was illegal hiring going on in the back room. Even Walmart commercials, with the yellow smiley face shooting down prices is reason enough not to shop there.
But to boycott them because they took the "Christ" out of shopping? Well we just know that Christmas is all about the shopping, don't we?
He said:
A Penny Saved Is Impossible
The further through life I drift
The more obvious it becomes that I am lacking in thrift.
Now thrift is such a boon to its possessor that years ago they began to tax it,
But it is a bane to him that lacks it
Because if you lack it your will go into a shoppe and pay two dollars for a gifte.
But if you possess it you find something just as good for a dollar fifte.
A penny is merely something that you pull several of out of your pocket before you find the nickel you need for a telephone call, if thriftlessness is in your blood,
Whereas to the thrifty a penny is something to be put out at stud.
Thrifty people put two-cent stamps on letters addressed to a three-cent zone,
And thriftless people on the other end pay the postage due and the thrifty people chuckle and rub their hands because the saving on every six letters represents a year’s interest on a dollar loan.
Oh that I were thrifty, because thrifty people leave estates to delight their next of kin with;
Oh that I were thrifty, because then not only would I have money in the bank to pay my bills, but I could leave the money in the bank because I wouldn’t have run up the bills to begin with;
Oh that I were not a spendthrift, oh then would my heart indeed be gladsome,
Because it is so futile being a spendthrift because I don’t know any places where thrift could be spent even if I had some.
Ogden Nash
She said:
The Coin
Into my heart’s treasury
I slipped a coin That time cannot take
Nor thief purloin---
Oh, better than a minting
Of a gold crowned king
Is the safe kept memory
Of a lovely thing
Sara Teasdale
There are a lot of good reasons to boycott Walmart, and I don't shop there. Their employment practices are terrible. They do everything they can to stifle union activity so that they can continue to pay their employees minimum wages. Most of their employees cannot afford the health insurance they offer, and are forced to rely on Medicaid, which the rest of us pay for. They draw in suppliers, and then pay less every year for their products so that the suppliers are forced to close their plants in the U.S. and manufacture their products overseas. Even Levi Jeans finally caved to Walmart and closed its last U.S. plant. I prefer to buy stuff made in a country that has good labor laws. Then there are the illegal immigrants who clean the stores at night and don't even make minimum wages. Walmart was shocked (!) to discover there was illegal hiring going on in the back room. Even Walmart commercials, with the yellow smiley face shooting down prices is reason enough not to shop there.
But to boycott them because they took the "Christ" out of shopping? Well we just know that Christmas is all about the shopping, don't we?
He said:
A Penny Saved Is Impossible
The further through life I drift
The more obvious it becomes that I am lacking in thrift.
Now thrift is such a boon to its possessor that years ago they began to tax it,
But it is a bane to him that lacks it
Because if you lack it your will go into a shoppe and pay two dollars for a gifte.
But if you possess it you find something just as good for a dollar fifte.
A penny is merely something that you pull several of out of your pocket before you find the nickel you need for a telephone call, if thriftlessness is in your blood,
Whereas to the thrifty a penny is something to be put out at stud.
Thrifty people put two-cent stamps on letters addressed to a three-cent zone,
And thriftless people on the other end pay the postage due and the thrifty people chuckle and rub their hands because the saving on every six letters represents a year’s interest on a dollar loan.
Oh that I were thrifty, because thrifty people leave estates to delight their next of kin with;
Oh that I were thrifty, because then not only would I have money in the bank to pay my bills, but I could leave the money in the bank because I wouldn’t have run up the bills to begin with;
Oh that I were not a spendthrift, oh then would my heart indeed be gladsome,
Because it is so futile being a spendthrift because I don’t know any places where thrift could be spent even if I had some.
Ogden Nash
She said:
The Coin
Into my heart’s treasury
I slipped a coin That time cannot take
Nor thief purloin---
Oh, better than a minting
Of a gold crowned king
Is the safe kept memory
Of a lovely thing
Sara Teasdale
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)