Passion

"There is no passion in the world greater than the passion to alter someone else's draft." — H.G. Wells

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"The passion for setting people right is in itself an afflictive disease." — Marianne Moore, American Poet

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Check this info, you only need to peruse it.

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This is post #485 on my blog today.

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Get Out Of My Way, I’m Inspired!

Because God is on my side, because God sent me here (me above all others), because God gave me this land and gave me all permissions, I am at liberty to kill everyone in my own defense and even just for my religion. I am permitted to kill my enemies. I am permitted to kill my kin. I blow people up with bombs. I throw acid in the face of soldiers in my own country’s service. If my leaders oppose the secret desires of God, I strike them down. I kick, scream, scratch, and bellow like a sick cow. Nothing in me yields to the powers that oppose my God and God is always on my side and there is always someone in contention with God. I never have to give up my violent opposition. I am permitted to kill your baby and to kill my baby in order to support the God who supports me. I am a fierce true believer, believing in God and believing in me, but believing even more in your evil. Because I was sent by God and yet some like you fail to recognize that fact, I must oppose and obliterate the evil ones, no matter who they are. When I’m not fighting Satan, I’m fighting people of other races and people of other Parties who have embraced Satan. You’d be amazed how damn hard it is to please or get along with me, considering the propaganda you might hear elsewhere about my eternal loving God.

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Randy Newman Lyrics

Guilty

Yes, baby, I been drinkin'
And I shouldn't come by I know
But I found myself in trouble, darlin'
And I had nowhere else to go
Got some whisky from the barman
Got some cocaine from a friend
I just had to keep on movin'
Til I was back in your arms again
I'm guilty, baby I'm guilty
And I'll be guilty all the rest of my life
How come I never do what I'm supposed to do
How come nothin' that I try to do ever turns out right?
You know, you know how it is with me baby
You know, you know I just can't stand myself
And it takes a whole lot of medicine
For me to pretend that I'm somebody else.

[From the Randy Newman album, "Good Old Boys".]

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I Don't Seem

I don't seem to be here today. Not all here, anyway.

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Visiting Cassie

Cassie And Kathryn In The Bedroom

I heard the women say, “I love you,” as they disappeared into the master bedroom, and, after that, repeatedly, if only in imagination, I heard the sound of soft wet kisses. They weren’t too far away, just a door or two away while I took a bath and meditated—I was hip, but I wasn’t normally this hip. Jesus, how hip was I supposed to be under these circumstances? I wasn’t certain.

I was being a “nice guy”, I thought, while I tried not paying them any mind. But when the bath water wasn’t running it was hard to ignore them, hard to pretend. I heard just enough; their laughter as they opened and shut the closet door made me wince. I had no excuse for acting jealous; Cassie was just an old friend by now. Well, but of course it was jealousy; it just wasn’t sexual.

Her husband was playing basketball somewhere until two, I was told. A proper fool, but no worse than me, an unwilling witness and co-conspirator. I knew what they planned to do. They wanted to touch, as we all do. They hadn't been able to spend any time alone together. Cassie's in-laws had been in town all last week, and now I was in the way this week, So I had to hold my water, dawdle in the tub, mislead myself, and let them play as they will. When it was over, I blocked it all out, though I knew it was factually true. I remember it as if it had importance, though hundreds of things have since happened to Cassie and to me. The past should be buried deep, but it isn’t always…

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Mark Twain and Dorothy Parker Quotes

"Good breeding consists of concealing how much we think of ourselves and how little we think of the other person." — Mark Twain

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"If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave it to." — Dorothy Parker (1893 - 1967)

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Good Heavens!

"When I gave food to the poor, they called me a saint. When I asked why the poor were hungry, they called me a communist." — Dom Helder Camara, Brazilian Bishop, Nobel Peace Prize nominee

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About prostitutes: "...The Lord is not here to tot up unfortunate sisters’ sins. They are the victims. We churchmen frequently make too much of women's sins and sexual sins in general as if sexual sins were graver than sins against compassion. Good Heavens!" — Dom Helder Camara

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Burning-Barrel Ashes

Sometimes, like now, I end up with a barrel full of mud. You may have heard me refer at times to the “burning barrel” in the back yard, in which leaves, pine straw, pinecones, and limbs go up in smoke until the ash grows thick. Then I ease the barrel over and shovel out its contents (mostly ash) and give it to the garbage truck. This usually works nicely, except times like this, when rain occurs several times during the time I’d planned to get the barrel dry, only the barrel never quite dries!

So I have a barrel with a sort of multi-layer built up in it, with dry and wet levels of matter, some materials burnt to ash and other places only black. Not to mention that once shoveled into a black plastic bag, this crap is quite heavy. This time around is the worst I’ve ever done; I really shouldn’t have loaded so much weight! The garbage crew may hate me, I always think. Worse, they may refuse to remove what may seem to them to have a couple of dead bodies in it!

But, for now, I’m going to not think too much about it. I’m going to rely on the fact that most men, especially young working men, are stronger than I am and may pick up the heavy bag with one arm and say nothing more than “damn” about it as they sling it into the truck and go on their merry way down the street.

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"Now and then an innocent man is sent to the legislature." — Kin Hubbard

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Backyard Bird List

1. blue jay
2. bluebird, eastern
3. cardinal
4. catbird, gray
5. chickadee
6. crow
7. flicker
8. grackle
9. hummingbird
10. mockingbird
11. robin
12. sparrow, house
13. titmouse
14. vulture, turkey
15. woodpecker, downy
16. woodpecker, pileated
17. woodpecker, red-bellied
18. wren, Carolina

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Remarks:
The fact that I never go to the beach or pass through a town near the beach should explain to you much of the lack of variety in my list. I could, but I don't. I've also become a very lazy birdwatcher; I'm sure some good ones nest in my trees at times that I'm too comfortable in the air-conditioning to see anything!

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