Ray's Daily

I will be leaving at 6:30 AM this morning for meetings, a United Way not for profit community event and a multi-hour stint in a dental chair. It is just as well as I find it difficult to find much humor on September 11^th and haven’t for seven years. It has become a time for me to reflect not only on the loss of life that took place with the terrorist downing of New York’s Twin Towers but also all of those who needlessly perish each year due to war, terror and natural disaster. In that spirit I am resending last years daily.

 

WASHINGTON (AFP)  September 11, 2007

Six years after the September 11 attacks on the United States, most Americans view the plane hijackings that killed around 3,000 people as the most significant historical event of their lives, according to a poll released Monday.

 

 

September 11^th is really hard for me, it is not just the pain I feel for the loss of so many lives in the Twin Towers on that fateful day six years ago, it is also the lives that have been lost since, both military and civilian. As I was thinking about writing something appropriate today I decided to look back at what I wrote years ago. I know the following will anger some of you and I am sure it did many when I first put it in the daily. I guess if I had to describe myself both then and now it would be that I am a Lugar Republican. I have always found Senator Dick Lugar to be the voice of reason. What follows is my heartfelt feelings of four years ago and I feel much the same way today, I just wish I had been wrong.

 

You do not have to respond. Each of us deals with 9/11 in our own way, I just wish we would have stuck to chasing the terrorists instead of getting bogged down in Iraq. Anyway here is what I wrote in the 9/11, 2003 Daily.

 

We will never be the same as a result of the tragic events of two years ago. I am saddened that it now appears that the legacy of those who lost their lives is one of continued tragic events. We have seen the erosion of our traditional liberties, a concern recognized by both conservatives and liberals alike. We see the continued effect of an airline industry struggling for survival due in part to so many people being afraid to fly. We have entered into a war that now appears can only be won by buying victory with our citizen’s tax dollars. It now appears that Iraq will be the breeding ground for a much larger threat to our future, a whole new army of terrorists. I am afraid we have been the victims of leadership that overstated our problems and grossly underestimated the price of their policies, and there is no way to turn back. I wish the events of 9-11 had not been used to rationalize what has been done in haste.

 

I wish the legacy of those who died was our turning to each other during these difficult times as we redirect our energy to the building of a better world for future generations. Just imagine what could have been done for education, healthcare, infrastructure repair, and more if we did not have to spend even more than we have already to stabilize Iraq. We might have seen a world where we built allies through a demonstration of our values, and not one where we have gone so far backwards that we now have to buy our friends.

 

It is not too late. Each of us can contribute to a living memorial to the 9/11 victims by helping to build the society in which they would have liked to have lived. Each of us, conservative, liberal, Christian, non-Christian, all of us, can in our small way build our personal memorial to the great loss we have experienced. If we do the victims of 9/11 will not have died in vain.

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Think not forever of yourselves, O Chiefs, nor of your own generation. Think of continuing generations of our families, think of our grandchildren and of those yet unborn, whose faces are coming from beneath the ground.

T. S. Eliot

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Stay well, do good work, and have fun.

 Ray Mitchell

Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

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The editor is somewhat senile.

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“We don’t inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children”

David Brower

 

 

I read an article on the US Federal Budget deficit yesterday written by Patrick Edaburn in which he reported:

“The Bush Administration today announced a projected budget deficit of $ 490 billion for Fiscal Year 2009 (October 1, 2008 to September 30, 2009). Just to put that in proper perspective it is $490,000,000,000 or about $ 1,650 per person for the single budget year alone. This will bring the national debt to nearly $ 10 trillion dollars which pans out to $ 10,000,000,000,000 or in excess of $ 32,000 per person.”

I don’t know about you but my wife and I don’t have an extra $64,000 laying around and I really get concerned about my kids. My son has five in his family so he owes $160,000. As I thought about what I read I came up with the following.

Me: What are we going to do about this huge debt? Mr. Washington: Don’t worry about it we’ll just borrow what we need from Asians and others.

Me: But won’t that mean more interest and more debt? Mr. Washington: Well yes but they are good for it and we can always borrow more.

Me: Hold on that means the dollar gets weaker and things cost more doesn’t it? Mr. Washington: Yes but that’s good because we get to pay our debts with cheaper dollars.

Me: Whoa hold on, I am on a pretty much fixed income and others who are lucky enough to have pensions are totally on fixed incomes so what they have will buy less and maybe not buy enough for them to meet their needs. Mr. Washington: That may be true but it is not the government’s fault that people didn’t save enough years ago they should have known that what we said would happen probably wouldn’t.

Me: Jeez, we can’t pay for a broken Social Security system, a Medicare system that can’t keep up now and soon will be flooded with baby boomers, and we have ever mounting fuel and food costs and everyone continues to borrow. Mr. Government: Yep, that’s the American way. But I don’t understand what bothers you, you don’t have to pay, we’ll borrow enough to cover today’s needs and trust me things are going to be great in a decade or so and your kids can pay the bill.

Me: Ya sure, I have heard that song before. Mr. Government: Well I don’t have time to spend with you, you’re a trouble maker, I’m going to go be with people who appreciate all we are doing for them.

Me: That was awful, sorry kids I tried.

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“Debt is the slavery of the free”

Publilius Syrus

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When Peters learned that he was being fired, he went to see the head of human resources. "Since I’ve been with the firm for so long," he said, "I think I deserve at least a letter of recommendation."

The human resources director agreed and said he’d have the letter the next day.

The following morning, Peters found the letter on his desk. It read, "Jonathan Peters worked for our company for eleven years. When he left us, we were very satisfied."

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Courage does not always roar. Sometimes it is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow."

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From a passenger ship, one can just barely see a bearded man on a small island in the distance who is shouting and desperately waving his hands.

"Who is that?" a passenger asked a passing steward.

"I have no idea. Every year when we pass by, he goes nuts."

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The statement below is true.

The statement above is false.

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The first graders were attending their first music lesson. The teacher was trying to start at the very beginning. She drew a musical staff on the blackboard and asked a little girl to come up and write a note on it.

The little girl went to the blackboard, looked thoughtful for a minute and wrote, "Dear Aunt Emma. Just a short note to tell you I’m fine."

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To learn from mistakes, you must know you’re making them.

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A guy is driving around Newfoundland and he sees a sign in front of a house: "Talking Dog For Sale." He rings the bell and the owner tells him the dog is in the backyard. The guy goes into the backyard and sees a Labrador retriever sitting there.

You talk?" he asks. "Yes, I do," the Lab replies. "So, what’s your story?"

The Lab looks up and says, "Well, I discovered that I could talk when I was pretty young. I wanted to help the government, so I told CSIS about my gift, and in no time, at all they had me jetting from country to country, sitting in rooms with spies and world leaders, and because no one figured a dog would be eavesdropping. I was one of their most valuable spies for eight years running." "But the jetting around really tired me out, and I knew I wasn’t getting any younger so I decided to settle down. I signed up for a job at the airport to do some undercover security – wandering near suspicious characters and listening in."

"I uncovered some incredible dealings and was awarded a batch of medals. I got married, had a mess of puppies, and now I’m just retired."

The guy is amazed. He goes back in and asks the owner what he wants for the dog.

Ten dollars," the Newfie says. "Ten dollars? This dog is amazing. Why on earth are you selling him so cheap?" "Because he’s a liar. He never did any of that stuff."

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Humility, like darkness, reveals the heavenly lights.

Henry David Thoreau

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Early one morning, my husband, who works in a funeral home, woke me, complaining about severe abdominal pains. We rushed to the emergency room, where tests were performed to determine the source of the pain.

My husband decided not to have me call in sick for him until we knew what was wrong. When the results came back, the nurse informed us that, true to our suspicions, he was suffering from a kidney stone.

I turned to my husband and asked, "Would you like me to call the funeral home now?"

With a scornful look, the nurse turned to me and snapped, "Honey, he’s not that sick!"

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A diet is when you have to go to some length to change your width.

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The temporary Sunday School teacher was struggling to open a combination lock on the supply cabinet. She had been told the combination, but couldn’t quite remember it. Finally, she went to the pastor’s study and asked for help.

The pastor came into the room and began to turn the dial. After the first two numbers he paused and stared blankly for a moment. Finally, he looked serenely heavenward and his lips moved silently. Then he looked back at the lock, and quickly turned to the final number, and opened the lock.

The teacher was amazed, "I’m in awe of your faith, pastor."

"It’s really nothing," he answered. "The number is written on a piece of tape on the ceiling."

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A man mentioned to his landlord about the tenants in the apartment over his. "Many a night they stamp on the floor and shout till midnight."

When the landlord asked if it bothered him, he replied, "Not really, as I usually stay up and practice my trumpet till about that time most every night anyway."

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“As an individual who undertakes to live by borrowing, soon finds his original means devoured by interest, and next no one left to borrow from – so must it be with a new government”

Abraham Lincoln

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