l.p. - luminous pondering - hmm...

Yeah - family gatherings always go sour quick... They have a definite tendency to do so, that certainly is for sure... And, with a family and extended family like mine I feel like Dorothy does, right there; like I'm not in Kansas anymore...? *lol* Or make that - not in the Açores, anymore! As long as I don't feel like the Strawman there... All is fine and dandy! I just have to keep telling myself this, now as, this year, it is hard to find reasons to be thankful and not, actually, reasons to ask "why"...? Oh shoot... in hindsight... I really look more like the lion... the Cowardly Lion, no need to remind me... than any other character on there... And to think that, last year, right here, I was identifying the most with... Ernie? Or maybe even... *gulp*... the Count? Yikes! How much things change during the course of a year... " Les années se suivent mais ne se ressemblent pas. " +++

... ... It would mean that Uncle Sam has the blood of 3,000 on his hands. Plus 12,000+ more, who have had their lungs contaminated by deadly toxins in the clean-up operation of the WTC site, Ground Zero air being filled with DEADLY DUST PARTICLES... And that means that close to 15,000 lives of their own people were deemed expendable, just so the country could "snap out" of a recession, with WAR. War for oil too - America's obsession! And, Uncle Sam had the perfect guinea pig all set - they had wanted to attract attention to him for a long, long time... They finally did then - Osama Bin Laden is now the enemy for the entire Western world! Not saying that he did not do this, 5 years ago... I am just saying that he had INSIDE HELP... Quite possibly! No wonder the eagle cries...

... ... I hope, for their sake, that they are not merely cannon fodder. Or there for target practice...? Say it isn't so, George!

... Is this what happens when too many fat kids get a sugar high at the exact same time?!?