* Mountains are nice, but consider the price.
* I like the water for play, but think of the taxes you'll pay.
* Skiing is fun in the North, but the weather is harsh.
* Is there crime in the town? There's probably a prison around.
* Brick streets are cool, but what about the schools?
* There may be plenty of steeples, but what about the people?
* The South has the sun, but the Baptists aren't much fun.
* The East is ok, except for the prices you pay.
* I'd live in the West, where the cowboys roam, but it's difficult to purchase a home.
* And last but not least, are the people you meet. Make sure they're not morons.

* Keep work no higher than 5th on your priority list.
* Read. Not dime-store novels or the crap at the grocery check-out counter, but meaningful fiction and non-fiction, like "A People's History of the United States," or "The Kite Runner," or "Water for Elephant's."
* Never make fun of lions at the zoo when the fence is too low.
* Never volunteer for war. Check to see if rich people are signing up. That should give you a clue.
* Never listen to anyone who claims to know "the truth," or "the way." They're lying.
* Never go to a Republican National Convention. Have more respect for yourself than that.
* Try to take the positive things in your life and use them to your advantage. Don't limit yourself. Don't paint yourself into a corner. Take your blinders off. Allow opportunities to open up for you. Throw away the plan and synchronize your heartbeat to the world.
* When it comes right down to it, when it's over and you're taking that last breath, try to make sure you can tell yourself that you did your best, that you did what you could, that you took that chance, that you followed your heart, that you gave life a chance.

* Color don't count. Character does.
* It's just as easy to be nice as it is to be mean.
* Religion doesn't matter. Living a good life does.
* You can't kill your way to peace.
* Revenge will not heal a broken heart.
* Patriotism is not about waving a flag and singing God Bless America.
* You cannot call yourself a Christian without earning it.
* One should not need to be "born again."
* If you are going to call yourself a charitable organization, you'd damn well better be giving away whatever it is you're dealing in, without expecting anything in return.
* Finally, probably the most valuable thing I've learned in 60 years is to never buy the cheap toilet paper.

* If you get caught with your pants down, blame your tailor. If you don't have one, get one quick.
* If someone fingers you while you're driving, wave and blow them a kiss. They hate that.
* If you happen to get in the wrong line at the funeral home, tell the relatives of the deceased that you are the long-lost daughter or son from Kentucky.
* If you get diarrhea, consider doing a stain removal commercial.
* If you're being held up, ask for a receipt. You can report it as a gambling loss. You took a chance on mankind and lost.
* If your preacher is giving you hell for sinning, ask him why the choir directors kid looks so much like him.
* If all else fails, join the military. Travel to new places. Make new friends. Kill them.
* Finally, remember this: If things are bad, it will pass. The sun always comes up, winter always gives way to spring, and those young bastards who think they know everything will one day grow old. Tough times can work to make you stronger.

Still no movement on the war. Everyone's hedging their bets. That's a politician. They wouldn't want to lose any votes. In the meantime, 3908 Americans are dead and an estimated 1,163,944 Iraqi's. Another 474 Americans are dead in Afghanistan. The estimated wounded are in the hundreds of thousands. What's going on here? For oil, for revenge, for the hell of it? With Vietnam, it took a long while to get the boys in Washington to understand we weren't going to put up with their crap any longer. Now Rove, Cheney, Bush, just laugh at us. Hundreds of thousands take to the streets; millions of people send petitions and e-mails of opposition, and the boys just shrug their shoulders and do what they want. As an American citizen, I find all this very disturbing. I was under the mistaken illusion that in a democracy, our elected officials are to conduct themselves in such a way that they represent our best interests and what a majority of us feel is right. The Iraqi war is opposed by around 65% of us. Bush's approval rating is at about 30%. You can no longer count the number of lies that have been told. We're debating whether or not to torture people. Individuals have been held captive for going on five years, without charges or trials. HOW IN THE HELL DID THIS HAPPEN? Have we, the citizens, become so impotent and complacent that we simply don't know what to do?
It's an election year, thank God. Bush will soon be gone. Hopefully that will help. I'm hoping someone is elected who has a brain and understands at least some of the basic principles of a democracy. But I'm not sure how long, or if we will ever, be able to recover from what we've done. Seems we're war dogs man, each and every one of us. We gnaw on their bones and we steal their homes. We don't care what it takes or the widows we make. It's the War Dogs man, what a pitiful plan.