Oh crap! My daughter just recently moved to Omaha. In fact, we visited her at Thanksgiving and went to that mall. What a shame. You go to the mall to buy some gifts for your spouse, kids, family, friends, or maybe you're working to make a living, and you end up dead because some 19 year old kid can't contain his anger, or craziness, or whatever. Six hundred miles away, I can still feel the pain of those families, the agony they are enduring asking why? It runs through your mine, thank God it wasn't my daughter, or us. Then you feel guilty, because it was someone's daughter, son, husband, wife, parents, grandparents. How can you be so selfish? It is a stark reminder of how sacred and fragile life is. In an instant, it can be done. All the security in the world is not going to help. There are too many precautions to take, too many contingencies to be accounted for. It is just like the suicide bombers in Iraq. If you are willing to give up your life to kill someone, there's nothing that can be done. You are in the wrong place at the right time. But we can't let it scare us so much that we lock ourselves behind closed doors. That we are afraid to get out and go to the mall, or fly on an airplane. If we allow fear of the unknown to control us, we're dead anyway. We've got to keep reaching out and attempting to end these senseless killings, as hard and painful and deadly as it might be. This holiday season, remember the words love, hope, forgiveness, caring, sharing. These are the only things that will allow good to prevail over evil. Peace and non-violence are what will stop these senseless things from happening.
Guns and unattainable levels of security and fear and revenge will not.

"Probably the reason we all go so haywire at Christmas time with the endless unrestrained and often silly buying of gifts is that we don't quite know how to put our love into words." Harlan Miller

President Bush was caught in another lie today. He knew months ago that Iran was no longer pursuing nuclear weapons. Today he defends himself by saying that despite such intelligence, Iran is still dangerous and needs to be dealt with. No one is more dangerous than the United States, particularly with Bush at the helm. This guy is certifiably insane and needs to be removed from office, the only problem being, Cheney is just as bad, if not worse. I would suggest having them both committed to Bellevue Hospital. There might be 6 people in the country who would argue against such a move, but his mother and father and three brothers and one sister, are probably all wavering at this point.

The day was dark and somewhat dreary.
A good day to fish, since I was less than cheery.
I fish a lot and without a phone.
It helps me at times to be alone.

I sat by the stream and stared at the shore.
There wasn't much happening, I had the wrong lure.
I was just about ready to take me a nap.
When suddenly the water opened up a wide gap.

A fish like a man came walking ashore.
Whatever it was had a certain allure.
He looked at me dead straight in the eyes.
I have to admit, it was quite a surprise.

He asked what I thought about poisoning the water,
and if it was me who had poisoned his brother.
I said I'm not sure, but I did spray for bugs.
He didn't look up, he just gave me a shrug.

You don't seem to get it, you must be a fool.
You sit here and fish while you poison the pool.
You spray poison on things and manufacture death.
How do you think it feels when you take your last breath?

You want fortune and fame and money for your name.
But it all comes down to nothing but shame.
When money is all that is left in the world.
Do you think you can eat it and spit out a pearl?

He shook his head and went back in the deep.
I wasn't quite sure whether I was awake or asleep.
I took from that moment as much as I could.
But I have to admit, I barely understood.

What did he think that I could do?

How can a fish be telling a man,
what it is we should do with this, our fair land.
So I packed up my things and headed up-stream,
cause the one thing I don't need are fish tales and dreams.

"We have been told for years to bow down before 'the market'. We have placed our faith in the laws of supply and demand. What has been forgotten, or ignored, is that the market rewards only efficiency. Every other human value gets in its way.
Left to its own devices, the free market always seeks a work force that is hungry, desperate, and cheap-a work force that is anything but free." Eric Schlosser