Saddams Letter From Confinement

"To the great nation, to the people of our country, and humanity,
Many of you have known the writer of this letter to be faithful, honest, caring for others, wise, of sound judgment, just, decisive, careful with the wealth of the people and the state ... and that his heart is big enough to embrace all without discrimination.
You have known your brother and leader very well and he never bowed to the despots and, in accordance with the wishes of those who loved him, remained a sword and a banner.
This is how you want your brother, son or leader to be ... and those who will lead you (in the future) should have the same qualifications.
Here, I offer my soul to God as a sacrifice, and if He wants, He will send it to heaven with the martyrs, or, He will postpone that ... so let us be patient and depend on Him against the unjust nations.
Remember that God has enabled you to become an example of love, forgiveness and brotherly coexistence ... I call on you not to hate because hate does not leave a space for a person to be fair and it makes you blind and closes all doors of thinking and keeps away one from balanced thinking and making the right choice.
I also call on you not to hate the peoples of the other countries that attacked us and differentiate between the decision-makers and peoples. Anyone who repents - whether in Iraq or abroad - you must forgive him.
You should know that among the aggressors, there are people who support your struggle against the invaders, and some of them volunteered for the legal defence of prisoners, including Saddam Hussein ... some of these people wept profusely when they said goodbye to me.
Dear faithful people, I say goodbye to you, but I will be with the merciful God who helps those who take refuge in him and who will never disappoint any faithful, honest believer ... God is Great ... God is great ... Long live our nation ... Long live our great struggling people ... Long live Iraq, long live Iraq ... Long live Palestine ... Long live jihad and the mujahedeen (the insurgency).
Saddam Hussein President and Commander in Chief of the Iraqi Mujahed Armed Forces
Additional clarification note:
I have written this letter because the lawyers told me that the so-called criminal court — established and named by the invaders — will allow the so-called defendants the chance for a last word. But that court and its chief judge did not give us the chance to say a word, and issued its verdict without explanation and read out the sentence — dictated by the invaders — without presenting the evidence. I wanted the people to know this."


— Letter by Saddam Hussein

Mondays Missives

• Looked at a site called Sodahead earlier, as I understand it the idea is anything you have bubbling in your head you can ask and on a public comment form people can answer your question. Under the science tag was the question What is your favorite type of vampire?
• Craziest headline I've seen in a while: Flaming squirrel ignites car in Bayonne, Hudson Co. NJ.
• The same article offered a pretty great quote as well:"It's something to laugh about once she has a new car," he said. "It's not funny yet."Police said there were no injuries -- except for the squirrel, that is, which is dead." Hudson County Index
• In the backyard near the fence separating my yard from the pasture is a little scrub tree. One time I put some leftovers there to try and get a picture of the coyotes that come around. It then became a place where I dumped the vacuum dust, and grill and fireplace ashes so no one would step in them and track them in the house. I toss whatever that's biodegradable there now- you know, crud.
• I call it the crud tree.
• I have no idea how many times in my life women- even ones I don't know have said something like,"You have a cute (or nice) butt."
• Just one more of my superpowers I suppose.

Paris Wants You To Know

"I am literally running a huge corporation," Paris declares to Reuters. "I have my clothing lines, my champagne, my watches, shoes and purses and dog clothes -- every sort of product you can imagine. I am doing movies. I am doing my record right now, producing, starring in a TV show. So it is a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week job."

Except, of course, for those hours when she's flat on her back.

The starlet says she begins every morning "by thinking about what I dreamed. I write down my dreams. I feel it is your subconscious talking to you. Then I think of my schedule, which is going to be so hectic."

Wednesdays Digressions

• Been working so much have sort of been neglecting the blog and more or less phoning it in.


• If it's good enough for Deniro and Pacino...


• A lady at a nursing home where I was contracted at who was wheelchair bound and way too young to be thought of as the age for a traditional nursing home patient brought good cofffee to me in the room I was working in when she overheard me griping about the only available coffee being decaf.


• Humbling


• The amount of fruit and fresh vegetables consumed in my house in a week would measure at least several pounds.


• Don't give me too much credit- the Dr Pepper would be at least quarts.


• My baby sons latest thing is to carry a washcloth around for his comfy. Also, when I have set him down to make a cup for him he says,"Uh, uh" and pushes it away and won't take it until he's picked back up- to keep from being tricked into walking around under his own power.


• I'm working extra now for a motorhome- hopefully enough people are still scared of the fuel market I can still make out good on a decent older class C (or A if the miles and price are reasonable enough).


• Really hope to make some good memories.


• Money pit
• I know the picture doesn't follow any of my missives but, holy guacamole Batman- it's a cow that's been struck by lightning, that has to be worth something!

Stormclouds Are Gathering

From Next Blog Button-oito do oito do oito

Fridays Dispatch

• I'm super proud of the fact not only do my kids have a nice house and neighborhood to live in they also have a very good school.


• Even better? They have told me how much those things mean.


• I love to eat dates but, only have them maybe every one to two years.


• President Obama made a joke about his bowling on The Tonight Show recently comparing his performance to Special Olympics.


• If he was a conservative you wouldn't have had to read about that from some weirdo on a blog- the outrage would have been palpable in every type of outlet available- you simply couldn't turn the television on or click on your news browser that a commentator wouldn't say,"Did the President step over the line..."


• If a person whether savagely conservative or wildly liberal could not see that and would argue the point they would be if nothing else, dishonest.


• I need to mow my yard.


• Unbelievable


• Still looking for a decent motorhome- thoughts on same to date: buying high end / fun stuff is as big a beating as it is fun and exciting. Craigslist ad placers: Grrrrr- no prices, ALL CAPS IN ADS IS VERY ANNOYING, saying "Too much to list" dude, humor me- they don't exactly charge by the letter for these ads. Using the term "mint" to describe a vehicle when in even the poor quality pic they use you can plainly see: a shattered windshield, missing chrome, mismatched wheels..., no picture with an ad, really are you kidding? Come on get with the 1990s!


• I don't rant very often but, when I do I generally feel better.


• Does that mean people who seem to constantly rant feel great all the time?

Be Yourself

"I'd rather be hated for something I am than loved for something I am not.

Special Sunday Missives

• At different times there were 4-6 teenage boys in my house this weekend.
• Eating machines.
• I've slept 16 of the past 24 hours.
• Feel great.
• I think I worked 8 straight 12 hour night shifts and started another but, the patient died before it was over.
• I was counting his respiration's and he just stopped breathing. Some of the family was bothered by the fact they weren't at the bedside but, this situation shows how you can't be there all the time- I mean he just stopped being.
• His daughter was asleep on a couch in the same room and woke up while I was listening for his heart and lung sounds with my stethoscope. She looked up and smiled the sweetest smile at me and drifted back off to sleep.
• I get very close to my patients and their families and get included in meal plans, family meetings etc. but, I've never attended a patients funeral although I have when I worked in long term care. I don't know how to put it in words but, it would seem wrong. Maybe it's because you have become so close as an outsider at such an intense time at what is normally such a private event.
• Modern embalming has its roots in the US Civil War. A. Lincoln issued an order for a system to be developed so Union soldiers bodies could make it back north to their families.
• It cost 100 dollars per body.
• As a profession, I think funeral directors are among the genuinely kindest group of people I've ever met.

Fridays Dispatch

• An old girlfriend attempted to murder me once.


• No there's not a punchline- she tried to kill me.


• The company I work for is owned by a husband and wife. It's odd but, I've never met her although I talk to her on the phone multiple times in a week.


• Recently met an older person who knew a favorite uncle who has been dead for at least 30 years. He remembered uncle Poodles truck and in fact told me who owns it now. It's a 1955 Chevrolet one ton and was the first vehicle I ever drove which entailed basically me popping the clutch and us being jarred back and forth until the truck died and listening to him laugh until he cried. I still have the shifter knob to that truck.


• Yes, he was called Poodle and people who lived in Jacksboro TX and knew him would have no idea who you were talking about if you called him by his real name.


• Wednesday morning me and the baby got up early, took a bath and sat in front of the fireplace and ate cereal while we listened to the rain.


• Heaven.


• When my teenager was about 3 he could work a baitcasting fishing rod and reel very well, had his own and practiced in the yard with just a weight on the end of the line. One day he was pestering me to take him fishing so I took him to a wide spot by a water crossing on Salt Creek near our house thinking he could get it out of his system even though there was no way he would catch anything and we could go to his Pops that weekend and catch some fish. The creek there was 4-6 feet wide and maybe as deep. He caught a little bass on his second cast. A farm hand made a turn near us while he was plowing and had a grin on his face nearly as big as mine.

Hospice Nursing Thoughts For Wednesdays Digressions

• Hospice nursing continues to surprise as one of those rare (I think) jobs in life on most days you would do for free but, get paid well to perform.
• Of all the patients I've seen on their way I've only said of two I wish I could have known them earlier in life. Nurses may say this often thinking it's what the family wants to hear but, if it's even benignly dishonest I will not say or do it in this field.
• Recently, a patient only something like 48 hours away from death said to me at about 2 in the morning,"I don't want to die." I cannot express adequately everything summed up in the tone of his voice when making that simple statement. It wasn't regret, fearfulness, anger, arrogance or a plea for more time necessarily but, just an honest statement.
• The most honest thing I've ever heard in my life.
• I've cared for people in 500,000 dollar homes overlooking a lake and shacks that when the wind blew the drapes would fly into the room with it and I wore a coat and was wrapped in a blanket throughout the night.
• You'd think the middle class people would be the most rewarding to deal with and maybe the rich the most difficult but, this is not my take on it and even I'm surprised at that.
• The poor people will love you like no other and while they may lean on you as much as anybody for support- they also trust you which keeps you on your toes (or should). You may represent the first group of professsionals in the patients decline who more or less say the same thing in response to a given scenario. Also, you are relieving the suffering of someone that it may seem like previously everything that was done for their loved one by medical personnel caused suffering. You also may be carrying a load for them they can't quite come to grips with because they simply don't understand.
• The middle class people may be pretty well educated or dropouts, superstitious or level headed, fairly well versed in the world at large or sadly ignorant people and all these off the cuff differentiations and more will be found in a large family under one roof. When you get down and dirty and lay things out- you still may not know how the wheels are turning in their brains, whether they've accepted your education or just telling you what you want to hear. Bring everyone together to try and lay out everything you want them to know and invariably you will get pulled aside by them one at a time later for clarification, disagreement over some minutiae or flat try to be drawn into some kind of family intrigue.
• Wealthy people are almost always well educated and accept provided education on the particular case well. They are always up to date with contemporary treatments and general knowledge. They honestly also across the board accept the inevitability of death better. They will be very grateful and as gracious as anyone but, you are usually telling them things they already know.
• Recently a lady who was a spiritual advisor to a family went on while we were talking privately saying things like,"I look at death as a beautiful new beginning- when we are born we are dying and when we die we start living." "Death should be a time of peace and joy. We shouldn't look at it as something to be afraid of- they are going to be in glory..."
• Well and good, I needed to hear some of that but, it can also be horrifying for witnesses when it's not a good death. It can be the start of lifelong heartbreak for those left behind. It can be absolutely terrifying for the person whose dying...

Chicken Wash?

Hen an apparent escapee from the Weatherford First Monday flea market across the street from this automatic car wash.

Mondays Missives

Baby and his headlamp- exploring his world after dark.

• Still thinking about the funerals I've gone to recently and how they affected me and the others who attended. I said something one day like,"Regardless of what's said at a funeral, I think it's important that if the dead person came to life and lie there listening- he should know who they're speaking about (or at least have a good guess)." One of the funerals I've been to that affected me in this way was a guy who was a great guy- he was generous, friendly, hard working and a family man like no other but, he was not the saint the preacher made him out to be and I don't think the preacher did his memory or the feelings of us there any good by making him out to be something he wasn't. I swear people held their breath and tensed up visibly when he would go on about things that everybody there knew better about.




• Coolest album title ever: Blood Sugar Sex Magik by RHCP. Close second: Primus - Sailing the seas of cheese.




• Visited an elderly aunt in the nursing home this weekend- it made her so happy she cried.




• Sometimes, when people get older and facing their end they tend to drag the skeletons out of the closet don't they?




• It seems like yesterday my nephew was a little toddler, today he's a basketball player in his junior high.




• I can still spank that butt in a game of horse though.




• God, my back hurts.




• My knees aren't doing so hot either.




• We also threw a football around.




• My aching elbow.

Pentagonal Ponderings For Fridays Dispatch

• Has anyone thought about the families of the 911 hijackers and wondered what they would do with their remains and if there has been an effort to retrieve them? Few things could give a better insight to the way a Middle Eastern person processess information than this question. There has been no legitimate effort on the part of their families because most Middle Easterners believe that 911 was concocted by the US and Israel to give carte blanche for military action against Islam. Even if they did come forward retribution would be swift, extensive and awful.





• Actual conversation between myself and 11-12 year old boy in Iraq: "Where's George W. Bush?" "Heck, I don't know- Washington I guess" "Oh, OK where's Rummy?" "I don't know-I suppose the Pentagon." "Ah yes, Arlington, Virginia. Saddam terrible- Bush good."





• Conspiracy theorists alternate between amusing and disgusting me and challenging my thinking.





• I mean come on- a government that can't win a drug war they declared 30 years ago, can't balance a budget, can't organise a national election without overwhelming controversy and the need for a court decision, can't, can't... but, can organise a conspiracy involving multiple nations, thousands of civilians and military personnel in multiple civilian and military organisations etc. to kill thousands of its citizens and possibly cripple or destroy it's economy to get a war on against a people it has almost always actually sided (such as in Bosnia and Kosovo) with in military action or humanitarian aid?





• There are many factoids concerning The Pentagon such as the number of acres of windows, the millions of tons of concrete it took to build etc. but, my favorite trivia? "Abbie Hoffman declared the group's intention of levitating the Pentagon 300 feet (90 m) by means of meditation, wobbling it once in mid-air in order to exorcise evil spirits" when he led a protest there.





• That building cost 83 million dollars in 1942.





• In the military anyone who worked in the Pentagon is viewed with awe and reverence without any consideration first being given to what their mission may have actually been.





• They may have been shining a generals shoes, making his coffee and scheduling appoinments but, they'll be spoken of in hushed tones- His last assignment was the Pentagon! and angels will sing out when they come around.




• Really, I heard them once.

Some Things About Me

I love peanut butter but, literally cannot stand its' smell.

I don't really care for cucumbers though I love the smell of them.

First Beatles Contract

If I Owned A Hunting Dog

Mondays Missives

• "Six teenagers, trapped in the back woods of West Virginia when their cars break down, are hunted down by cannibalistic, inbred mountain men."




• The synopsis for the movie I'm watching: could you ask for anything more?




• My counter for the number of emails I have unread is always wrong- at least by one sometimes six or more.




• I get between three and ten ads for Viagra a day but, my bank statement goes straight to spam folder.




• Yes, already did an exception for emails from my bank.




• In a movie it seems way more realistic if the characters listen to actual music we hear on the radio instead of stuff obviously made for the movie- especially if the music is lame.




• I know two different people who lived in the Pythian home in Weatherford when they were young.



• Just finished the movie Wrong Turn: in the end a deputy is looking through the burned remains of the hillbillies house where the last remaining boy and girl of the group who made the wrong turn killed the mutants. As the deputy finds the body of his fellow officer who had tried to help the group and he begins to piece things together he turns to see a silhouetted figure whose mutated face is suddenly lit clearly, then he swings the axe down, we fade to black with a maniacal laugh in the background, a brief silent pause then burst into a heavy metal rock song and the credits roll.



• Who could have seen that coming?