INTERESTING TIMES

In the end, only three things matter:
how much you loved, how gently you lived,
and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you.

--attributed to the Buddha,
and paraphrased by many

I finished reading Ron Paul's manifesto just now. I am impressed, though frankly it is a more basic primer than I personally would have liked. It explains to the average American (without financial knowledge or political interest) what is going on in our country, and what the Constitution was designed to do. It is plainly written and provides the reader with concrete examples and historical context for our national financial situation, our foreign empire and the decline of our currency. Perhaps I will now begin to be able to articulate better why I think we need to bring home the vast majority of our troops from around the world, eliminate the Federal Reserve and a lot of federal departments, and reverse the trend of imbalance that has led to complete disregard for our constitution. This document was written by men who had already seen and understood the workings of governments, the problematic logic of paper money, and the disaster that comes from empire. We need to listen to them more carefully now, before our nation is destroyed by the same mistakes that England and other nations have made before us.
( a quote about morality from RP's book )

The prediction is for 2-4 inches tonight. When I got home a little while ago Shakti had manifested her huntress nature for the first time; she caught a small grey bird. There was just a little snow sticking and the bird was beside the walk, laying on its back and breathing hard from being tormented. My hands were full and I just kept walking. While it is sad for a bird to die, it is also the natural way of things for cats to hunt and to toy with their food. Shakti was looking at me as I closed the outside door, leaving her alone with her prize. Once inside I set to putting things away.
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