Gasp! Politics In My Blog!

Now, I know I said I wouldn't turn this into a political blog, and I don't intend to. However, every once in a while, I run across something that I just have to comment on.

“President Bush said last week that he wanted to work with the Congress to balance the budget in five years. But he also rejected any tax increases and obviously he’s not in a mood to reduce spending on the war... Can you [balance the budget] without raising taxes?” —CBS’s Bob Schieffer (emphasis mine)

Uh yeah. It's called cutting spending. There's plenty in the budget that you can cut besides the war. If you took everything that wasn't authorized by the Constitution out of the budget, the government could cut taxes by 90% (like that would ever happen) and they would still be rolling in dough.

Ok, enough of politics...

On to Global Warming...My sister sent me an e-mail today in which she said, "It is about 5 degrees out, so plenty warm enough for Nate to be out playing. " Yeah, they're warming alright. Last week it was -35.

Now, the e-mail that brought tears to my eyes:

January 10, 2007

Today I shed the first of what I am sure will be many tears. You may have seen on the news where three Air Force members were killed in an IED explosion and a fourth was injured. That fourth one is my patient. I visited him a couple of times today. The second time was with General Hobbins wife, Robin. She is a fantastic lady. She gave him very heartfelt, comforting words. There were also two chaplains there. The patient remembers everything that happened. The shrapnel went through his lower right leg and broke both bones. He has pins in waiting for the skin to heal, then he'll get rods put in his leg. One of the people who died in the blast was a friend of his of 16 years. The other two were young airmen. The young lady was engaged, but her fiancee will now be her pall bearer. You can tell he loved these people. We prayed together and cried. There are four beds in his room. The other three are empty. All he wants is to see his friends laying in those beds. I can't even begin to explain the feelings I have. Dayna tells me I won't forget my patients. She's been doing this job for four months now and is having a hard time giving it up.

Now I'm going for karaoke and beer. Don't worry....I won't be singing.

Love you all
Angie

I didn't do a sketch of the day today, since we had the day off. I got lazy and after grocery shopping, I watched TV and knitted all afternoon. However, in lieu of sketch, I bring you the

Feeding the pigeons in Florence Italy, 1992