Saturday, November 30, 2013








Three Amazing Young Ladies
MEET THE ROSS SISTERS

After the singing stops, the fun really begins. 

Just you wait and see.

Was anybody you knew ever quite this young and strong and agile?

The astonishing song and dance sequence was filmed in 1944, when you had to have real talent and lots of self-discipline to make it in show business. 

People may have been made a little differently back then, because no one I've ever known could do anything quite like this.

The movie may have been forgettable, but once you've experienced it, the memory of these three girls performing this routine will never leave you.

 It's Ab-So-LOOT-Lee MIND BOGGLING.

The DAY after the DAY after the DAY before

WHY I QUIT COOKING HOLIDAY DINNERS

Try to remember what your guests 
can or can't eat this Holiday Season

www.partyriccardi.com

Lyrics by Sandy Riccardi

Performed by Sandy and Richard Riccardi


(intro) 

I made turkey and stuffing and hot mashed potatoes
Yams and a ham and some fried green tomatoes
But I had forgot
What my friends could have or have not:

(verse)
Charlie could not eat cheddar
Cuz it clashes with his meds
Lee's on a low carb diet
Couldn't sample any breads

(verse)
Anya could not eat onions
cuz they filled her up with gas
Elsie could not have eggnog
cuz it knocked her on her ass

(bridge)
I made Martha Stewart's tart
Sweet and high-falutin'
that 6 people couldn't eat
cuz it contained gluten

(verse)
Sherman could not have shellfish
or he would asphyxiate
There wasn't one damn item
that could stay on Linda's plate

(2nd intro) 

My souffle was a masterpiece, so light and airy
But my guests couldn't eat it cuz no one ate dairy
I broke down and wept:
If you're vegan, then why'd you accept?

(verse)
Penny got on her podium
on and on and on she went
about the evils of sodium (plus how!)
She's lactose intolerant

(verse)
Peter was prone to bloating
Couldn't eat the broccoli
Annie gets acid reflux
Every time she looks at me

(bridge):
When I put the turkey down
Sarah had to say
"Ever since the world began,
I can't eat no tryptophan"

(verse)
Everyone at the table
Getting up in years, you see
Skipped the meal all together
Talked about their surgeries

(Tag)
So I said pass the Beano and pour me some vino 
and screw it, 
next year at Your House Please!

Friday, November 29, 2013

In Celebration of the Spirit of Thanksgiving and the Advent Season 
we offer an excerpt from 
LITTLE WOMEN
by Louisa May Alcott 



Part One - Chapter Two 

A Merry Christmas


Orchard House in Winter

Jo was the first to wake in the gray dawn of Christmas morning. No stockings hung at the fireplace, and for a moment she felt as much disappointed as she did long ago, when her little sock fell down because it was crammed so full of goodies. Then she remembered her mother's promise and, slipping her hand under her pillow, drew out a little crimson-covered book. She knew it very well, for it was that beautiful old story of the best life ever lived, and Jo felt that it was a true guidebook for any pilgrim going on a long journey. She woke Meg with a Merry Christmas, and bade her see what was under her pillow. A green-covered book appeared, with the same picture inside, and a few words written by their mother, which made their one present very precious in their eyes. Presently Beth and Amy woke to rummage and find their little books also, one dove-colored, the other blue, and all sat looking at and talking about them, while the east grew rosy with the coming day.
In spite of her small vanities, Margaret had a sweet and pious nature, which unconsciously influenced her sisters, especially Jo, who loved her very tenderly, and obeyed her because her advice was so gently given.
Girls, said Meg seriously, looking from the tumbled head beside her to the two little night-capped ones in the room beyond, Mother wants us to read and love and mind these books, and we must begin at once. We used to be faithful about it, but since Father went away and all this war trouble unsettled us, we have neglected many things. You can do as you please, but I shall keep my book on the table here and read a little every morning as soon as I wake, for I know it will do me good and help me through the day.
Then she opened her new book and began to read. Jo put her arm round her and, leaning cheek to cheek, read also, with the quiet expression so seldom seen on her restless face.
How good Meg is! Come, Amy, let's do as they do. I'll help you with the hard words, and they'' explain things if we don't understand, whispered Beth, very much impressed by the pretty books and her sisters, example.
I'm glad mine is blue, said Amy. and then the rooms were every still while the pages were softly turned, and the winter sunshine crept in to touch the bright heads and serious faces with a Christmas greeting.
Where is Mother? asked Meg, as she and Jo ran down to thank her for their gifts, half an hour later.
Goodness only knows. Some poor creature came a-beggin', and your ma went straight off to see what was needed. There never was such a woman for givin' away vittles and drink, clothes and firin', replied Hannah, who had lived with the family since Meg was born, and was considered by them all more as a friend than a servant.
She will be back soon, I think, so fry your cakes, and have everything ready, said Meg, looking over the presents which were collected in a basket and kept under the sofa, ready to be produced at the proper time. why, where is Amy's bottle of cologne? she added, as the little flask did not appear.
She took it out a minute ago, and went off with it to put a ribbon on it, or some such notion, replied Jo, dancing about the room to take the first stiffness off the new army slippers.
How nice my handkerchiefs look, don't they? Hannah washed and ironed them for me, and I marked them all myself, said Beth, looking proudly at the somewhat uneven letters which had cost her such labor.
Bless the child! She's gone and put `Mother' on them instead of `M.March'. How funny! cried Jo, taking one up.
Isn't that right? I thought it was better to do it so, because Meg's initials are M.M., and I don't want anyone to use these but Marmee, said Beth;, looking troubled.
It's all right, dear, and a very pretty idea, quite sensible too, for no one can ever mistake now. It will please her very much, I know, said Meg, with a frown for Jo and a smile for Beth.
There's Mother. Hide the basket, quick! cried Jo, as a door slammed and steps sounded in the hall.
Amy came in hastily, and looked rather abashed when she saw her sisters all waiting for her.
Where have you been, and what are you hiding behind you? asked Meg, surprised to see, by her hood and cloak, that lazy Amy had been out so early.
Don't laugh at me, Jo! I didn't mean anyone should know till the time came. I only meant to change the little bottle for a bygone, and I gave all my money to get it, and I'm truly trying not to be selfish any more.
As she spoke, Amy showed the handsome flask which replaced the cheap one, and looked so earnest and humble in her little effort to forget herself that Meg hugged her on the spot, and Jo pronounced her `a trump', while Beth ran to the window, and picked her finest rose to ornament the stately bottle.
You see I felt ashamed of my present, after reading and talking about being good this morning, so I ran round the corner and changed it the minute I was up, and I'm so glad, for mine is the handsomest now.
Another bang of the street door sent the basket under the sofa, and the girls to the table, eager for breakfast.
Merry Christmas, Marmee! Many of them! Thank you for our books. We read some, and mean to every day, they all cried in chorus.
Merry Christmas, little daughters! I'm glad you began at once, and hope you will keep on. But I want to say one word before we sit down. Not far away from here lies a poor woman with a little newborn baby. Six children are huddled into one bed to keep from freezing, for they have no fire. There is nothing to eat over there, and the oldest boy came to tell me they were suffering hunger and cold. My girls, will you give them your breakfasts a Christmas present?
They were all unusually hungry, having waited nearly an hour, and for a minute no one spoke, only a minute, for Jo exclaimed impetuously, I'm so glad you came before we began!
May I go and help carry the things to the poor little children? asked Beth eagerly.
I shall take the cream and the muffins, added Amy, heroically giving up the article she most liked.
Meg was already covering the buckwheat's, and piling the bread into one big plate.
I thought you'd do it, said Mrs. March, smiling as if satisfied. You shall all go and help me, and when we come back we will have bread and milk for breakfast, and make it up at dinnertime.


They were soon ready, and the procession set out. Fortunately it was early, and they went through back streets, so few people saw them, and no one laughed at the queer party.
A poor, bare, miserable room it was, with broken windows, no fire, ragged bedclothes, a sick mother, wailing baby, and a group of pale, hungry children cuddled under one old quilt, trying to keep warm.
How the big eyes stared and the blue lips smiled as the girls went in.
Ach, mein Gott! It is good angels come to us! said the poor woman, crying for joy.
Funny angels in hoods and mittens, said Jo, and set them to laughing.
In a few minutes it really did seem as if kind spirits had been at work there. Hannah, who had carried wood, made a fire, and stopped up the broken panes with old hats and her own cloak. Mrs.March gave the mother tea and gruel, and comforted her with promises of help, while she dressed the little baby as tenderly as if it had been her own. The girls meantime spread the table, set the children round the fire, and fed them like so many hungry birds, laughing, talking, and trying to understand the funny broken English.
Das ist gut! Die Engel-kinder! cried the poor things as they ate and warmed their purple hands at the comfortable blaze.
The girls had never been called angel children before, and thought it very agreeable, especially Jo, who had been considered `Sancho' ever since she was born. That was a very happy breakfast, though they didn't get any of it. And when they went away, leaving comfort behind, I think there were not in all the city four merrier people than the hungry little girls who gave away their breakfasts and contented themselves with bread and milk on Christmas morning.
That's loving our neighbor better than ourselves, and I like it, said Meg, as they set out their presents while their mother was upstairs collecting clothes for the poor Hummels.
Not a very splendid show, but there was a great deal of love done up in the few little bundles, and the tall vase of red roses, white chrysanthemums, and trailing vines, which stood in the middle, gave quite an elegant air to the table.
She's coming! Strike up, Beth! Open the door, Amy! Three cheers for Marmee! cried Jo, prancing about while Meg went to conduct Mother to the seat of honor.
Beth played her gayest march, Amy threw open the door, and Meg enacted escort with great dignity. Mrs. March was both surprised and touched, and smiled with her eyes full as she examined her presents and read the little notes which accompanied them. The slippers went on at once, a new handkerchief was slipped into her pocket, well scented with Amy's cologne, the rose was fastened in her bosom, and the nice gloves were pronounced a perfect fit.
There was a good deal of laughing and kissing and explaining, in the simple, loving fashion which makes these home festivals so pleasant at the time, so sweet to remember long afterward, and then all fell to work.
The morning charities and ceremonies took so much time that the rest of the day was devoted to preparations for the evening festivities. Being still too young to go often to the theater, and not rich enough to afford any great outlay for private performances, the girls put their wits to work, and necessity being the mother of invention, made whatever they needed. Very clever were some of their productions, pasteboard guitars, antique lampshade of old-fashioned butter boats covered with silver paper, gorgeous robes of old cotton, glittering with tin spangles from a pickle factory, and armor covered with the same useful diamond shaped bits left inn sheets when the lids of preserve pots were cut out. The big chamber was the scene of many innocent revels.
No gentleman were admitted, so Jo played male parts to her heart's content and took immense satisfaction in a pair of russet leather boots given her by a friend, who knew a lady who knew an actor. These boots, an old foil, and a slashed doublet once used by an artist for some picture, were Jo's chief treasures and appeared on all occasions. The smallness of the company made it necessary for the two principal actors to take several parts apiece, and they certainly deserved some credit for the hard work they did in learning three or four different parts, whisking in and out of various costumes, and managing the stage besides. It was excellent drill for their memories, a harmless amusement, and employed many hours which otherwise would have been idle, lonely, or spent in less profitable society. ...

Orchard House in summer

Thursday, November 28, 2013

To Thanksgiving


This holiday is often overlooked
One feels, because it doesn’t generate
The flow of cash, the airlines overbooked,
Hysteria at fear of being late.
A humble, homey, family-style affair,
No supernatural glamour European
Kicks Concupiscence awake to dare
Sobriety to drink and make a scene.
Giving thanks for what one has is not 
In fashion in this Age of Gimmemore.
Virtue, quaintly comical, has got
Inhibited. It fears to be a bore.
Nothing satisfies, however wild, like
Giving thanks for home in manner childlike.

~ FreeThinke, The Sandpiper, Autumn, 1996

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

A Beautiful Role Model
Remembering One of Our Loveliest First Ladies with Admiration and Gratitude for a Life Well Spent

Pat Ryan Nixon (1912-1993)

... Few, if any First Ladies ever worked as hard and as consistently as Pat Ryan did before her marriage to Richard Nixon in 1940. She was only a year old when her parents relocated to the farming community of Artesia, California (about 12 miles southwest of Los Angeles) and purchased a ten-and-a-half-acre truck farm where they grew produce sold from the back of the Ryan family truck in larger nearby towns and cities. 
She joined the rest of her family at an early age in planting and harvesting peppers, beets, cauliflower, cabbage, tomatoes, corn, and barley. When her mother became ill with cancer (1924-1925), Pat Ryan assumed the chores of cooking, cleaning and laundering for her brothers and father, as well as for the seasonal farm workers in addition to her farming responsibilities. 
When her father began to fail because of terminal tuberculosis (1929-1930), she continued with the household chores, farm chores. and  also took a job at the farmers and dairymen Artesia First National Bank to meet his medical bills, rising early to clean the floors as a janitor, then returning after high school to work as a bookkeeper. 
... Despite considerable hardship and adversity, Pat Ryan managed to graduate cum laude from the University of Southern California, and was the first First Lady to earn a graduate degree ...
 
In 1932, Pat Ryan drove an elderly couple across the country, a return bus ticket to California being her recompense. At Seton Hospital for the Tubercular run by the Catholic Sisters of Charity, Pat Ryan worked in a capacity of jobs, including x-ray technician, pharmacy manager, typist, laboratory assistant, and lived with the nuns at the hospital (1932-1934).
 
Admitted to USC on a research scholarship that covered her $240 tuition and living expenses, Pat Ryan worked for a psychology professor, helping to grade student papers and doing research for a book he was writing on orientation. Requiring more income, she also worked as assistant in the office of the university's vice president, a cafeteria waitress, a librarian, preparing graduate survey questionnaires, testing beauty products in salons, as a movie extra, and as assistant buyer at Bullock's Wilshire Department Store. She worked an average of 40 hours a week, beyond her classes. (1934-1937)
 
Hired as a teacher at Whittier Union High School, she taught commercial classes in typing, bookkeeping, business principles, stenography, and adult night classes in typing. She served as faculty advisor to the Pep Committee, which organized social outings for students, helped organize student rallies, attended all high school sports events and every PTA meeting, and served as director for school plays earning an annual salary of $1,800.00. Pat continued her job as a teacher for a full year after she married (1937-1941). ...

... Pat Nixon became the first incumbent First Lady to endorse the Equal Rights Amendment. She was the first to disclose publicly her pro-choice view on abortion in reaction to questions on the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision. Before she even began unrelentingly to lobby her husband to name a woman to the Supreme Court, she called for such an appointment publicly. She even became the first First Lady to appear publicly in pants and model them for a national magazine, reflecting the radical change in women's attire that critics derided as masculine. Still, Pat Nixon valued her identity as a middle-class homemaker, supportive wife and devoted mother and was often depicted as the quintessential traditionalist in contrast to the emerging image of the modern liberated woman ...


Tuesday, November 26, 2013



Mother’s Festive Chestnut and Italian Sausage Turkey Stuffing 




INGREDIENTS:

A loaf of day-old high quality white bread, crumbled (at least 6 to 8 slices maybe more depending on the size of the bird)
2-4 eggs (depending on size of the bird)
2-6 yellow onions (depending on size of bird and onion bulbs), skinned, and coarsely chopped
2 cloves fresh raw garlic pureed (put through a garlic press)
1/2 to 3/4 cup grated Romano cheese
I cup fresh parsley, finely chopped (place batches of parsley in a mug, use a pair of kitchen scissors to "chop" it, then combine all batches in the mug or a small bowl when done, and set aside
1 lb. sweet Italian sausage, cut links at 1/2" intervals
1 lb chestnuts
2 tart apples, cored and chopped coarsely
1/2 to 1 tsp ground sage (optional)
1 lb. salted butter
Salt and freshly ground Black Pepper to taste

PREPARATION:

1. Take chestnuts, make an X with a sharp knife in the flat side of each. Boil chestnuts till the shells and fuzzy interior coverings slip off easily (about 10-12 minutes). Remove shells and reside, discard, then chop the chestnut meats, which should be soft-but-still-intact into small chunks. Put into covered container and set aside.

2. Cook sausage thoroughly in a partially-covered skillet, drain away fat, cool, then crumble coarsely.

3. Saute onions and garlic very lightly in the residue from the sausages. Let onions remain crisp, just partially cooked. DO NOT OVERCOOK. Set aside.

4. Beat eggs thoroughly -- preferably in a copper bowl.

5. In a large mixing bowl combine all ingredients -- crumbled bread, beaten eggs, partially-cooked onions and garlic, chopped parsley, grated Romano cheese, crumbled sausage, chopped cooked chestnuts, cosarsely chopped apples, optional sage, S&P to taste.  Mix vigorously with a large kitchen spoon, till all is blended thoroughly.

6. If you stuff the bird directly, wait till just before you roast it, rub the cavity very generously with salt, then butter, and then spoon in stuffing till the cavity just 3/4 full (expands while cooking).

7. If you've made a lot of stuffing, and have plenty left over after filling the cavity -- or you just want a great alternative to cooking it inside the bird --  butter the inside of an appropriate-sized casserole or large soufflé dish, and place the uncooked stuffing in the dish stopping about an inch from the top. Dot the top very generously with butter. Bake with the bird, but be sure to remove the casserole of stuffing as soon as the top tuns a crusty, golden brown. You can safely start cooking the casserole after your turkey is at least half done. 

Serve stuffing with slices of turkey covered with homemade pan gravy, and all the traditional vegetables you care to prepare.



Happy Thanksgiving!

Monday, November 25, 2013



THIRTY QUESTIONS ASKED and ANSWERED

What would YOUR answers be? Please discuss without resorting to mockery, flippancy, sarcasm, name-calling invective or vulgarity.


1. Are taxes too high?

YES. Too much government gives us too many taxes. Taxes that continually rise, never go down and never die. The uses to which these funds are put are dubious an damnable in most instances.

2. Is government spending too high?

YES, because too much is wasted on failed programs that never die, bloated bureaucracies and redundant, overpaid, underworked government employees who do nothing but punch keys, push paper and gobble up vast amounts of taxpayer's money.

3. Are we over-regulated?

YES! At the rate things are going the government will soon  start to tell us EXACTLY how –– when –– and how often –– we are to wipe our own asses, how may squares of bathroom tissue we may use at each bathroom event, in what direction we may wipe, and how much pressure may properly be applied to avoid injuring the perineum.  Given the terrifying strength of ever-metastasizing, out-of-control, increasingly intrusive and overbearing Technology, very soon these homely, intimate activities will be carefully MONITORED, SCIENTIFICALLY MEASURED and RECORDED in a vast CENTRAL DATA BANK. Violators of government standards will be fined and jailed or sent to "re-education centers after repeated offenses, etc.

4. Are you for free trade?

YES. Free Trade would kill the Union-Government Cartel that keeps wages artificially, cripplingly high, and exerts a stranglehold on the American consumer, and therefore, the economy. If American workers were forced to compete on a global scale in a true Free World Market, wages AND prices, and the cost of living would come way down, and the crying need to "outsource" labor would largely vanish. Our currency then might start to regain some of its intrinsic value. Right now, we are living on "counterfeit money" –– FIAT MONEY –– printed up by the FEDERAL RESERVE.

5. Should the minimum wage be abolished?

YES. People who want to work should be allowed to work at ANY wage an employer offers that a given employee is willing to accept. No law, however, should tell a prospective employee he or she must ACCEPT that particular job. There is ALWAYS plenty of WORK that needs to be done. There should be no government constraints whatsoever on working conditions as long as the prospective employee is willing to accept them in exchange for a wage. LOW WAGES are better than NO WAGES.

6. Should rent control be abolished?

No, because I, personally, have known too many nice old ladies and gentlemen in New York, retired living on low fixed incomes, who had lived in their apartments for decades.  I'm talking about people in their late seventies into their nineties. To disrupt their lives at such a late stage would be inhumane to say the least. They would have nowhere to go, if they were evicted, and would either have to die in the streets –– literally –– or be institutionalized in some hideous jail-like facility at public expense. Such draconian policies would very likely hasten the demise of these perfectly decent, innocent people who merely had the colossal effrontery to live too long for their landlord's –– and City's –– convenience.

7. Are zoning laws too strict?

NO. If we are to have a sane, decent, orderly attractive, pleasant society in which children may hope to thrive, we cannot have noisy, smelly factories, slaughterhouses and chicken-processing plants, garbage dumps, sewage treatment plants, and the like cheek-by-jowl with residential neighborhoods. And we should never permit cities, towns, villages, counties, or states to abuse the right of Eminent Domain to dispossess homeowners to develop shopping malls, parking lots, or other forms of industry that impinge on residential areas in order to create more taxes for the area or community in question. LOCAL community standards should be permitted to prevail when it comes to the establishment of degrading, morally opprobrious nuisance industries such as "adult" book stores, "adult" move houses, strip clubs, bars, tattoo parlors and houses of prostitution.

8. Do we spend too much on Medicare?

YES. Medicare is rife with "waste, fraud and abuse." It is a cumbersome system that is fast heading toward bankruptcy. 

9. Do we spend too much on Social Security?

YES. Social Security, a bad idea to begin with, was supposed to provide SUPPLEMENTARY INCOME to retirees. It was never intended to be the SOLE SOURCE of retirement income for the majority of Americans. Also the "Trust Fund" was SUPPOSED to be kept intact strictly for the purpose for which the act was passed in the first place. Instead the "Trust Fund," which exists only in myth and high-flown theory, has been consistently ROBBED to finance OTHER government projects –– purposes for which it was never intended, so it too is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy.

10. Should we privatize the Post Office?

YES. It has outlived its usefulness, and has become primarily a disseminator of JUNK MAIL –– a HUGE waste of time, money and paper.

11. Would school vouchers be an improvement over government schools?

YES. ANY alternative to public education, as it exists today, would likely be helpful to the advancement of a free society. Public Education today is run by heartless, greedy, unprincipled, self-serving Unions, and largely provides little more than a nationwide network of Leftist Propaganda Mills.

12. Should we relax immigration laws?

YES.

13. Would housing vouchers be an improvement over government housing?

YES. Although something on the order of structures built by Habitat for Humanity should be set up systematically to replace and ultimately ELIMINATE trailer parks, which are for the most part a hideous BLIGHT on the nation's housing.

14. Should the government sell off more of the public lands?

NO, although I suppose the purpose for which they might be sold should be taken into consideration. No economic interest –– no matter how powerful or seemingly practical –– should EVER work to harm the integrity of our national parks and natural wonders.

15. Are worker safety regulations too strict?

YES. I've never known a "worker" yet who didn't hate OSHA.

16. Does drug-approval by the FDA take too long?

NO. It was tempting to say YES, but considering the long, long lists of potentially hazardous –– even lethal –– side effects accompanying drugs widely advertised today, it's tempting to think that the process of approval should take even longer. It's hard to know whom to believe.

17. Do you think we spend too much on anti-poverty programs?

YES. YES. YES. YES. YES! What we've done since LBJ took office has done incalculable, far-reaching harm, and no discernible good.

18. Is occupational licensing (for doctors, plumbers, and other professions) too strict?

NO, although to mention doctors and plumbers in the same breath is ludicrous. 

19. Does the government spend too much on higher education?

YES.

20. Does the Federal Reserve have too much discretionary power?

YES. 

21. Should marijuana be legalized?

YES. As long as Liquor, Tobacco, Rock and Roll, and Pornography are legal, why not go whole hog, and let people hell-bent on self-destruction destroy themselves anyway they like without interference? Might be a good way to decrease the surplus population and simultaneously cleanse our gene pool of foul elements.

22. Should all sex between consenting individuals be legal –– even for money?

YES. As long as it’s VOLUNTARY.

23. Do you believe in freedom of expression for books, newspapers, radio, television, the Internet, and so on, even for offensive and unpopular views and subject matters?

NO. 

24. Should private clubs have sole authority to select their own members, even if they are discriminatory?

YES. Absolutely. The word PRIVATE implies the right to EXCLUDE whomever the members wish not to be forced to associate with. As free citizens of a free republic, we should have the right to form PRIVATE, EXCLUSIVE organizations as long as they are self-sustaining and gather no support from government.

25. Are you against national service?

YES, unless it is entirely VOLUNTARY. REQUIRED service smacks too much of Hitler Youth, The Young Communists and other government sponsored movements popular in collectivist societies.

26. Are you against the draft?

YES. Certainly against it in peace time, but if we should ever be attacked on our soil, all bets would be off. We MUST be prepared –– and willing –– to defend our HOMELAND.

27. Does the U.S. intervene too much in other countries?

YES. PERIOD! and it must STOP, since it serves no one interests but the makers and purveyors of war materiel, the owners and suppliers of raw material and the international bankers and financiers.

28. Should the military budget be cut?

YES. We should spare no expense for legitimate DEFENSE, but CEASE all AGGRESSION against foreign powers of which we disapprove. Let the CIA gangsters and special commando forces return to assassinating the leaders of rogue nations and violent, destabilizing terrorist organizations such as Al Quaida.

29. Should the U.S. refuse to pay for the defense of allies rich enough to defend themselves?

YES. Absolutely, positively and irrevocably YES.

30. If our country must fight a war to defend herself from enemy attack, should the U.S. try harder to avoid civilian targets?

NO. If we, ourselves, are ever attacked militarily, God forbid, we should show NO MERCY WHATSOEVER to the enemy. Take no prisoners. Do whatever may be necessary to bring him to his knees, in tears, shrieking in terror, begging for mercy as quickly as possible. The most brutal war is ultimately the SHORTEST and, therefore, the KINDEST war.

“HE WHO WOULD BE KIND TO THE CRUEL WILL BE  CRUEL TO THE KIND.”

"EXTREMISM in DEFENSE of LIBERTY is NO VICE."

"MODERATION in WAR is IMBECILITY."