Absurd tax deductions

However, none can top the deduction of Chesty Morgan, an enterprising stripper from Detroit, who sought to claim her breast implants as a medical expense.

“Now, there's an urban legend where police officers think they can deduct $7.50 a day for lunch," said Frank Degan, director of the National Association of Enrolled Agents, the membership group for professionals who defend individuals in tax hearings.

"The year the [Social Security number] was required, the number of dependents [claimed by taxpayers] plummeted by something like 7 million," said Gerry Voss of B&G Accounting and Tax Service in Hazel Park, Mich. "People had been deducting their pets."

A Prayer By Henry Wadsworth Long Fellow

My Redeemer and my Lord,
I beseech Thee, I entreat Thee,
Guide me in each act and word,
That hereafter I may meet Thee,
Watching, waiting, hoping, yearning,
With my lamp well trimmed and burning!

Interceding With these bleeding
Wounds upon Thy hands and side,
For all who have lived and erred
Thou hast suffered, Thou hast died,
Scourged, and mocked, and crucified,
And in the grave hast Thou been buried!

If my feeble prayer can reach Thee,
O my Saviour, I beseech Thee,
Even as Thou hast died for me,
More sincerely
Let me follow where Thou leadest,
Let me, bleeding as Thou bleedest,
Die, if dying I may give
Life to one who asks to live,
And more nearly,
Dying thus, resemble Thee!


JPR: A needed repeat

Mass in Irish

Free downloads of the mass parts sung in Gaelic.

http://www.last.fm/music/Gilles+Mathieu/Irish+Mass+(version1)

Great Irish Famine

During the years of the Irish Famine, Ireland produced enough food, flax and wool not only to feed and clothe its nine million people, but enough for eighteen million.[103] Historians argue that in this sense the famine was artificial, not caused by a shortage of food but by the British government's choice not to close the ports as had been done in previous Irish crop blights; as John Mitchell put it, "The Almighty sent the potato blight... but the English created the famine". Records show that Ireland exported food during the Famine

repentance

“Repentance for silence is better than repentance for speaking”
~~Moorish Proverb

a poem for dad's

Soliloquy in Circles

Being a father
Is quite a bother.

You are as free as air
With time to spare,

You're a fiscal rocket
With change in your pocket,

And then one morn
A child is born.

Your life has been runcible,
Irresponsible,

Like an arrow or javelin
You've been constantly travelin'.

But mostly, I daresay,
Without a chaise percée,

To which by comparison
Nothing's embarison.

But all children matures,
Maybe even yours.

You improve them mentally
And straighten them dentally,

They grow tall as a lancer
And ask questions you can't answer,

And supply you with data
About how everybody else wears lipstick sooner and stays up later,

And if they are popular,
The phone they monopular.

They scorn the dominion
Of their parent's opinion,

They're no longer corralable
Once they find that you're fallible

But after you've raised them and educated them and gowned them,
They just take their little fingers and wrap you around them.

Being a father Is quite a bother,
But I like it, rather.

Ogden Nash

a poem about a child

MY LITTLE ONE

My little one whose tongue is dumb,
whose fingers cannot hold to things,
who is so mercilessly young,
he leaps upon the instant things,

I hold him not. Indeed, who could?
He runs into the burning wood.
Follow, follow if you can!
He will come out grown to a man

and not remember whom he kissed,
who caught him by the slender wrist
and bound him by a tender yoke
which, understanding not, he broke.


Tennessee Williams

Listen to the first selection while reading poem by e.e. cummings

http://www.npr.org/blogs/ablogsupreme/2011/01/19/133017886/songs-for-the-snowbound

The Irish Diaspora

Large populations of people of Irish ethnicity live in many western countries, particularly in English-speaking nations. Historically, emigration has been caused by politics, famine, persecution, and economic issues. An estimated 80 million people make up the residents of Irish descent living in Great Britain, the United States, Australia, Canada, Argentina, Chile, Jamaica, Trinidad, South Africa, New Zealand, Mexico, France, Germany and Brazil. The largest number of people of Irish descent live in the United States—about ten times more than in Ireland itself.

SNOW by E E Cummings

Snow

cru
is
ingw Hi
sperf
ul
lydesc

BYS FLUTTERFULLY IF

(endbegi ndesignb ecend)tang
lesp
ang
le
s
ofC omego

CRINGE WITHS

lilt(
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lyful
of)!
(s
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BIRDS BECAUSE AGAINS

emarkable
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y&a
(from n
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ArE

GLIB SCARCELYEST AMONGS FLOWERING



jpr: analysis welcome

Fire and Ice by Robert Frost

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favour fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

the small coffin

The family of Christina Green contacted the Trappist monastery in Peosta,Iowa and asked that a coffin be made for their murdered child,a victim of the shooting in Tucson.

The coffin, a small one, arrived in Tucson yesterday.The monks carved her name, her dates and a cross and then made small crosses for the family members out of the same wood.They refused pay even though casket making is their lively-hood.The spokesperson for the monks said that this work was very difficult for them.I can see the monks in their brown robes,bent over their small box in deep prayer for this little lost girl and her family.

How the romans kept their aqueducts from freezing

Most of the aqueducts where constructed a meter below ground to prevent freezing and to keep the water clear of debris and contamination. When forced above ground, the aqueduct was elevated and cover for the same protections.

All aqueducts where sized for human entry and maintenance.

The Ten Best Gifts for Men to Give Women

1. skin care product
2. make her dinner
3. massage/spa treatment
4. flowers
5. Her Favorite Food, Drink or Candy
6. Supplies for her Hobby or Interest
7. Jewelry
8. Something Handmade
9. Cozy Wear
10. Undivided Attention

yoke

Two Scotsmen bought a bottle of bootleg whisky for a pound and it was the vilest brew they had ever tasted.
"I'll be very glad," said one to the other, "when we finish this bottle."

ELEGY IN A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD

The men that worked for England,
They have their graves at home;
And bees and birds of England
About the cross can roam.

But they that fought for England,
Following a falling star,
Alas, alas, for England,
They have their graves afar.

And they that rule in England
In stately conclave met,
Alas, alas, for England
They have no graves as yet.

~~G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936)

EPITAPH ON CHARLES II

Here lies our Sovereign Lord the King
Whose word no man relies on,
Who never said a foolish thing,
Nor ever did a wise one.

by John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester

JPR: Charles was popularly known as the Merrie Monarch for his hedonist court.

Winter Morning Poem by Ogden Nash

Winter is the king of showmen
Turning tree stumps into snow men
And houses into birthday cakes
And spreading sugar over lakes
Smooth and clean and frosty white
The world looks good enough to bite
That's the season to be young
Catching snowflakes on your tongue
Snow is snowy when it's snowing
I'm sorry it's slushy when it's going

welcoming countries

The most friendly are Canada, Germany,and Australia.
The least friendly are China, India, and United Emirates.

Most-performed "holiday" songs (USA)

"The Christmas Song" (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) – Mel Tormé, Robert Wells
"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" – Ralph Blane, Hugh Martin
"Winter Wonderland" – Felix Bernard, Richard B. Smith
"Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" – J. Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie
"White Christmas" – Irving Berlin
"Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" – Sammy Cahn, Jule Styne
"Jingle Bell Rock" – Joseph Carleton Beal, James Ross Boothe
"The Little Drummer Boy" – Katherine K. Davis, Henry V. Onorati, Harry Simeone
"Sleigh Ride" – Leroy Anderson, Mitchell Parish
"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" – Johnny Marks
"Everything evens out (at Christmass)", Mickey

special quote

"We must pray without ceasing, in every occurrence and employment of our lives - that prayer which is rather a habit of lifting up the heart to God as in a constant communication with Him."

~~ Mother Seaton

JPR: Today is her feast day! Congrads to S.H.E

Oldest person on record

Jeanne Louise Calment
21 February 1875 – 4 August 1997)[1] had the longest confirmed human life span in history, living to the age of 122 years, 164 days (44724 days total).

My grandfather was born in 1876 and died at age 82.

how to upload a video to a blogspot

Mikey,

check http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnzlOYaeOwU

good luck!

any Ideas?

I've finished my song, Everything Evens Out, at the almost suggestion of Megan, and I want to upload an audio file to this blog that gives a listen to a couple verses. Me playing guitar and singing, but I don't know how to do it. If anyone can help, please let me know.

wine drinkers

Countries ranked for most consumption of wine per capita:

1. Italy,
2. France,
3. Swizterland,
....
18. USA

beer drinkers

The top countries ranked for the most beer consumption per capita:
1. Cezh Republic,
2. Ireland,
3. Germany,
....
13 USA

Drinking Song By William Butler Yeats

Wine comes in at the mouth
and love comes in at the eye;
That's all we shall know for truth
Before we grow old and die.
I lift the glass to my mouth,
I look at you, and I sigh.

quote

“Every New Year is the direct descendant, isn't it, of a long line of proven criminals?”
~ Ogden Nash

"Good resolutions are simply checks that men draw on a bank where they have no account."
~ Oscar Wilde