For my 999th post, let me just say a few things I've always wanted to say:

[JFN1]

-- In an environment of constant change, uncertainty is inexplicably permeated by consistency.

-- Isn't a bailout usually reserved for people who want out of jail?

-- The moment of truth inevitably produces fear.

-- A train leaves Washington D.C. going 60 miles per hour. The train is carrying $700 billion dollars. At what time will the train reach Wall Street?

-- It is said that crisis is an agent of revelation, stripping aside the mask of socialization “courteously” worn by “civilized” human beings. If this is so, then crisis must also reveal the best, and the worst, of humanity as a whole.

-- I like cats, but dogs are better.

-- Pity, as a function, should be reserved for those who drink at the well of self-delusion. Any other use of it is dishonest, being ultimately self-serving...

-- ‘You reap what you sow.’ Is there any true benefit to knowing this in advance?

-- Democracy’s promise, to those who embrace it, is freedom of oppression from an all-powerful central government. Ask yourself: Has that promise been kept? (Can it be?)

-- The power of religion is rooted in, and thus dependent upon, the individual’s commitment to self-preservation...for beings truly possessing altruism are feared, to be shunned by most religions as pretenders...The concept of self-sacrifice cannot hold against the deeper purpose present in most religions — personal, individual, salvation...

-- ‘Do as I say, not as I do!’ Does this maxim not embody the American Dream?

-- Morality can be practical; just ask any successful dictator.

-- Due to the instability of it, truth is a poor foundation for morality.

-- A responsible government would be one that knows when it is dead.

-- Truth can be discovered only by those who seek it; consequence, in this equation, does not come into play.

-- Empathy is the best foundation upon which to base morality.

-- Compassion is the product of empathy struggling against justice, and is made manifest only by desire. If this is so, then compassion never results from the press of vital necessity.

I am wild, unpredictable, irrepressible.
I am sought.
I am needed, binding, essential.
Yet, I am powerless, for I am vulnerable to perception.
I can be ignored, but never discounted.
I am almost always impossible.
Yet, I manifest as inevitability.
Can you name me?
Yes, of course you can.
For you know me.
I am Truth.

* * *

Thanks for listening to me ramble 999 times, DU!! You're the best!! Love you guys!!

[tblue]

1. Love it! Oh, and congrats!

[JFN1]

3. Thank you!

:party:

[YOY]

2. "A train leaves Washington D.C. going 60 miles per hour."

Actually it goes at 82 miles per hour...we are talking about the Acela express, right?

[JFN1]

4. No,

the Bailout Express. It's running heavy, loaded as it is with what is left of our cash, so its slower. :P