Ma Joad:

"Rich fellas come up an' they die, an' their kids ain't no good an' they die out. But we keep a'comin'. We're the people that live. They can't wipe us out; they can't lick us. We'll go on forever, Pa, 'cause we're the people."

I need to know what to plant...

Damn, and I was really enjoying a lovely daydream regarding the plank part of my suggestion...Guess I can stop sharepening this stick...no wait, I need something sharp around to fend off the hordes of starving bankers...

Wild Possum Kabob

Ingredients:

1 Still breathing, corn-fed Possum

3 Ripe but firm tomatoes

1 Large white or yellow onion

1/2 pound large mushrooms

2 large green peppers

1 package meat marinade

1/2 cup soy sauce

12 skewers (sticks are okay in Arkansas)

Fire

The possum must be alive so that you can scare it, giving you the "wild" taste from all the adrenaline it produces. It is best to hit it over the head with a large object in a humane manner. Boil the possum for 3 minutes to loosen the fur then skin and gut it.

De-limb (chop the little knubby legs off) the possum and cut the meat into 1/2 inch square chunks.

Marinate overnight in a mixture of meat marinade and soy sauce. Kentucky residents who have no fridge can use an ice chest and may use radiator coolant instead of soy sauce.

Thread the meat and veggies onto your skewer/stick in alternating sequences to distribute the delicious flavor evenly.

Cook over a barbecue, pit, 50 gallon drum or any other fire till you get the desired result. For added flavor, you can cook it over burning tires.

Servings: 6

Calories: 12,342

I just realized this recipe would work perfectly well just substituting an investment banker, but it you'd have lot's more adrenaline and lots more servings!

I'm wearing the same shit-eating grin, but then, I'm a Freedom Socialist...you know, we've never seen a giraffe walking across the savannah slapping itself on the forehead just after signing an ARM...

I joke a lot. I prat and prank.

Of course, it's neither fun nor entertaining to watch a financial crisis causing financial anguish. Real people are hurting from this developing situation, and that's no fun.

But ultimately I am sublimely optimistic. Let it all go to zero. Perhaps (and this is a big perhaps and where the optimism comes in), humans will begin to learn that 'enough' is more important than 'more than enough', that we need to be in it for the species (and all of the others) instead of the individual, that perhaps there is less value in classes in 'economics' and 'personal finance' than there would be in 'cloud-shape watching' and 'silence appreciation'.

All this optimism from someone who just gave up a decade of academic appointment to move back to the Middle of Nowhere to take care of the Remaining Parent (who must be continuously re-directed from the stove, be Dependsized and thinks I'm a dog named Barkley).

Yet oxygen -- one of the most corrosive elements in the universe -- is so kind to us! Breathe.

Goodness, I sound almost like Good Celery...

It could be the vodka. Or maybe the late sunflowers which positively insist, despite today's storm, on holding their heads high, screaming 'yellow'.

I joke a lot. I prat and prank.

Of course, it's neither fun nor entertaining to watch a financial crisis causing financial anguish. Real people are hurting from this developing situation, and that's no fun.

But ultimately I am sublimely optimistic. Let it all go to zero. Perhaps (and this is a big perhaps and where the optimism comes in), humans will begin to learn that 'enough' is more important than 'more than enough', that we need to be in it for the species (and all of the others) instead of the individual, that perhaps there is less value in classes in 'economics' and 'personal finance' than there would be in 'cloud-shape watching' and 'silence appreciation'.

All this optimism from someone who just gave up a decade of academic appointment to move back to the Middle of Nowhere to take care of the Remaining Parent (who must be continuously re-directed from the stove, be Dependsized and thinks I'm a dog named Barkley).

Yet oxygen -- one of the most corrosive elements in the universe -- is so kind to us! Breathe.

Goodness, I sound almost like Good Celery...

It could be the vodka. Or maybe the late sunflowers which positively insist, despite today's storm, on holding their heads high, screaming 'yellow'.

Of course!

Chimp 11 falls from tree. Half of troupe rushes to check him out - concern or broken enough to eat? Other half cackles...vaudeville or waiting for leftovers. Funny humans.

But make sure to have a big sleepover for the neighborhood kids, with the promise of a Big breakfast of Quaker Oats with Dinosaur Eggs (and scrambled eggs, and toast). Include a parable on sharing.

...or at least that what I imagine his dad would say.

My crocus are blooming.

nads on Bill Kristol.

Yeah...here in the PNW we just have NO access to good hallucinogens. I have to go mow the psiloycbin down in the back 40 now...amazing what a season of steers foraging can do down there.

Perhaps Bill's nads just never dropped...? That would explain so much!

I have not actually seen the surface for a long while now...