Out on a Limb

If you were a tree, would you rather be the tallest living tree (the Mendocino Tree in California at 367.5 ft.), visited by millions of awestruck tourists, your outstretched “arms” holding up the heavens? Or would you rather be the Rockefeller Center Tree, with the amazing gilded statue of Prometheus standing under you with twelve, delicate, wire-sculpted herald angels complete with trumpets leading the way to your location? In 2001, the First Lady remarked at your lighting, “The lights, the store windows, and this magnificent tree in Rockefeller Center are what all Americans think of when they think of Christmas and the holiday season.”

How many of you would choose to be a common Scotch pine tree, cut down and festooned with ornaments and lights to bring joy to a family during the Christmas season, only later to be thrown out with the trash?

Would anyone like to be an artificial Christmas tree? You would get to watch a family grow over the years as you were brought out seasonally to help bring delight to their lives during the Christmas season. Then you would be stored away for another year.

Still another choice available is that of being a seeding or a sapling in an unknown forest in a remote part of the world?

Which of these trees would you rather be? Please explain your answer.

If you would prefer to be a tree not listed here, please identify the tree and explain your answer.

A Quart of Milk

If you were a quart of milk, would you rather be raw, organic, pasteurized, homogenized, pasteurized and homogenized, non-fat or whole, or half-and-half? Or would you rather be freshly churned buttermilk? Please explain your answer.

A Cup of Yogurt

If you were a cup of yogurt, would you rather be a cup of plain yogurt, a cup of yogurt with the fruit blended in, or a cup of yogurt with the fruit on the bottom? Please explain your answer.

Two Poets for Better or for Verse

Since 1985, the United States has had a Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry, appointed by the Librarian of Congress. The purpose of the Poet Laureate is to “raise the national consciousness to a greater appreciation of the reading and writing of poetry”. The poet most recently appointed to the post is Donald Hall, who has published over 15 books of poetry and essays since 1955.

At this time, two more Americans are in the running for the next appointment to the post of Poet Laureate. They are John Ashcroft, the former Attorney General of the United States, and Donald Rumsfeld, who has just stepped down from his post as Secretary of Defense, allowing himself more time to devote to his poetry. Insiders say that John Ashcroft is a contender based on a single lyric-ode hybrid titled “Let the Eagle Soar”. Those Americans not fortunate enough to hear Ashcroft sing his opus were able to hear it when Guy Hovis from the “Lawrence Welk Show” performed it at the swearing-in ceremony for President Bush in January of 2005. If you are not familiar with the work, here it is:

Let the eagle soar
Like she’s never soared before.
From rocky coast to golden shore,
Let the mighty eagle soar.
Soar with healing in her wings,
As the land beneath her sings:
Only god, no other kings.'
This country’s far too young to die.
We’ve still got a lot of climbing to do,
And we can make it if we try.
Built by toils and struggles
God has led us through.

You will note Ashcroft’s skillful use of masculine syllable endings and strong end rhymes in the tradition of Longfellow and Byron.

Even fewer Americans know that Donald Rumsfeld, the former Secretary of Defense, is another strong contender for the position of Poet Laureate. Rumsfeld, in addition to all of his other accomplishments is a well-respected poet, ,writing in free-speaking verse. Those Americans who have listened to his past press conferences have been treated to some of his jazzy, impromptu riffs. Rumsfeld uses playful language and fractured rhythms of the plain-spoken vernacular, similar to those used by William Carlos Williams.

Probably the best known of Rumsfeld’s poems is one titled “The Unknown:

The Unknown

As we know,
There are known knowns.
There are things we know we know.
We also know
There are known unknowns.
That is to say
We know there are some things
We do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns,
The ones we don't know
We don't know.

Here is another reflective poem by Rumsfeld:

A Confession

Once in a while,
I'm standing here, doing something.
And I think,
"What in the world am I doing here?"
It's a big surprise.

—May 16, 2001, interview with the New York Times

And here is another one of his philosophic musings:

The Situation

Things will not be necessarily continuous.
The fact that they are something other than perfectly continuous
Ought not to be characterized as a pause.
There will be some things that people will see.
There will be some things that people won't see.
And life goes on.

—Oct. 12, 2001, Department of Defense news briefing

Finally, there is his opus titled “Clarity”

Clarity

I think what you'll find,
I think what you'll find is,
Whatever it is we do substantively,
There will be near-perfect clarity
As to what it is.

And it will be known,
And it will be known to the Congress,
And it will be known to you,
Probably before we decide it,
But it will be known.

—Feb. 28, 2003, Department of Defense briefing

You decide. Which of these two poets would you recommend for the next appointment to the post of Poet Laureate of the United States?

Happy Days Are Here Again
[Music and Lyrics by J. Yellen and M. Ager]

("Happy Days Are Here Again," was played during Franklin Roosevelt's presidential campaign in 1932. A large majority of voters decided that maybe he could make that song come true. On Inauguration Day in 1933, the nation waited to hear what the new president would say about the economic future of their country. This is what he said:

PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT: “This great nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”)

"...the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Karl Rove, did you hear that? Your "fear" tactic didn't work this time.)

Democracy is still alive and well in America!

So long sad times
Go long bad times
We are rid of you at last

Howdy gay times ("Gay" times?)
Cloudy gray times
You are now a thing of the past

Happy days are here again
The skies above are clear again
So let's sing a song of cheer again
Happy days are here again

Altogether shout it now
There's no one
Who can doubt it now
So let's tell the world about it now
Happy days are here again

Your cares and troubles are gone
There'll be no more from now on
From now on ...

Happy days are here again
The skies above are clear again
So, Let's sing a song of cheer again

Happy times
Happy nights
Happy days
Are here again!

Nancy Pelosi

For she's a jolly good fellow,
For she's a jolly good fellow
And as our nation's Housekeeper
She’ll keep a very clean House!