Shamrocked

Today is St. Patrick's Day, but I'm not feeling the green in my blood.

It's cold, it's Monday, I'm out of work and I have to do my taxes. I was out late Friday and I don't have much of a desire to visit any saloons. So I'll probably keep a low profile today.

While I should probably listen to Irish music, like the Chieftains and the Clancy Brothers, and watch The Quiet Man, I don't have that festive feeling.

Bear Stearns just bit the dust and its shares were sold off at fire sale prices. And world markets are reacting accordingly as they tumble into oblivion.

It's like a high stakes version of the old Crazy Eddie commercial. Crazy Bernanke, his prices are insannnnnnne!!!

Hey, what a great time to give a tax cut to the rich.

We're getting a new governor in New York today, as Elliot Spurtzer--oops--Spitzer--steps down following word that he was involved in a prostitution ring.

Too bad Spitzer hadn't remained attorney general. He put those thieving bastards on Wall Street in their place.

We're coming up on the fifth anniversary of the Disaster in Iraq. Five years, five goddamn years, that's what this bum Bush and his puppet master, Dick Cheney, have given us.

We're closing in on 4,000 American dead, thousands more maimed, and God knows how many innocent Iraqis have been killed.

No weapons of mass destruction. No connection whatsoever to Al Qaeda. No end in sight.

This was supposed to be the quick war, but John "Nutsy" McCain is willing to stay there for the next hundred years.

Oh, and by the way, do you remember when McCain walked around that marketplace in Baghdad and pronounced the place safe--even though he was wearing a bullet proof vest and was backed up by one hundred soldiers and five attack helicopters circling overhead?

Well, now CNN is reporting that McCain was back in Iraq, along with fellow war-loving idiots Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham. They tried to visit the Shorja market, but it was too unsafe and they were unable to go.

It seems that this area is controlled by the radical cleric Moqtada al Sadr's Mahdi army.

But forget that. Just keep chanting "the surge is working, the surge is working." That'll make everything better.

Cheney is there, too. This is the guy who got five, count 'em, five deferments from Vietnam, because he had "other priorities."

This is the parasite who told us we'd be greeted as liberators, the man who gave us Halliburton and its billions of dollars worth of no-bid contracts, the man who engineered this fiasco.

If there's any truth to that luck of the Irish stuff, we could all use some of it right now.

Here's a prayer from St. Patrick to keep us going during troubled times. I've quoted from it before, but here it is, in it's entirety.

St. Patrick's Breast Plate

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through the belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness
Of the Creator of Creation.

I arise today
Through the strength of Christ's birth with his baptism,
Through the strength of his crucifixion with his burial,
Through the strength of his resurrection with his ascension,
Through the strength of his descent for the judgment of Doom.

I arise today
Through the strength of the love of Cherubim,
In obedience of angels,
In the service of archangels,
In hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In prayers of patriarchs,
In predictions of prophets,
In preaching of apostles,
In faith of confessors,
In innocence of holy virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.

I arise today
Through the strength of heaven:
Light of sun,
Radiance of moon,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of wind,
Depth of sea,
Stability of earth,
Firmness of rock.

I arise today
Through God's strength to pilot me:
God's might to uphold me,
God's wisdom to guide me,
God's eye to look before me,
God's ear to hear me,
God's word to speak for me,
God's hand to guard me,
God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to protect me,
God's host to save me
From snares of devils,
From temptations of vices,
From everyone who shall wish me ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone and in multitude.

I summon today all these powers between me and those evils,
Against every cruel merciless power that may oppose my body and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of witches and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man's body and soul.

Christ to shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that there may come to me abundance of reward.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness,
Of the Creator of Creation.