The torture takes its toll, only in painful ways. It left me with half a soul. It seldom rains in this hole; despair never pays, but the torture takes its toll. I could say I never stole, but I’d say it on different days. It left me with half a soul. I’ll trade my diamonds for your dirty coal, and the coal for something that stays when the torture takes its toll. In fear, I’ve become a mole, it’s safer away from the world’s gaze. It left me with half a soul. Won’t you make me whole? Jesus Christ! I’ll soon forget this phrase. The torture takes its toll! It left me with half a soul.

She is out of reach
Beneath the waves
And drowning.

I wish I knew her name.
Then, perhaps, I might recognize
Her obituary in the morning news.

And even a dry creek bed still bends in response

To the contours it cuts

Reaching always reaching to an unseen depth

This empty valley-

The first sign of death, precipitation

Smells of nostalgia

As it evaporates from dead oak leaves

The storm gives way to the fires of July.

There’s a river in my dreams I see it every night

Runs from north to south, the dividing line drawn between

Everywhere I’ve been and everywhere I just can’t go

The waves of desperation strike the city as the levees become nothin’

If the purpose of creation was destruction

We’re getting closer everyday.

And these hills will get you all locked up

There’s nowhere to be seen, only places to hide

From all the lies that they told you to believe or they’d scold you

And tell you to leave

But you can’t start a fight if you don’t know it’s right

And the drab ethics of emergency are blinding and menacing and

Threatening to take from us our very lives.

So listen to what I say!

Listen to what I say!

Take the road called “Ponder” to that hill named “Peace”!

Stuck between the mountains and the cities filled with people

Who’ve all got the same disease as the

Elemental powers killing lives with ease

No pain stands alone and nobody’s safe at home!

No pain stands alone and nobody’s safe at home!

But there’s a river, I’ve seen in my sleep,

Flows right before my eyes as I’m held between

Everywhere I’ve been and everywhere I refuse to go.

1904- I was born on the banks of the Henry River

Michael, my father, put the money down and gave me life.

He built a dam to slow the river

Harnessing life for power

I’m just an ordinary Carolina mill town

On the banks of the Henry River

 

The town was built ‘round 1908. I was glad to see it.

Glad to see all the people with joy in their eyes

Coming to meet me and live in this

Carolina mill town on the banks of the Henry River

 

Well, there was a war and a depression after that

Then another war, but I lived through that and a few more

I’ve seen some days and some nights like the one in ‘66

When ol’ Boyce Liverett shot the sheriff

So the deputy just had to put him down.

I’m just a Carolina mill town

I’ve seen the good ol’ days go by and go by again.

 

Ya see it was ’77, and I don’t know what went wrong,

I woke to see the flames, there was smoke all in the valley

The mill was burnin’ and I was dying,

Floating away with the ashes down the Henry River

 

I’m just an ordinary Carolina mill town

You wouldn’t recognize me now

But maybe somehow you’ll hear about who I used to be

And you’ll miss me like I miss myself.

 

 

Henryriver.com.  Check this out.

 

Peace.

Washington is under the impression that they have caught a criminal in our banking system. In fact, it was sitting on our President’s desk when he signed this legislation against it. Yes, Adam Smith’s infamous “Invisible Hand” of the free market has been convicted of stealing. Of course, we all know what happens to hands that steal; they have to be cut off (apparently our recent involvement in the Middle East has influenced our ideas on crime and punishment more than we thought).

Over the next ten years (some parts of the bill are committed to functionality until 2018), the Federal government will systematically increase its share of the banking system mainly by giving Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (note the 52wk Hi/Lo) greater control over the industry. Of course, there will be “greater regulation” of Fannie and Freddie by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), but that just means more bureaucracy, and that means greater cost to the taxpayer.

The estimated costs of the bill are $4 per taxpayer over the next 4 years, however that money is not going to protection, justice or public works not benefiting only a small number of individuals. The bill is in direct opposition to the third principle of government, true, the FHA is a public works vehicle, but what this bill is doing is making sure that Fannie and Freddie don’t die, NOT ensuring the public good. If Fannie and Freddie died, they would simply be the victims of the hand that is being tied down.

In fact, one of the reasons we are NOT in a recession is most likely because the Federal Government is throwing money out like no tomorrow to basically anybody and everybody, especially those nice little special interest groups like Fannie and Freddie. It’s as though they are fighting this bear market with hopes to win without getting hurt.

Of course, we all know what happens when you get in a fight with a grizzly. Bear markets should be allowed to run their course; it’s a purging process for the whole economy. But hey, a hand that’s chopped off is completely unable to do any work, and apparently that is the desire of the Federal Government: to undo the work of the Invisible Hand. 

 

I’ll leave you with two quotes. One from a Fox News article concerning the housing bill…

The Treasury Department gains unlimited power, until the end of 2009, to lend money to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac or buy their stock should they need it. The Federal Reserve takes on a new “consultative” role overseeing the companies.

 

And the other from Adam Smith…

Princes, however, have frequently engaged in many other mercantile projects, and have been willing, like private persons, to mend their fortunes by becoming adventurers in the common branches of trade. They have scarce ever succeeded. The profusion with which the affairs of princes are always managed, renders it almost impossible that they should. The agents of a prince regard the wealth of their master as inexhaustible; are careless at what price they buy; are careless at what price they sell; are careless at what expense they transport his goods from one place to another… No two characters seem more inconsistent than those of trader and sovereign.

Hello all,

Welcome to my new blog. It’s been a while since I’ve blogged, other than simple facebook notes every once in a while, so I hope that this causes me to once again bring my writing to life. 

The title of my blog, as you can see, is “The Tales of El-ahrairah” which is a direct reference to Watership Down by Richard Adams. If for some reason you have not read this book, I greatly encourage you to read it. Many times throughout the book there are folktales told about a heroic and cunning trickster. His full name, Elil-Hrair-Rah, means “Prince with a thousand enemies.” When I read Watership Downfor the first time, I was exceedingly fascinated with the folklore of El-ahrairah, and many times I skipped sections of the book just to read through the folktales.

My fascination with folklore has increased over the years. I have researched the origins of as many places as I can, and some of the stories that I have dug up have fully captured my imagination. One day I hope to publish a compilation of untold folk stories and urban legends, but for now, I will simply be content in hearing and reading the ones that have already been told.