Once upon a time, there was a FATHER who was just blessed with his FIRST BORN SON.

He LOVED him, UN-CONDITIONALLY from the moment he was a part of his life.

As his son began to grow through the years, said father ALWAYS LOVED said son.

However, from time to time, said son made some MISTAKES. At each one, said father ALWAYS LOVED said son. But, he also told said son, "You can do BETTER" and showed him HOW to do so.

Over said son's number of YEARS, there were numerous times his father saw this occur and always gave similar AND loving responses to his first born son.

*** (END OF PARABLE) ***

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FROM TallPockets to ALL:

THANKS for taking some of your MOST valuable time to read my feeble blog site. MUCH appreciated.

I wrote this 'parable' to liken it to the present day political climate in America that "I" see.

Some claim we should LOVE America no matter what it does or does not do without much, if any, criticism.

Others claim we should only criticize America for it's FAULTS.

Which brings THIS old man back to the old saying,

"America, LOVE it or LEAVE it".

However, THIS old geezer PREFERS to MORPH that saying into THIS saying of HIS viewpoint:
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***** "America, LOVE it AND make it EVEN BETTER!" *****
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Thus, the above 'parable' I ATTEMPTED to write as a comparative analogy. However BADLY it was written, technically.

"I" see the SAME 'moral' argument within the parable of a father ALWAYS loving his son but telling him when son acted up or wrongly to that of those who 'complain' about what THEY see WRONG within the very same America they STILL LOVE, in spite of it's FLAWS.

If fact, MANY 'complain' for the reason(s) that they DO LOVE America. That's WHY it HURTS them so MUCH. To SEE the ''NOT SO GOOD things'' America DOES and what it COULD be and what it SHOULD be, in their eyes and vision.

''EVEN BETTER''!
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*** FINAL NOTE to MY dear, late father ***

''DAD - THANK YOU for always LOVING me through the years while ALWAYS holding me to a HIGHER standard at the SAME time''.

LOVE ya', "POP"

#1 Chronological Son

TallPockets/brian.

*** INTRODUCTION ***

TallPockets is a long time fan of the LATE SHOW with David Letterman. He is alot like Dave. He is old, wrinkly, often grumpy, self-deprecating and every LEAP year or so, he makes someone ALMOST laugh or smile.

“Hide the women and the children. Please, NO wagering!”

(Yes, dear folks, TallPockets KNOWS he has written a top ‘12’ and not a top ‘10’ list below. He did not want to be sued for copyright infringement).

“TOP TWELVE REASONS TO VOTE FOR TALLPOCKETS FOR PREZ’ IN 2008”

(12) Any time that an elected or appointed official testifies, they will be mandated to be hooked up to a POLYGRAPH machine. Whenever any such official is shown to be lying, they will be sent to JAIL for perjury and must go on the DR. PHIL television show for PUBLIC counseling.

(11) Since he will be living in the White House on the American taxpayer’s dole and he and will not taking any salary, IF he screws up America and it’s world relationships, he will do it for FREE.

(10) Given the recent rashes of criminality within Congress, he will mandate that each elected official dress in the same government issued uniform: A stylish, black and white striped number like prisoners used to wear in old time movies.

(9) He will give each elected Representative and Senator a scoop shovel and chest high waders so when the CRAPOLA in each institution gets too DEEP, they will be prepared. Each side will be required to shovel out the same amount of shovels full they all contribute to the growing pile of DOO.

(8) To protect our pages and interns in Congress, each intern will wear a home alert warning security system on their backs. If touched anywhere, said alarms will LOUDLY go off and the abuser will be immediately caught and punished by being required to read the OTHER side’s BLOG sites for the next week or two.

(7) He will hire a NUN for each institution. She will keep order whenever our elected officials act like bad boys and girls and cannot get along with one another and will be authorized to SMACK their hands with a yardstick.

(6) He will hire a retired Government teacher to instruct all elected members about how Civics, The Constitution, The Bill Of Rights and The Declaration of Independence are supposed to work in America. (Whomever fails the final test exam will have to attend SUMMER school without pay and will not be eligible for a pay raise).

(5) To improve our Intelligence gathering information for America, he will appoint Forrest Gump as the new C.I.A. director.

(4) He will hire retired school bus drivers to pick up our elected officials so they will be on time to their jobs, Mondays-Fridays. A BELL will RING when it is time to go home. No one will be allowed to leave EARLY without a ‘’Presidential Pass‘’ and attendance records will be kept. Those who miss too many days of work will be terminated. Just like in REAL life.

(3) He will mandate all F.E.M.A. government employees live in FEMA trailers while in office and they will have to issue ‘claims requests’ TO FEMA in order to get their daily, required living essentials. Once all citizens have been properly attended, FEMA employees would be allowed by me to return to their normal living circumstances. That’s called INCENTIVE, dear citizens o’ mine.

(2) He will have a “First Lady Of The Day” for every calendar day he is in office. All eligible single ladies over the age of ‘18’ can participate in such ‘lottery’. (The only requirement is the ladies are able to breathe on their own and have nothing in their lives better to do than to spend a day with him).

On every LEAP year, TallPockets will throw in an additional prize by awarding said lucky lady a spin around Washington D.C. in the presidential limousine.

(1) He does NOT want the job so he will fix the current MESS as quickly as possible so he can go HOME to the SWEET smell of ‘’country’’ air!

More than a few votes short of a FULL QUORUM yours,

TallPockets - 2008

“The Great Equalizer”
(’’DEATH“)

Both young and old - Those rich or poor
Cannot escape - Enter death’s door
It comes at times - We don’t expect
So live your life - With no regret

When bitterness - Of life, unfair
Comes over you - Do not despair
For ALL of us - Will meet same fate
No reason to - Consume with hate

Next time someone - Thinks you, LESS
SMILE at said folk - And give them, ‘’BLESS’’
For in the end - Result the same
No matter one’s - Fortune or Fame

TallPockets - 2008

“ TITS & ASS “
(Man‘s ‘Achilles’ Heels?)

Tits and Ass - Tits and ass
Males sure love - Tits and ass
Makes most men - Start to drool
Many guys - Act the fool

Each their own - I do say
Sexy things - With to play
Not enough? - Yours at home?
Next the eyes - Start to roam

Before long - Legs walk, too
Not to wife - But to ‘new’
Bouncing boobs - Jiggling butts
(If GIRLS did - Would be ‘SLUTS’)

When are caught - Wife, “GOODBYE!“
Men then ask - “Why, oh why?”
Did they chase - Ass and tits?
Marriage gone - Blown to bits

Kids at home - View it all
(See Mom weep - See Mom bawl)
GONE is dad - Won’t be there
Left them with - Eyes, blank stare

All this for - One, quick thrill
(Swallow hard - Bitter pill)
Understand - Humans ‘yearn’
If TOO much - ‘SUNSHINE’ burns!

TallPockets - 2008

Audit: Iraq contracts never finished

Investigators: U.S. government has falsely described projects as complete

The Associated Press
updated 5:53 a.m. ET, Mon., April. 28, 2008

WASHINGTON - Millions of dollars of lucrative Iraq reconstruction contracts were never finished because of excessive delays, poor performance or other factors, including failed projects that are being falsely described by the U.S. government as complete, federal investigators say.

The audit released Sunday by Stuart Bowen Jr., the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, provides the latest snapshot of an uneven reconstruction effort that has cost U.S. taxpayers more than $100 billion. It also comes as several lawmakers have said they want the Iraqis to pick up more of the cost of reconstruction.

The special IG's review of 47,321 reconstruction projects worth billions of dollars found that at least 855 contracts were terminated by U.S. officials before their completion, primarily because of unforeseen factors such as violence and excessive costs. About 112 of those agreements were ended specifically because of the contractors' actual or anticipated poor performance.

In addition, the audit said many reconstruction projects were being described as complete or otherwise successful when they were not. In one case, the U.S. Agency for International Development contracted with Bechtel Corp. in 2004 to construct a $50 million children's hospital in Basra, only to "essentially terminate" the project in 2006 because of monthslong delays.

But rather than terminate the project, U.S. officials modified the contract to change the scope of the work. As a result, a U.S. database of Iraq reconstruction contracts shows the project as complete "when in fact the hospital was only 35 percent complete when work was stopped," said investigators in describing the practice of "descoping" as frequent.

"Descoping is an appropriate process but does mask problem projects to the extent they occur," the audit states.

Responding, USAID in the report said it disagreed that its descoping of the hospital project was "effectively a contract termination," but that it had changed the work because of escalating costs and security problems. Mark Tokola, the director of the Iraq transition assistance office, also responded that the database the IG's office reviewed of Iraq reconstruction contracts was incomplete.

Follow-up reviews planned
Bowen's office said its review was preliminary and that it planned follow-up reviews to investigate descoping more closely. Investigators said they were also looking into whether contractors whose projects were terminated by the U.S. government due to inadequate performance might have been awarded new contracts later despite their poor records.

Investigators said the database they reviewed lacked full data on projects such as those done by USAID, the State Department, and those completed before 2006. But they said the figures cited in the report offered a baseline in terms of unfinished Iraq reconstruction contracts.

"Adding contract terminations from these (other) sources would certainly raise the number of terminated projects," the report states.

The audit comes amid renewed focus in recent months on potential abuse in contracting government-wide, such as Iraq reconstruction. Last year, congressional investigators said as much as $10 billion — or one in six dollars — charged by U.S. contractors for Iraq reconstruction were questionable or unsupported, and warned that significantly more taxpayer money was at risk.

In the future, loans not grants?
In recent weeks, Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., has been working with Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, on legislation that would restrict future reconstruction dollars to loans instead of grants; require that Baghdad pay for fuel used by American troops and take over U.S. payments to predominantly Sunni fighters in the Awakening movement.

Danielle Brian, executive director of the watchdog group Project on Government Oversight, said the latest audit report points to significant U.S. taxpayer waste in current reconstruction efforts.

"The report paints a depressing picture of money being poured into failed Iraq reconstruction projects — contractors are killed, projects are blown up just before being completed, or the contractor just stops doing the work," she said.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24346992/