in the manner

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Okay, so the GOP candidates are asked to conclude the debate by paraphrasing a speech from a television show, movie, or play. In the interests of the sort of erudition you've all come to expect from this journal, I give you

Rudy Giuliani:

He that shall live that day, and see old age,
Will daily on the campaign trail feast the voters,
And say 'Once was 9/11.'
Then will he load his film and show his clips,
And say 'These photo ops I had on 9/11 Day.'
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember, with advantages,
What sound bites spoke that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words -
Rudy the Mayor, and also maybe W.,
Be in their frothy mugs freshly rememb'red.
This story shall the speechwriter ever type;
And 9/11 shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the closing of the polls,
But we in it shall be remembered -
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he today that casts his vote for me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentile his condition;
And candidates for president now-a-stage
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not there,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That posed with us upon 9/11 Day.

But for a hearty belly laugh, don't omit to click the link and read John McCain as well. And keep reading, it's not too darn long.

Thanks to Mona atUnqualified Offerings for bringing this to my attention.
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orts and grigs

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The last thing I dreamt was that I was visiting some Colorado friends in a fabulous house in the mountains. I was sitting in an easy chair, petting a fox. On closer examination, it turned out to be a tiger. When I scratched its ear, it turned rather quickly and bit me, firmly but not painfully, and I stayed still, waiting for someone to detach it. Instead, I woke up.
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While I was out walking today, I saw a racoon cross the street about a block from our house. I immediately went for my cell phone to take a picture of it, but it was faster than the phone's startup. It was a big fella. I didn't try to scratch its ears.
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We had supper at Friendly's. Sarah needed to go to the restroom, so we went to the Men's room. I had to go too, so while she was in the stall, I was at the urinal. Someone else came in and waited. A moment later, another guy opened the door and saw that the place was full. "Whoa," he said, "Must be havin' a sale."
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Someone was shooting off fireworks tonight in the general direction of Mittineague Park. Right at Sarah's bedtime. First she wanted to leave the blinds open to watch. I managed to get them closed, but the noise was still a bit disruptive for a while. When 10:00 rolled around, I got up to leave. She was still awake, but she let me go. Cathy says she pointed out to Sarah that when we leave her alone that late, she falls asleep pretty quickly. Yay!
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