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The Disappointment
Jane Taylor
In tears to her mother poor Harriet came,
Let us listen to hear what she says:
"O see, dear mamma, it is pouring with rain,
We cannot go out in the chaise.
"All the week I have long'd for this holiday so,
And fancied the minutes were hours;
And now that I'm dress'd and all ready to go,
Do look at those terrible showers! "
"I'm sorry, my dear, " her kind mother replied,
The rain disappoints us to-day;
But sorrow still more that you fret for a ride,
In such an extravagant way.
"These slight disappointments are sent to prepare
For what may hereafter befall;
For seasons of real disappointment and care,
Which commonly happen to all.
"For just like to-day with its holiday lost,
Is life and its comforts at best:
Our pleasures are blighted, our purposes cross'd,
To teach us it is not our rest.
"And when those distresses and crosses appear,
With which you may shortly be tried,
You'll wonder that ever you wasted a tear
On merely the loss of a ride.
"But though the world's pleasures are fleeting and vain,
Religion is lasting and true;
Real pleasure and peace in her paths you may gain,
Nor will disappointment ensue. "
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News
Ah, sibling rivalry...
North Korea's leader will not last long, says Kim Jong-un's brother
The eldest son of North Korea's late leader Kim Jong-il has predicted the regime would soon fail, with or without reforms, according to a new book that the author says is based on emails and interviews with Kim Jong-nam.
The book says that Kim Jong-nam – who has never met the new leader, his half-brother Kim Jong-un – described the dynastic succession as "a joke to the outside world", and said even his father had originally opposed the hereditary transfer of power.
"The Kim Jong-un regime will not last long," Kim Jong-nam is said to have written, forecasting a power struggle. "Without reforms, North Korea will collapse, and when such changes take place, the regime will collapse."
Syrian defector speaks of devastation; slams Arab League mission
A member of Syria's Parliament has defected to Egypt and spoken of leaving behind a "ghost town full of horror."
Imad Ghalioun has represented the city of Homs for five years. He defected with his immediate family two weeks ago after, he says, he convinced the al-Assad regime that he was traveling on business.
Ghalioun told CNN that many senior officials want to defect but it may be harder now because the al-Assad regime banned officials from traveling the day after he left Syria.
Why this new harsh policy if crossings are at a 40 year low?
Border Patrol to toughen policy
The U.S. Border Patrol is moving to halt a revolving-door policy of sending migrants back to Mexico without any punishment.
The agency this month is overhauling its approach on migrants caught illegally crossing the 1,954-mile border that the United States shares with Mexico. Years of enormous growth at the federal agency in terms of staff and technology have helped drive down apprehensions of migrants to 40-year lows.
The number of agents since 2004 has more than doubled to 21,000. The Border Patrol has blanketed one-third of the border with fences and other physical barriers, and spent heavily on cameras, sensors and other gizmos. Major advances in fingerprinting technology have vastly improved intelligence on border-crossers. In the 2011 fiscal year, border agents made 327,577 apprehensions on the Mexican border, down 80 percent from more than 1.6 million in 2000. It was the Border Patrol's slowest year since 1971.
Tuesday is deadline in Wisconsin governor recall battle
The Wisconsin Democratic Party has until Tuesday to submit at least 540,208 signatures in order to seek a recall of first-term Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who drew the ire of labor unions and public school teachers after he stripped public employees of their collective bargaining rights.
The party has said that it is confident that it will have the signatures needed and has said it is working to significantly exceed the required number.
The number of required signatures is equal to one quarter of the number of votes cast for governor in the previous election.
He said that he MIGHT release them in April. I wonder what he has to hide. He's been running for president for more than five years. Its not like he didn't have time to prepare for this.
Confronted by GOP rivals, Romney says he may release tax returns in April but not now
Mitt Romney’s four remaining challengers are keeping the spotlight on the Republican front-runner’s wealth and business dealings by pressing him to release his income tax returns. Romney says he might make them public in April. By then, he hopes to have the presidential nomination in the bag.
His rivals did their best to knock the former Massachusetts governor off stride in a contentious debate Monday night, going after him on several fronts. Romney didn’t bend under heavy pressure on the issue of his job-creation record at his former private equity firm Bain Capital, nor did he apologize for his evolving views on abortion. Blamed for negative commercials flooding South Carolina’s airwaves, he stressed the independence of the super PACs that have been running ads in his behalf against former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and other rivals, including former Sen. Rick Santorum.
Might environmentalists have better luck if the shift the target away from carbon emissions from now? No matter, the teahadists will it socialism.
A Step-by-Step Guide to Reduce Global Warming
There are simple and inexpensive measures to cut back on soot and methane that once employed could save millions of lives and slow climate change for years to come, according to an international team of scientists.
Rather than focusing on carbon dioxide emissions, there should be a shift to cutting two other pollutants, soot and methane according to the latest study from experts from North America, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The study, called "Simultaneously Mitigating Near-Term Climate Change and Improving Human Health and Food Security" expands on a previous report from the United Nations Environmental Programme and the World Meteorological Organization.
Reducing soot and methane could lower worldwide global warming by one degree Fahrenheit within 40 years or so and it could cut air pollution deaths and increase crop yields. It would also be easier to focus on soot and methane rather than on carbon dioxide especially in the face of much resistance from countries who rely cheap fuel.
Wow! What a gift!
Ga. nurse donates kidney to patient she barely knew
An Emory nurse provided more than the usual care for a 23-year-old patient when she offered to donate her kidney.
Allison Batson spent two years on the transplant floor of Emory University Hospital before her encounter with Clay Taber, a recent Auburn University graduate who fell sick one day after his 22nd birthday.
"I was at sick one day at home and my mom was at the grocery store trying to find something I could eat," said Taber. "They called her from the hospital and said Clay needs to get to the Emergency Room, he's in kidney failure."