Ethic Soup

A Halloween Must: The Witches' Spell From Shakespeare's Macbeth

 

The Witches Spell

Act IV, Scene 1

Macbeth (1606)

by William Shakespeare

A dark Cave. In the middle, a boiling Caldron. Thunder.

Enter three witches.

            WITCH 1. Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.

            WITCH 2. Thrice and once, the hedge-pig whin'd.

            WITCH 3. Harpier cries 'tis time! 'tis time!

 

WITCH 1.Round about the caldron go;

In the poison'd entrails throw

Toad, that under cold stone,

Days and nights has thirty-one;

Swelter'd venom sleeping got,

Boil thou first i' the charmed pot!

 

Vintage Halloween Witches: Photos, Poems

 

Witches

The witches don their pointed hats,

The witches croak and croon,

The witches ride their broomsticks,

Away beyond the moon.

 

The witches don their flowing cloaks,

The witches stir their brew

The witches chant their magic spells,

All the dark hours through.

 

The witches stroke their big black cats,

They comb their locks of gray,

Yet when the first faint daylight comes

The witches hide away. 

 
 

Mystery 2000-LB Brangus Bull Decides To Live in Las Cruces Pecan Orchard

 
Las Cruces Mystery Bull - Composite Art - Copyright by Ethic Soup

Ethic Soup is a cattle-friendly blog. We're sporadically thinking about eating vegetarian. That's not a promise yet, but a desire.

First, we wrote about Yvonne, a Bavarian bovine scheduled for the slaughter house last May, but escaped by charging through a 4,000-volt electric fence of a German farmyard. The six-year-old dairy cow experienced freedom for three months, even though German authorities issued a shoot-on-sight order against runaway Yvonne. 

COWABUNGA!

Now we're writing about a 4-year-old, 2,000-pound Brangus bull, mysteriously appearing, uninvited, near Las Cruces, New Mexico, strutting around a lush alfalfa field and neighboring pecan orchard -- bull heaven. Or rather, cowabunga!

You may think that endearing exclamation was introduced by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Wrong. I first heard it as a child watching the "Howdy Doody Show."  Cowabunga was an expression used by Chief Thunderbird, "the only Indian ever to have a mustache," according to the Urban Dictionary. 

 

Fishy Business: Japan's PM Noda Says He is a Loach Bottom Feeder and Claims Japan's War Leaders Were Not Criminals

 Yoshihiko Noda just took power as Japan's prime minister this month, the country's sixth PM in five years. He won election, following the March 11 triple disaster of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis.

In describing himself to the people of Japan, Mr. Noda said he was like a loach bottom feeder rather than a sparkling goldfish.  

WAR CRIME DENIAL

Noda also denied that Japan's wartime leaders were criminals. As reported by The Independent (U.K.), on the anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War Two, August 15, the new PM refused to rule out a prime ministerial visit to Yasukuni Shrine, which honours the nation's war dead, including 14 executed Class-A war criminals.

What's up, Dude? Or, Lilahoej? (I understand "Lilahoej," is Japanese for "Dude.")

Oh, the Japanese don't seem concerned about their new prime minister's denial that Japan's war leaders 65 years ago were war criminals, as convicted by trials of the International War Tribunal. Barely a mention of that. It's this fish business that's got them upset.

Bottom-Feeder Report: Congress Sinks Even Lower in Approval Ratings

 
 

What makes the American public believe that bottom feeders ever change, or even want to change?

They have failed and seem to be at peace with it. That's just the way it goes, folks. Bottom feeders are comfortable with their position on the bottom, being the lowest of the low.

LOWEST RATING EVER

Congress is currently tied for its lowest approval rating ever, with only 12 percent of Americans approving of the way Congress is doing its job. Only 6 percent of registered voters say that most Congressional members have earned re-election, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

 

 

 

 

Our elected congressional representatives -- you know, even the guys who are elected when poor, leave office rich -- are leeches with a total lack of responsibility to provide for themselves, relying on others for sustenance. We are the "others." And then there are the lobbyists and special interests.

How many Senators and Congresspersons does it take to fit the definition of bottom scavengers? All of them.

Autumn in the Garden

   
 
Autumn arrives next week, with the official first day of Fall on September 23, 2011.

Tree leaves are beginning to turn colors, from green to yellow, orange , red and brown. Watching their change, I reminisce about my grade school days when I would collect the prettiest leaves I could find and my mother and I would dip them in a pot of hot paraffin wax, colorless and translucent, to seal and preserve them.

The next day I would take them  to school as a gift for my teacher and each year my teacher would decorate the classroom, especially the big bulletin board, with my leaves.

Now when the leaves fall, I'll make good compost after the lawn mower chops them during the last few grass trimmings. The next time the leaves that are collected from the lawn they will be used as mulch, after dividing the perennials and reworking their beds for next season. A cover of thick mulch protection guards against drying winds and frost heaving.

Thankfully, working in an Autumn garden is mostly chores in anticipation of next Spring. If it weren't for that fact, an Autumn garden would be too sad. As it is, the dying flowers remind us of our own limited time on earth and our thoughts turn to death.

 

                                                       

 Autumn in the Garden

by Henry van Dyke

 

Yvonne-the-Cow Wins War with Germany: Slaughter House Be Damned

 
 

"Moo" Copyright by Sharon McEachern - Acrylic - 4' x 3'

A Bavarian bovine, named Yvonne, was scheduled for the slaughter house last May. But, she apparently didn't want to go (imagine that) and charged toward freedom through a 4,000-volt electric fence of a farmyard in Germany, says the BBC.

Run, Yvonne run. See Yvonne run. 

The six-year-old dairy cow was at large for three months, apparently living alongside a herd of deer and foraging with them at night. But she was so elusive that German authorities issued a shoot-on-sight order for the runaway cow, after a cow bolted in front of a police car. This Mooo-ving violation they said must have been committed by Yvonne and labeled her "a public danger." 

No matter what country they live in, policemen seem to set things up so they can shoot their guns -- at living things.

Oh, no. Oh, no Yvonne. See, see the guns, Yvonne. 

 

Munson Healthcare Hospital Tells Employees: Get Flu Shot or Get Out

 Hospital employees at Munson Healthcare in Traverse City, Michigan, are upset over the ultimatum delivered to them -- get a flu shot or get fired.

Apparently, workers who refuse by the end of the year can be fired, reports AP via the Chicago Tribune:

INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS SACRIFICED

Officials at Munson say "Individual rights must be sacrificed for the welfare of patients whose health could be threatened if exposed to flu."  

The healthcare group, with seven hospitals serving 24 counties, decided to make flu shots mandatory because voluntary compliance has never topped 65 percent, officials said.

FLU SHOT ULTIMATUM

Some employees, however, are upset by the ultimatum to get flu shots or lose their jobs. Approximately 50 showed up for a recent meeting of Michigan Opping Mandatory Vaccinations, a group that promotes vaccine choice.