Nomad News-Vol.6-No.130

CUT A LITTLE PIECE OFF THE END: There's the story about a young married couple who were discussing what to have for dinner. The husband suggested: "Why don't you prepare a baked ham like your mother made that was so good." "Good idea.", the dutiful wife responded. So, they went to the market and purchased a nice ham, took it home, and the bride prepared the ham by scoring the top in two directions, making a nice diamond pattern. She then inserted cloves along each scoreline, and prepared a glaze which they dribbled over the ham. Just before putting the ham in the pot, she cut a little piece off the end. The husband asked: "Why did you cut that little piece off the end." "I don't know", she replied, my mother always did it." Hubbie said: "Let's call your mother and ask her", which they did. The mother replied": "I don't know. Your grandmother always did." They called grandma who replied: "So it would fit in the pot". That's just old-fashioned common sense. Now, when the Congress of the United States prepares a new spending bill, before they put it in the hopper, wouldn't it make common sense to cut a little piece off the end so it would fit in the budget? Probably not. Today, the young couple would go out and buy a bigger pot and the legislature would just make the budget larger. (Copyright 2015 - Andrew M.Dolan)