occupations

"They go by many names- mercenaries, soldiers of fortune, wild geese, hired guns, legionnaires, contract killers, hirelings, condottieri, contractors, and corporate warriors- these men who have fought for money and plunder rather than cause or patriotism. Soldiers of fortune have always played significant roles in warfare, they are present on the battlefields of today, and they certainly will be a part of whatever combat occurs in the future."

"The influence of nannies and other significant caregivers on a child's psychological and emotional development may be profound and if unrecognized may contribute to psychopathology in adulthood. However, the significance of the nanny has been relatively neglected within the psychoanalytic literature."

"Mercenaries?" I ventured. "Agh! Mercenaries!" Bob exclaimed, like I had stabbed him. "Now that's the worst thing you can be. Worse than a prostitute. Your life is the most valuable thing you got. Die for your own freedom, that's great, but kill and die for a buck? He looked at me again, shooting more wisdom out of his violently pointing finger. "Never do anything just for money!"

"As they walk out the door each morning, working parents are grateful for the nannies who care for their children in their absence. And yet, those same parents often struggle with the knowledge that their young children spend more waking hours with their nannies than with their mothers and fathers. So when the time comes for the nanny to move on, parents may underestimate how profound the loss can be. As one mother in my women’s mental health psychiatry practice said, “I didn’t realize that she had become part of our family until she told us she had to leave.”"

"Cameron Lynne Macdonald, a former nanny and medical sociologist, found in research for her 2010 book, “Shadow Mothers: Nannies, Au Pairs and the Micropolitics of Mothering,” that some families expect nannies to play a paradoxical role she called the “shadow mother.” (Yes, nannies can be men, and serve as shadow fathers, but research tends to focus on women.) In such cases, parents expect a nanny to form a strong bond with a child but also appear invisible in the family, “to be simultaneously present and absent in the children’s lives,” she wrote. By asking a nanny to work in the shadows, parents may avoid their own feelings about how psychologically important the nanny has become, and so may be less sensitive to their children’s needs around the separation. Some parents do this because they are afraid that a deeper bond with a nanny will interfere with their child’s healthy attachment to them. In fact, studies show the opposite. When a child has a high-quality bond with a caregiver, this can actually help complement and reinforce parental attachment. Therefore, children who are more securely attached to both their nannies and parents feel more secure over all."

"Today, 75 percent of U.S. forces in Afghanistan are contracted. Only about 10 percent of these contractors are armed, but this matters not. The greater point is that America is waging a war largely via contractors, and U.S. combat forces would be impotent without them. If this trend continues, we might see 80 or 90 percent of the force contracted in future wars."

"And we're bound for the border We're soldiers of fortune And we'll fight for no country but we'll die for good pay Under the flag of the greenback dollar Or the peso down Mexico way"

"I guess a man's got to do what he's best at Ain't found nothin' better so far Been called mercenaries and men with no country Just soldiers in search of a war"

"No international laws exist to regulate the mercenary industry. What we’re left with: If anyone with enough money can wage war for any reason they want to, then new superpowers will emerge: the ultra-rich and multinational corporations. Oil companies and oligarchs should not have armies."

"Listen, sister, I'm not in this for you, and I'm not in this for your revolution. I'm in it for the money. I expect to be well paid."

"Ah, but when the queen proclaims one king and the Hand another, whose peace do they protect?" Lord Petyr flicked at the dagger with his finger, setting it spinning in place. When at last it slowed to a stop, the blade pointed at Littlefinger. "Why, there's your answer. They follow the man who pays them."

"Your friend is quite a mercenary. I wonder if he really cares about anything. Or anybody."

"Thousands of young people are admitted each year to the U.S. as cultural exchange participants through the J-1 visa program, often to work as live-in childcare providers known as au pairs. Now, a lawsuit lodged on behalf of 90,000 current and former au pairs alleges sponsor agencies are exploiting the program as a source for cheap migrant labor."

"Today, more contractors are killed in combat than soldiers—a stunning turnaround from the start of the wars Iraq and Afghanistan, when fewer than 10 percent of casualties were contractors. By 2010, more contractors were dying than troops. However, the real number of contractor deaths —versus the “official” tally—remains unknown."

"If I told you to murder an infant girl, say, still at her mother's breast, would you do it, without question?" "Without question? No. I'd ask how much."

"The oppressed were organized in Liberation Movements which started guerilla warfare against their oppressors. Though poorly equipped, their determination and commitment led to unexpected success. To combat the national liberation movements, the imperialists could no longer come out in the open and expose themselves. This would make them lose face. All they wanted was to "invisibly" control these countries. It is in this context that the modem mercenary has become an important tool of imperialism. Mercenarism as a form of soldiering is used as a vehicle for fighting the liberation movements and independent developing countries."

"...that war be and the same is hereby declared to exist between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the dependencies thereof, and the United States of America and their Territories; and that the President of the United States is herby authorized to use the whole land and naval force of the United States to carry the same into effect, and to issue to private armed vessels of the United States commissions of marque and general reprisal, in such forms as he shall think proper, and under the seal of the United States, against the vessels, goods, and effects of the Government of the said United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the subjects thereof."

"He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages and totally unworthy of the Head of a civilized nation."

"We do not murder. We do not torture. We do not, you may be very certain, we do not execute. We have no truck with crimes of passion or hatred or pointless gain. We do not do it for delight in inhumation, or for some cause or belief- I tell you, gentlemen, all of these reasons are in the highest degree suspect. Look into the face of a man who will kill you for a belief and your nostrils will snuff up the scent of abomination. Hear a speech declaring a holy war and, I assure you, your ears should catch the clink of evil's scales and the dragging of its monstrous tail over the purity of the language. No, we do it for the money. And because we above all must know the value of a human life, we do it for a great deal of money. There can be few cleaner motives, shorn of all pretense."

"Mercenaries! That were paid to come over here to make us crawl, and to wipe us out. We've just sent a message to the British cabinet that will echo and reverberate around the world! If they bring their savagery over here, we will meet it with a savagery of our own!"

"I well believe it, to unwilling ears; none love the messenger who brings bad news."

"The heart of God through his creation stirs, We thrill to feel it, trembling as the flowers That die to live again, — his messengers, To keep faith firm in these sad souls of ours."

"The messengers of thy Ka are come for thee; the messengers of thy father are come for thee; the messengers of Rē are come for thee. Go after thy sun; purify thyself, thy bones are female-falcons, goddesses, who are in heaven, that thou mayest be at the side of the god."

"And cite for them the example of the people of the town, when the messengers came to it. Where We sent two to them, but they disbelieved in them, so We supported them with a third one, thus they said: "We are messengers to you." They replied: "You are but human beings like us, and the Almighty did not send down anything, you are only telling lies." They said: "Our Lord knows that we have been sent to you. And we are only required to give a clear delivery." They replied: "We have welcomed you better than you deserve. If you do not cease, we will stone you, and you will receive a painful retribution from us!" They said: "Keep your welcome with you, for you have been reminded. Indeed, you are transgressing people." And a man came running from the farthest part of the city, saying: "O my people, follow the messengers. Follow those who do not ask you for any wage, and are guided. And why should I not serve the One who created me, and to Him is your ultimate return? Shall I take gods besides Him? If the Almighty intends any harm for me, their intercession cannot help me in the least, nor can they save me. Then I would be clearly astray." "I have believed in your Lord, so listen to me!" It was said: "Enter Paradise." He said "Oh, how I wish my people only knew! Of what my Lord has forgiven me, and made me of the honoured ones." And We did not send down upon his people after him soldiers from the sky; for there was no need to send them down."

"Affirm the mind, the messenger of the hour, To speed between thee and the source of power."

"The cooling breeze is the breath of heaven, a veritable messenger of life, carrying healing on its wings."

"The true Cynic must know that he is sent as a Messenger from God to men, to show unto them that as touching good and evil they are in error; looking for those where they are not to be found, nor ever bethinking themselves where they are."

"Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: and when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying. They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen. They say unto him. He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons."

"A king does not kill messengers."

"Messenger, by night, drive on like the south wind! By day, be up like the dew!"

"Every word is a messenger. Some have wings; some are filled with fire; some are filled with death."

"He who lives to God rests in his Redeemer's love, and is trying to get rid of his old nature — to him every sorrow, every bereavement, every pain, will come charged with blessings, and death itself will be no longer the "king of terrors," but the messenger of grace."

"The messenger runs like a wild ram and flies like a falcon. He leaves in the morning and returns already at dusk, like small birds at dawn."

"The messenger gave heed to the words of his king. He journeyed by the starry night, and by day he travelled with Utu of heaven. Where and to whom will he carry the important message of Inana with its stinging tone? He brought it up into the Zubi mountains, he descended with it from the Zubi mountains. and the land of Anšan humbly saluted Inana like tiny mice. In the great mountain ranges, the teeming multitudes grovelled in the dust for her. He traversed five mountains, six mountains, seven mountains. He lifted his eyes as he approached Aratta. He stepped joyfully into the courtyard of Aratta, he made known the authority of his king. Openly he spoke out the words in his heart. The messenger transmitted the message to the lord of Aratta."

"The listener distrusts the prophetic messenger."

"Man is a messenger who forgot the message."

"I am like a sheep who has no reliable shepherd; there is no reliable herdsman to lead me on."

"The shepherd adorns the plain with his ewes and lambs."

"Ah! what is love? It is a pretty thing, As sweet unto a shepherd as a king; And sweeter too, For kings have cares that wait upon a crown, And cares can make the sweetest love to frown; Ah then, ah then, If country loves such sweet desires do gain, What lady would not love a shepherd swain?"

"The word of Jehovah again came to me, saying: “, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy, and say to the shepherds, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah says: “Woe to the shepherds of Israel, who have been feeding themselves! Is it not the flock that the shepherds should feed? You eat the fat, you clothe] yourselves with the wool, and you slaughter the fattest animal, but you do not feed the flock. You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bandaged the injured or brought back the strays or looked for the lost; rather, you have ruled them with harshness and tyranny. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd; they were scattered and became food for every wild beast of the field. My sheep were straying on all the mountains and on every high hill; my sheep were scattered over all the surface of the earth, with no one searching for them or seeking to find them."

"Youthful Utu chose the shepherd in his heart. Years of plenty are assigned to Culgi, the trustworthy shepherd, the king, as his fate. From the shrine in Nibru, Enlil bestowed this on the trustworthy shepherd, whose fate is determined by Utu."

"A man's personal god is a shepherd who finds pasturage for the man. Let him lead him like sheep to the food they can eat."

"The star that bids the shepherd fold, Now the top of heaven doth hold."

"I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep."

"This battle fares like to the morning's war, When dying clouds contend with growing light; What time the shepherd, blowing of his nails, Can neither call it perfect day, nor night."

"The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep's throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty. Plainly, the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition of liberty."

"Sheriff: [Hands Manco the reward money for Red Cavanaugh] Two thousand dollars. It's a lot of money. Takes me three years to earn it! Manco: Tell me, isn't the sheriff supposed to be courageous, loyal, and above all, honest? Sheriff: Yeah. That he is. Manco: [Pulls off sheriff's star and tosses it to the townspeople] I think you people need a new sheriff."

"I do really believe you, Mr. Sheriff; you have done like an honest man."

"I shot the sheriff / But I didn't shoot no deputy, oh no! Oh!"

"The sheriffs of London have been immemorially the sheriff of Middlesex."