skip to main | skip to sidebar

Thursday, December 04, 2008

Santa Congress

Posted by TONY PHYRILLAS at 11:03 AM
Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook
Labels: William Warren Cartoon
Newer Post Older Post Home

Welcome to THE CENTRIST

A Pennsylvanian's moderate/conservative commentary about state and national politics and world affairs.

Copyright © 2005-2013, THE CENTRIST, All Rights Reserved.

Total Pageviews

Sparkline
Follow TonyPhyrillas on Twitter
Bookmark and Share
Read my blog on Kindle

Facebook Badge

Tony Phyrillas

Create Your Badge

NewsBusters Headlines Widget

Share it

Followers

Popular Posts

  • Rep. Maloney to host property tax forum
    WHAT: State Rep. David Maloney (R-Berks) will host a town hall meeting to provide information on efforts to reduce and/or eliminate school ...
  • Berks County Patriots sponsor Immigration Forum
    The Berks County Patriots, along with UNITED PA-912 and RePatriot Radio , is sponsoring a forum on immigration Saturday, Feb. 19, at noon ...
  • State Police reopen Skippack barracks
    The photo above was taken in front of the State Police Barracks in Skippack after the barracks re-opened on a full-time basis, staffing ar...
  • Hayden Panettiere dives in to save whales
    I hadn't given much thought about saving whales, but now that Hayden Panettiere is taking up the cause, count me in. This is no April ...
  • Tea Party Song 'Take Your Hands Out Of Our Pockets'
  • Biden's One-Night Paris Hotel Tab: $585,000.50
    The Obamas aren't the only ones who are living large at the expense of U.S. taxpayers. Biden's One-Night Paris Hotel Tab: $585,000...
  • Dr. Benjamin Carson's Amazing Speech Directed at Obama at the National Prayer Breakfast
  • Video: So God Made A Liberal...
  • Gov. Corbett Announces Nominations and Appointments
    Governor Corbett Announces Nominations and Appointments
  • Speak No Evil- Networks Obscure Deadly Extremism of Muslim Brotherhood
    Speak No Evil- Networks Obscure Deadly Extremism of Muslim Brotherhood

Write To Congress!

Contact Your Candidates!

Contact the Media!

Contact the Media
Bloggers' Rights at EFF

"Seize the power back from those who would deny you its use and protection; wield it then for yourselves to secure your lives, your liberty, and your honor!"-- GettysBLOG

"Kick the hubris out of Harrisburg!"-- THE CENTRIST

"It is the duty of every citizen according to his best capacities to give validity to his convictions in political affairs."-- Albert Einstein

"I am in earnest; I will not equivocate; I will not excuse; I will not retreat a single inch; and I will be heard." -- William Lloyd Garrison

Roadmap to Reform pacleansweep.com... because taxpayers are not sheep!!!

Great Web sites

  • Pennsylvania Office of Open Records

  • IssuesPA

  • Institute for Justice

  • The National Review

  • The Free Republic

  • Rush Limbaugh

  • Sean Hannity

  • Bill O'Reilly

  • Fox News

  • Gettysburg Times

  • Hanover Sun

  • Pottstown Mercury

  • York Dispatch

  • Bucks Right

  • Talking Politics

  • Republican SpyGlass

  • The Bitter American

  • Wikio - Top Blogs - Politics

    Citizen-Patriot Heroes

  • The Pennsylvania Order Of Liberty

  • Operation Clean Sweep

  • Democracy Rising

  • Rock the Capitol

  • Bob Durgin at WHP580 Talk Radio

  • Russ Diamond's Blog

  • Gene Stilp

  • Randy's Eloquent Gettysburg Blog

  • Tony Phyrillas

  • GrassrootsPA

  • Commonwealth Foundation

  • Pennsylvania Council of Churches

  • PennPatriot Online

  • Young Conservatives of Pennsylvania

  • Pennsylvania Club for Growth

  • Common Cause of Pennsylvania

  • The League of Women Voters

  • Nat'l Parks Conservation Assoc'n

  • Adams County Citizens Alliance

  • Civil War Preservation Trust

  • Casino Free PA

  • Declaration of Action

  • Nat'l Coalition Against Legalized Gambling

  • The Bay Journal News Service

  • Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay's Bay Journal

  • Talking Politics
  • THE CENTRIST

    A Pennsylvanian's moderate conservative commentary about state and national politics.

    Copyright © 2005-2011, THE CENTRIST, All Rights Reserved.


    Enter your Email





    Powered by FeedBlitz

    Blog Archive

    • ►  2013 (905)
      • ►  June (67)
      • ►  May (117)
      • ►  April (175)
      • ►  March (203)
      • ►  February (170)
      • ►  January (173)
    • ►  2012 (3414)
      • ►  December (205)
      • ►  November (249)
      • ►  October (491)
      • ►  September (428)
      • ►  August (366)
      • ►  July (333)
      • ►  June (242)
      • ►  May (261)
      • ►  April (226)
      • ►  March (228)
      • ►  February (201)
      • ►  January (184)
    • ►  2011 (2498)
      • ►  December (218)
      • ►  November (222)
      • ►  October (221)
      • ►  September (187)
      • ►  August (171)
      • ►  July (248)
      • ►  June (207)
      • ►  May (217)
      • ►  April (203)
      • ►  March (203)
      • ►  February (182)
      • ►  January (219)
    • ►  2010 (2370)
      • ►  December (171)
      • ►  November (203)
      • ►  October (248)
      • ►  September (264)
      • ►  August (230)
      • ►  July (209)
      • ►  June (176)
      • ►  May (188)
      • ►  April (162)
      • ►  March (184)
      • ►  February (157)
      • ►  January (178)
    • ►  2009 (2469)
      • ►  December (190)
      • ►  November (157)
      • ►  October (181)
      • ►  September (210)
      • ►  August (188)
      • ►  July (237)
      • ►  June (192)
      • ►  May (222)
      • ►  April (239)
      • ►  March (240)
      • ►  February (204)
      • ►  January (209)
    • ▼  2008 (1164)
      • ▼  December (168)
        • Capitol South - New Year's Resolutions
        • RNC Statement on Minnesota Senate Recount
        • Pennsylvania Offers an Oasis for Those Attending P...
        • Pennsylvanians Urged to Include Emergency Prepared...
        • ATF Publishes List of 238 Explosive Materials Subj...
        • Expert sees flaws in PA open-records law
        • A story you have to read
        • With a grain of salt ...
        • 40 Days for Life Leader to Speak at Personhood Con...
        • Economic Stress Taking Toll on Peoples' Health
        • A major reason college is so expensive
        • 'An American Carol' on DVD
        • State Parks Offer 'Cabin Fever' Discount
        • Hunters Can Begin to Apply for Second Spring Gobbl...
        • Washington Prints More Money
        • As Montco Turns ...
        • Beware of the 'Fairness Doctine'
        • PA Lottery's Millionaire Raffle Game Sold Out
        • Our Space Program: Time to Raise a Warning Flag
        • The Quotable Rendell
        • Sarah Palin vs. The Princess
        • PA hosts Kwanzaa Celebration in Capitol
        • The Christmas Story
        • Survivors to Receive Retroactive VA Payments by Ne...
        • Capitol South - Xmas Edition
        • Corbett Announces Settlement With Motorized Wheelc...
        • Do you find this image offensive?
        • Radio Address by President Bush to the Nation
        • Proposition 8 Proponents to File Supplemental Brie...
        • Spending other people's money
        • Human Relations Commission Awards $17,405 in Pregn...
        • Governor Rendell Announces Resignation of Top Heal...
        • 'Kid Detectives' Will Be On the Case at the 2009 P...
        • 9 Days Remain for Seniors, Disabled to Apply for P...
        • Smokers, put quitting at top of resolution list
        • Chesco state rep leads by example
        • No. 1 in teacher strikes
        • Planned Parenthood out of Texas Panhandle
        • Grassroots to Hold Obama to Clean Energy Promises:...
        • Donate Your Car at Year-End and You May Get the Dr...
        • No attacks since 9/11 - 'It's not a matter of luck...
        • Finally, a liberal who makes some sense
        • Worker Advocate: Solis Nomination Slap in the Face...
        • Liberal Media Bias 101
        • Pennsylvania's Employment Situation: November 2008...
        • Rendell Says National Stimulus Needed to Boost Eco...
        • Unions expect payback from Obama
        • DEP Says Thermostat Law, Recycling Effort Will Pro...
        • PA Game Commission Offers 'Seedlings for Schools' ...
        • Everybody gets to chair a committee
        • Why newspapers will never get a bailout
        • FRC Mourns the Passing of Paul Weyrich
        • RNC Chairman Duncan Statement on Passing of Paul W...
        • Gary Bauer Applauds the Legacy, Mourns the Passing...
        • Violent Crime Rate in 2007 at About the Same Level...
        • 'Talking Politics' on WPAZ 1370 AM
        • The Professional Political Class
        • Dems like to keep it in the family
        • There's Nothing Like Fraud for the Holidays
        • Fed Action Creates Best Interest Rates in 50 Years...
        • Members of Congress Due to Award Themselves $4,700...
        • Lose 41 Pounds in 5 Minutes - Stop Your Junk Mail ...
        • America's Political Aristocracy
        • AAA Forecasts a Decrease in Christmas Holiday Trav...
        • Apply for TV Converter Box Coupons by December 31
        • RNC Chairman Statement on Need for Illinois Specia...
        • Pennsylvania Auditor General Jack Wagner, Troubled...
        • Pennsylvania Attorney General Corbett Announces a ...
        • High-Visibility Vests Enhance Safety for State Pol...
        • More on the global warming hoax
        • Nearly $1 Million to Raise in Just 8 Days; Western...
        • Gingrich Calls on RNC to Pull 'Destructive' Ad
        • Donating Blood Can Help Fill Your Holiday Stocking...
        • Harrisburg's per-diem scam
        • 25,000 visitors
        • Real Change
        • ATF Joins Church Arson Investigation
        • Pennsylvania Education Department Awards $2.7 Mill...
        • PA Treasurer and Commonwealth Financial Network Ur...
        • Most Overexposed Celebrity II
        • Rep. Joe Pitts: Union shortsightedness killed auto...
        • Infamous School Shooter Almost Permitted to Carry ...
        • Libertarian Party turns 37
        • RNC: What We Don't Know
        • The Obama Mad-Lib
        • Before Buying, Adopting Pets During Busy Holiday S...
        • ProEnglish Testifies to U.S. Civil Rights Commissi...
        • Stop CAFTA Coalition Calls for Suspension of Faile...
        • 'Nothing Like the Holidays' Coming to Troops in Ir...
        • Auditor General Jack Wagner to Cast Electoral Coll...
        • Rendell Announces $38.5 Million for Rail Freight
        • Indiana Residents Call for Planned Parenthood Inve...
        • Easy way to save taxpayer dollars
        • Pennsylvania Preservation Board Protects 40 More F...
        • Pennsylvania Game Commission Urges Participation i...
        • Recycle old political signs
        • Dear Santa
        • Pennsylvania DEP to Monitor Air Quality Near Schoo...
        • Rendell Directs Expansion of Unemployment Compensa...
        • No News Is Not Good News
        • The GOP Has Some Fight Left
        • Strategic Plan for the Future of the Pennsylvania ...
        • Door Open for Communities to Improve Water Infrast...
        • More good reasons to eliminate property taxes
        • PA State Police Support 'Project Blue Light' for t...
        • Hunting and Trapping Opportunities for Winter
        • Pennsylvania Auto Dealers Put Local Face on Need f...
        • 'Talking Politics' with state Sen. John Rafferty
        • Pennsylvania's Credit Is Still Good
        • Richard Viguerie on Rod Blagojevich: 'There's Stil...
        • Ethics Group Says Obama Cannot Distance Himself Fr...
        • RNC Chairman: Why won't Obama condemn Chicago-styl...
        • PA hunters harvest 3,436 bears
        • Berks GOP selects new leader
        • Newspaper: Taxpayers = Suckers
        • Capitol Christmas Tree Lighting Honors Military Fa...
        • Pennsylvania Retains Double-A Bond Rating
        • Agriculture Secretary Reminds Pennsylvanians to Ap...
        • Illinois Governor Arrested on Federal Corruption C...
        • Newspaper: Cut the size of the Legislature
        • Victims of Lawsuit Abuse Speak Out
        • Public Invited to View 56th Pennsylvania Electoral...
        • AmericaSpeakOn.org unveiled
        • Red Cross Invites America to Join 'National Day of...
        • What Gun Owners Really Want to Hear From Mr. Obama...
        • Reformers want Argall to repay taxpayers
        • Do we have to bail out the oil companies, too?
        • Another Indictment of Public School Monopoly
        • PennDOT Invites Comment on Public Participation Pl...
        • American Military University Makes Top 20 List of ...
        • Group identifies $313M to trim from state spending...
        • Rendell has a problem with single women
        • You have a right to celebrate Christmas
        • Group: Obama's Pragmatism Threatens Our National S...
        • Spend the holidays with the Rendells
        • Mr. Obama's Eligibility to be Aired Monday at the ...
        • VA Opening 31 New Outpatient Clinics
        • PA Treasurer Unveils Investment Advisory Council, ...
        • Enhanced Powerball Game Will Debut Jan. 7
        • Pennsylvania State Police Commercial Vehicle Enfor...
        • AARP Report Urges Adoption of Stronger State Laws ...
        • Newspaper: Save Money by Cutting Legislature
        • Santa Congress
        • Conservative blogs dominate 'Influence' rankings
        • Auditor General Jack Wagner Says He Will Give Back...
        • Karl Rove Defends Bush Legacy
        • Rendell Finds Another $128 Million in Spending Cut...
        • Newspaper: Don't cut library funding
        • 'Talking Politics' returns Thursday
        • FRC Action PAC Applauds Re-election of Saxby Chamb...
        • States Falter in Providing Affordable College Oppo...
        • Postal Service wants to cash in on Obama
        • National Sex Offender Public Web Site Relaunch
        • Is it charity if you're giving away taxpayers' mon...
        • Citizen activists fight pay raise for politicians
        • Capitol South
        • Legislative Grandstanding on Prop. 8
        • MADE - Moms and Dads for Education to Stop Teen Da...
        • Columnist: Reject insurance merger
        • Pennsylvania Seniors Donate Hand-Crafted Ornaments...
        • Obama Drops Windfall Profits Tax for Oil and Gas I...
        • Red ink flows from Rendell budget
        • PA Bear Hunters Harvest Stands at Fifth Highest So...
        • RNC: Clinton vs. Obama on Foreign Policy
        • Pennsylvania Library Resource Becomes Fastest Grow...
        • States Push for Economic Recovery Package from Con...
        • GOP Heavyweights to Speak at National Gathering o...
        • Free Media Pass for Obama
      • ►  November (146)
      • ►  October (192)
      • ►  September (148)
      • ►  August (125)
      • ►  July (124)
      • ►  June (84)
      • ►  May (92)
      • ►  April (59)
      • ►  March (12)
      • ►  February (5)
      • ►  January (9)
    • ►  2007 (120)
      • ►  December (10)
      • ►  November (9)
      • ►  October (10)
      • ►  September (10)
      • ►  August (5)
      • ►  July (12)
      • ►  June (11)
      • ►  May (13)
      • ►  April (8)
      • ►  March (11)
      • ►  February (10)
      • ►  January (11)
    • ►  2006 (189)
      • ►  December (12)
      • ►  November (16)
      • ►  October (14)
      • ►  September (16)
      • ►  August (16)
      • ►  July (16)
      • ►  June (34)
      • ►  May (20)
      • ►  April (12)
      • ►  March (16)
      • ►  February (9)
      • ►  January (8)
    • ►  2005 (16)
      • ►  December (14)
      • ►  November (2)

    Copyright © 2005-2012, THE CENTRIST, All Rights Reserved.



    Please feel free to post comments on any of the essays.
    It is easier than it looks.



    Email Me

    BREAKING NEWS

    Quotations of Note





    "We make war that we may live in peace."
    --Aristotle



    "I exhort you never to debase the moral currency or to lower the
    standard of rectitude, but to try others by the final maxim that
    governs your own lives, and to suffer no man and no cause to escape
    the undying penalty which history has the power to inflict on wrong."
    --Lord Acton



    "Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the
    highest political end...liberty is the only object which benefits all
    alike, and provokes no sincere opposition...The danger is not that a
    particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern...
    Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
    --Lord Acton



    "It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry,
    Peace, Peace--but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from
    the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the
    field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life
    so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it,
    Almighty God! I know not what course others may take;
    but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"
    --Patrick Henry



    "These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine
    patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now,
    deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we
    have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."
    --Thomas Paine





    "The way to secure liberty is to place it in the people's hands, that is,
    to give them the power at all times to defend it in the legislature and
    in the courts of justice"
    --John Adams




    "Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will
    within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I
    do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often
    but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights
    of the individual."
    --Thomas Jefferson




    "No man has a natural right to commit aggression on the equal rights of
    another, and this is all from which the laws ought to restrain himâ?¦the idea
    is quite unfounded that on entering into society we give up any natural rights."
    --Thomas Jefferson



    "An honest man can feel no pleasure in the exercise of power over his
    fellow citizens."
    --Thomas Jefferson



    "The protection of our citizens, the spirit and honor of our country, require
    that force should be interposed to a certain degree."
    --Thomas Jefferson



    "To draw around the whole nation the strength of the General Government
    as a barrier against foreign foes... is [one of the] functions of the General Government on which [our citizens] have a right to call."
    --Thomas Jefferson



    "It is our duty still to endeavor to avoid war; but if it shall actually
    take place, no matter by whom brought on, we must defend ourselves. If our house be on fire, without
    inquiring whether it was fired from within or without, we must try to extinguish it."
    --Thomas Jefferson



    "I am ever unwilling that [peace] should be disturbed as long as
    the rights and interests of the nations can be preserved. But whensoever hostile aggressions on these
    require a resort to war, we must meet our duty and convince the world that we are
    just friends and brave enemies."
    --Thomas Jefferson



    "By nature's law, man is at peace with man till some aggression is
    committed, which, by the same law, authorizes one to destroy another as
    his enemy."
    --Thomas Jefferson



    "I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against
    every form of tyranny over the mind of man."
    --Thomas Jefferson



    "Our duty to ourselves, to posterity, and to mankind, call on us
    by every motive which is sacred or honorable, to watch over the safety of our beloved country
    during the troubles which agitate and convulse the residue of the world, and to sacrifice to
    that all personal and local considerations."
    --Thomas Jefferson



    "It is an essential attribute of the jurisdiction of every country
    to preserve peace, to punish acts in breach of it, and to restore property taken by force within
    its limits."
    --Thomas Jefferson



    "By nature's law, man is at peace with man till some aggression
    is committed, which, by the same law, authorizes one to destroy another
    as his enemy."
    --Thomas Jefferson



    "Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy,
    and I wish we may be permitted to pursue it. But the temper and folly of our enemies may
    not leave this in our choice."
    --Thomas Jefferson



    "We must indeed all hang together, or, most assuredly,
    we shall all hang separately."
    --Benjamin Franklin



    "I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people
    by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent
    and sudden usurpations."
    --James Madison



    "Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without
    it nothing can succeed."
    --Abraham Lincoln



    "At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we
    fortify against it? Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a
    blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted)
    in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a
    track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years. At what point, then, is the approach of danger to be expected?
    I answer, if it ever reach us it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot,
    we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time,
    or die by suicide."
    --Abraham Lincoln



    "The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from the
    support of a cause we believe to be just; it shall not deter me."
    --Abraham Lincoln



    "Property is the fruit of labor...property is desirable...is a positive
    good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and hence is just encouragement
    to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another; but let him labor
    diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall
    be safe from violence when built."
    --Abraham Lincoln



    "We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean
    the same thing. With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and
    the product of his labor; while with others, the same word many mean for some men to do as they please
    with other men, and the product of other men's labor. Here are two, not only different, but incompatible
    things, called by the same name - liberty. And it follows that each of the things is, by the respective
    parties, called by two different and incompatible names -
    liberty and tyranny."
    --Abraham Lincoln



    "If all do not join now to save the good old ship of the Union this voyage
    nobody will have a chance to pilot her on another voyage."
    --Abraham Lincoln



    "It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points
    out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
    The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust
    and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again;
    who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause;
    who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at worst,
    if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with
    those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
    --Theodore Roosevelt



    "Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs,
    even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy
    much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that
    knows not victory nor defeat."
    --Theodore Roosevelt



    "The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth
    of private power to a point where it comes stronger than their democratic
    state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism - ownership of government by
    an individual, by a group."
    --Franklin D. Roosevelt



    "War has been waged against us by stealth and deceit and murder.
    This nation is peaceful, but fierce when stirred to anger. This conflict was begun on the
    timing and terms of others. It will end in a way, and at an hour,
    of our choosing."
    --George W. Bush



    "When the conduct of men is designed to be influenced, persuasion, kind unassuming persuasion, should ever be adopted. It is an old and true maxim that 'a drop of honey catches more flies
    than a gallon of gall.' So with men. If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him
    that you are his sincere friend. Therein is a drop of honey that catches his heart, which, say
    what he will, is the great highroad to his reason, and which, once gained, you will find but little trouble in convincing him of the justice of your cause, if indeed that cause is really
    a good one."
    --Abraham Lincoln



    "To arrive at a just estimate of a renowned man's character one must judge
    it by the standards of his time, not ours."
    --Mark Twain



    "It is with trifles and when he is off guard that a man best
    reveals his character."
    --Arthur Schopenhauer



    "When men speak ill of thee, live
    so as nobody may believe them."
    --Plato



    "He that has light within his own clear breast may sit in the center,
    and enjoy bright day: But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts benighted walks under the
    mid-day sun."
    --John Milton



    "Character consists of what you do on the third
    and fourth tries."
    --James A. Michener



    "We should be too big to take offense and too noble to
    give it."
    --Abraham Lincoln



    "I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the
    content of their character."
    --Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.



    "A man's character is his guardian divinity."
    --Heraclitus



    "Character develops itself in the stream of life."
    --Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe



    "Do what you know and perception is converted into character."
    --Ralph Waldo Emerson



    "Of all the properties which belong to honorable men, not one is so
    highly prized as that of character."
    --Henry Clay