From Adam Tiffen: The dirt road cuts between two farms, dividing the fields of pale green scrub brush and tall willowy palms. On either side of the road, deep canals run north to south, the murky water slowly filtering through the muddy silt and reeds. A yellow brick wall borders the north side of the road, defining the property line of one of the small farms and curving…
I could never bring myself to forward all the email jokes, cartoons and other Internet comedy that land in my inbox. But then I started posting the ones my dad sends me. Judging from my comments and emails, my dad has become one of my greatest blogging assets. So for your morning blog chuckle I present: From My Dad.
Only 12 days until Christmas…
Q: What nationality is Santa Claus?
A: North Polish.
Q: Why does Santa’s sled get such good mileage?
A: Because it has long-distance runners on each side.
Last evening the Cleveland Heights Socrates Café group met. We asked: Are cults different from religions and if they are, how are they different? The question was prompted by Mitt Romney’s high profile as a 2008 presidential candidate. What followed was one of the best and far-ranging conversations we’ve ever had.
I think that there was a watershed of sorts in the ’60s as regards cults and the use of that word as pejorative. Before we baby boomers became infatuated with finding ourselves, mainstream religions had outriders, but they generally fell into two groups: heretics and loonies. (Of course there was also the issue of one mainstream religion considering another mainstream religion a cult.)
Of particular interest to me were the markers we agreed upon that could be used to identify cults.
The first was size. Certainly cults such as the Branch Davidians or Hale Bopers were small. One participant suggested that the number 150 was discussed in Freakonomics as a tipping point for controllable small groups.
The second was secrecy. A cult has esoteric knowledge that is only revealed to the the few. In some cases this may be information that is doled out to members as they rise in the organization.
The third was the use of coercion and intimidation to control members.
The fourth was the use of sex, either the granting or denial of, as a tool of control.
So, what do you think?
My name is Jeff Hess and I’m a biblioholic. I own hundreds of books. Not valuable books, mostly Science Fiction paperbacks and text books, tomes rescued by the bag from library book sales. A few years ago, in the interest of not burying myself, I began reading more books from the library and taking notes. My electronic chapbook was born.
This is a passage I copied from A Charlestonian”s Recollections 1846-1913 by Daniel Elliot Huger Smith.
… but for the terror inspired by the KKK life for the white man and white woman would have become impossible in the rural sections of the South. For it must be borne in mind that neither under martial law, nor under the carpet-bag government that followed, could the whites hope to find any justice or protection from the misuse of executive or judicial authority. p. 139
From SGT “Roy Batty”: It is dusk, one of the few times of the day that Iraq seems like something other than the fifth level of Hell. The sky above is a pale cocktail blue, brightening to a washed-out yellow before sinking into a dust-brown shading of smog and sand just above the horizon. The air is cool, refreshing, now that the demon sun has dropped below the…
I could never bring myself to forward all the email jokes, cartoons and other Internet comedy that land in my inbox. But then I started posting the ones my dad sends me. Judging from my comments and emails, my dad has become one of my greatest blogging assets. So for your morning blog chuckle I present: From My Dad.
Only 13 days until Christmas…
Q: What was wrong with the boy’s brand new toy electric train set he received for Christmas?
A: Forty feet of track – all straight!
Q: What kind of bird can write?
A: A PENguin.
Representative Dennis Kucinich intends to announce his canidacy for the 2008 presidential race today. I didn’t pay much attention to Kucincich in 2004, but I’m personally so fed up with the Democratic party (even after this year’s gains) that I’m willing to consider going for the radical shift to wake people up.
With apologies to Ignatius Donnelly here’s a reasonable stating of the case.
The conditions which surround us best justify our cooperation; we meet in the midst of a nation brought to the verge of moral, political, and material ruin. Corruption dominates the ballot-box, the Legislatures, the Congress, and touches even the ermine of the bench.
The people are demoralized; most of the States have been compelled to isolate the voters at the polling places to prevent universal intimidation and bribery. The newspapers are largely subsidized or muzzled, public opinion silenced, business prostrated, homes covered with mortgages, labor impoverished, and the land concentrating in the hands of the uber wealthy.
The urban workers are denied the right to organize for self-protection, imported pauperized labor beats down their wages, a hireling standing army, unrecognized by our laws, is established to shoot them down, and they are rapidly degenerating into European conditions.
The fruits of the toil of millions are badly stolen to build up colossal fortunes for a few, unprecedented in the history of mankind; and the possessors of these, in turn, despise the Republic and endanger liberty. From the same prolific womb of governmental injustice we breed the two great classes-tramps and billionaires.
A vast conspiracy against mankind has been organized on two continents, and it is rapidly taking possession of the world. If not met and overthrown at once it forebodes terrible social convulsions, the destruction of civilization, or the establishment of an absolute despotism.
We have witnessed for more than a quarter of a century the struggles of the two great political parties for power and plunder, while grievous wrongs have been inflicted upon the suffering people. We charge that the controlling influences dominating both these parties have permitted the existing dreadful conditions to develop without serious effort to prevent or restrain them.
Assembled on the anniversary of the birthday of the nation, and filled with the spirit of the grand general and chief who established our independence, we seek to restore the government of the Republic to the hands of the ”plain people,” with which class it originated.
We assert our purposes to be identical with the purposes of the National Constitution; to form a more perfect union and establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity.
One-hundred and four years, many deaths and precious won gains later, there remains much to do. Can Dennis do it? Probably not, but at least he’s talking and it is all about the conversation.
My name is Jeff Hess and I’m a biblioholic. I own hundreds of books. Not valuable books, mostly Science Fiction paperbacks and text books, tomes rescued by the bag from library book sales. A few years ago, in the interest of not burying myself, I began reading more books from the library and taking notes. My electronic chapbook was born.
This is a passage I copied from A Charlestonian”s Recollections 1846-1913 by Daniel Elliot Huger Smith.
Caucasian League. p. 139
From Teflon Don: I am a Combat Engineer, one of a few thousand American soldiers lucky enough to be tasked with making a new mission work for the Army. That mission is route clearance. Remember those roadside bombs you hear about? Our job is to go looking for them, and destroy or neutralize them before they can hurt other troops or innocent Iraqis. It’s a…
I could never bring myself to forward all the email jokes, cartoons and other Internet comedy that land in my inbox. But then I started posting the ones my dad sends me. Judging from my comments and emails, my dad has become one of my greatest blogging assets. So for your morning blog chuckle I present: From My Dad.
Only 14 days until Christmas…
Q: What do you get when you cross an archer with a gift-wrapper?
A: Ribbon hood.
Q: Why do birds fly south for the winter ?
A: Because it’s to far to walk.
My name is Jeff Hess and I’m a biblioholic. I own hundreds of books. Not valuable books, mostly Science Fiction paperbacks and text books, tomes rescued by the bag from library book sales. A few years ago, in the interest of not burying myself, I began reading more books from the library and taking notes. My electronic chapbook was born.
This is a passage I copied from A Charlestonian”s Recollections 1846-1913 by Daniel Elliot Huger Smith.
The cotton tax was 3 cents per pound. p. 138
From CAPT Lee Kelley: A couple of days ago I went to the Government Center in downtown Ramadi. This is where the governor has his office, and the local tribal leaders and sheiks meet and do business. I drove down with my Battalion Commander, LTC M (the boss), and his PSD (personal security detail) which consists of SGT C and Specialist T. I didn”t have…
I could never bring myself to forward all the email jokes, cartoons and other Internet comedy that land in my inbox. But then I started posting the ones my dad sends me. Judging from my comments and emails, my dad has become one of my greatest blogging assets. So for your morning blog chuckle I present: From My Dad.
Only 15 days until Christmas…
Q: Why does Santa have 3 gardens?
A: So he can ho-ho-ho.
Q: Where do polar bears vote?
A: The North Poll.
My name is Jeff Hess and I’m a biblioholic. I own hundreds of books. Not valuable books, mostly Science Fiction paperbacks and text books, tomes rescued by the bag from library book sales. A few years ago, in the interest of not burying myself, I began reading more books from the library and taking notes. My electronic chapbook was born.
This is a passage I copied from A Charlestonian”s Recollections 1846-1913 by Daniel Elliot Huger Smith.
I believe I remember the charges on what was called the broker”s invoice:
Bagging and mending 15¢ per bale.
Shipping and marking 10¢ per bale.
Drayage 10¢ per bale.
Reweighing 10¢ per bale.
Wharfage 6¢ per bale.
Shipping Permit Brokerage ½% p. 137
From Nicole Powell-Dunford: On the 10th of December, the 25th Infantry Division is running the 2006 Honolulu Marathon at COB Speicher, Iraq. Our first deployed marathon was during our last tour together in Tarin Kowt, Afghanistan. This year’s combat marathon is very special to us because we are partnering with TAPS/Tragedy Assistance Program for…
I could never bring myself to forward all the email jokes, cartoons and other Internet comedy that land in my inbox. But then I started posting the ones my dad sends me. Judging from my comments and emails, my dad has become one of my greatest blogging assets. So for your morning blog chuckle I present: From My Dad.
Only 16 days until Christmas…
Q: What do you get when you cross a snowman with a vampire?
A: Frostbite.
Q: Why was Santa’s little helper depressed?
A: Because he had low elf esteem.
My name is Jeff Hess and I’m a biblioholic. I own hundreds of books. Not valuable books, mostly Science Fiction paperbacks and text books, tomes rescued by the bag from library book sales. A few years ago, in the interest of not burying myself, I began reading more books from the library and taking notes. My electronic chapbook was born.
This is a passage I copied from A Charlestonian”s Recollections 1846-1913 by Daniel Elliot Huger Smith.
Public opinion was no longer formulated by an educated and broad-visioned group, but by the uneducated men of the pine-ridges and by the cross-roads” shop-keepers. These soon found demagogues to teach them that good manners and culture were the signs of “aristocracy” and that from the circle of “one-gallus” men [I have to use this phrase someplace. JH] came the true public opinion which should govern men, manners and morals. p. 136
From A Nurse: As the month of December marches on, I sit here and remember past holiday seasons and the fun I had when, joined by other nurses, doctors and technicians, we all played Santa for our Soldiers and Marines. It brought me such joy to see the look on one Soldier’s face when I walked in his room with brightly wrapped Christmas presents. He had lost…
I could never bring myself to forward all the email jokes, cartoons and other Internet comedy that land in my inbox. But then I started posting the ones my dad sends me. Judging from my comments and emails, my dad has become one of my greatest blogging assets. So for your morning blog chuckle I present: From My Dad.
Only 17 days until Christmas…
Q: What do elves learn in school?
A: The Elf-abet!
Q: If athletes get athletes foot, what do astronauts get?
A: Missletoe!
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