Chamblee54

A blond went to the post office to buy stamps for her Christmas cards.
She asked the clerk for fifty Christmas stamps. The clerk asked, ‘What denomination?’ The blond exclaimed ‘God help us, Has it come to this? Give me 6 Catholic, 12 Presbyterian, 10 Lutheran and 22 Baptist!’ Thank you blackcordelias.
Speaking of blond jokes, here is more evidence that global warming is real. Thank you Scent.
PG got an email with a slide show yesterday. The show was about the holocaust, and how we need to remember it. The last slide encouraged you to spread the message, and to translate if necessary. PG is tempted to make a snarky translation, but agrees with the essential message of the slide show. The devil is in the details.
There are a few corrections that should be made. The show opens with a picture of General/President Dwight Eisenhower. It seems like General Eisenhower wanted pictures to be made of the concentration camps, as they were liberated. The story goes “On April 4, 1945, elements of the United States Army’s 89th Infantry Division and the 4th Armored Division captured the Ohrdruf concentration camp outside the town of Gotha in south central Germany.” The General wanted people to see what was going on, and pictures to be taken. The exact quote ( which is rather different from the slide show) was “I made the visit deliberately, in order to be in a position to give first-hand evidence of these things if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to ‘propaganda.’”
Shortly after this slide, the following statement appears “Recently “The United Kingdom” erased the holocaust from the british school curriculum because it offended “the muslim population beliefs” that the holocaust never took place. Yes, the united kingdom…” According to at least two sources, this simply is not true. PG wonders why a red herring like this was inserted into a presentation about truth and memory.
Later in the slide show, Iran was portrayed as being a nation of holocaust deniers. As the recent street demonstrations in Iran might indicate, the people of that country do not always agree with their leaders. Some are proposing a nuclear attack on Iran. This would result in millions of these brave people dying.
One of the other slides had a time honored quote from Edmund Burke… “All that is needed for evil to succeed is that decent human beings do nothing”.

PG got an email today from Allen Hunt, a radio announcer. The letter had a Christmas message. PG read the story, and heard the ding ding ding of his BS detector. Here is the story.
Merry Christmas! As the wars about the public celebration of Christmas become filled with pettiness and hostility on all sides, be not dismayed. Your celebration of Christmas depends solely on you and nobody else. I heard the story of Oswald Goulter years ago and it reminds me of that simple fact. I am responsible for how I embrace the gift of Christmas.
Oswald Goulter served as an agri-missionary to China. On his way back to the USA for furlough during World War II. His sponsor mission agency gave him a ticket to get home by boat. When Oswald arrived in the port of India, New Delhi, he found boats filled with Jews, housed there to protect their lives from Nazi Germany. The Jewish boats couldn’t land anywhere. They were not accepted or welcome anywhere at the time
Oswald went to see them and said, “Merry Christmas!”
“We’re Jewish,” they responded.
“I know, I know. But what would you like for Christmas. Merry Christmas!”
“Don’t you understand? We are JEWISH.”
“Merry Christmas. What do you want?”
To get rid of this nuisance, they said, “How about some German pastry? That sure would be grand.”
Oswald scoured the city until he found a bakery that made German pastry. Oswald sold his ticket for home to get money to purchase some pastry. He went back to the boat and shared it with them.
As he spoke about this experience later in one of his supporting churches, a very prim member of the congregation stood and asked, “Why did you do that? They were Jewish. They don’t even believe in Jesus.”
“I know,” Oswald replied, “but I do.”
PG sent a reply to the original email. This post is being written an hour later, so it is not unreasonable that Mr. Hunt has not replied.
Allen do you have any proof that Oswald Goulter existed? This story seems a bit far fetched. I googled Oswald Goulter, and all I see is the same story told over and over.
Why did he go to India? This is over the Himalayan mountains, or around Vietnam. Couldn’t he do just as well in North Asia, or even Russia?
When did this incident happen? There are mixed indications in the versions I read, and no exact dates. If this was after WW2, then maybe the restrictions about admitting Jews would start to loosen up.
Why German pastries? After all that the German people had done to them, this seems a bit strange.
There are hundreds of real, verifiable Christmas stories out there. This one seems a bit fishy.
After sending the email, PG hunkered down in the google.(Snopes never heard of Oswald Goulter) It seems that Oswald John Goulter was born June 22, 1890 in Oklahoma. He died in March 1985, in Santa Clara California. He was interviewed in 1971 as part of a project involving missionaries to China. “This interview supplements the account of Goulter’s life in Wilfred Powell’s Scattered Seed. Mr. Goulter portrays the disruption in Chinese life in the area of Lu-chou (Hofei) in Anhwei province during the years 1922 to 1951. He tells how the Communists were able to take advantage of the disorder caused by warlords and bandits and the Japanese invasion to drive the nationalists from power. He also discusses his conception of practical Christianity and its applicability in China.”
There is another story about Mr. Goulter. After the communist takeover, Mr. Goulter and his wife, Irene, were taken into custody. Mr. Goulter was beaten repeatedly, but refused to renounce his faith. Finally he was released (or, in some versions, escaped). This imprisonment is generally agreed to be three years long, and if he left in 1951, that would be consistent with the time line of the communist takeover.
In the Hunt version of the story, Oswald Goulter left during World War 2.
This does not answer the question of why Mr. Goulter would go to India, before America. It also does not account for the appearance of the Jews in India, six years after the end of World War 2. It should also be noted that India was in chaos, with the advent of Independence and the partition. Would they have Jews hiding in the city?
There is a book about Oswald Goulter, “Scattered Seed; the story of the Oswald Goulters, missionaries in China 1922-51 “. PG does not know if it discusses German pastries.

There is one less man on death row in Georgia. The state did not even have to cook a last meal.
Timothy Woodrow Pruitt tried to hang himself on November 19. He died on December 6. ( PG is puzzled why it would take 17 days for a botched suicide to have the desired effect). When announcing his demise, the Department of Corrections referred to an “alleged suicide attempt” that is under investigation.
Mr. Pruitt was convicted of stabbing and strangling a ten year old girl who lived next door. More details are here.
By remarkable coincidence, another gruesome murder involving a young girl was *allegedly* committed by a man named Pruitt. As the Augusta Chronicle tells the tale “Mark Anthony Pruitt, 32, was sentenced to death in September 1987 in Pulaski County for the Montgomery County killing of 5-year-old Charise Walker. The girl was found raped, sodomized and beaten Nov. 15, 1986, when she disappeared from home. Charise, who’s skull was fractured and leg broken, died a short time later. Mr. Pruitt was seen coming out of the woods where Charise was found. He wasn’t wearing any pants and had blood on him. Mr. Pruitt has been awaiting a new sentencing trial on the issue of mental retardation since September 1994.”
More details are here, if you really want to know. Mark Anthony Pruitt was originally sentenced to death. His sentence has been modified to life in prison without parole.

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2010, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere . Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wish. This holiday wish does not represent the views of and is not endorsed by this website, webmaster or any affiliated subsidiaries thereof.
The information transmitted is intended solely for the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of or taking action in reliance upon this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you have received this email in error please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer. E-Mail is not a secure medium and should not be used to communicate confidential or personal information.
This greeting is borrowed from JoemyG-d, who received it from “Scott”.

Representatives from nations around the world are meeting this week in Copenhagen to discuss global warming. There is reason to believe that whatever comes out of this meeting will be a compromise, and will not have any effect on the problem.
Some do not think there is a problem. The science ( which PG does not claim to understand) involves millions of factors. One of the indications of the “climategate” controversy is the vast amount of data involved, and the difficulties of processing this information.
When you believe that there is no problem, and that global warming is a scam designed to weaken capitalist countries, you believe what you want to believe.
TomDispatch posted a feature today from the pessimist side. A money quote “The best human analog to the role physics is playing here may be fascism in the middle of the last century. There was no appeasing it, no making a normal political issue out of it. You had to decide to go all in, to transform the industrial base of the country to fight it, to put other things on hold, to demand sacrifice.”
Sixty Eight years ago today, Japan attacked the United States. It was a before and after moment, and America was committed, overnight, to the struggle against Japan and Germany. We did win, at an appalling cost. ( Included in this cost were hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties, and Communist domination of East Europe.)
Even if…a big if…we were to make this sort of commitment to fight global warming, there will be a cost. The energy happy lifestyle so cherished by the west may be a thing of the past. It is easier to make jokes on talk radio.

At some point in the magic book, Jesus tells a story. They call it a parable, which means it is a made up story, with a lesson attached.
In this story, a man asks his father for his inheritance in advance. The man takes this wealth and blows it on wild living. Before long, the money runs out, and the man is in bad shape. He humbly goes back to his father, who says this is my son who has returned, but a ring on his finger. The father has a celebration for the return of his son. (PG is not a magic book scholar, and may have a few details out of place. The gist of the story is intact.)
As this story is being written, there is a football game at the Georgia Dome. A hotel motel tax pays for the facility, and beer commercials on tv pay for the players. Today, the visiting team is the Philadelphia Eagles. Number Seven for the Eagles is Mike Vick.
Mike Vick used to play for the local team, the Falcons. The owner of the Falcons is a former merchant named Rankin Blank. Mike Vick was the most exciting player in recent memory, and Rankin Blank rewarded him handsomely.
Mike Vick did not blow his wealth on fancy living, although there were some high times. Instead, Mr. Vick decided to raise dogs.These animals kill each other, as a spectator sport. Mr.Vick got caught, went to prison, left the Falcons and joined the Eagles.
Today the Prodigal Son returned to Rankin Blank, who did not put a ring on Mike Vick’s finger. In the NFL, you have to earn your ring, and it is likely to be a long time before Rankin Blank earns a ring.
Mike Vick did score a touchdown, and throw a touchdown pass. The Falcons probably will not have a winning season this year.

Dictionary says pro is the opposite of con.
Will Rogers said the opposite of progress is congress.
Is the opposite of a protest, a contest?
Is the opposite of a profession, a confession?
Is it profound that this would confound?
It is a profusion of confusion.

PG was looking for something to write about, and saw lots of options. The Georgia Republican party is in moral free fall. The debate on climate change was resisting easy answers. PG decided to edit some pictures, when he saw a bumper sticker…”Those who forget Vietnam are condemned to repeat it”.
PG was in grammar school during the escalation of that undeclared war. As the mood of the nation turned against the war, PG moved on to high school. The “Peace with Honor” agreement was signed before he got a draft lottery number.
There was a lot of bitter debate about Vietnam. As the light at the end of the tunnel got dimmer and dimmer, it became obvious that there were no good choices. It is a lot easier to start a war than it is to end one.
Listening to the talk today, and comparing it to what he heard forty years ago, PG wonders if it was the same war. “The only reason we lost in Vietnam is because they wouldn’t let our troops win”. How many more of our men would have died, and how many more Vietnamese would have died, if “they” would have “let our troops win”? And what would victory have looked like? As it stands now, 58,000 American soldiers ( a substantial percentage of whom were drafted) died, as well as untold millions of Vietnamese men, women, and children.
The reason many today do not remember Vietnam was because they never knew it to begin with. Much of what was told in the press was lies. Much of what has been repeated is filtered through layers of rhetoric. And now, we find ourselves in two wars.
BHO was born in 1961. From 1967 to 1971, he lived in Indonesia. ( Which is closer to Vietnam than Hawaii). What he heard about the war is probably in one of his books. The point is, BHO has not forgotten Vietnam, because he probably did not know much. BHO is now sending 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan.
George W. Bush made the initial commitments to Afghanistan and Iraq. He was in the Texas Air National Guard during Vietnam. In that war, men were drafted into service. You were told that either you went onto the service, or you went to jail. One of the alternatives to active duty was the National Guard.
George W. Bush did not go to Vietnam, unlike Al Gore and John Kerry. Did he knew enough, about Vietnam to forget ?

The ideas below are a goal to strive for. PG does not claim to live up to this. The point is not to point out how others do not practice compassion, but to try to do so yourself.
Compassion is a practice thing, not a belief thing. It doesn’t matter what you believe, what you were taught, what your opinion is. What matters is how you treat your fellow human being. We are all G-d’s children, and worthy of kindness.
PG found the charter for compassion on facebook. Thank you Martin Isganitus.
The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.
It is also necessary in both public and private life to refrain consistently and empathically from inflicting pain. To act or speak violently out of spite, chauvinism, or self-interest, to impoverish, exploit or deny basic rights to anybody, and to incite hatred by denigrating others—even our enemies—is a denial of our common humanity. We acknowledge that we have failed to live compassionately and that some have even increased the sum of human misery in the name of religion.
We therefore call upon all men and women ~ to restore compassion to the centre of morality and religion ~ to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate ~ to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures ~ to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity ~ to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings—even those regarded as enemies.
We urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensible to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community.

PG has always sensed something a bit off about Tiger Woods. The golf course dominance ( dynasties are no fun), the walking billboard/mr. nike routine, it is all rather boring. (He has the nike logo tattooed THERE?)The fact that PG heard a hateful co worker go off about Fuzzy Zoeller did not help.
The news of the car crash was not welcomed. No matter how annoyed by a person PG is, he does not want bad things to happen to them. But then the details of the wreck started to leak, and silly season started.
He runs into a fire hydrant at 2:30 in the morning. The police don’t think he needs to be tested for alcohol. If that had been you or me, there would have been a balloon blowing up.
The best part was the bit about his wife breaking into the rear window with a golf club. The rear windows of modern vehicles are tough stuff, reinforced and chemically treated. To break a hole in one would take a sledge hammer, and serious muscle. Yes, his wife is a Scandinavian hunkette, but this is still far fetched.
OK, so his private life has a few flaws, and the star struck police are enabling him. But what about his corporate super image? It seems there are a few flies in the soup there.
Mr. Woods is not participating in “his” tournament next week. The tournament is co sponsored by Chevron oil, the descendant of the Rockefeller line. Chevron is a multinational oil company, and its hands are not clean. Environmental complaints and shady deals with dictators are the order of the day. Yes, the oil needs to come through to drive our vehicles ( with or without a rear window). Companies like Chevron like to burnish their image by partnerships with groups like the Tiger Woods tax write off “Foundation”. For a price, Mr. Woods is happy to rent his good name to companies like Chevron.
The latest turmoil to the world financial markets is the prospect of a debt default by Dubai. The desert playground was built with exploited foreign workers, and has numerous skeletons in the closet. Dubai is the site of a Tiger Woods “designed” golf course. ( Blueprint runner PG has always wondered how much input these PGA guys have on these golf courses they “design”.) Here again, the pristine image of Tiger Woods is the public face of a squalid operation.