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Topics - Warph

#1
Politics / THIS DAY IN HISTORY....
April 13, 2016, 04:43:26 AM


APRIL 12,1861
The Civil War Begins



The bloodiest four years in American history begin when Confederate shore batteries under General P.G.T. Beauregard open fire on Union-held Fort Sumter in South Carolina's Charleston Bay. During the next 34 hours, 50 Confederate guns and mortars launched more than 4,000 rounds at the poorly supplied fort. On April 13, U.S. Major Robert Anderson surrendered the fort. Two days later, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for 75,000 volunteer soldiers to quell the Southern "insurrection."

As early as 1858, the ongoing conflict between North and South over the issue of slavery had led Southern leadership to discuss a unified separation from the United States. By 1860, the majority of the slave states were publicly threatening secession if the Republicans, the anti-slavery party, won the presidency. Following Republican Abraham Lincoln's victory over the divided Democratic Party in November 1860, South Carolina immediately initiated secession proceedings. On December 20, the South Carolina legislature passed the "Ordinance of Secession," which declared that "the Union now subsisting between South Carolina and other states, under the name of the United States of America, is hereby dissolved." After the declaration, South Carolina set about seizing forts, arsenals, and other strategic locations within the state. Within six weeks, five more Southern states–Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana–had followed South Carolina's lead.

In February 1861, delegates from those states convened to establish a unified government. Jefferson Davis of Mississippi was subsequently elected the first president of the Confederate States of America. When Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated on March 4, 1861, a total of seven states (Texas had joined the pack) had seceded from the Union, and federal troops held only Fort Sumter in South Carolina, Fort Pickens off the Florida coast, and a handful of minor outposts in the South. Four years after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, the Confederacy was defeated at the total cost of 620,000 Union and Confederate soldiers dead.

#2
Miscellaneous / True Stupid Stories
December 13, 2015, 01:06:30 AM

By DOC

All the stories are true.

You cannot make this sh!t up!


The earlier stories (1-6) were originally written as posts to an AOL bulletin board, and were never really intended for public consumption. The adventures described herein are those of a twisted, immature individual. So if you are overly self-righteous, under 18, or just an a$$hole to begin with, don't even read these, much less e-mail me about them. I KNOW they suck, hence the name of the website. Thanks.

"I wonder why stories of degradation and humiliation make you more popular."
- Homer Simpson
"I dunno. They just do."
- Moe Syzlak


Unspeakably Stupid Story #1:
"The Angry Bail Bondsman"

From 1989 until 1994, I had this really nice '89 Honda Prelude. It was the most reliable, well-built car I ever owned, which is saying a lot, because I have owned four Lexii. However, there were two problems with the car. One, it was slow. It had the biggest engine you could get in a Honda, but the automatic tranny made it a snail-mobile. Two, I couldn't take it out of my garage without someone getting mad and flipping me off. I guess it was the appearance of the car -- it was fire-engine red, with an aftermarket wing, tinted windows, custom wheels & tires, $3000 worth of stereo, and a license plate which bore my actual first name. Change lanes? Get flipped off. Merge into traffic? Get flipped off. Run a yellow light? Get flipped off. It became tiresome.

Anyway, one day in 1991, I was driving to work. I was patiently waiting for my turn to use the on-ramp when some type-A jerk in a gold Mercedes sedan decides HE'S not going to wait, he needs to cut into the line NOW, and furthermore, I'm the guy who's going to let him in line in front of me. Sorry, Charlie, no such luck. The guy behind me lets him cut in though, so now the guy is PISSED and he's behind me. Once on the freeway, I change to the left lane, and Mr. Dickhead in the Merc has already changed lanes and is RIGHT BEHIND ME and now he's really pissed because of course I pulled into the left lane right in front of him, winning our little race in a cheesy Honda although he's got Teutonic iron that I am supposed to respect and even be intimidated by.

So this moron FOLLOWS ME ALL THE WAY TO WORK. Once I park, he pops out of his Merc. The guy is big, and in his forties. He stands over top of my car as I climb out, briefcase in hand. I figure the guy is going to take a swing at me, but no! He decides to joust with me verbally. Heh. As you might expect, everything he says gets shoved right back in his face with an offensively flippant remark as I walk to the little shop where I still work to this day. Finally realizing that I am not intimidated, he heads back for his car, but before climbing in, he makes some derogatory schoolyard remark about my nose (!) that I haven't heard since the 10th grade (remember this guy is in his FORTIES). As I open the door to the shop and step inside, I say "Wah! Sore loser."

So NOW the a**hole is REALLY PISSED. He walks into the shop, asks if I'm the owner. No. He wants to talk to the owner. By now, Fred (the boss) is already coming out of his office. Mr. Dickhead tries to convince Fred that I am a reckless driver, but Fred responds by telling the guy to get the hell out of here. The guy calls Fred a few choice names and leaves, madder than ever. Fred and I have a good laugh over it, recalling that the guy (for whatever reason) told Fred that he is "in the bail bonds business" during the course of their argument. So we look up "bail bonds" in the phone book and sure enough, the guy's name (Jim French) and picture are all over the yellow pages! Turns out he owns the biggest bail bonds business in the town I live in, and has about 3 or 4 solid pages of ads in the phone book! We laugh our asses off at this.

Then, a few months later, in the local paper:

James Robert French, 47, of 8708 N.W. Lakecrest Ave., is to appear for arraignment this morning for SEVEN COUNTS OF CHILD MOLESTATION/CHILD RAPE and is wanted in California for another two charges of sexual assault. The alleged victims in both Washington and California are close relatives. French, who owns Clark County Bail Bonds, allegedly assaulted the victim over a five-year period.

I sure hope he can find some bail bonds.

ADDENDUM:

The following article appeared in the Portland, Oregon Oregonian on November 17, 1995:

VANCOUVER, Wash. -
A fugitive warrant has been issued for James R. French, who was convicted Tuesday in Clark County Superior Court of sexually abusing his stepdaughter.
He was found guilty of two counts of first-degree rape of a child and three counts of second-degree rape of a child. The abuse began when the girl was 8. She now is 16.
French, 47, had been free on bail pending sentencing, which had been scheduled for Thursday. He owns Clark County Bail Bonds and similar businesses in six other states.
Rod Frederiksen, Vancouver police chief, said sources told authorities that French was headed to Mexico or Arizona. He reportedly was traveling alone. French is described as 6 feet 6 inches, 250 pounds, with blue eyes and brown hair. He may be driving a white Land Rover, a gold Mercedes or a 1995 Mitsubishi Quest minivan.

A later report mentioned that he always carries a gun.

Jim French. What an a**hole!
This is Jim French. If you see him, call the police.



UPDATE!

October 15, 2003 - Jim French captured in Mazatlan, Mexico


This a**hole was finally caught after eight years in Mexico. Note the following paragraph that appeared in the Vancouver, WA Columbian on October 15, 2003:

"Clark County Sheriff's Sgt. Dave Trimble said acquaintances of French's in Mexico grew suspicious of French -- Trimble didn't know why -- and started checking into his background. They traced French back to Clark County and alerted both the sheriff's office and the Vancouver office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation."

A couple of months ago, a reader wrote me to ask if Unspeakably Stupid Story #1, The Angry Bail Bondsman, was really true. She had tried to find out more about Jim French by looking up his name (James R. French) on the search engines, and came up with nothing. I tried it myself, and sure enough, the case was so old that there was virtually nothing about him anywhere on the Web -- except this page right here, which has always included the attractive mug shot above.

I am wondering if this website helped his acquaintances in Mexico trace him back to Clark County and the fact that he was on the lam.

THAT would be sweet.

Think of me when your new roommate is making sweet love to your hiney, Jim! And let's take it easy on the road rage next time, assuming you can still get a license when you're 80 years old.

UPDATE #2

From The Oregonian, December 23, 2004

Fugitive child rapist set to return


VANCOUVER -- A convicted Clark County child rapist who jumped bail and disappeared nine years ago is expected to return today from Mexico.

James Robert French, 57, is scheduled to arrive at Portland International Airport on a commercial flight from Mexico City and Houston in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, sources close to the case who asked not to be identified said Wednesday. He spent more than a year in a Mexico City jail fighting extradition to the United States.

He will be held in the Clark County Jail.

"We know he'll need protective custody because he's a sex offender," said Joe Dunegan, jail chief for the Clark County Sheriff's Office.

French, a former bail-bond company owner, likely will appear Monday in Superior Court on an accusation of bail jumping, sources said. A new sentencing date for the 1995 conviction could be set.

Jumping bail is a class B felony, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.

French was arrested on federal fugitive warrants in October 2003 in Mazatlan, where he was using the name Richard Black and operating a currency-exchange business.

In November 1995, a Clark County Superior Court jury convicted French of two counts of first-degree rape of a child, three counts of second-degree rape of a child and one count of first-degree child molestation. The abuse began when the victim was 8 and continued for five years.

French faced as long as 23 years in prison, and his sentencing was set for three days later.

Judge Roger A. Bennett allowed French out on $75,000 bail to complete personal business, believing his ties to the community would ensure his appearance for sentencing. French, who had a 15-year-old son, surrendered his passport and promised to deliver a property bond for his Lakeshore Hills home.

When he failed to show up for sentencing, Bennett issued an arrest warrant.

"I've never had anybody with the local ties and assets that he has split," Bennett said at the time.

French apparently was closing a deal to sell his company during the trial. He sold his interest in Pioneer Bail Bonds Inc., the holding corporation for Clark County Bail Bonds and other bail-bonding operations he started in California, Arizona, Idaho, Utah, Michigan and Ohio.

The business made French wealthy. A November 1992 financial statement showed he had a net worth of more than $1.4 million. His former wife testified that he kept $350,000 to $500,000 in an easily accessible bail fund.

French, however, likely will not be fined in connection with his 1995 conviction. State law provides for a fine of as much as $50,000 for each count, but in an October letter to the U.S. Department of Justice, Bennett said he won't impose a fine.

"For purposes of accomplishing this extradition, I will commit to imposing no fine against Mr. French in this case," Bennett wrote.

Bennett has since removed himself from the case and it has been reassigned to Judge Edwin L. Poyfair.

UPDATE #3

From The Oregonian, May 20, 2005

Bondsman draws term of 16 years for abuse


James French is sentenced to prison nearly a decade after he fled to Mexico to avoid charges of abusing a girl for five years

WENDY OWEN


VANCOUVER--
More than nine years after a jury found him guilty of child rape and molestation, former Vancouver bail bondsman James French heads to prison today.

Equating French to "just this side of one who would commit murder," Superior Court Judge Edwin Poyfair on Thursday sentenced him to 16 years in prison.

A jury found French guilty in 1995 of two counts of first-degree rape of a child, three counts of second-degree rape of a child and one count of first-degree child molestation. The abuse began when the victim was 8 years old and continued for five years.

French, who at the time was a wealthy bail-bond business owner living in the Felida area, was out of jail on $75,000 bond when he fled to Mexico.

He spent about eight years there going by the name Richard Black and running a currency-exchange business until Mexican authorities arrested him on federal fugitive warrants.

He was held for 16 months in a Mexico City jail while he fought extradition to the United States. Federal agents returned French to Vancouver in December.

French's attorney, Sheryl McCloud of Seattle, asked for a more lenient sentence, saying it could be the difference between punishment and a death sentence for her ailing client.

"I ask this court to consider . . . a man who at age 57 is in deteriorating health physically and mentally, who has a complete background, not just a criminal background."

She did not elaborate on his condition.

McCloud also pointed to letters of support from friends and family, and referred to two of French's adult children in the courtroom who still "stand by him," she said.

Shackled at the ankles with five custody officers watching him, French, who consistently has maintained his innocence, stood and apologized.

"I am sorry," he said, in a quiet, shaky voice. "I am sorry."

Poyfair, however, was not lenient. Given the option of between 149 and 198 months, he gave French 192, with credit for his nearly two years served in Mexico and the United States.

"You have taken away a lot from this child, now a young lady," Poyfair said. "You have caused great scarring . . . for your whole family. This court cannot give the least bit of tolerance."

The sentence options could have been longer, but Mexico, as part of its agreement to extradite French to the United States, said he could not be punished for bail jumping.

#4
The Coffee Shop / AGE BRINGS WISDOM
December 06, 2015, 11:12:29 PM



1. I started out with nothing, and I still have most of it.
2. My wild oats have turned into prunes and All Bran.
3. I finally got my head together; now my body is falling apart.
4. Funny, I don't remember being absent minded...
5. All reports are in; Life is now officially unfair.
6. If all is not lost, where is it?
7. It is easier to get older than it is to get wiser.
8. Some days you're the dog; some days you're the hydrant.
9. I wish the buck stopped here; I sure could use a few...
10. Kids in the back seat cause accidents.
11. Accidents in the back seat cause...kids.
12. It's hard to make a comeback when you haven't been anywhere.
13. If God wanted me to touch my toes, he would have put them on my knees.
14. When I'm finally holding all the cards, why does everyone decide to play chess?
15. It's not hard to meet expenses...they're everywhere.
16. The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth.
17. These days, I spend a lot of time thinking about the hereafter ... I go somewhere to get something, and then wonder what I'm here after.
#5
The Good Old Days / To My Old Master
November 19, 2015, 12:22:24 AM

In August of 1865, a Colonel P.H. Anderson of Big Spring, Tennessee, wrote to his former slave, Jourdon Anderson, and requested that he come back to work on his farm. Jourdon — who, since being emancipated, had moved to Ohio, found paid work, and was now supporting his family — responded spectacularly by way of the letter seen below (a letter which, according to newspapers at the time, he dictated).

Rather than quote the numerous highlights in this letter, I'll simply leave you to enjoy it. Do make sure you read to the end.

UPDATE: Head over to Kottke for a brief but lovely little update about the later years of Jourdon and family.
http://kottke.org/12/02/what-happened-to-the-former-slave-that-wrote-his-old-master

(Source: The Freedmen's Book; Image: A group of escaped slaves in Virginia in 1862, courtesy of the Library of Congress.)



Dayton, Ohio,

August 7, 1865

To My Old Master, Colonel P.H. Anderson, Big Spring, Tennessee

Sir: I got your letter, and was glad to find that you had not forgotten Jourdon, and that you wanted me to come back and live with you again, promising to do better for me than anybody else can. I have often felt uneasy about you. I thought the Yankees would have hung you long before this, for harboring Rebs they found at your house. I suppose they never heard about your going to Colonel Martin's to kill the Union soldier that was left by his company in their stable. Although you shot at me twice before I left you, I did not want to hear of your being hurt, and am glad you are still living. It would do me good to go back to the dear old home again, and see Miss Mary and Miss Martha and Allen, Esther, Green, and Lee. Give my love to them all, and tell them I hope we will meet in the better world, if not in this. I would have gone back to see you all when I was working in the Nashville Hospital, but one of the neighbors told me that Henry intended to shoot me if he ever got a chance.

I want to know particularly what the good chance is you propose to give me. I am doing tolerably well here. I get twenty-five dollars a month, with victuals and clothing; have a comfortable home for Mandy,—the folks call her Mrs. Anderson,—and the children—Milly, Jane, and Grundy—go to school and are learning well. The teacher says Grundy has a head for a preacher. They go to Sunday school, and Mandy and me attend church regularly. We are kindly treated. Sometimes we overhear others saying, "Them colored people were slaves" down in Tennessee. The children feel hurt when they hear such remarks; but I tell them it was no disgrace in Tennessee to belong to Colonel Anderson. Many darkeys would have been proud, as I used to be, to call you master. Now if you will write and say what wages you will give me, I will be better able to decide whether it would be to my advantage to move back again.

As to my freedom, which you say I can have, there is nothing to be gained on that score, as I got my free papers in 1864 from the Provost-Marshal-General of the Department of Nashville. Mandy says she would be afraid to go back without some proof that you were disposed to treat us justly and kindly; and we have concluded to test your sincerity by asking you to send us our wages for the time we served you. This will make us forget and forgive old scores, and rely on your justice and friendship in the future. I served you faithfully for thirty-two years, and Mandy twenty years. At twenty-five dollars a month for me, and two dollars a week for Mandy, our earnings would amount to eleven thousand six hundred and eighty dollars. Add to this the interest for the time our wages have been kept back, and deduct what you paid for our clothing, and three doctor's visits to me, and pulling a tooth for Mandy, and the balance will show what we are in justice entitled to. Please send the money by Adams's Express, in care of V. Winters, Esq., Dayton, Ohio. If you fail to pay us for faithful labors in the past, we can have little faith in your promises in the future. We trust the good Maker has opened your eyes to the wrongs which you and your fathers have done to me and my fathers, in making us toil for you for generations without recompense. Here I draw my wages every Saturday night; but in Tennessee there was never any pay-day for the negroes any more than for the horses and cows. Surely there will be a day of reckoning for those who defraud the laborer of his hire.

In answering this letter, please state if there would be any safety for my Milly and Jane, who are now grown up, and both good-looking girls. You know how it was with poor Matilda and Catherine. I would rather stay here and starve—and die, if it come to that—than have my girls brought to shame by the violence and wickedness of their young masters. You will also please state if there has been any schools opened for the colored children in your neighborhood. The great desire of my life now is to give my children an education, and have them form virtuous habits.

Say howdy to George Carter, and thank him for taking the pistol from you when you were shooting at me.

From your old servant,

Jourdon Anderson.


#6


Happy Birthday Chilita Chili Dawg

You would have been 8 Yrs. Old today.... We miss you pretty girl!!!
#7
Miscellaneous / Chilita at the Rainbow Bridge
May 28, 2015, 01:03:49 AM


We lost our beloved Pom/Chi of 7 yrs.,Chilita, of renal failure yesterday.  I will miss her...  terribly.  I know she is in a better place and one day we will see her again.   Love you & miss you, Chili Dawg    :-*



#8

HAPPY Armed Forces Day


Happy #ArmedForcesDay @usairforce!


Happy #ArmedForcesDay @USMC!


Happy #ArmedForcesDay @USArmy!



Happy #ArmedForcesDay @USNavy!


Happy #ArmedForcesDay @USNat.Guard
Utah National Guard Members

#9
Politics / Good News Network - Politics
May 15, 2015, 02:46:51 AM


Dog Saved From Euthanasia "Saved" Veteran's Life, Now a Hero Nominee


A German shepherd who narrowly escaped death at a shelter is officially in the running to be National Hero Dog of the Year.

A group called K9s for Warriors rescued Axel from the pound in hopes that he might be able to rescue a wounded warrior – Marine Captain Jason Haag, who was injured twice while serving in Iraq.

Haag, who lives with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and suffers from traumatic brain injury, had been withdrawing from life, staying in his basement and ignoring his wife and kids. At one time, he was taking 32 pills a day.

Nothing "worked" to alleviate the pain until he met Axel.

Within a week of adopting the pup, Haag was attending his son's baseball game, for the first time in years.


"He can wake me up out of nightmares, take me out of flashbacks," Haag told WUSA in a video.

Now, Axel is up for the American Humane Association's 'Hero Dog of the Year' award for, and you can vote for Axel through May 15th.

Since 2011, K9s for Warriors has placed 159 service dogs with veterans.

The award would mean a big donation to K9s for Warriors, which would go toward the training of more dogs to save more veterans.

In this case, though, Haag likes to think they both saved each other
.


************

Dogs that were once hard to adopt have become hard to resist thanks to photographer Guinevere Shuster, who found that goofy grins, rubbery faces and outrageous poses normally reserved for humans turned out to be a perfect way to capture a dog's personality.

Shuster, who serves as Director of Social Media for the Humane Society of Utah, says she  simply tosses a treat, lets the dogs ham it up, snaps a few shots, and–presto! The dogs look like they're having a day off-leash on the boardwalk.

Checkout the dog photo's:

#10
Miscellaneous / Stupid Stories Of Stupid People
May 14, 2015, 02:32:51 AM

Why I Fired My Secretary

Last week was my birthday and I didn't feel very well waking up that morning.

I went downstairs for breakfast hoping my wife would be pleasant and say, "Happy Birthday! ", and possibly have a present for me.

As it turned out, she barely said good morning, let alone "Happy Birthday."

I thought... Well, that's marriage for you, but the kids will remember.

My kids came in to breakfast and didn't say a word. So when I left for the office, I felt pretty low and somewhat despondent.

As I walked into my office, my secretary Jane said, "Good Morning Boss, Happy Birthday!" It felt a little better that at least someone had remembered.

I worked until one o'clock and then Jane knocked on my door and said, "You know, it's such a beautiful day outside, and it's your birthday, let's go out to lunch, just you and me." I said, "Thanks Jane, that's the greatest thing I've heard all day. Let's go!"

We went to lunch. But we didn't go where we normally would go. We dined instead at a little place with a private table. We had two martinis each and I enjoyed the meal tremendously. On the way back to the office, Jane said, "You know, it's such a beautiful day...We don't need to go back to the office, do we?"

I responded, "I guess not. What do you have in mind?" She said, "Let's go to my apartment."

After arriving at her apartment, Jane turned to me and said, "Boss, if you don't mind, I'm going to step into the bedroom for a moment. I'll be right back."

"Ok." I nervously replied.

She went into the bedroom and, after a couple of minutes, she came out carrying a huge birthday cake... Followed by my wife, kids, and dozens of my friends and co-workers, all singing "Happy Birthday".

And I just sat there...

On the couch...

In my birthday suit.


#11
Politics / FAUX NEWS & SATIRE
May 11, 2015, 08:48:51 PM


Let's face it, folks, the news can be depressing.  Try Faux News websites, an enchanting place where you don't have to lock your doors at night and the world seems like a much better place.

Yup, there are plenty of positive events going on, but where would you go if you needed a break from what the mainstream media covers and just have a good laugh?

Enter the world of fake news and satire.  It's a place where fact checking isn't needed and things like journalistic ethics and standards, objectivity, and values are simply discouraged.

If you are like me, then you are sick and tired of all the negative news being thrown at you by the mainstream media outlets.  Pick any major online news outlet and you will find the majority of items are about the ever sinking economy, Iraq or someone's unfortunate death.

Some might argue that reading about people who have it worse can make you feel better about yourself, but I really do not think that is true.

I recently spent one week forcing myself to only get my news from positive news network sites.  Believe it or not, there are lots of them out there.  Instead of performing my morning work ritual of "catching up" with the world by looking at the big media news outlets, each day I would challenge myself to find a positive news website that "inspired me".

By the end of the week, I was noticeably brighter and more optimistic.  My family and a few friends remarked on it.  They were curious to know what I might be taking.


#12
Politics / ~ * Nig er News * ~
April 23, 2015, 05:11:45 PM
Airstrike Kills 37 Mourners In Niger


Security source says it was an accident as target was Boko Haram militants

KANO, Nigeria (CNN)— A military plane on Tuesday dropped a bomb on mourners in a Niger village on the border with Nigeria, killing 37 people and wounding 20 others, residents and a regional security source in Niger told CNN.

"A military jet on an operational mission against Boko Haram targets accidentally attacked a funeral gathering in Abadam Faransa, killing several people," the security source said Wednesday on condition of anonymity.

More at: http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/18/africa/niger-mourners-killed/index.html
#13

Chimpanzees Granted Petition To Hear
'Legal Persons' Status In Court


For the first time in US history, a judge has granted two chimpanzees a petition – through human attorneys – to defend their rights against unlawful imprisonment, allowing a hearing on the status of "legal persons" for the primates.


On Monday, Manhattan supreme court justice Barbara Jaffe granted a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of two non-human plaintiffs, Hercules and Leo – chimpanzees used for medical experiments at Stony Brook University on Long Island. On Tuesday afternoon she struck the words "writ of habeas corpus" from the order, in order to clarify that she had not meant to imply the chimpanzees have legal person status.

More at: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/21/chimpanzees-granted-legal-persons-status-unlawful-imprisonment


(Now if we could get them to run for Office, I'm sure they would do a much better job than the Baboon Obuma who's in charge now...)
#14
Religious/Spiritual / Holy Week and Easter 2015
April 03, 2015, 07:22:05 PM

An Easter message from LCMS President Matthew Harrison


Dear Fellow Laborers in the Lord's Vineyard,

The world must surely think we've lost our marbles when, in the liturgy for Good Friday, the words ring out: "We adore You, O Lord, and we praise and glorify Your resurrection. For behold, by the wood of the cross joy has come into all the world."

How true! On that day of deepest darkness, humankind finally got its hands on God. We grabbed hold of God in the flesh, nailed Him to a tree and told Him to get out of our world and leave us "the hell" alone. To this day, our every sin still demands the same — to be left alone in hell. Not much cause for joy there.

Ah, but even more true, on that day of deepest darkness, our God was loving the world, loving you and me and all who fail Him again and again. He was loving us by giving His only Son into that horrid death so that our hate-filled, violent, rebellious race might be pardoned and given a life without end in His kingdom.

If you've been following along in the Treasury of Daily Prayer or with the Daily Lectionary, you know that we just read again the story of Joseph in Genesis. What light that whole story sheds on the events we're about to celebrate when we see in Joseph a picture of our Lord! He was hated by his brothers, stripped, betrayed and sold, disowned and forgotten. And why? Precisely so that God could, through Joseph, bring great blessing to those wretched brothers, keeping them alive in famine, providing for their families. "You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive" (Gen. 50:20).

As with Joseph, so with Jesus. Hence the miracle of Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter! It's true that we meant it for evil. But God Himself was at work through it all, reconciling the world to Himself, not counting our sins against us as He made Him who had no sin to be sin for us. And come resurrection morn, He proclaims to all the world that its sins are forgiven, forgotten, gone! The resurrection cries out: "His sacrifice has been accepted — for you and for all. So rejoice!"

Yes, beloved, through the wood of the cross, joy truly has come into all the world: the joy of sins' forgiveness, death's defeat, love's unconquerable triumph. The cross is our God saying: "You can't make Me hate you! I love you and forgive you in the blood of My precious Son!"

I know how busy the days ahead are as you work to bring blessings to the people of God. But don't forget to savor the joy of the cross yourself — to join the people of God in kneeling before the Crucified One who yet lives, who still is the master of working all things (including suffering and hardship) to bring blessing to His own, and who will surely appear again in glory.

To Him, to our Lord of joy, be all glory and honor! Remember me, please, in your prayers during these days, even as I remember you in mine!

Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison
President, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod


#15
The Good Old Days / Death OF the Civil War
March 25, 2015, 01:27:28 PM
Death and the Civil War


How Disease Decimated Black Soldiers in the Civil War

September 2, 2014
By Sean Braswell

Read more: http://www.ozy.com/acumen/how-disease-decimated-black-soldiers-in-the-civil-war/33566?utm_source=Outbrain&utm_medium=CPC&utm_campaign=All%20Clicks%20-%20All%20Devices

Black civil war soldiers with weapons in a line looking at camera

Why you should care because, as Nelson Mandela once said,  "There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere."

By the late summer of 1864, a century and a half ago, more than 100,000 African American soldiers were serving in the U.S. Civil War, providing a much-needed boost to Abraham Lincoln's struggling Union forces. These proud soldiers, many of whom were former slaves, "had been to the armory of God," said one black sergeant, "and had received weapons of the heart, that made them daring and dangerous foes."

The Union's newest enlistees fought courageously, but neither God nor their new employer had equipped them with the armor to fight an even more daunting enemy than the Confederacy: Disease.

According to The Library of Congress, an astonishing 29,000 of those 100,000 black soldiers died from disease during the Civil War. Or, nine times the number that would perish fighting.

Pneumonia, malaria, dysentery, small pox and typhoid fever were the primary culprits, and devastated many black units: One black infantry regiment lost 524 soldiers to disease in a single year, half of its overall numbers. As one lieutenant stationed in Louisiana wrote: "The mortality in our Regt. beats anything that I ever saw. They frequently drop dead in the streets."

The Civil War was the greatest biological crisis of the 19th century. Unsanitary camps, unburied bodies and inadequate medical care contributed to the deaths of over 400,000 soldiers from disease. According to historian Glenn W. LaFantasie, author of Gettysburg Requiem (2006), "[d]isease and primitive medical knowledge were the Civil War soldier's worst enemies. For every soldier killed in battle, two died of disease."

The camp conditions confronting the average soldier were appalling. For black soldiers, it was even worse. Those who became ill "died at a rate two and a half times higher than their white counterparts," according to The Library of Congress.

Discrimination led not only to unequal pay and poorly-provisioned regiments, but grossly deficient medical care. Many white medical officers were unwilling to treat black units, one white doctor observing that "[v]ery few surgeons will do precisely for blacks as they would for whites." And there were only three black physicians serving the Union Army's 166 black regiments.

Emancipation and the long war caused severe dislocation in black communities, disrupting kin networks, and leaving millions without adequate shelter, food or access to medical care. And things would only get worse: Sickness and disease threatened the lives of 3.5 million freed slaves after the war ended.

Prior to the Civil War, the great orator, journalist and abolitionist, Frederick Douglass, had argued, "let the black man get upon his person the brass letters, U.S.; let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder, and bullets in his pocket, and there is no power on earth which can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship."

By the time the 14th Amendment finally granted citizenship to freed slaves in 1868, the combination of disease, war, discrimination and unthinkable hardship had taken a massive toll on black soldiers and communities, but there was, as Douglass had predicted, no question that they had not just earned citizenship but also deserved the eternal respect and admiration of a nation.



http://books.google.com/books?id=-pSJxZ9wqt4C&pg=PA145&lpg=PA145&dq=%22They+had+been+to+the+armory+of+God,%22&source=bl&ots=om6DUP9aCC&sig=K2t35A12BUddeRf0IUOEBHIB-bs&hl=en&sa=X&ei=0KX7U-XyLa_ksATMg4L4Cw&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=7svFnyOLknUC&pg=PA637&dq=black+soldiers+civil+war+died+from+disease&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ac8EVKSKIYzzgwTenYC4BQ&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=black%20soldiers%20civil%20war%20died%20from%20disease&f=false

[...]


The Civil War By the Numbers

From 1861 to 1865, the Civil War ravaged America. It still holds several notorious records, such as the highest number of average deaths per day (504). Read more of the shocking statistics from the War that divided our nation.

•4:1               The ratio of people who attended church weekly to those who voted in the 1860 election
•2.5               Approximate percentage of the American population that died in the Civil War
•7 mil           Number of Americans lost if 2.5% of the population died in war today

•2.1 mil        Number of Northerners mobilized to fight for the Union army
•880,000    Number of Southerners mobilized for the Confederacy
•50                Estimated percentage of Civil War deaths that occurred in the last two years of the War
•40+             Estimated percentage of Civil War dead who were never identified
•66                Estimated percentage of dead African American Union soldiers who were never identified
•2 out of 3   Number of Civil War deaths that occurred from disease rather than battle
•68,162        Number of inquiries answered by the Missing Soldiers Office from 1865-1868

•4 mil           Number of enslaved persons in the U.S. in 1860
•180,000     Number of African American soldiers that served in the Civil War
•1 in 5           Average death rate for all Civil War soldiers
•3:1               Ratio of Confederate deaths to Union deaths
•9:1               Ratio of African American Civil War troops who died of disease to those that died on the battlefield, largely due to discriminatory medical care
•200             Number of African American soldiers massacred following their surrender at Ft. Pillow, Tennessee on April 12, 1864

•100,000+  Number of Civil War Union corpses found in the South through a federal reinterment program from 1866-1869
•303,356     Number of Union soldiers who were reinterred in 74 congressionally-mandated national cemeteries by 1871
•0                  Number of Confederate soldiers buried in those national cemeteries
•58                Number of Confederate bodies thrown down a local farmer's well on a federal burial detail in
1862

•1,733           Approximate number of American battlefield deaths in the Mexican War, 1846-1848
•900             Approximate number of battlefield deaths in 12 hours at the Battle of Bull Run
•3,000         Estimated number of horses killed at the Battle of Gettysburg


[...]

Death and the Civil War

Three months into the American Civil War, on July 21, 1861, more than 60,000 men charged into each other on a field outside the Virginia town of Manassas. It was the War's first major land battle, and in just 12 hours, 900 men were killed and 2,700 wounded. At the Battle of Bull Run, the terrible reality of the War had come crashing down. Though universally predicted to be a brief and bloodless military adventure, the Civil War dragged on for four dark years, killing an estimated 750,000 men -- nearly 2.5 percent of the American population. The impact permanently altered the character of the republic, the culture of the government, and the psyche of the American people for all time.

Woefully unprepared for the monumental work of burying and accounting for the dead, northerners and southerners alike had to find a way to deal with the hundreds of thousands of bodies, many of which were unidentified, and the grieving families who sought information on loved ones who, in the end, would never be found. Following the common Christian notions of the "proper" way to die and be buried was all but impossible for most soldiers on the front. Before the Civil War, America had no national cemeteries; no provisions for identifying or burying the dead, notifying the next of kin, or providing aid to the suffering families of dead veterans; no federal relief organizations; no effective ambulance corps; no adequate federal hospitals.

By the time Robert E. Lee surrendered to the Union in April 1865, much of the work of death had only just begun. Tens of thousands of soldiers lay unburied, their bones littering battlefields; still more had been hastily interred where they fell, and hundreds of thousands remained unidentified.

"After the Civil War, the United States thought constantly about the dead, this constituency that was no longer there, and yet was so powerful in the influence it has on our nation, because the nation had to live up to the sacrifice that these individuals represented," says Drew Gilpin Faust, author of This Republic of Suffering, on which the film is based.

While Congress passed legislation to establish and protect national cemeteries in February 1867, the $4 million program would re-inter the bodies of only the Union Soldiers in 74 national cemeteries; all 30,000 African American soldiers were buried in areas designated "colored." White southerners channeled their deep feelings of grief, loss, rage and doubt into reclaiming the bodies of hundreds of thousands of their dead loved ones, abandoned by the federal government. The refusal of the victorious North to attend to the vanquished southern dead would have powerful consequences for generations to come.

Decoration Day rituals -- placing seasonal flowers on graves sites -- sprang up around the country. In the spring of 1868, General John Logan, officially designated May 30 "for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country." Memorial Day is still celebrated nationally on the day General Logan specified three years after the end of the Civil War. Many southern states recognize Confederate Memorial Day on a different date from the nationwide holiday, reflecting persistent sectional differences among both the living and the dead.

The generation of Americans that survived the Civil War lived the rest of their lives with grief and loss. Some continued to search for information about their missing loved ones until they themselves died. Others were never able to get over the cruel deaths of sons, husbands, or dear friends and lived in perpetual mourning. Their struggle to give meaning to the seemingly senseless deaths of so many still haunts us today.

#16
The Coffee Shop / Fifty Shades Of Grey
February 27, 2015, 01:54:55 AM


Should Women Watch Fifty Shades Of Grey? Sexual Abuse And Humiliation Go Mainstream

( You can tell Obuma loved it! ...)


The most popular movie in America is about bondage, sexual domination and violent sex.  Fifty Shades of Grey, the best-selling novel about a sexually abusive relationship between an extremely wealthy businessman and a young female college student, has sold more than 100 million copies worldwide since it was first released.  This past weekend, it pulled in an astounding 81.7 million dollars at the box office.  Clearly, it has struck a chord with the American people.  But should women actually be watching Fifty Shades of Grey?  It has been said that if you put garbage in, you get garbage out.  The novel has been described as "pornography for women", but the movie is supposedly toned down.  But even with the editing, the film still contains 20 minutes of sex scenes.  And of course we aren't just talking about normal sex scenes.  Fifty Shades of Grey goes to great lengths to explore the twisted world of sexual abuse, bondage and humiliation.  It makes violent sex seem "mainstream", and it is deeply affecting our culture.  So what does it say about our society that it is so wildly popular?

Just a couple of years ago, the novel that the film is based upon was considered to be "extreme" in this country.  But these days seemingly everyone is talking about it.  The following is an excerpt from a recent article in the New York Post...


Usually when we talk about cultural shifts we are referring to changes that happen over 30 or 40 or 50 years, but this is a change that has happened virtually overnight, while we were all supposedly paying attention.

So, let's just take a step back and consider what we've lost in shedding just one more taboo. The movie is rated R, so many teenagers (even those under 17) will probably get in. As child psychiatrist Miriam Grossman wrote on her blog recently, "Fifty Shades of Grey" teaches your daughter that pain and humiliation are erotic, and your son that girls want a guy who controls, intimidates and threatens.


"In short, the film portrays emotional and physical abuse as sexually arousing to both parties."


Something that is particularly disturbing to me is that the lead character that is doing the abusing in Fifty Shades of Grey is named "Christian".  It is almost as if the author was purposely trying to mock those that embrace traditional values.

If you have never encountered Fifty Shades of Grey before, the following is a brief summary of the plot...
Early on in the first book, Ana discovers that Christian has a "dark secret": He's obsessed with BDSM—a condensed abbreviation for bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, and sadism and masochism. This is the central tension of the books: Ana loves Christian, but she doesn't want to be his submissive; Christian loves Ana, but he's turned on by violent sex.

What people see, they tend to emulate.  And this film comes out at a time when sexual violence against women in this country is at epidemic levels.  Just consider the following numbers from the Atlantic...

This is a troubling fantasy in American culture, where one in five women will be raped within their lifetime, according to the CDC; where nearly 40 percent of those rapes will happen to women aged 18 to 24; and where troubling evidence of casual attitudes toward rape—such as in 2010 when a number of Ivy League-educated men thought it was okay to chant "no means yes, yes means anal" on their campus—is not uncommon. As images of Ana being beaten by Christian become the new normal for what's considered erotic, they raise questions about what it means to "consent" to sex.

Like I said above, when you put garbage in, you get garbage out.

Perhaps you do not believe that a movie could have a significant impact on our behavior.

Perhaps you believe that most people can clearly separate fiction and reality.

Well, at least one study suggests otherwise.  According to Time Magazine, one study discovered that Fifty Shades of Grey was "introducing more women to porn"...
E.L. James' Fifty Shades of Grey is introducing more women to porn — at least according to a narrow study conducted at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.

Researcher Diana Parry interviewed 28 women in their 20s to 50s about their pornography habits. She discovered that women in the group increased their consumption of sexually explicit content after reading the book.

"So many of the women [we interviewed] were hopping in for the first time to pornography or sexually explicit material that was written by women for women," Parry told Salon in an interview.


And science tells us that those that view porn are more likely to commit sexual violence.

The following comes from CNS News...
We already know that porn is linked to sexual abuse, and there is a tendency for men to act out what they see on the screens. It is for this reason that many women have voiced alarm over increasingly violent porn.

"The biggest sex educator of young men today is pornography," says Wheelock College professor and American Studies chair Dr. Gail Dines. Dines, a self-described feminist, noted that porn is "increasingly violent and dehumanizing, and it changes the way men view women."

Like drugs and alcohol, pornography eventually requires a bigger hit – and in porn films, that is increasingly becoming a literal occurrence. According to the director of a pornography documentary, "of the top 250 bestselling porn movies, a high percentage depict violence against women."


When people are entertained by something, they tend to want more of it.

And once you have seen something, there is no way to "unsee" it.

One of the primary ways that we learn things is by watching.  And when women (and men) watch Fifty Shades of Grey, they are learning all about sexual abuse, bondage, humiliation and violent sex.

So should people be watching this movie?




#17
The Coffee Shop / CDC Discovers New Virus in Kansas
February 22, 2015, 08:56:51 PM
CDC Discovers New Virus in Kansas, Caused By A Blood Sucking Tick, Not A Democrat Voter


(Hmmm.... another new virus since the open borders executive order...)

Via FOX News
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2015/02/20/cdc-discovers-new-virus-in-kansas/

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced Friday the discovery of a new virus that may be spread through tick or insect bites. The virus may have contributed to the 2014 death of a Kansas man who was otherwise healthy.

Working with experts from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) and University of Kansas Medical Center (UKMC), researchers found that the virus is part of a group of viruses called thogotoviruses. The virus was named Bourbon virus for the county in which the patient lived. The case is the first time a thogotovirus has been shown to cause human illness in the U.S. and the eighth known case of it causing symptoms in people.

According to the report, the patient, who was over 50 years old, was working outside on his property in late spring 2014 when he received several tick bites and found an engorged tick on his shoulder. Several days later, he fell ill with nausea, weakness and diarrhea. The next day, he developed a fever, anorexia, chills, headache, myalgia, and arthralgia. The patient visited his primary care physician on the third day, at which point he was prescribed an antibiotic for a presumed tickborne illness. The next morning, his wife found him experiencing reduced consciousness and we was taken to the local hospital.

Test results for many infectious diseases came back negative and a sample of the patient's blood was sent to the CDC, which found evidence of an unidentified virus. Researchers used Advanced Molecular Detection (AMD) and determined it was a new virus.
#18
A photo of a dog reportedly abandoned at a train station in East Sussex, England, is causing a stir on the Internet, because the poor pup appears to be crying.



According to The Telegraph, the canine's owner was spotted tying the black dog to a railing outside Eastbourne Railway Station and then leaving in a taxi. The unwanted pet was allegedly left with only a small dish of water while it waited for its human to return.

Sadly, the owner never came back. Someone passing by the station saw the dog, contacted the station's staff for assistance and waited with the pooch until help arrived. Before wardens came to collect the dog, the do-gooder snapped several pictures of the grieving pet and posted them to Facebook. The shots show the dog sitting dejectedly with what appear to be tears rolling down its face.

The pictures are now being shared across the Web, with animal lovers demanding punishment for the owner who left the pet behind.

The dog is currently being kept safe in a local kennel while officials try to find the owner.

[...]

This is the second dog to capture the Internet's heart after being left in a train station in 2015. Earlier this year, Kai the shar-pei mix was left at a Scottish station with a suitcase filled with his belongings. Kai has since found a new forever home.



#19
The Coffee Shop / Topeka Heart-Throbbers Football
February 17, 2015, 12:24:25 PM

Where's Roger Goodall When You Need Him


Topeka Capital-Journal

Topeka, KS. - The Topeka Heart-Throbbers, a women's semi pro football team, has just decided to forget about the remaining 6 games and concentrate on their day jobs and families, a spokesman for the team said yesterday.

The team, which was 1-7 in the Midwest Central League, lost a game last night to the Des Moines Hot-Shot Raiders which many had called a "must win" game if the Heart-Throbbers were to have a chance to make the playoffs. After the loss, the team invoked a little known "shove it" clause in their contracts which allows them to forget about the rest of the season if it seems like they won't make the playoffs to at least 60% of local sports fans.

"Wow, that's one for the record books" said the owner, who wondered what he was going to do with his rental of Bell County Stadium for the rest of the season. "I guess we can get that stamp and coin show in there, and maybe some Pee Wee football. I hope those kids haven't decided to screw the whole thing too."

Patti Ann Dari, the Heart-Throbbers fullback, was philosophical about the whole thing. She mused, "It's a royal pain in the ass to work all day at the Post Office then practice nights and weekends for $30 a game. I've always got bruises and athlete's foot. Screw that."

Heart-Throbbers fans had mixed reactions ranging from mild disinterest to slight interest, then back to mild disinterest.


#20
Hi sixdogsmom, Diane Amberg, Dee Gee, proelkco, sunnysideup, Mom70x7, IGDenton, Wilma...  What's up?
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