Fish for Friday

Rush Ranch

Edited by Morris Dean

[Anonymous selections from recent correspondence]

The New Year is a powerful symbol in our lives—a time of reflection, promise, and renewal. Dedicate this first weekend of January to your health and well-being. Join me for a free workshop designed to help you lower your stress and become more centered:
    Mindfulness on the Marsh: Start Your New Year by Relaxing into the Here and Now:

Saturday, January 4 and repeated Sunday, January 5, 2014
10am to 2pm alongside the tidal marsh at Rush Ranch
3521 Grizzly Island Road, near Suisun City [California]

Come for one day or both.
    We'll practice mindfulness: quieting our thoughts and focusing our awareness on the present moment, non-judgmentally. This way of being has the potential to be deeply restful, to promote healing, and to revive energy. Indeed it can be a way of life.
    We'll be outside unless it's raining, in which case we'll take shelter in the ranch's historic barn. There will be extended periods of silence and guided meditation, lots of sitting (or lying down, if you prefer), and slow walking. Bring a picnic lunch and water, hot tea, or the like. Wear sturdy closed-toe shoes and layers to keep you warm. Rustic seating will be provided. You're welcome to bring your preferred folding chair and/or yoga mat (to be placed on the ground outdoors), a cushion and blanket. You may also want to bring supplies for writing and drawing.
    Each day we'll meet in the brick courtyard outside the Rush Ranch Nature Center.

I wonder if you all really can stop email arguments/fights. We all are relatives, guys! [Cousin #6; see yesterday's "Thor's Day" column.]

I'm forwarding you Daily Kos's current notification, in case you're not familiar with it: "Saddest and Truest Conservative Facebook Comment Ever?"

Mary with her child
in the Cathedral
of The Holy Cross
and Saint Eulalia,
Barcelona, Spain

This a very good article, better than mine will be: "Right-Wing Is Filled with Biblical Illiterates: They'd Be Shocked by Jesus' Teachings if They Ever Picked Up a Bible." Excerpt:

The Right has successfully rebranded the brown-skinned liberal Jew, who gave away free healthcare and was pro-redistributing wealth, into a white-skinned, trickledown, union-busting conservative, for the very fact that an overwhelming number of Americans are astonishingly illiterate when it comes to understanding the Bible. On hot-button social issues, from same-sex marriage to abortion, biblical passages are invoked without any real understanding of the context or true meaning. It’s surprising how little Christians know of what is still the most popular book to ever grace the American continent.
    More than 95 percent of U.S. households own at least one copy of the Bible. So how much do Americans know of the book that one-third of the country believes to be literally true? Apparently, very little, according to data from the Barna Research group. Surveys show that 60 percent can’t name more than five of the Ten Commandments; 12 percent of adults think Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife; and nearly 50 percent of high school seniors think Sodom and Gomorrah were a married couple. A Gallup poll shows 50 percent of Americans can’t name the first book of the Bible, while roughly 82 percent believe “God helps those who help themselves” is a biblical verse.

I was thinking about writing about the KKK, burning crosses, and what strong Christians they are. They also feel that burning a cross is covered under free speech. I ended up on one of their websites [StormFront]. Anyway, the posts made me change my mind. There is no way I could explain the craziness of these people in an article and I don't have the stomach to write a book about them.

I'm beyond speechless, how in the...? "Outrage at JFK as Customs men smash a musician’s instruments." Excerpt:

A Canadian citizen, based in New York and with a green card employment permit, Boujemaa was flying home from Marrakech, Morocco, when his baggage was opened by Customs at JFK.
    "I told them I had these instruments for many years and flew with them in and out," he said. "There were 11 instruments in all. They told me they were agricultural products and they had to be destroyed. There was nothing I could do. The ney flute can be made with bamboo. Is that agricultural?"

The U.S. government has taken a step toward opening the skies for commercial drone use: "U.S. designates six locations for commercial drone tests." Note that North Carolina is said to be one of the designated states.

It's not surprising that none of the people condemning the healthcare.gov website for its screwups are making similar claims about UPS or Amazon: "The Big Screwup." Excerpt:

So, in case you didn’t know, online shopping had a number of glitches this holiday season, with Amazon, for example, failing to make good on many supposedly guaranteed delivery dates—and as a result, quite a few Christmas presents weren’t there when the reindeer took off. The biggest bottleneck seems to have been UPS,which just didn’t provide enough capacity, but it wasn’t the only one. Can’t the private sector do anything right?

In the annals of attempted robberies gone wrong, this one may top the list "Dumb crimes in 2013: Two suspects beaten by would-be victims in Va." When you had the gun, and you came out of the confrontation looking like this, you messed up at a record-book level.

If you have some free time in the new year, you might "Spend [some] clicking through this animated 1930s atlas of America."

The GOP theme song in 2013 ["An end-of-year message from Robert Reich"]:

From his speech before sentencing for opposing U.S. WWI draft:

True Story of Rudolph is a must-read:

A man named Bob May, depressed and brokenhearted, stared out his drafty apartment window into the chilling December night. His 4-year-old daughter Barbara sat on his lap quietly sobbing. Bob's wife, Evelyn, was dying of cancer.
    Little Barbara couldn't understand why her mommy could never come home. Barbara looked up into her dad's eyes and asked, "Why isn't Mommy just like everybody else's Mommy?"
    Bob's jaw tightened and his eyes welled with tears. Her question brought waves of grief, but also of anger. It had been the story of Bob's life. Life always had to be different for Bob.
    Small when he was a kid, Bob was often bullied by other boys. He was too little at the time to compete in sports. He was often called names he'd rather not remember.
    From childhood, Bob was different and never seemed to fit in. Bob did complete college, married his loving wife and was grateful to get his job as a copywriter at Montgomery Ward during the Great Depression. Then he was blessed with his little girl. But it was all short-lived. Evelyn's bout with cancer stripped them of all their savings and now Bob and his daughter were forced to live in a two-room apartment in the Chicago slums. Evelyn died just days before Christmas in 1938.
    Bob struggled to give hope to his child, for whom he couldn't even afford to buy a Christmas gift. But if he couldn't buy a gift, he was determined to make one—a storybook! Bob had created an animal character in his own mind and told the animal's story to little Barbara to give her comfort and hope. Again and again Bob told the story, embellishing it more with each telling.
    Who was the character? What was the story all about?
    The story Bob May created was his own autobiography in fable form. The character he created was a misfit outcast like he was. The name of the character? A little reindeer named Rudolph, with a big shiny nose. Bob finished the book just in time to give it to his little girl on Christmas Day. But the story doesn't end there.
    The general manager of Montgomery Ward caught wind of the little storybook and offered Bob May a nominal fee to purchase the rights to print the book. Wards went on to print, Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer and distribute it to children visiting Santa Claus in their stores. By 1946 Wards had printed and distributed more than six million copies of Rudolph. That same year, a major publisher wanted to purchase the rights from Wards to print an updated version of the book.
    In an unprecedented gesture of kindness, the CEO of Wards returned all rights back to Bob May. The book became a best seller. Many toy and marketing deals followed and Bob May, now remarried with a growing family, became wealthy from the story he created to comfort his grieving daughter. But the story doesn't end there either.
    Bob's brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, made a song adaptation to Rudolph. Though the song was turned down by such popular vocalists as Bing Crosby and Dinah Shore, it was recorded by the singing cowboy, Gene Autry. "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" was released in 1949 and became a phenomenal success, selling more records than any other Christmas song, with the exception of "White Christmas."
    The gift of love that Bob May created for his daughter so long ago kept on returning back to bless him again and again. And Bob May learned the lesson, just like his dear friend Rudolph, that being different isn't so bad. In fact, being different can be a blessing.

Cordon del Caulle erupts in Chile

Lightning across the sky

Limerick of the Week:

It's Ed Rogers's birthday—seventy-one—
a younger man that old there's none;
    please comment your happy wishes
    or leave him some sappy kisses
to help ensure his party day is lots of fun.

_______________
Copyright © 2014 by Morris Dean

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