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Monday, June 17, 2013
My De Facto Father
By Jack Brummet, Family Life Ed.
I saw my mom, Betty Jones Brummet, yesterday on Father's Day. She has been my de facto father for 50 years (and is about to turn 90). Here she is with her latest girly quilt project. She makes more macho ones for the fellas. It seemed just right to see her on father's day because she literally had to fill that role for three young kids. I remember my father pretty well, from about age six to ten 1/2, when he died. My sister, 22 months younger, I believe has a lot of memories, but my brother, a few years younger does not remember him.
I saw my mom, Betty Jones Brummet, yesterday on Father's Day. She has been my de facto father for 50 years (and is about to turn 90). Here she is with her latest girly quilt project. She makes more macho ones for the fellas. It seemed just right to see her on father's day because she literally had to fill that role for three young kids. I remember my father pretty well, from about age six to ten 1/2, when he died. My sister, 22 months younger, I believe has a lot of memories, but my brother, a few years younger does not remember him.
---o0o---
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Saturday, June 15, 2013
It's Great To Be Alive—The Official Safety Manual
By Jack Brummet, Ephemera Editor
Sure, the cover of this little instructional booklet makes it look like an upbeat little tome. But once you open it up, the casualties are high: deaths, maiming, molestation, chemical burns, suffocation, and even a shoot-out. This little pamphlet operates on the same principles as Red Asphalt: scare the little buggers into safety. It almost feels like Jack Chick was a creative consultant on this one...
After the appearance of the police officer on page 2, the real mayhem begins.
Sure, the cover of this little instructional booklet makes it look like an upbeat little tome. But once you open it up, the casualties are high: deaths, maiming, molestation, chemical burns, suffocation, and even a shoot-out. This little pamphlet operates on the same principles as Red Asphalt: scare the little buggers into safety. It almost feels like Jack Chick was a creative consultant on this one...
After the appearance of the police officer on page 2, the real mayhem begins.
---o0o---
Friday, June 14, 2013
Jeb Bush may have just cashed his check
By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Ed.
Ex-Governor Jeb Bush has become so unpopular with conservatives that he is no longer considered a viable 2016 Presidential candidate. Marco Rubio is pulling far ahead of his former mentor and seems to be the front runner for 2016.
At the Faith and Freedom Coalition conference in Washington, D.C. this morning, Mr. Bush urged social conservatives in the audience to support comprehensive immigration reform because, “Immigrants are more fertile, and they love families, and they have more intact families, and they bring a younger population.” Without immigrants, he said, the country’s population will decline and the economy will suffer.“Immigrants create far more businesses than native-born Americans,” Bush told the gathering. "Immigrants create an engine of economic prosperity.”
Ex-Governor Jeb Bush has become so unpopular with conservatives that he is no longer considered a viable 2016 Presidential candidate. Marco Rubio is pulling far ahead of his former mentor and seems to be the front runner for 2016.
At the Faith and Freedom Coalition conference in Washington, D.C. this morning, Mr. Bush urged social conservatives in the audience to support comprehensive immigration reform because, “Immigrants are more fertile, and they love families, and they have more intact families, and they bring a younger population.” Without immigrants, he said, the country’s population will decline and the economy will suffer.“Immigrants create far more businesses than native-born Americans,” Bush told the gathering. "Immigrants create an engine of economic prosperity.”
The comments immediately rocketed throughout the web, drawing massive blowback fire from Republican leaders.
As Alex Seitz-Wald wrote in Salon this afternoon, "If you're already inclined to distrust Bush, and you’re already worried about immigrants taking over the country and displacing the native native-born Americans, then Bush is basically confirming all your worst fears by telling you that he thinks immigrants are better than you: They’re better at business, they’re better a having families, they’re more valuable to the economy — they’re even younger."
The most baffling part of all this is why a fairly astute politician like Jeb Bush thought this would fly. He was already being relentlessly hammered on several fronts for his stand on immigration reform. It will be interesting to see how, and if, he can dig himself out of this new hole.
---o0o---
Poem: One of those days
By Jack Brummet
It was one of those days
Where the darkside Jiminy Cricket
Kept landing on my shoulders
To whisper redrum redrum...
You don't have to take that.
It was one of those days
Where my smile felt like a rictus
and I lied every time someone asked
How are you?
It was one of those days
I'd rather have skipped
But I trudged on
Dragging my wooden leg
Behind me.
It was one of those days
Where I wouldn't have been shocked
To have a Buddhist tell me
Don't get mad; get even.
---o0o---
It was one of those days
Where the darkside Jiminy Cricket
Kept landing on my shoulders
To whisper redrum redrum...
You don't have to take that.
It was one of those days
Where my smile felt like a rictus
and I lied every time someone asked
How are you?
It was one of those days
I'd rather have skipped
But I trudged on
Dragging my wooden leg
Behind me.
It was one of those days
Where I wouldn't have been shocked
To have a Buddhist tell me
Don't get mad; get even.
---o0o---
Poem: The Quest
By Jack Brummet
It’s all one story—
A ragged shape-shifting tale
Of incredible coherence and constance,
Encompassing all you know,
All you don’t know you know,
And all you one day will know.
There is more
To be seen, tasted, heard, and felt
Than can ever be known or told.
Our myths flourish and spread,
Person to person,
And the mysteries of the seas and skies and stars
Fill our collective conscience
With mystical scenes,
Quests, and tales of greatness.
These myths, tales, and fables
Cannot be invented, ordered, or denied.
When you strip away the stage flats, makeup, and costumes,
It’s all one story
Starring our private heroes and dreams.
---o0o---
It’s all one story—
A ragged shape-shifting tale
Of incredible coherence and constance,
Encompassing all you know,
All you don’t know you know,
And all you one day will know.
There is more
To be seen, tasted, heard, and felt
Than can ever be known or told.
Our myths flourish and spread,
Person to person,
And the mysteries of the seas and skies and stars
Fill our collective conscience
With mystical scenes,
Quests, and tales of greatness.
These myths, tales, and fables
Cannot be invented, ordered, or denied.
When you strip away the stage flats, makeup, and costumes,
It’s all one story
Starring our private heroes and dreams.
---o0o---
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Poem: [The trouble begins]
By Jack Brummet
The
trouble begins,
and usually ends,
When you make an unplanned transition
From an initial flying state
To a subsequent not flying state.
Falling per se is OK.
The hitch comes the moment
Falling becomes not falling,
Or, what the pros call
The uncontrolled landing problem.
---o0o---
and usually ends,
When you make an unplanned transition
From an initial flying state
To a subsequent not flying state.
Falling per se is OK.
The hitch comes the moment
Falling becomes not falling,
Or, what the pros call
The uncontrolled landing problem.
---o0o---
Louis Armstrong serenades the pyramids
By Jack Brummet, Music Ed.
In 1961, Louis Armstrong was on a State Dept. tour of the middle east. He and his wife Lucille stopped by the pyramids, and he broke out his horn, for a "photo op" no doubt. . .nonetheless, a great photo.
In 1961, Louis Armstrong was on a State Dept. tour of the middle east. He and his wife Lucille stopped by the pyramids, and he broke out his horn, for a "photo op" no doubt. . .nonetheless, a great photo.
---o0o---
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