Alarming News: I like Morgan Freeberg. A lot.
American Digest: And I like this from "The Blog That Nobody Reads", because it is -- mostly -- about me. What can I say? I'm on an ego trip today. It won't last.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: We were following a trackback and thinking "hmmm... this is a bloody excellent post!", and then we realized that it was just part III of, well, three...Damn. I wish I'd written those.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: ...I just remembered that I found a new blog a short while ago, House of Eratosthenes, that I really like. I like his common sense approach and his curiosity when it comes to why people believe what they believe rather than just what they believe.
Brutally Honest: Morgan Freeberg is brilliant.
Dr. Melissa Clouthier: Morgan Freeberg at House of Eratosthenes (pftthats a mouthful) honors big boned women in skimpy clothing. The picture there is priceless--keep scrolling down.
Exile in Portales: Via Gerard: Morgan Freeberg, a guy with a lot to say. And he speaks The Truth...and it's fascinating stuff. Worth a read, or three. Or six.
Just Muttering: Two nice pieces at House of Eratosthenes, one about a perhaps unintended effect of the Enron mess, and one on the Gore-y environ-movie.
Mein Blogovault: Make "the Blog that No One Reads" one of your daily reads.
The Virginian: I know this post will offend some people, but the author makes some good points.
Poetic Justice: Cletus! Ah gots a laiv one fer yew...
Reciprocating Your Kind Prayers
Merry Christmas. There, I said it. Now, just for a little bit of yuletide fun, see if you can identify from whence the following text came:
I reciprocate your kind prayers for the protection and blessing of the common Father and creator of man, and tender you for yourselves and your religious association, assurances of my high respect & esteem.
Who said it? Where? In what document? What was the context? Hint: It is the closing paragraph of a letter. A very famous letter.
Let’s make it a multiple-choice test:
a) Abigail Adams said it in a letter to Thomas Jefferson, attempting to heal the rift between him and her famous husband; the occasion was the death of Jefferson’s daughter, during which the two former presidents began a correspondence after a prolonged period of alienation that spanned several years.
b) Ted Nugent said it in a letter to Gloria Steinem in 1988, just to cheese her off on the contemplation that there’s a God and that He is a man.
c) George Washington said it in a letter to King George III of Great Britain, in a very delicate and diplomatic thesis that purported to explain exactly why the colonists were declaring their independence from their mother nation.
d) For the same purpose as c), Ben Franklin said it in a letter to the Pope.
e) In the eleventh century, William the Conqueror said it when urging Pope Gregory VII to give his blessing to the upcoming conquest of England.
f) “Publius,” who could have been John Jay, James Madison or Alexander Hamilton, used it in the closing remarks of the very last Federalist Paper.
g) It was written as closure to the Constitution, in rough draft by James Madison, and proposed at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, but never used.
h) The Director of the Patent Office used it in a letter to President Theodore Roosevelt, when he asked that the Office be closed in 1903, seeing as how everything worth inventing had already been invented.
i) The Publisher of the New York Times used it in a letter to Virginia explaining that there is, after all, a Santa Claus.
j) An unnamed scribe in the court of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella used it in a letter to Christopher Columbus, in a final written authorization for the mission that would result in the discovery of America.
k) It is the final line to the Emancipation Proclamation delivered in 1863 by President Lincoln.
l) The Pope used it in a letter addressed to Henry VIII of England, officially denying his majesty’s request for a divorce from Catherine of Aragon.
m) It was uttered in 1216 by Kublai Kahn in his stately pleasure dome in Xanadu. He did decree it.
n) Thomas Jefferson said it when he erected the “wall of separation” between church and state.
o) It is a line from “Charge of the Light Brigade” by Robert Louis Stevenson.
p) It is a letter to Congress from President John Adams, and the occasion is the passage of the Alien and Sedition Act of 1797.
q) Ludwig von Beethoven used it in a letter to his nephew, explaining why he tore off the title page dedicating his Third Symphony, “Eroica,” to Napoleon Bonaparte.
r) It is the final line to the dedication page of “Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” by Herman Melville.
s) Jerry Falwell’s attorney used it when addressing the Supreme Court during his dispute with Larry Flynt.
t) It was used by Falwell, but in the letter to his supporters identifying the Teletubby Tinky Winky as a homosexual activist.
u) James Dobson used it during a Christmas address on his radio program.
v) Robert Dole used it to open the first Senate session in 1995 after being elected Majority Leader.
w) Hillary Clinton used it in order to fool the electorate into thinking she’s religious, to prepare for her upcoming 2008 presidential bid.
x) It is in an official proclamation from Pope Gregory in 1582, codifying the switch from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar.
y) It is in the last line of the lengthy inaugural address delivered by William Henry Harrison in 1841. Harrison perished from pneumonia after barely a month in office, being too obstinate to wear a hat in the cold March weather.
z) In a failed attempt to get the Baby Jesus on a silver dollar, President Reagan used it in a State of the Union address in 1984.
Need more time?
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