Sunday, May 25, 2008

The Police State

So, it looks like someone in Colorado called in a prank phone call to 911 in Texas. The state of Texas then proceeds to abduct over 400 children from families of some religious group that most of us might consider odd.

I've been wanting to write about this ever since it happened. Shame on us for not going to Texas and standing beside those people! If there is abuse going on, then the state needs to handle this on a case by case basis.

Thank God that the court is acting properly in this, as it has ruled that the kids must be returned. Hopefully those kids will get returned to their families soon.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Transformer Politics

Where is Constitutionist Prime?

What do you mean, that a Rinobot is leading the charge against Obamatron and the Deceptocrats?!

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Crown Update

Last Sunday, we had a Crown graduation at the church. This is the 3rd group that we've lead since being here. (We each led 1 group at the same time in September to November 2008).

This time around 4 folks graduated and 2 co-leaders completed their 2nd run of this; making them now ready to lead their own group.

One lady did not graduate because she missed 1 too many classes. I really felt bad for her. It seems that she has a lot of pressure on her, with her mother, husband and kids all competing for her attention. I am hoping that she participates again in the future.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

77 Years Ago and Approximately 25 Percent of My Collective DNA



The man behind the check out counter is my great-grandfather (Moritz). This is a picture of the grocery store that he owned and started in Atlanta. The lady in the background at the meat counter is his wife and my great-grand mother (Clara).

My great-grand father was born in Texas sometime in the 1890s. He grew up on a ranch herding cattle and sheep. His grandfather (Richard) migrated from Germany to Texas with 4 or 5 brothers in the early 1840s.

Moritz met his wife in Clara during World War I. He served in the US Navy and spent time on a destroyer in the South Pacific as a cook and a boxer. My great-grandmother was from Decatur, Georgia.

From what I've been told, they married and tried to settle down on a ranch in Texas. Clara did not like the solitude life on the ranch, so they picked up and moved to Decatur. To make money, Moritz fell back on what he knew cooking and butchering. He started some kind of food delivery service that eventually grew into a butcher shop and ultimately a Gourmet Grocery Store on Peachtree Street in downtown Atlanta. That store finally closed in the late 1970s.

The two pictures are of a predecessor store to his final and ultimate store which was on Peachtree Street.

My grandfather told me that these pictures were taken 77 years ago; therefore I'm guessing that the year was 1931.

Inserted Addendum
Great grandchildren most likey carry 12.5% DNA of one of their great grandparents. I say most likely because genetics are very random and could cause the number to be more or less, but its probably close to 12.5 %. Think about it, most people have 8 distinct great grandparents.

100% / 8 = 12.5%

In this picture are two of my great-grandparents.

12.5% + 12.5% = 25%

(continue with original post....)

One quick story about my great-grandfather:
He was on an overnight hunting trip with my granddad and some other guys. My granddad was a kid at the time. A preacher was at the campsite hanging out with them. Apparently this preacher had a brother who was also a preacher and involved in some kind of scandal with some woman at a hotel. The story goes that the preacher was telling them what happened and was defending his brother at the same time. The preacher's account is that his brother was at a hotel at some convention or something when he received a knock on his door from some desolate woman. He did not want to turn her away, so felling sorry for her, he allowed her to come into his room. The woman quickly began to make advances toward this fellow. She sat on the end of his bed, then she moved closer, etc.... I cannot remember, how the story of this fellow ended but in the end supposedly nothing happened and he was able to fight her off.

Now word was on the street, that this preacher had hooked up with some strange woman in a hotel in another city at that convention. And his brother was trying to squash the gossip with their version of the story.

Upon hearing the account, Moritz responded; saying that he would've done exactly as the preacher in the hotel room had done.

The preacher telling the story was glad to see that someone was seeing it his way.

After a brief pause, my great-grand father followed with, "But....... I wouldn't have lied about it."