Saturday, June 21, 2014
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Monday, June 16, 2014
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
Monday, June 09, 2014
Heinlein’s Razor
AMERICAN DIGEST Essays, News, Notes, and Quotes:
Heinlein’s Razor in reference to the dean of science fiction writers, Robert Heinlein
"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity, but don't rule out malice."
Heinlein’s Razor in reference to the dean of science fiction writers, Robert Heinlein
"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity, but don't rule out malice."
Saturday, June 07, 2014
Saturday Uninformed Voter Joke | Grouchy Old Cripple
Saturday Uninformed Voter Joke | Grouchy Old Cripple: Saturday Uninformed Voter Joke
Glenn sent me this week’s uninformed voter joke.
A bartender is sitting behind the bar on a typical day, when the door bursts open and in come four exuberant uninformed voters. They come up to the bar, order five bottles of champagne and ten glasses, take their order over and sit down at a large table. The corks are popped, the glasses are filled and they begin toasting and chanting, “51 days, 51 days, 51 days!”
Soon, three more uninformed voters arrive, take up their drinks and the chanting grows. “51 days, 51 days, 51 days! ” Two more uninformed voters show up and soon their voices are joined in raising the roof. “51 days, 51 days, 51 days! ” Finally, the tenth uninformed voter comes in with a picture under her arm. She walks over to the table, sets the picture in the middle and the table erupts. Up jumps the others, they begin dancing around the table, exchanging high-fives, all the while chanting “51 days, 51 days, 51 days!
“The bartender can’t contain his curiosity any longer, so he walks over to the table. There in the center is a beautifully framed child’s jigsaw puzzle of the White House. When the frenzy dies down a little bit, the bartender asks one of the uninformed voters, “What’s all the chanting and celebration about?
The uninformed voter who brought in the picture pipes in, “Everyone thinks that uninformed voters are dumb and they make fun of us just because we voted for Obummer. So, we decided to set the record straight. Ten of us got together, bought that puzzle and put it together…the side of the box said 6-10 years, but we put it together in 51 days!”
Glenn sent me this week’s uninformed voter joke.
A bartender is sitting behind the bar on a typical day, when the door bursts open and in come four exuberant uninformed voters. They come up to the bar, order five bottles of champagne and ten glasses, take their order over and sit down at a large table. The corks are popped, the glasses are filled and they begin toasting and chanting, “51 days, 51 days, 51 days!”
Soon, three more uninformed voters arrive, take up their drinks and the chanting grows. “51 days, 51 days, 51 days! ” Two more uninformed voters show up and soon their voices are joined in raising the roof. “51 days, 51 days, 51 days! ” Finally, the tenth uninformed voter comes in with a picture under her arm. She walks over to the table, sets the picture in the middle and the table erupts. Up jumps the others, they begin dancing around the table, exchanging high-fives, all the while chanting “51 days, 51 days, 51 days!
“The bartender can’t contain his curiosity any longer, so he walks over to the table. There in the center is a beautifully framed child’s jigsaw puzzle of the White House. When the frenzy dies down a little bit, the bartender asks one of the uninformed voters, “What’s all the chanting and celebration about?
The uninformed voter who brought in the picture pipes in, “Everyone thinks that uninformed voters are dumb and they make fun of us just because we voted for Obummer. So, we decided to set the record straight. Ten of us got together, bought that puzzle and put it together…the side of the box said 6-10 years, but we put it together in 51 days!”
Monday, June 02, 2014
The Top 40: Comment on Our food-stamp program has many problems,
The Top 40: Comment on Our food-stamp program has many problems,
Davey Crockett on spending Govt money
NOT YOURS TO GIVE
From The Life of Colonel David Crockett, compiled by Edward S. Ellis
(Philadelphia: Porter & Coates, 1884)
David Crockett
Member of Congress 1827-31, 1832-35
One day in the House of Representatives, a bill was taken up
appropriatingmoney for the benefit of a widow of a distinguished naval
officer. Several beautiful speeches had been made in it's support. The
Speaker was just about to put the question when Crockett arose:
"Mr. Speaker-- I have as much respect for the memory of the
deceased, and as much sympathy for the suffering of the living, if
suffering there be, as any man in this House, but we must not permit our
respect for the dead or our sympathy for a part of the living to lead
us into an act of injustice to the balance of the living. I will not go
into an argument to prove that Congress has no power to appropriate this
money as an act of charity. Every member upon this floor knows it. We
have the right, as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as
we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right so to
appropriate a dollar of the public money. Some eloquent appeals have
been made to us upon the ground that it is debt due the deceased. Mr.
Speaker, the deceased lived long after the close of the war; he was in
office to the day of his death, and I have never heard that the
government was in arrears to him. Every man in this House knows it is
not a debt. We cannot, without the grossest corruption, appropriate
this money as the payment of a debt. We have not the semblence of
authority to appropriate it as a charity. Mr. Speaker, I have said we
have the right to give as much money of our own as we please. I am the
poorest man on this floor. I cannot vote for this bill, but I will give
one week's pay to the object, and if every memeber of Congress will do
the same, it will amount to more than the bill asks."
He took his seat. Nobody replied. The bill was put upon its
passage, and, instead of passing unanimously, as was generally supposed,
and as, no doubt it would, but for that speech, it received but few
votes, and, of course, was lost.
Later, when asked by a friend why he had opposed the appropriation, Crockett gave this explanation:
"Several years ago I was one evening standing on the steps of the
Capitol with some other members of Congress, when our attention was
attracted by a great light over in Georgetown. It was evidently a large
fire. We jumped into a hack and drove over as fast as we could. In spite
of all that could be done, many houses were burned and many families
made homeless, and besides, some of them had lost all but the clothes
they had on. The weather was very cold, and when I saw so many women
and children suffering, I felt that something ought to be done for them.
The next morning a bill was introduced appropriating $20,000 for their
relief. We put aside all other business and rushed it through as soon
as it could be done.
"The next summer, when it began to be time to think about the
election, I concluded I would take a scout around among the boys of my
district. I had no opposition there, but, as the election was some time
off, I did not know what might turn up. When riding one day in a part
of my district in which I was more of stranger than any other, I saw a
man in a field plowing and coming toward the road. I gauged my gait so
that we should meet as he came to the fence. As he came up, I spoke to
the man. He replied politely, but, as I thought, rather coldly.
"I began: "Well, friend, I am one of those unfortunate beings called candidates, and----'
"Yes, I know you you are Colonel Crockett. I have seen you once before,
and voted for you the last time you were elected. I suppose you are
out electioneering now, but you had better not waste your time or mine. I
shall not vote for you again.'
"This was a sockdolager....I begged him to tell me what was the matter.
"Well, Colonel, it is hardly worth-while to waste time or words upon
it. I do not see how it can be mended, but you gave a vote last winter
which shows that either you have not capacity to understand the
Constitution, or that you are wanting in honesty and firmness to be
guided by it. In either case you are not the man to represent me. But I
beg your pardon for expressing it in that way. I did not intend to
avail myself of the privilege of the constituent to speak plainly to a
candidate for the purpose of insulting or wounding you. I intended by
it only to say that your understanding of the Constitution is very
different from mine; and I will say to you what, but for rudeness, I
should not have said, that I believe you to be honest.... But an
understanding of the Constitution different from mine I cannot overlook,
because the Constitution, to be worth anything, must be held sacred,
and rigidly observed in all its provisions. The man who wields power
and misinterprets it is the more dangerous the more honest he is.'
"'I admit the truth of all you say, but there must be some mistake
about it, For I do not remember that I gave any vote last winter upon
any constitutional question.'
"'No, Colonel, there's no mistake. Though I live here in the back
woods and seldom go from home, I take the papers from Washington and
read very carefully all the proceedings in Congress. My papers say last
winter you voted for a bill to appropriate $20,000 to some suffers by
fire in Georgetown. Is that true?'
"'Well, my friend, I may as well own up. You have got me there. But
certainly nobody will complain that a great and rich country like ours
should give the insignificant sum of $20,000 to relieve it's suffering
women and children, particularly with a full and overflowing Treasury,
and I am sure, if you had been there, you would have done just as I
did.'
"'It is not the amount, Colonel, that I complain of; it is the
principle. In the first place, the government ought to have in the
Treasury no more than enough for its legitimate purposes. But that has
nothing to do with the question. The power of collecting and disbursing
money at pleasure is the most dangerous power that can be intrusted to
man, particularly under our system of collecting revenue by tariff,
which reaches every man in the country, no matter how poor he may be,
and the poorer he is the more he pays in proportion to his means. What
is worse, it presses upon him without his knowledge where the weight
centers, for there is not a man in the United States who can ever guess
how much he pays to the government. So you see, that while you are
contributing to relieve one, you are drawing it from thousands who are
even worse off than he. If you had the right to give anything, the
amount was simply a matter of discretion with you, and you had as much
right to give $20,000,000 as $20,000. If you have the right to give to
one, you have the right to give to all; and, as the Constitution neither
defines charity nor stipulates the amount, you are at liberty to give
to anything and everything which you may believe, or profess to believe,
is a charity, and to any amount you may think proper. You will very
easily perceive what a wide door this would open for fraud and
corruption and favortism, on the one hand, and for robbing the people on
the other. No, Colonel, Congress has no right to give charity.
Individual members may give as much of their own money as they please,
but they have no right to touch a dollar of the public money for that
purpose.If twice as many houses had been burned in this county as in
Georgetown, neither you nor any other member of Congress would have
thought of appropriating a dollar for our relief.
There are about two hundred and forty members of Congress. If they
had shown their sympathy for the suffers by contributing each one week's
pay, it would have made over $13,000. There are plenty of men in and
around Washington who could have given $20,000 without depriving
themselves of even a luxury of life.. The congressmen chose to keep
their own money, which, if reports be true, some of them spend not very
creditable; and the people about Washington, no doubt, applauded you for
relieving them from the necessity of giving by giving what was not
yours to give. The people have delegated to Congress, by the
Constitution, the power to do certain things. To do these, it is
authorized to collect and pay moneys, and for nothing else. Everything
beyond this is usurpation, and a violation of the Constitution.
"'So you see, Colonel, you have violated the Constitution in what I
consider a vital point. It is a precedent fraught with danger to the
country, for when Congress once begins to stretch it's power beyond the
limits of the Constitution, there is no limit to it, and no security for
the people. I have no doubt you acted honestly, but that does not make
it any better, except as far as you are personally concerned, and you
see that I cannot vote for you...'
"I tell you I felt streaked. I saw if I should have oppostion, and
this man should go talking, he would set others to talking, and in that
district I was a gone fawn-skin. I could not answer him, for the fact
is, I was so fully convinced that he was right, I did not want to. But I
must satisfy him, and I said to him:
"Well, my friend, you hit the nail upon the head, when you said I
had not sense enough to understand the Constitution. I intended to be
guided by it, and thought I had studied it fully, I have heard many
speeches in congress about the powers of the Congress, but what you have
said here at your plow has got more hard, sound sense in it than all
the fine speeches I ever heard. If I had ever taken the view of it that
you have, I would have put my head into the fire before I would have
given that vote; and if you will forgive me and vote for me again, if I
ever vote for another unconstitutional law I wish I may be shot.'
"He laughingly replied: "Yes Colonel, you have sworn to that once
before, but I will trust you again upon one condition. You say that you
are convinced that your vote was wrong. Your acknowledgment of it will
do more good than beating you for it. If, as you go around the distict,
you will tell people about this vote, and that you are satisfied it was
wrong, I will not only vote for you, but will do what I can to keep
down opposition, and perhaps, I may exert some little influence in that
way.'
"'If I don't,' said I. "I wish I may be shot; and to convince you
that I am in earnest in what I say I will come back this way in a week
or ten days, and if you will get up a gathering of the people, I will
make a speech to them. Get up a barbeque, and I will pay for it.'
"'No Colonel, we are not rich people in this section, but we have
plenty of provisions to contribute for a barbeque, and some to spare for
those who have none.. The push of crops will be over in a few days, and
we can then afford a day for a barbeque. This is Thursday; I will see
to getting up on Saturday week. Come to my house on Friday, and we will
go together, and I promise you a very respectable crowd to see and hear
you.'
"'Well, I will be here. But one thing more before I say good-by. I must know your name.'
"'My name is Bunce.'
"'Not Horatio Bunce?'
"'Yes.'
"'Well, Mr. Bunce, I never saw you before though you say you have
seen me, but I know you very well. I am glad I have met you, and very
proud that I may hope to have you for my friend.'
"It was one of the luckiest hits of my life that I met him. He
mingled but little with the public, but was widely known for a heart
brimful and running over with kindness and benevolence, which showed
themselves not only in words but in acts. He was the oracle of the
whole country around him, and his fame had extended far beyond the
circle of his immediate acquaintance. Though I had never met him before,
I had heard much of him, and but for this meeting it is very likely I
should have had opposition, and had been beaten. One thing is very
certain, no man could now stand up in that district under such a vote.
"At the appointed time I was at his house, having told our
conversation to every crowd I had met, and to every man I stayed all
night with, and I found that it gave the people an interest and a
confidence in me stronger than I had ever seen manifested before.
"Though I was considerably fatigued when I reached his house, and,
under ordinary circumstances, should have gone early to bed, I kept up
until midnight, talking about the principles and affairs of government
and got more real, true knowledge of them than I had got all my life
before.
"I have known and seen much of him since, for I respect him --- no,
that is not the word -- I reverence and love him more than any living
man, and I go to see him two or three times a year; and I will tell you
sir, if everyone who professes to be a Christian, lived and acted and
enjoyed it as he does, the religion of Christ would take the world by
storm.
"But to return to my story. The next morning we went to the
barbecue, and, to my surprise, found about a thousand men there. I met a
good many whom I had not known before, and they and my friend
introduced me around until I had got pretty well acquainted---at least,
they all knew me.
"In due time notice was given that I would speak to them. They
gathered up around a stand that had been erected. I opened my speech by
saying: "Fellow-citizens --- I present myself before you today feeling
like a new man. My eyes have lately been opened to truths which
ignorance or prejudice, or both, had heretofore hidden from my view. I
feel that I can today offer you the ability to render you more valuable
service than I have ever been able to render before. I am here today
more for the purpose of acknowledging my error than to seek your votes.
That I should make this acknowledgement is due to myself as well as to
you. Whether you will vote for me is a matter for your consideration
only.'
"I went on to tell them about the fire and my vote for the
appropriation and then told them why I was satisfied it was wrong. I
closed by saying:
"And now, fellow-citizens, it remains only for me to tell you that
the most of the speech you have listened to with so much interest was
simply a repetition of the arguments by which your neighbor, Mr. Bunce,
convinced me of my error.
"'It is the best speech I ever made in my life, but he is entitled
to the credit for it. And now I hope he is satisfied with his convert
and that he will get up here and tell you so.'
"He came upon the stand and said:
"'Fellow-citizens --- It affords me great pleasure to comply with
the request of Colonel Crockett. I have always considered him a
thoroughly honest man, and I am satisfied that he will faithfully
perform all that he has promised you today.'
"He went down, and there went up from that crowd such a shout for Davy Crockett as his name never called forth before.
"I am not much given to tears, but I was taken with a choking then
and felt some big drops rolling down my cheeks. And I tell you now that
the rememberance of those few words spoken by such a man, and the
honest, hearty shout they produced, is worth more to me than all the
reputation I have ever made, or shall ever make, as a member of
Congress.
"Now, sir," conluded Crockett, "you know why I made that speech yesterday.
"There is one thing now to which I will call your attention. You
remember that I proposed to give a week's pay. There are in that House
many verywealthy men-- men who think nothing of spending a week's pay,
or a dozen of them, for a dinner or a wine party when they have
something to accomplish by it. Some of those same men made beautiful
speeches upon the great debt of gratitude which the country owed the
deceased -- a debt which could not be paid by money --- and the
insignificant and worthlessness of money, particularly so insignificant a
sum as $10,000, when weighed against the honor of the nation. Yet not
one of them reponded to my proposition. Money with them is nothing but
trash when it is to come out of the people. But it is the one great
thing for which most of them are striving, and many of them sacrifice
honor, intergrity, and justice to obtain it."
Davey Crockett on spending Govt money
NOT YOURS TO GIVE
From The Life of Colonel David Crockett, compiled by Edward S. Ellis
(Philadelphia: Porter & Coates, 1884)
David Crockett
Member of Congress 1827-31, 1832-35
One day in the House of Representatives, a bill was taken up
appropriatingmoney for the benefit of a widow of a distinguished naval
officer. Several beautiful speeches had been made in it's support. The
Speaker was just about to put the question when Crockett arose:
"Mr. Speaker-- I have as much respect for the memory of the
deceased, and as much sympathy for the suffering of the living, if
suffering there be, as any man in this House, but we must not permit our
respect for the dead or our sympathy for a part of the living to lead
us into an act of injustice to the balance of the living. I will not go
into an argument to prove that Congress has no power to appropriate this
money as an act of charity. Every member upon this floor knows it. We
have the right, as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as
we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right so to
appropriate a dollar of the public money. Some eloquent appeals have
been made to us upon the ground that it is debt due the deceased. Mr.
Speaker, the deceased lived long after the close of the war; he was in
office to the day of his death, and I have never heard that the
government was in arrears to him. Every man in this House knows it is
not a debt. We cannot, without the grossest corruption, appropriate
this money as the payment of a debt. We have not the semblence of
authority to appropriate it as a charity. Mr. Speaker, I have said we
have the right to give as much money of our own as we please. I am the
poorest man on this floor. I cannot vote for this bill, but I will give
one week's pay to the object, and if every memeber of Congress will do
the same, it will amount to more than the bill asks."
He took his seat. Nobody replied. The bill was put upon its
passage, and, instead of passing unanimously, as was generally supposed,
and as, no doubt it would, but for that speech, it received but few
votes, and, of course, was lost.
Later, when asked by a friend why he had opposed the appropriation, Crockett gave this explanation:
"Several years ago I was one evening standing on the steps of the
Capitol with some other members of Congress, when our attention was
attracted by a great light over in Georgetown. It was evidently a large
fire. We jumped into a hack and drove over as fast as we could. In spite
of all that could be done, many houses were burned and many families
made homeless, and besides, some of them had lost all but the clothes
they had on. The weather was very cold, and when I saw so many women
and children suffering, I felt that something ought to be done for them.
The next morning a bill was introduced appropriating $20,000 for their
relief. We put aside all other business and rushed it through as soon
as it could be done.
"The next summer, when it began to be time to think about the
election, I concluded I would take a scout around among the boys of my
district. I had no opposition there, but, as the election was some time
off, I did not know what might turn up. When riding one day in a part
of my district in which I was more of stranger than any other, I saw a
man in a field plowing and coming toward the road. I gauged my gait so
that we should meet as he came to the fence. As he came up, I spoke to
the man. He replied politely, but, as I thought, rather coldly.
"I began: "Well, friend, I am one of those unfortunate beings called candidates, and----'
"Yes, I know you you are Colonel Crockett. I have seen you once before,
and voted for you the last time you were elected. I suppose you are
out electioneering now, but you had better not waste your time or mine. I
shall not vote for you again.'
"This was a sockdolager....I begged him to tell me what was the matter.
"Well, Colonel, it is hardly worth-while to waste time or words upon
it. I do not see how it can be mended, but you gave a vote last winter
which shows that either you have not capacity to understand the
Constitution, or that you are wanting in honesty and firmness to be
guided by it. In either case you are not the man to represent me. But I
beg your pardon for expressing it in that way. I did not intend to
avail myself of the privilege of the constituent to speak plainly to a
candidate for the purpose of insulting or wounding you. I intended by
it only to say that your understanding of the Constitution is very
different from mine; and I will say to you what, but for rudeness, I
should not have said, that I believe you to be honest.... But an
understanding of the Constitution different from mine I cannot overlook,
because the Constitution, to be worth anything, must be held sacred,
and rigidly observed in all its provisions. The man who wields power
and misinterprets it is the more dangerous the more honest he is.'
"'I admit the truth of all you say, but there must be some mistake
about it, For I do not remember that I gave any vote last winter upon
any constitutional question.'
"'No, Colonel, there's no mistake. Though I live here in the back
woods and seldom go from home, I take the papers from Washington and
read very carefully all the proceedings in Congress. My papers say last
winter you voted for a bill to appropriate $20,000 to some suffers by
fire in Georgetown. Is that true?'
"'Well, my friend, I may as well own up. You have got me there. But
certainly nobody will complain that a great and rich country like ours
should give the insignificant sum of $20,000 to relieve it's suffering
women and children, particularly with a full and overflowing Treasury,
and I am sure, if you had been there, you would have done just as I
did.'
"'It is not the amount, Colonel, that I complain of; it is the
principle. In the first place, the government ought to have in the
Treasury no more than enough for its legitimate purposes. But that has
nothing to do with the question. The power of collecting and disbursing
money at pleasure is the most dangerous power that can be intrusted to
man, particularly under our system of collecting revenue by tariff,
which reaches every man in the country, no matter how poor he may be,
and the poorer he is the more he pays in proportion to his means. What
is worse, it presses upon him without his knowledge where the weight
centers, for there is not a man in the United States who can ever guess
how much he pays to the government. So you see, that while you are
contributing to relieve one, you are drawing it from thousands who are
even worse off than he. If you had the right to give anything, the
amount was simply a matter of discretion with you, and you had as much
right to give $20,000,000 as $20,000. If you have the right to give to
one, you have the right to give to all; and, as the Constitution neither
defines charity nor stipulates the amount, you are at liberty to give
to anything and everything which you may believe, or profess to believe,
is a charity, and to any amount you may think proper. You will very
easily perceive what a wide door this would open for fraud and
corruption and favortism, on the one hand, and for robbing the people on
the other. No, Colonel, Congress has no right to give charity.
Individual members may give as much of their own money as they please,
but they have no right to touch a dollar of the public money for that
purpose.If twice as many houses had been burned in this county as in
Georgetown, neither you nor any other member of Congress would have
thought of appropriating a dollar for our relief.
There are about two hundred and forty members of Congress. If they
had shown their sympathy for the suffers by contributing each one week's
pay, it would have made over $13,000. There are plenty of men in and
around Washington who could have given $20,000 without depriving
themselves of even a luxury of life.. The congressmen chose to keep
their own money, which, if reports be true, some of them spend not very
creditable; and the people about Washington, no doubt, applauded you for
relieving them from the necessity of giving by giving what was not
yours to give. The people have delegated to Congress, by the
Constitution, the power to do certain things. To do these, it is
authorized to collect and pay moneys, and for nothing else. Everything
beyond this is usurpation, and a violation of the Constitution.
"'So you see, Colonel, you have violated the Constitution in what I
consider a vital point. It is a precedent fraught with danger to the
country, for when Congress once begins to stretch it's power beyond the
limits of the Constitution, there is no limit to it, and no security for
the people. I have no doubt you acted honestly, but that does not make
it any better, except as far as you are personally concerned, and you
see that I cannot vote for you...'
"I tell you I felt streaked. I saw if I should have oppostion, and
this man should go talking, he would set others to talking, and in that
district I was a gone fawn-skin. I could not answer him, for the fact
is, I was so fully convinced that he was right, I did not want to. But I
must satisfy him, and I said to him:
"Well, my friend, you hit the nail upon the head, when you said I
had not sense enough to understand the Constitution. I intended to be
guided by it, and thought I had studied it fully, I have heard many
speeches in congress about the powers of the Congress, but what you have
said here at your plow has got more hard, sound sense in it than all
the fine speeches I ever heard. If I had ever taken the view of it that
you have, I would have put my head into the fire before I would have
given that vote; and if you will forgive me and vote for me again, if I
ever vote for another unconstitutional law I wish I may be shot.'
"He laughingly replied: "Yes Colonel, you have sworn to that once
before, but I will trust you again upon one condition. You say that you
are convinced that your vote was wrong. Your acknowledgment of it will
do more good than beating you for it. If, as you go around the distict,
you will tell people about this vote, and that you are satisfied it was
wrong, I will not only vote for you, but will do what I can to keep
down opposition, and perhaps, I may exert some little influence in that
way.'
"'If I don't,' said I. "I wish I may be shot; and to convince you
that I am in earnest in what I say I will come back this way in a week
or ten days, and if you will get up a gathering of the people, I will
make a speech to them. Get up a barbeque, and I will pay for it.'
"'No Colonel, we are not rich people in this section, but we have
plenty of provisions to contribute for a barbeque, and some to spare for
those who have none.. The push of crops will be over in a few days, and
we can then afford a day for a barbeque. This is Thursday; I will see
to getting up on Saturday week. Come to my house on Friday, and we will
go together, and I promise you a very respectable crowd to see and hear
you.'
"'Well, I will be here. But one thing more before I say good-by. I must know your name.'
"'My name is Bunce.'
"'Not Horatio Bunce?'
"'Yes.'
"'Well, Mr. Bunce, I never saw you before though you say you have
seen me, but I know you very well. I am glad I have met you, and very
proud that I may hope to have you for my friend.'
"It was one of the luckiest hits of my life that I met him. He
mingled but little with the public, but was widely known for a heart
brimful and running over with kindness and benevolence, which showed
themselves not only in words but in acts. He was the oracle of the
whole country around him, and his fame had extended far beyond the
circle of his immediate acquaintance. Though I had never met him before,
I had heard much of him, and but for this meeting it is very likely I
should have had opposition, and had been beaten. One thing is very
certain, no man could now stand up in that district under such a vote.
"At the appointed time I was at his house, having told our
conversation to every crowd I had met, and to every man I stayed all
night with, and I found that it gave the people an interest and a
confidence in me stronger than I had ever seen manifested before.
"Though I was considerably fatigued when I reached his house, and,
under ordinary circumstances, should have gone early to bed, I kept up
until midnight, talking about the principles and affairs of government
and got more real, true knowledge of them than I had got all my life
before.
"I have known and seen much of him since, for I respect him --- no,
that is not the word -- I reverence and love him more than any living
man, and I go to see him two or three times a year; and I will tell you
sir, if everyone who professes to be a Christian, lived and acted and
enjoyed it as he does, the religion of Christ would take the world by
storm.
"But to return to my story. The next morning we went to the
barbecue, and, to my surprise, found about a thousand men there. I met a
good many whom I had not known before, and they and my friend
introduced me around until I had got pretty well acquainted---at least,
they all knew me.
"In due time notice was given that I would speak to them. They
gathered up around a stand that had been erected. I opened my speech by
saying: "Fellow-citizens --- I present myself before you today feeling
like a new man. My eyes have lately been opened to truths which
ignorance or prejudice, or both, had heretofore hidden from my view. I
feel that I can today offer you the ability to render you more valuable
service than I have ever been able to render before. I am here today
more for the purpose of acknowledging my error than to seek your votes.
That I should make this acknowledgement is due to myself as well as to
you. Whether you will vote for me is a matter for your consideration
only.'
"I went on to tell them about the fire and my vote for the
appropriation and then told them why I was satisfied it was wrong. I
closed by saying:
"And now, fellow-citizens, it remains only for me to tell you that
the most of the speech you have listened to with so much interest was
simply a repetition of the arguments by which your neighbor, Mr. Bunce,
convinced me of my error.
"'It is the best speech I ever made in my life, but he is entitled
to the credit for it. And now I hope he is satisfied with his convert
and that he will get up here and tell you so.'
"He came upon the stand and said:
"'Fellow-citizens --- It affords me great pleasure to comply with
the request of Colonel Crockett. I have always considered him a
thoroughly honest man, and I am satisfied that he will faithfully
perform all that he has promised you today.'
"He went down, and there went up from that crowd such a shout for Davy Crockett as his name never called forth before.
"I am not much given to tears, but I was taken with a choking then
and felt some big drops rolling down my cheeks. And I tell you now that
the rememberance of those few words spoken by such a man, and the
honest, hearty shout they produced, is worth more to me than all the
reputation I have ever made, or shall ever make, as a member of
Congress.
"Now, sir," conluded Crockett, "you know why I made that speech yesterday.
"There is one thing now to which I will call your attention. You
remember that I proposed to give a week's pay. There are in that House
many verywealthy men-- men who think nothing of spending a week's pay,
or a dozen of them, for a dinner or a wine party when they have
something to accomplish by it. Some of those same men made beautiful
speeches upon the great debt of gratitude which the country owed the
deceased -- a debt which could not be paid by money --- and the
insignificant and worthlessness of money, particularly so insignificant a
sum as $10,000, when weighed against the honor of the nation. Yet not
one of them reponded to my proposition. Money with them is nothing but
trash when it is to come out of the people. But it is the one great
thing for which most of them are striving, and many of them sacrifice
honor, intergrity, and justice to obtain it."
Sunday, June 01, 2014
Friday, May 30, 2014
(65 unread) - jdr1228 - Yahoo Mail
(65 unread) - jdr1228 - Yahoo Mail: Kent Rose
Today at 11:11 AM
To
Joe Rose
CR5 can pump @ JCAMP is pumping:
1bbl/3.33min = 432.432432bbl/day
@90#
This pump has been in service for years so is probably significantly less efficient than a new one.
Today at 11:11 AM
To
Joe Rose
CR5 can pump @ JCAMP is pumping:
1bbl/3.33min = 432.432432bbl/day
@90#
This pump has been in service for years so is probably significantly less efficient than a new one.
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