"Sears Catalog" - by Anonymous

"Sears Catalog"
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by Anonymous  
Two Scandinavian young men from way up in Minnesooooota were looking at a Sears catalog and admiring the models.

Ole says to Sven, "Have you seen the beautiful girls in this catalog?"

Sven replies, "Yes, they are very beautiful. And look at the price!"

Ole says, with wide eyes, "Wow, they aren't very expensive. At this price, I'm buying one."

Sven smiles and pats him on the back. "Good idea! Order one and if she's as beautiful as she is in the catalog, I will get one too."

Three weeks later, Sven man asks his friend Ole, "Did you ever receive the girl you ordered from the Sears catalog?"

Ole replies, "No, but it shouldn't be long now. I got her clothes yesterday!"

"The Last Nickel! " - by Anonymous

"The Last Nickel! "
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by Anonymous
A father walks into a restaurant with his young son. He gives the young boy 3 nickels to play with to keep him occupied.

Suddenly, the boy starts choking, going blue in the face. The father realizes the boy has swallowed the nickels and starts slapping him on the back.

The boy coughs up 2 of the nickels, but keeps choking.
Looking at his son, the father is panicking, shouting for help.

A well dressed, attractive, and serious looking woman in a blue business suit is sitting at a coffee bar reading the newspaper and sipping a cup of coffee. At the sound of the commotion, she looks up, puts her coffee cup down, neatly folds the newspaper and places it on the counter. She gets up from her seat and makes her way, unhurried, across the restaurant.

Reaching the boy, the woman carefully drops his pants; takes hold of the boy's testicles and starts to squeeze and twist, gently at first and then ever so firmly. After a few seconds the boy convulses violently and coughs up the last nickel, which the woman deftly catches in her free hand.

Releasing the boy's testicles, the woman hands the nickel to the father and walks back to her seat at the coffee bar without saying a word.

As soon as he is sure that his son has suffered no ill effects, the father rushes over to the woman and starts thanking her saying, "I've never seen anybody do anything like that before. It was fantastic. Are you a doctor? "

"No," the woman replied with a straight face. "I'm with the I.R.S."

"I Can See Clearly Now" - by Johnny Nash

Johnny Nash (1940 - )
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"I Can See Clearly Now"

It's "High Noon."

Gary Cooper (1901-1961)
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High Noon  

       

Recent Comments by TPO (as J J Sefton)

Recent Comments by TPO
(as J J Sefton)
For quite a while now, The Patient Ox has been commenting on certain topics of interest in MinnPost.com.

TPO has been going under the pseudonym of J.J. Sefton. Some of you may recognize this name if you are movie buffs. It is the name of a memorable character in the movie, Stalag 17. William Holden was J.J. Sefton.

TPO would like to share some of his views (comments) here ...

1 - Regarding the Tea Party of America ...

Michele Bachmann's role:

On July 21,2010, J.J. Sefton says...

Not in charge, not the mouthpiece of the Tea Party, not the head [of the party], only the chairwoman of the "listening ear"...

I wish these politicians would stand back and listen to themselves for once.

The Tea Party has the markings of a mob run by group-think of a few power-hungry individuals. Inside the Tea Party, the wolves are already mingling with the sheep!

This is "Animal Farm" of the right!
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Bachmann's Tea Party Caucus:

On July20,2010, J.J. Sefton says ...

The late comedian, Flip Wilson, used to joke: "... then there was the time when I went to Hollywood and made a movie. It was called The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I played the hump!"

And now the most notable Republicans would not even be identified as any part of the Tea Party. The only exception is Mrs. Bachmann, the recklessly gutsy anomaly from Minnesota. You just got to love our State ... we're always in the forefront of the battle (good, bad, or pointless.)
----------------------------------

Bachmann Starts Tea Party Caucus:
On July20,2010, J.J. Sefton says ...

I've never been inside the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. But I have seen it from outside, and I know it is huge. Why ... they're running the whole country (and maybe the world) from inside there for all I know.

So, I'm sure that household can easily provide an office suite for the Tea Party Caucus. And besides, the whole place can use another source of hot air (steam). The new occupants will require scones for nutrition; meetings will commence at 4:00 p.m. sharp everyday (except Sunday.) Membership has to be approved by the Congresswoman.
_______________________________

2 - Regarding Satveer Chaudhary (a nauseating candidate) ...

On July 20,2010, J.J. Sefton says ...

#7 -"Speaking as a conservative ... then again, as I say, I'm not a leftist."

?? Why define or constrain yourself or your ideas ?? If you present your thoughts boldly and without any covert agenda, readers will not have any prejudicial disposition toward you. But, from what you say, the important thing about what you say seems to be the announcement that you are a conservative and not a leftist.

A long time ago, journalists asked Charles de Gaulle where he was on the political spectrum. He said that he was neither to the left nor to the right. He said he was 'above' [Je suis au-dessus!] A very wise man, although he was very tall!

Oh, and by the way, who are those "scary smart, reality-based community [people]" about whom you continually rail? Say, are they evil?!
-----------------------------------------------------

On July 20,2010, J.J. Sefton says ...

"I've always been a free-thinking DFLer," Chaudhary said.

Er ... from what I have gathered so far about this fellow, he seems to also be one of those free-wheeling politicians. They are the sort that feel entitled; and they have no qualms about taking advantage of situations even when morally wrong. One common trait with such types: their excessive self-confidence. A recent example is the infamous ex-Governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich.
-------------------------------------------------------
July 21,2010, J.J. Sefton says ...

Could we please stick to the topic, keep our feet to the ground, and maintain some degree of independence, relevance and credence?

Both the left and the right are equally oppressive and intolerable, in my view. And I don't much care for those who spout off some precanned rhetoric about the evils of this or of that. In person, they sound like they have swallowed a recorded tape message that somebody else activates with a remote control. In print (as commentators on MinnPost), they come across as people who cut and paste, and don't have anything original (of their own) to posit.

Mr. Swift: You don't sound like your own man. It is very obvious that you are only interested in hurling your animus from your side of the pond. You forget that there are monsters on both sides of the pond. Two mustachioed examples in recent history are Hitler and Stalin.

The safe place to be is in the middle of the pond on a boat of reason and not hysteria.
_____________________

3 - Regarding Tom Emmer (Republican candidate for Governor) ...

On July14,2020, J.J. Sefton says ...

Yes, Mr. Emmer does have the courage of his convictions despite their wrongness.

Reminds me of another tough and powerful hombre from the recent past ... one GWB, who only last month again proclaimed that it is right to torture prisoners. I bet he probably still believes he is Mr. Compassionate.
------------------------------------------------

On July 15.2010, J.J. Sefton says ...

#12 - Re your comment about this whole matter being a clever distraction by Mr. Emmer [sic]....

I'm in full agreement. The way this whole mini-drama has been unfolding, one cannot help but notice the fault line between perception and reality. Mr. Emmer's efforts to be in control (to manage, to rein in) the controversy he himself created are clearly not working. It would be wise now for Mr. Emmer to stop shoveling.

On another front.... In all this hubbub, has anybody even asked why Mr. Emmer is attracted to this particular "Old Mexican" restaurant in Roseville? Why does he keep going there? Is the owner his pal? Or does Mr. Emmer have financial interests there? Aren't there any inquiring minds out there who want to transcend this perception and move on to reality?

"Rainy Night in Georgia" - by Brook Benton

Brook Benton (1931-1988)
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"A Rainy Night in Georgia"

"Arrows of Causation" - by Dean Radin

"Arrows of Causation"
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by Dean Radin

Dean Radin, a renowned parapsychologist, discusses his findings on the inter-relationship between "illusion [the mind] and reality." We get to discover the links between a) "attention and intention," and b) "order and randomness."




source: CreatorsDream.tv

Exposing Thirld World Corruption - Peter Eigen

Peter Eigen
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(founder of Transparency International)






source: consciousmedianetwork.com

Water Rights Conflict [The Nile River] - by TPO

  Water rights Conflict [The Nile River]
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by TPO


The following article is by Robert I. Rotberg, and it was recently posted in the editorial pages of the Boston Globe. The subject matter is something that has been on the minds of people in the region * for several decades. It has long been anticipated that some day, the conflict would erupt in much the same manner as that of a latent volcano, i.e. unexpectedly. It will not be hard to imagine a very serious situation arising in the region over the next decade.
* Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Uganda
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Nations fight over water, especially when access is curtailed or threatened, and there are the ingredients for a battle over the 4,100-mile long Nile River. Egypt and Sudan have counted on the abundance of the Nile’s life-giving flow. Now upstream nations want to keep more of the abundance for themselves. Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Congo, Burundi, and Rwanda are asserting their rights to more of the river’s relentless flow. Washington needs to intervene to forestall hostilities between the countries.

Britain conquered Uganda and Kenya in the 19th century in part to protect the precious Nile waters from being diverted away from their critical possession of Egypt, the Suez Canal, and the Red Sea route to India. Without the yearly sustaining floods of the Nile, agriculture and settlement in the valley of the river from Luxor to Cairo and Alexandria would have been impossible.

When Britain in the 1920s controlled all of the waters of the Nile, bar those sluicing down the Blue Nile from Ethiopia, it signed a pact that gave Egypt and Sudan rights to nearly 75 percent of its annual flow. This 1929 agreement was confirmed in 1959, after Egypt and the Sudan had broken from Britain but while the East African countries were still colonies.

A new 2010 Cooperative Framework Agreement, now signed by most of the key upstream abutters, would give all riparian states (including the Congo, where a stream that flows into Lake Tanganyika is the acknowledged Nile source) equal access to the resources of the river. That would give preference to large scale upstream energy and industrial, as well as long-time agricultural and irrigation uses.

Egypt and Sudan have refused to sign the new agreement, despite years of discussions and many heated meetings. Given climate change, the drying up of water sources everywhere in Africa and the world, Egypt, which is guaranteed 56 billion of the annual flow of 84 billion cubic meters of Nile water each year, hardly wants to lose even a drop of its allocation. Nor does Sudan, guaranteed 15 billion cubic meters.

About 300 million people depend on the waters of the Nile. The upstream countries, with still growing populations, believe that their socio-economic development has long been unfairly constrained by Egypt’s colonial-era lock on the river. Ethiopia and Uganda have not been able to support agricultural schemes. Nor have they been able fully to harness the river or its tributaries for industry and power. Both have suffered from major hydroelectric shortages in recent years.

Egypt has declared the continued surge of the Nile waters a “red line’’ that affects its “national security.’’ There is discussion in Egypt about the use of air power to threaten upstream offenders, especially if Ethiopia becomes too demanding. In theory, Ethiopia could divert much of the Blue Nile to its own uses. Or Ethiopia and others could charge Egypt for water that has largely escaped modern pricing.

Egypt is sufficiently disturbed by Ethiopia’s potentially aggressive water designs that it has recently made friends with Eritrea, Ethiopia’s arch enemy. In 1998, Ethiopia and Eritrea went to war over slices of insignificant mountainous territory. Although the shooting ended in 2000, a peace settlement handed down by the World Court in 2006 has still not been observed by both sides. If Egypt attacks Ethiopia, Eritrea might join in. Egyptian generals claim that Israel is on the other side, helping the upstream nations by encouraging their thirst for water and by financing the construction of four hydroelectric projects in Ethiopia.

All these issues provide conditions for a war over water. Washington, Egypt’s largest donor, has significant leverage to de-escalate tensions and mediate between the haves and have-nots. After all, Washington supports both Egypt and Ethiopia lavishly and militarily. It needs to demand that all sides stand down.
____________________________________________________________
Robert I. Rotberg directs Harvard Kennedy School’s Program on Intrastate Conflict and is president of the World Peace Foundation.
Boston Globe, July 2, 2010.
© Copyright 2010 Globe Newspaper Company.