My Uncle Emil

When I was nine or ten years old my uncle Emil told me a story that differed from the “original family story” about my grandfather, his death and how the family made a living as immigrants in San Francisco circa 1920s. The “original family story” was that grandpa Seraphin was a bootlegger and died of cirrhosis of the liver. As Emil tells it this is not the case. “Sure daddy was a bootlegger but he did not die because of that. He died because of the taxi company he owned. Back then a taxi license was worth more than gold, one license would cover as many cabs you owned and daddy owned six going on sixteen. That was a big business back then, and those bastards at Yellow Luxor and DeSoto did not want him getting any more cabs, they didn’t even want him having what he did have.” Back in the twenties in San Francisco the big cab companies were part of the mob. They controlled all the existing licensees determining who got what and how many cabs were out on the streets at any given time. The city in attempts to break up the system set up a lottery for 20 taxi licensees. Grandpa Seraphin was one of the lucky winners. Not speaking English he built the company up to six cabs one for himself Johnny Emil Victor David and Louis his good friend from the old country. It was a strong thriving business. “One night those bastards kidnapped Johnny; he was the youngest of us all. Daddy got a letter with Johnny’s pinkie finger, it was a warning to get out of the taxi business. Louis got word from another taxi driver with DeSoto that Johnny was being held in the basement of a bar the end of North Point. Dad was not the kind to take this sitting down, nor were any of us.” Uncle Emil went on to tell me how grandpa Seraphin, Victor, David, Louis and he went down to the bottom of North Point Street, with guns, shot their way into the basement, retrieved Johnny and all managed to get back home, but grandpa was shot in the side. ”He died a few days after the gun fight at the bar, the taxi company was never the same, sure we all had our cabs but it never grew. The only one still driving cab today is David” I asked my mother if the story was true, she laughed and said “that Emil can sure tell a tall tell.” Johnny was in a rest home most of my life he died a year after Emil told me the story. At the funeral, when we were walking by the open casket I looked in and sure enough Uncle Johnny was missing his pinkie finger.

no man's land

"When I am in the city I long for the country, when I am in the country I long for the city."

"The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides with the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who in the name of charity and good will shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon those with great vengeance and with furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know that my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee." Jules Winnfield

MsD tells a Christmas story

I remember when I was little my favorite part of Christmas was when it was time to decorate the tree; I would always do the Christmas village. The village consisted of 8 to 12 miniature houses and buildings made of cardboard. They came from Germany and where finally made. I would set them up under the tree or on a table near the tree and light them up from behind with Christmas tree lights. Arranging them on a bed of fluffy cotton that looked like snow, I added a plastic Santa, in his slay pulled by reindeer. I spent most of the Christmas week arranging and rearranging the scene. Sometimes I would combine the little village with the Nativity scene. The scale was off but it looked cool to see a little village around a gigantic baby Jesus. As I got older I would add model airplanes, cars and model monsters like Frankenstein and the Wolfman. At times I took one of the buildings to the backyard and blow it up with a leftover firecracker or cover it with model glue and set it on fire. By the time I was eleven there were only 6 or 7 of the miniature German buildings, and the little baby Jesus had been replaced 2 or three times due to sacrifice by fire on the seat of a “Weird-ohs” hot rod model. 

So many are talented and beautiful so few drift into an arena where they are appreciated.

"The Great Dictator" (1940) Apropos for our times

"I'm sorry, but I don't want to be an emperor. That's not my business. I don't want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible; Jew, Gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's happiness, not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone, and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men's souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical; our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost. The airplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men; cries out for universal brotherhood; for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women, and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me, I say, do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish. Soldiers! Don't give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you, enslave you; who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel! Who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men - machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines, you are not cattle, you are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts! You don't hate! Only the unloved hate; the unloved and the unnatural. Soldiers! Don't fight for slavery! Fight for liberty! In the seventeenth chapter of St. Luke, it is written that the kingdom of God is within man, not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people, have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy, let us use that power. Let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfill that promise. They never will! Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people. Now let us fight to fulfill that promise. Let us fight to free the world! To do away with national barriers! To do away with greed, with hate and intolerance! Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness. Soldiers, in the name of democracy, let us all unite! Hannah, can you hear me? Wherever you are, look up Hannah! The clouds are lifting! The sun is breaking through! We are coming out of the darkness into the light! We are coming into a new world; a kindlier world, where men will rise above their hate, their greed, and brutality. Look up, Hannah! The soul of man has been given wings and at last he is beginning to fly. He is flying into the rainbow! Into the light of hope, into the future! The glorious future, that belongs to you, to me and to all of us. Look up, Hannah. Look up!"
The Great Dictator (1940)

"John 14:6
Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father, but by me. (King James Bible)

A true Christian should not entertain the idea that any other faith has access to God or is a means to God. Only Christianity can offer salvation. Individuals with any other faith are dammed. If the bible and the New Testament are the word of God and Jesus Christ (and it is), there is no other choice but to accept this. If you are a Christian and do not accept the Bible as truth and fact you are a heretic.
I am troubled that there are so many people who call themselves “Christian” and have no idea what it means to be one. They run around all open minded to all sorts of cult like faiths all friendly and lovey-duvey like… thinken we are all going to meet up in heaven and have a party with the Big Guy. NOT. They are all dammed to hell and so are you for your heresy. You heretics are the worst of all because you are not true Christians just pretenders and misleading the true believers. Jesus has set up a special place for you where the fire is hotter and the room service is really really bad.

”

—	Dr Robert Jeffress