Thanks
kaslin: THANK YOU for posting the DOSE tonight! The intellectually and ethically challenged among us are obviously bored with each other — for good reason — and have decided to ‘act up and act out’ on our thread . . . They are such an embarrassment TO THEMSELVES!
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IF ANY “DISRUPTORS” ARE STILL LURKING, THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION WILL DEFINITELY DRIVE THEM OVER THE SLIM EDGE ON WHICH THEY’RE CURRENTLY PERCHED:
Thirty-seven percent (37%) of Americans approve of the way that George W. Bush is performing his role as President. That’s the first time his ratings have moved above 36% in nearly a month. . . . Overall, THE PRESIDENT EARNS APPROVAL FROM 75% OF REPUBLICANS, 10% of Democrats, and 30% of those not affiliated with either major political party.
[How is this possible? I thought the President’s base had deserted him . . . NOT!]
http://rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/political_updates/president_bush_job_approval
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GIFT OR GAFFE?
Why Bush Gave Benedict a Walking Stick
By Wayne Laugesen
DALLAS — A walking stick is the unlikely center of a debate about political protocol, theological precision and news-marketing as a corporal work of mercy.
. . .Why a Stick?
The stick was designed and carved by Roosevelt Wilkerson, a man who lived on the streets of Dallas with his wife until a good friend of George and Laura Bush discovered his craft and began helping him sell the carvings, known as Moses Sticks.
Susan Nowlin, of Dallas, was the “big sister” of Laura Bush at a Southern Methodist University sorority. She and her husband, Edwin Nowlin, are frequent guests at the White House, and Nowlin has given Bush two of Wilkerson’s Moses Sticks.
Nowlin met Wilkerson in 1997 at a craft class at her church, First Presbyterian of Dallas, and later decided she wanted to buy one of his sticks. She asked around, and ended up tracking Wilkerson down by shouting his name in a rough area of southeast Dallas.
Nowlin and Wilkerson struck up a friendship, and she agreed to try selling the sticks. They devised a plan in which Wilkerson would carve sticks, Nowlin would sell them for $75 each, and proceeds would help Wilkerson and his wife rent an efficiency apartment and get off the street.
The first stick Nowlin bought was given to her pastor. Subsequently, she gave a stick to then-Gov. Bush because she knew he cared about the homeless and the poor — and the Ten Commandments. Greeting Nowlin for a luncheon at the governor’s mansion, Laura Bush told her that Gov. Bush considered his Moses Stick “the greatest gift ever.”
Homeless to Celebrity
In preparing for the Vatican visit, Bush contacted Nowlin about acquiring a stick so the White House protocol office could review it as a possible gift for Pope Benedict XVI.
Wilkerson and his wife haven’t been homeless for most of the past 10 years because of the Moses Sticks, but Nowlin says it hasn’t been easy. Sometimes, sales have been slow.
“I needed to sell at least seven sticks a month, if they were to stay off the street,” Nowlin said. “When orders were slow, Roosevelt and I would pray. We would just pray and pray and pray and the orders would come in.”
As a result of the president’s gift to the Pope, Nowlin said she and Wilkerson can’t keep up. She has raised the price of the sticks to $100, but says she could probably charge $1,000 or more and still have a backlog of orders.
Nowlin said Wilkerson remains a shy, soft-spoken man who doesn’t want publicity. She said a CNN crew showed up at his apartment recently and confronted him with cameras while his false teeth were out.
“He was very upset, and was in tears over it,” Nowlin said. “He’s a very simple man who has been given a simple purpose in life. People want him to say something about all of this, and he doesn’t know what to say. He doesn’t want to disappoint them.”
Wilkerson and his wife have long melded into the crowd at St. Paul United Methodist Church, the oldest black church in Dallas. When they walked in June 10, the pastor announced from the pulpit that a “celebrity” was in the congregation, telling the story of a Moses Stick carved by Wilkerson making its way to the president and Pope.
“The entire congregation gave them a standing ovation,” Nowlin said.
You can read the entire article here: [BTW: I want one of these sticks!]
http://ncregister.com/site/article/2954
THE ANCHORESS REACTS TO THIS STORY WITH HER USUAL INSIGHT AND MORAL CLARITY:
http://theanchoressonline.com/2007/06/22/how-you-receive-a-thing-is-up-to-you/#comments