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Tuesday

Campaigning 101

 The Andrew Principle

Campaigning 101
jb blocker

John 1: 40  One of the two who heard Jesus speak and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. 41 He found first his own brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah” (which translated means Christ). 42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas" (which is translated Peter)
  
  You don’t hear much about Andrew the apostle. We know he was one of the first to be chosen by Jesus along with James and John. Later in the Bible, he is the one who brings the boy to Jesus with the fish and loaves that feed thousands. He is also at the resurrection. But Andrew is also mentioned for one other thing that has resonated throughout the ages.
  You see, Andrew met Jesus and went to his brother Simon to tell him he had found the Savior! Simon's name was changed to Peter. "Upon this rock, I will build my church."
  That is some really good recruiting! That is like finding Babe Ruth and introducing him to baseball. 

I call it ‘The Andrew Principle’.

Wednesday

A Voting Disaster

 

Voting or Not Voting for the Wrong Reasons. jb blocker

So you think your candidate has it locked up because their district is heavily GOP. Or do you think your district will carry the DEM for the same reason? Guess again. There are several factors that could completely flip your reality. Here is just one.
Complacency is the Big Bad Wolf.
I guess after the liberals read this, then Climate Change might be their excuse this time!
But Weather has changed elections all over the world.
We need a Postman's commitment to vote!

Part I: Weather or not…Voter turnout is on the line.
Complacency is growing as quickly as confusion and frustration while candidates all over Texas and the rest of America campaign for seats from the Top on down.
If you are a candidate, this should concern you. If you are a Republican you have a bit of an advantage when the weather acts up. Here is an approach you should consider.

The Postman’s Pledge: Herodotus
  It is said that as many days as there are in the whole journey, so many are the men and horses that stand along the road, each horse and man at the interval of a day’s journey; and these are stayed neither by snow nor rain nor heat nor darkness from accomplishing their appointed course with all speed.

  What I suggest is that you gear your campaign toward pledges to vote no matter what! Not just for you, but for our country. If you are speaking, texting, or social mediatizing express the importance of committing to vote! Vote early if possible! And if they can’t do that, tell them to have their all-weather gear ready. This should be your campaign at this point. Taking anything for granted is a mistake.
   I understand the beauty of voting day. I have been involved in many campaigns over the years. I am captivated by the lines of committed citizens exercising their rights and their duty to vote. Parents bringing their children, whole family units from the aged to first-timers, couples, and of course those singles streaming in from every direction is inspirational. But there is still that chance that fickle nature gets in the way. You cannot count on great weather between early voting dates and the big day.

Tuesday

Learning America




‘The Big Book’ RIP (1893-1993)
Recognizing one of this country’s greatest teachers.   By JB Blocker

The Millennials don’t know about this. Much of the GenX Generation don’t either. As an immigrant from the ‘60’s, the Sears and Roebuck catalogue was one of my best friends. It taught me America!

  The first true Sears catalogue was produced and distributed in 1893. Many others were to follow. It became an iconic life line of what people wanted and needed across America. It you had a mailing address, you could own anything in those pages.
  Clothing, toys, guns, farm tools, kitchen, living room, garage items, even houses and cars stirred the imagination of children from the city streets to farms, fields, and newly discovered parts of this growing country.

I remember in the early ‘70s listening to some old cowboys at the local pool hall in my panhandle farming community. They got in to a discussion about the new Christmas catalogue at the Montgomery Ward’s one day. The talk started over the price of things. But the discussion moved to how they had been making their wish list from those catalogues most of their lives. Those pictures of what the world looked like outside of their world gave them reasons to save their money.
  Studying catalogues allowed America to become aware of the cost of things and how much money they would need to save.
  A few seniors talked about the catalogues as a teaching tool. You could learn how to read while you were learning the value of all those items available from the pages of pictures, descriptions, and prices.
My Crash Course

Monday

I am Adopted!

  I remember those windows. They are the windows that we would look out of and watch the people leave on visitation day at our Buddhist orphanage in Yokohama. We would stand in front of those windows and see friends leave with their new families. Other visitors would leave their children behind and the children would cry. 

  I am told that my mother visited me often but I don't remember that. I remember wondering why no one was taking me away. Maybe it was my clothes. 
  On one visitation day, I threw a fit. I was 5. I wanted nicer clothes for people to see me in. I refused to dress. I ran away. They found me half naked under the stilted building that housed the orphan girls.
 One visitor wanted to meet all the boys. 
 Charles Abraham Blocker wanted to be part of choosing his son. When they were told about me he offered to bring back new clothes. The visitor was a Navy Chief and his wife. They wanted a boy and girl to take back to America.
  I was too old. The lady wanted babies. I was 5.
  The couple went to the office to make arrangements for some clothes. Nancy saw the name and who my mother was! The Navy sailor said, "Nancy, meet your son."

 If my grandfather had had his way, I would never have been born! Many Japanese women of the post-WWII and Korean War era became pregnant by the military who were just passing through per-Se.
  Because of the extreme racism of the Japanese at that time and for many years after, such pregnancies were aborted so as to not bring shame to the family by corrupting the race.
  Fortunately, I had a mother who not only spared my life to her shame but also found a job at the local Naval Base beauty salon where she showed my pictures to prospective American service men's wives. 
  Nancy Blocker liked Nobuko Yoshimi. They actually became friendly. However by the time Nobuko was bravely showing photos of her son, I was too old!
  Nancy wanted babies. They did adopt Eri La Nea at birth. She would become my baby sister.
  Maybe she knew that it would be easier to adopt children that didn't already speak Japanese. That would make sense.
  Now you know that the story is probably more complicated than that, but the end result is that I am a Blocker! 

  I have no doubt that by the grace of God and the strength of conviction of my birth mother Nobuko, Chief PNC Charles Blocker and his wife Nancy took me away from that pitiful orphanage and raised me in Texas!
Nobuko

  I believe that 'All things are possible!' 
  I believe that two of the greatest sins is murder and suicide because that person has given up on God and taken away the opportunity to find peace, joy, and fulfillment through God's grace.
  I believe in mercy, hope, and faith.
  I am Pro-Life with consideration for the safety of mother and child. 
  I am no doctor or judge. But I believe that whenever possible we should give God a chance and give people like the Blockers the opportunity to raise the child they had wanted. 
  If they can turn them into a Texan, well, that's even better!
blessings, J.B. Blocker

Entering 'the Red Zone' September 2001

 

'the Red Zone' click to enlarge
 I took this shot from about the 20th floor of the World Finance Center Building II on November the 1st, 2001. It's 'the Red Zone' inside Ground Zero. Smoke is still seeping out of deep pockets. The air is a fog of dust and will be for a few more weeks before the snow and rain bring the floating debris back to earth.
  Rising 400 feet above stands Big Red, the largest mobile crane in the U.S.A. It was perched on the spot that was once the World Trade Center I footprint.
  The Houston company that owns Big Red flew the American flag at its peak, just above the flag of Texas. Grapplers the size of semi-trailers worked 24/7 in the dust and haze that never goes away. In the background on the left, the skeleton that was World Trade Center 2 leans against the remains of buildings 8 and 9. From the back center to right are the burned shells of buildings 7, 6, and 5.
If you expand the photo and look closely you can see the billowing dust covering both vehicles and their operators as a grappler dumps its load into the waiting semis. 


Wednesday

Gazpacho!

 

Gazpacho
By J.B. Blocker
   When my eat healthy gene kicks in I have a tendency to go on auto-pilot when I grocery shop around the fresh produce section.  
  That is when the spirit of my recently passed chef mentor, the great French Master Chef Jean La Font speaks to me.
  “Gazpacho”, he whispers!
It has become one of my go-to dishes. My really healthy comfort food. It gets even better on day two and three but it rarely lasts that long. I don't even use a bowl. I fill a mug and add some chilled shrimp if I have it ready.

Tuesday

Liver and Onions for Mom

  

jb blocker 
 Liver and Onions? 
  There was no escape when mom made liver and onions for dad. No excuses and no substitutions. I could smell them cooking before I stepped into the house. Back then, we had the windows and screen doors open whenever possible. You eat what you get or you don't eat is just assumed. The only thing I could do is make sure there was ketchup, lots of ketchup!  
  As an adult, I no longer hate a lot of items I tried to avoid back them.
  I have made a habit...a ritual... of eating at Furr's Cafeteria in Plano on I-75 on Mother’s Day weekends. For Mom! 
  I fill my plate with things my mom would have made. It's kinda like going to a Sunday potluck dinner. I fill my plate with some of my childhood least favorites like lima beans, boiled cabbage, turnip greens, broccoli salad, jello salad, etc.. If they had Salmon Patties, it would be complete. 
  The meal is saved by slices of roast beef, baked fish, and an average meatloaf. My mom's meatloaf became average when a former secretary Sheila Williams McClellan blew my mind.
  I make a point to get a nice helping of liver and onions smothered in the gravy. Some times throughout the year I go to Furr's with a friend, but at this time of year, I make a point to go on my own and take my time talking to my mother...And remember.

  Nancy Lea Kitson Blocker was raised in Geary, Oklahoma where the family persevered through the Dust Bowl. She left her body about 20 years ago but she continually rides on my right shoulder. She still encourages and admonishes me. I can feel her flick my ear often.
  To those who knew her she was a rural small-town Martha Stewart and Barbara Walters rolled into a dust bowl Okie, WWII Wave, author, and so much more.


  I was her adopted Japanese, Irish, German, Korean, French personal project. No racism existed in her world. Cultures did. She embraced the world. We had friends from around the world from nearly 30 years as a Naval family. They returned to America with two adopted children, for most of my childhood the only other 1/2 Asian I would know was my baby sister Eri.