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Amerika Off Line Sam Aurelius Milam III A few subscribers to the Frontiersman have arranged to receive notifications, via email, when each new issue of the newsletter becomes available. That reduces my expenses a little because I don't have to pay the copy and mailing costs of sending paper copies of the newsletter to those subscribers. For some time now, AOL has refused to deliver messages sent from the Frontiersman email address. Apparently, the newsletter address has been placed on some kind of a "list". So far as I'm aware, not a single one of the affected subscribers has tried to find an email service that will deliver my messages. It isn't costing me anything to have my messages bounce but I am getting tired of it. Also, it's annoying to think that somebody won't bother to get an email service that will deliver my messages, or that he hasn't noticed that he isn't receiving them, or that he doesn't even care. Why should I keep sending messages to such a subscriber? So, I've removed from my mailing list the email addresses of those subscribers mentioned above who use AOL. I'll reactivate the subscription of any such subscriber who wants it if he gets an email service that doesn't ban my messages. Letters to the Editor Dear Sam, Well I'm back at Salinas Valley. I'm going to be here at least through April 2017. I have a parole hearing coming up in April so can't move until that is finished. I'm going to go but not much chance of me getting out. But they have been paroling some lifers but those who are conformists. I'm far from that. Well please redirect the newsletter to my new address. And thank you for keeping me on your mailing list. I love that you keep this newsletter in real print and not on the web only. Solidarity comrade. Truly. —Ramon D. Hontiveros
Prisoner P-34034 Hi Sam Thank you for "The Frontiersman". This is in response to your recent article "Bibles, Goats, and Choices" [November 2016, page 3]. I certainly agree with much of what you've written. Many will agree that Christians have a bit of a PR problem in contemporary western culture. Part of that comes from the scandals the media love to feed on like a carcass any time one emerges. But another is because Christians leave so many with a bitter taste in their mouths with their recruitment (read: evangelism) techniques. Yes, they may get some to come into the proverbial fold by doing what they do. But what about the millions (like you) who are so turned off by the experience that they wouldn't darken the door of a church if they were paid to? Too often, Christianity suffers too much from over-eagerness and a myopic sense of mission to keep a sensitivity for the humanity of the person we're talking to. I got to thinking about evangelism in response to your article, and what it really means to follow Jesus. Winning people to Jesus is a favorite past time for some Christians, and it goes hand in hand with the style of Christianity many believers practice. Please note, contrary to your statement, not ALL Christians claim that only his beliefs are correctly based on the Bible, nor do all Christians share the guilt of evangelism. I agree with you, Sam, that some Christian evangelists DO misstep when trying in one way or another to share their faith with others. For example, some may talk too much. I've been approached many times — and I mean a lot — by Christians who start out a conversation with something like the, "Let me tell you about my personal relationship with Jesus," or with a question like "Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior?" Granted, this second one is actually an open door to some kind of "dialogue," though maybe not the kind the other person wants. Too often Christians are way too eager to launch into their own script, rather than asking questions
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year enhancement, that would be 10 @ 85% = 8
1/2 years. In a perfect world, I should be out. Wish me luck.
—Sticky of San Diego
Greetings Cousin Sam, I was fascinated with your genealogy article comparing the number of one's ancestors to the world population. Well, the obvious explanation for having more ancestors than existing population is that we all share some ancestors and that makes us all cousins. So whenever we put anyone down we are insulting a family member. I shared the table with some of the members of my genealogy club and it drew a lot of smiles. However, all the genealogists did say, "Oh yeah." So your article was a great contribution to their knowledge and wisdom. Thanks, —Bob O. Link
Genealogical Overkill is available as an article in the February 2011 Frontiersman and, more recently, as an essay in the Miscellaneous Essays section of Pharos. In both cases I noted that, in theory, I could be descended from every person who was alive on the planet as few as 800 years ago. So, it doesn't matter if I had an ancestor back in the middle ages who was a king. In that same generation, I also had ancestors who were everything else. Ancient lineage isn't much of a bragging point. Whether or not recent ancestry is more important than the ancient kind is a matter of opinion. In that regard, it's interesting to speculate about the current fad of using DNA samples for ancestry research. Thousands of people, apparently, are sending DNA samples to companies that purport to do ancestry research. I suggest some caution about that. Even their own TV commercials contain cautionary hints. There's the man who thought that he was German but learned that he was Scottish. To me, that suggests wild oats in the family tree. Seemingly unconcerned, he just traded in his lederhosen for a kilt. Then there's the woman who was surprised to learn that she was one-quarter American Indian. You'd think that she'd have noticed if one of her grandfathers was an Indian, unless her grandmother was married to somebody else. That brings me to my point. I've known more than one family in which the siblings didn't seem to share much of a family resemblance. In such cases, nobody knows but the mother, and women have often proven to be unreliable about reporting the identities of the fathers. So, this DNA thing might be a big mistake. There might be a lot of surprises in store, and some embarrassed mothers, if the DNA doesn't match that of the alleged father. With that in mind, somebody who's thinking about sending in that DNA sample should probably think twice and then maybe not do it at all. Of course, I consider voluntarily sending out a DNA sample to be a big mistake anyway, for other reasons. It seems to me to be about on a par with sending out fingerprints or a social security number. How people can be in such a dither about so-called identity theft, and then send DNA samples to an institution that's complicit with the government and over which they don't have any control at all, is a mystery to me. —editor
Original Mystery Sam Aurelius Milam III There never was any such thing as Original Sin. There wasn't ever any sin at all. There was and is misbehavior, but not sin. However, there was an original agenda. Has anybody noticed that the things that are called sins are usually things that people want to do? Undesirable things usually aren't called sins. I don't think that's an accident. Sin has been a scheme of the members of the clergy for as far back into history as anybody can search. The religious bosses have always created rules, allegedly received directly from God, with which people are told to comply. So, why are the rules usually restrictions or prohibitions on things that people want? Because otherwise there wouldn't be a way to manipulate people into the fear of God's punishment. Therein is revealed the original agenda. Sin was created by people as a weapon by which to dominate and control other people. Sins are things that members of the clergy know that people will try to do, anyway, regardless of the rules. Thus, sin can be reliably used to keep people feeling guilty, so that they'll keep going to church to seek forgiveness, and keep putting funds into the offering plates, to support the members of the clergy. Sin is a creation of the clergy and a tool of the clergy. Its only purpose is to control people's behavior, for the benefit of the members of the clergy. Why does it work? Why do people put up with it? I don't know. It's a mystery to me.
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Acknowledgments My thanks to the following: SantaClara Bob; Lady Jan the Voluptuous; Betty; Eric, of Ione, California; and Robert, of Murphys, California. — editor
Websites http://frontiersman.org.uk/ http://moonlight-flea-market.com/ http://pharos.org.uk/ http://sam-aurelius-milam-iii.org.uk/ http://sovereign-library.org.uk/ Blonde Joke
Blonde Jokes
Frontiersman Availability — Assuming the availability of sufficient funds, subscriptions to this newsletter in print, copies of past issues in print, and copies of the website on CDs are available upon request. Funding for this newsletter is from sources over which I don't have any control, so it might become necessary for me to terminate these offers or to cancel one or more subscriptions at any time, without notice. All past issues are available at the address shown below. Contributions are welcome. Cancellations — If you don't want to keep receiving printed copies of this newsletter, then return your copy unopened. When I receive it, I'll terminate your subscription. Reprint Policy — Permission is hereby granted to reproduce this newsletter in its entirety or to reproduce material from it, provided that the reproduction is accurate and that proper credit is given. I do not have the authority to give permission to reprint material that I have reprinted from other sources. For that permission, you must apply to the original source. I would appreciate receiving a courtesy copy of any document or publication in which you reprint my material. Submissions — I consider letters, articles, and cartoons for the newsletter, but I don't pay for them. Short items are more likely to be printed. I suggest that letters and articles be shorter than 500 words but that's flexible depending on space available and the content of the piece. Payment — This newsletter isn't for sale. If you want to make a voluntary contribution, then I prefer cash or U.S. postage stamps. For checks or money orders, please inquire. For PayPal payments, use editor@frontiersman.org.uk. In case anybody's curious, I also accept gold, silver, platinum, etc. I don't accept anything that requires me to provide ID to receive it. — Sam Aurelius Milam III, editor
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