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<TITLE>Probably why the Merkles' don't really want to be my friend</TITLE>
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<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">Ordinarily, I would not have posted this response to the Merkle</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">’</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">s on-line. </FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">I</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">’</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">m told that</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">Heather Wilson shared her sister-in-law</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">’</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">s email</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">to me</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">on-line so</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">I</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri"> offer this rebuttal for Vision 2020</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">’</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">s</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri"></FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">delight/disgust</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">as well</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">. Then,</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">for me,</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri"> this matter is closed. All</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">anyone</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">need remember</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">, when it comes to the Wilson</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">’</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">s</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">,</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri"> is the old</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">c</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">hestnut</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri"></FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">“</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">The apple</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">doesn’t</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri"> fall far from the tree</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">”</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri"> - w</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">hich is as sad a truism as</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">I have</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">ever uttered.</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">Rose</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">Good morning Dr. and Mrs. Merkle,</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">Thank you both for taking the time to respond to my note. Apparently, you were surprised that I sent it to your husband rather than to you, Mrs. Merkle. The reasons for that two fold and are quite aside from my head of household remark which carries weight within the dynamics of CREC marriage. </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">Firstly, I believe that private blogs,</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> </SPAN><A HREF="http://www.feminagirls.com/"><SPAN LANG="en-us"><I></I></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><I><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">Femina Girls</FONT></U></I></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN></A><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri"> or</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> </SPAN><A HREF="http://dougwils.com/"><SPAN LANG="en-us"><I></I></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><I><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">Blog and Mablog</FONT></U></I></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN></A><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri"> for example, are places where the blog owner(s) should enjoy the peaceful right of his or her free speech. In my mind a blog is the equivalent of one’s intellectual home. While I feel a moral obligation to confront the racist, sexist, and homophobic expressions of your father, I certainly would not knock on the door of his home on North Polk, step inside without an invitation (or, come to that</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">,</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri"> with an invitation) and decry his hateful rhetoric. His home should indeed be his castle on-line and in actuality. Therefore, I always tackle my issues with him in public and sign my name in order to take responsibility for my remarks.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">Secondly, I had no idea how to contact you directly but Dr. Merkle has an email address on the church website. Of course I am aware of your</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">skillful wordsmithy</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">,</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri"> Mrs. Merkle</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">; the</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> </SPAN><A HREF="http://dougwils.com/s7-engaging-the-culture/the-problem-of-theological-cone-bras.html"><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">spirited defense of your daddy</FONT></U></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN></A><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri"> after remarks made by Rachel Held Evans comes to mind. However, in this instance, there is a simple and straight forward explanation for my email</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">address</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">choice which has nothing to do with a more exciting or complex personal agenda, I just didn’t know your personal email address.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">The genealogical history of the Merkle and Wilson family is, as you both should know, a straw man argument. It does not explain nor is it a defense for two distinctly inaccurate statements in Mrs. Merkle’s piece</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><I></I></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><I> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">Victims and Perpetrators.</FONT></I></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><I></I></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><I><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri"></FONT></I></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">I</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri"></FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">need hardly mention that Dr. Merkle’s academic training (which I wish I had) or the fact that Jewish guests were served pork nudge, nudge, wink, wink, those silly old dietary rules</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">, in your Oxford home</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri"> does not excuse or justify the egregious offense of blaming the victim. Your claims, Mrs. Merkle that</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">“</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">it was those Jewish leaders who forced their own people into slave labor” and</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4></FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">“The Jews of Poland were betrayed by their own” are ludicrous, insulting and are chilling reminiscent</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">similar to th</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">e</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">blood libel</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">made up by devout Christians</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">argument t</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">o excuse the unholy</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri"> segregat</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">ion</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">, isolat</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">ion</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">, and abuse</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">of</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">Jews throughout the centuries. </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">Are you willing to also blame the kidnapped men, women and children stolen from their</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">African</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri"></FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">homeland for the centuries of mistreatment they received at the hands of the slave holding owners and more recently the Jim Crow laws of the old Confederate states? Do you share your daddy’s published claim that:</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">“Slavery as it existed in the South was not an adversarial relationship with pervasive racial animosity. Because of its dominantly patriarchal character, it was a relationship based upon mutual affection and confidence. </FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">There has never been a multi-racial society which has existed with such mutual intimacy and harmony in the history of the world.”</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">It seems to me that you might have learned to blame the victim and shield the perpetrator at your daddy’s knee.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">Do you also believe that the dozens of young victims of Steven Sitler’s repulsive behavior are to blame for</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">being used as</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri"> his sexual toys? Your father remains curiously silent on that issue although he and Ed Iverson played very important roles in lobbying for and conducting</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">the</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">corrupt travesty of</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">his</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">marriage. </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">Theological disputes are fraught with danger since they rely on personal understanding of scripture. Your understanding is no more infallible than mine. Your belief that at the moment of conception fetal tissue becomes a human being with a soul is not shared by everyone. Reasonable, decent, and moral people can disagree, and do, on that issue. Neither of us have the title of Her Royal Highness, Ethical Arbitrator of the Universe. But, I do have the distinct impression that although you are uncrowned in my eyes, your birth privilege and pride of place as a minister’s wife may leave you feeling a special kinship with the Almighty that the rest of us don’t</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">enjoy</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">. Perhaps it is the sense of being Elect before birth that cloaks you in spiritual ermine and silk. (Quaker’s don’t get special treatment from God, plain old ordinary cotton (not dyed in indigo thank you very much) suffices for us.) </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">Mordecai Chaim Rumkowski, in my opinion, was a thuggish, sociopathic, moron which has absolutely nothing to do with being Jewish. That was the reason I suggested the ironic name Chaim was clearly at odds with his behavior. Other historians, far better educated than I, have a different perspective on his actions. Sadly, all ethnicities and religious (or not) affiliations on this earth contain some really rotten, sinful folk. But, that does not mean that Jews were responsible for the Holocaust, or that all Kirkers think Steven Sitler or Jamin Wright are fine fellows and would make great babysitters or husbands.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">Thanks for your kind offer, Dr. Merkle to discuss your dissertation with me. I would like to read it, is it on-line? I would be uncomfortable wasting your time with my limited knowledge of your field so I’ll not follow up on the</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">generous</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri"></FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">offer for a tutorial</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri"> (san</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">s my half assed jackassery of course).</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">As always you remain in my prayers (although unlike your lot I don’t think</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> </SPAN><A HREF="http://dougwils.com/books/a-prayer-of-imprecation.html"><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">imprecatory prayers</FONT></U></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN></A><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri"> are ever appropriate.</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">)</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri"></FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> </SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">As ever and always, Amen.</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=4 FACE="Calibri">Rose Huskey</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN></P>
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