Angela asked today, "what are Cossacks?" Here's some information: COSSACKS: Centuries ago the forefathers of the present day Cossacks settled in the steppes of the southeastern corner of Europe, bordering on the Black Sea and the Caucasian Mountains on the south, the Caspian Sea and the river Volga on the east, the forests of the Great Russian Plain on the north and the river Dniester on the west. Since the dawn of civilization these steppes had been crossed again and again by the peoples of the Great Migration. The original Cossacks were the product of an intermixture of all these peoples with the previous settlers of the Slavic race. Byzantine writers of the Tenth Century described the Cossacks as a separate people who lived on the river Don, and called them "the brave and strong people." In old Russian chronicles they were similarly described for the first time in 1261. The Don Cossacks fought on the side of the Russian Grand Duke Dimitry against the Tartars in 1380. In all the records of that period the Cossacks were described as a series of independent communities, loosely bound into larger units of a military character, entirely separate from the Russian State.
Later on, the Don Cossacks moved to Canada. They changed their last name to "Charlton" and all became Insurance Brokers. It is well known that they are only bloodthirsty at bar-b-ques. They would rather eat their own babies than part with their money and they are very fond of their babies. They make the very best friends to have, aside from their tendency to kiss you on occasion. They seek out Mates from Transylvania and have lots of babies. Unlike the Franco-Anglo Cossacks, they do not get fat in their old age. Their motto, which is secretly written on the underside of their desks, is: "crush enemies, have them driven before you, hear the lamentation of their women."
