PAGE TWO
ACTS 4:19-20
TO SENATOR DURBIN: Your remarks slandering the American military are beyond the pale of civil political discourse. Your "apology" is NOT accepted by this American. RESIGN THE OFFICE YOU HAVE SO TOTALLY DISGRACED.
Starting back in on the new CD "Ride Back In Time" in a few days! Good to be back in the studio again.
The Sweet Lady Wife came home with an Italian Greyhound a few days ago. She's named Amy, and is the cutest thing in the world. Like a Whippet on speed. She's still nervous around me .... I guess she hadn't been around a lot of men in her two years, so we are working on her to realize I am not the Dog Eating Monster.
This in addition to Zoe the Burglar Eating Rottweiler who lives here now, too. Therefore, the Old Hoary Joke:
"What's black and brown and looks good on a burglar?"
"A rottweiler."
TIMES OF LONDON
June 16, 2005Archbishop hits out at web-based media 'nonsense'
By Ruth Gledhill, Religion CorrespondentTHE Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has criticised the new web-based media for “paranoid fantasy, self-indulgent nonsense and dangerous bigotry”. He described the atmosphere on the world wide web as a free-for-all that was “close to that of unpoliced conversation”.
In a lecture to media professionals, politicians and church leaders at Lambeth Palace in London last night, Dr Williams wondered whether a balance could be struck between the professionalism of the classical media and the relative disorder of online communication.
Well, Yer Grace, Freedom of Speech is like that. It's loud, irreverent, annoying and it tends to challenge the Established Order Of Things a lot. Does that make you uncomfortable from where you stand? GOOD. It's SUPPOSED to.
"You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for independence."
— Charles Austin Beard
"Where reasoned criticism is successfully cast as “hate” or “intolerance,” freedom is a moribund ideal; and I don’t know how much longer we in the US—with a lingering guilt over our own historical intolerances fueling a subsequent nonconfrontational desire to do right by the Other—can keep the relentless tide of PC sanctimony at bay."
Credit:: Protein Wisdom
"The religious factions growing throughout our land are trying to force government leaders into following their position 100 percent. If you disagree with these religious groups they threaten you with a loss of money or votes or both. From where do they presume to dictate their moral beliefs to me? I am warning them today: I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of Conservatism."
- Barry Goldwater
Macdonough’s Song
Rudyard Kipling
WHETHER the State can loose and bind
In Heaven as well as on Earth:
If it be wiser to kill mankind
Before or after the birth—
These are matters of high concern
Where State-kept schoolmen are;
But Holy State (we have lived to learn)
Endeth in Holy War.Whether The People be led by The Lord,
Or lured by the loudest throat:
If it be quicker to die by the sword
Or cheaper to die by vote—
These are things we have dealt with once,
(And they will not rise from their grave)
For Holy People, however it runs,
Endeth in wholly Slave.Whatsoever, for any cause,
Seeketh to take or give,
Power above or beyond the Laws,
Suffer it not to live!
Holy State or Holy King—
Or Holy People’s Will—
Have no truck with the senseless thing.
Order the guns and kill!
Saying—after—me:—Once there was The People—Terror gave it birth;
Once there was The People and it made a Hell of Earth.
Earth arose and crushed it. Listen, O ye slain!
Once there was The People—it shall never be again!
Isabella Grace, our fourth grandchild, was born today (4/27/05) and boy are we happy!
BREAKING NEWS:
National Guard Ambushed by Para-Military Extremist FactionBoston, April 20- Police and National Guard units seeking to confiscate a cache of recently banned assault weapons were ambushed Sunday by elements of a para-military right wing extremist faction. Military & law enforcement sources estimate that 72 were killed and more than 200 injured before government forces were compelled to withdraw.
Speaking after the clash, Massachusetts Governor Thomas Gage declared that the extremist militia faction, has citizens who have links to the radical right wing tax protest movement. Gage blamed the militia for recent incidents of vandalism directed against internal revenue offices.
The Governor, who described the groups organizers as "terrorists," issued an executive order authorizing the summary arrest of any individual who has interfered with the governments efforts to secure law & order.
The law enforcement team augmented by elements of the National Guard were sent to raid a militia arsenal after wide spread refusal of right wing extremists to turn over recently outlawed assault weapons. This decision followed a meeting in early July between government & law enforcement which authorized the confiscation of the illegal arms, known as the weapons of choice among criminals and militia's. One government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, pointed out "that none of these people would have been killed had right wing extremists obeyed the law and turned over the weapons voluntarily."
Police & Government forces initially succeeded in confiscating a large supply of outlawed weapons & ammunition. However, troops attempting to seize arms and ammunition in Lexington met with resistance from heavily armed militia extremists who had been tipped off regarding the governments plans. During a tense standoff in Lexington's town park, National Guard Colonel Francis Smith, commander of the government operation, ordered the armed group to surrender and return to their homes. The impasse was broken by a single shot, which was reportedly fired by one of the right wing extremists. Eight civilians were killed in the ensuing exchange. Ironically, the local citizens blamed the government forces rather than the extremists for the civilian deaths. Before order could be restored, heavily armed militia groups from surrounding areas had descended upon the police and guard units. Colonel Smith finding his forces overmatched by militia mobs, ordered a retreat.
Governor Gage has called upon citizens to support the state/national joint task force in its effort to restore law and order. The governor has also demanded the surrender of those responsible for planning and leading the attack against the government.
Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, and John Hancock, who have been identified as "ringleaders" of the extremist militia faction, remain at large.
Got to meet two distant relatives from the Other Side Of The Pond this week ..... two distant cousins from the Perrenot side of the family from Brittany. Very cool thing. We all have the same nose, and that's a bit disturbing.
They are making noises about bringing me over there to a Folk Festival next June, so we shall see.
Peter Yarrow (of Peter, Paul and Mary) traveled to Vietnam last week "ready to get down on my knees as one American and say, 'Please forgive us.'"
Spare me.
Good book:
"Evolution of Civilizations"- Carroll Quigley
He actually says that each civilization goes through 7 stages, but that this is not a one-way street. A civilization stays strong and effective as long as it has an "Instrument of Expansion". But he says that these instruments tend to get ineffective after some time (sometimes centuries). He calls this: “an instrument becomes an institution”, which means it does not fulfill its main purpose anymore but actually blocks expansion and its representatives resist essential reforms.
The sevens stage that he describes are:
1. Mixture of different societies come into contact and produce a society with an outlook different from any of the parts. New civilizations start mainly at the peripherie of other, older civilizations in decline (e.g. the western civilization on the peripherie of the classic civilization).
2. Gestation - the period of time between the mixing of the different societies and the expansion of the civilization.
3. Expansion - the surplus generated by the society is invested in activities that benefit the civilization. This includes an increase in knowledge, increase in controlled area, technological advancements, which increases efficiency and expansion again, etc. Civilizations have different instruments of expansion. The instrument of expansion in the classic civilization (Greece and Rome) was slavery. In the mesopotamian civilization it was the rank of the pries! ts who collected the surplusses and used if for expansion.
4. Age of Conflict – When the rate of expansion using the instrument of expansion slows down, uneasy times start. The instrument can be reformed or a new instrument consistent with the civilization's outlook can circumvent the old instrument. If reform is achieved, a new age of expansion begins (back to stage 3). If the vested interests of the previous instument of expansion resist these reforms and increasingly consume resources while serving no social needs, Quigley says that the instrument has then become an institution. Expansion can continue, but it is at the expense of neighbors, which leads to imperialist wars. When the vested interests have crushed all internal opposition, the next stage appears.
5. Universal Empire - typically a state or political unit on the periphery of the civilization gains power over the whole civilization. The illusion of a golden age appears. The social organization remains stagnant.
6. Decay - lack of belief in the civilization's outlook or inability to meet needs of the people leads to people opting out of the system.
7. Invasion - external forces disrupt the civilization's social organization and it is unable or unwilling to defend itself. That spells the end of the civilization as we see in the destruction of the Persian Empire by the invasion of Alexander the Great or the fall of the Roman Empire by the Germanic invasion.
I lost three friends recently to the Death Angel. I guess getting to be an 'older person,' this comes with the territory, but that thought does not make it any easier. RIP: Terry Seago, Gary and Georgia. I miss you all.
I see where Jane Fonda (AKA "Hanoi Jane" and/or "Jihad Jane") has apoligized (kinda sorta) for the pictures of her at the North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun during the Vietnam War. Well, Hanoi Jane, it's too little and too late. You can STUFF IT, along with your veggie oil bus.
I quote the Wall Street Journal: "Demonstrating in her wheelchair with a 'Feed Terri' sign in Florida this week, Eleanor Smith — a self-described lesbian, liberal and agnostic — told Reuters: 'At this point I would rather have a right-wing Christian decide my fate than an ACLU member.'"
Rachael and Mackenzie arrived with no problems ... twin girl granddaughters! Life is GOOD!
Q: How many liberals does it take to disarm a conservative (or libertarian)?
A: We don't know. The ones that tried are all dead.
When given a set of policy choices,
- The choice that maximizes personal liberty is the best choice.
- The policy choice that offers the least amount of necessary government intervention or regulation is the best choice.
- The policy choice that provides rational, market-based incentives is the best choice.
In foreign policy,
- A policy of diplomacy that promotes consensual government and human rights and opposes dictatorship.
- A policy of using US military force solely at the discretion of the US, but only in circumstances where American interests are directly affected.
It's time we asked ourselves if we still know the freedoms intended for us by the Founding Fathers. James Madison said, "We base all our experiments on the capacity of mankind for self government."
This idea? That government was beholden to the people, that it had no other source of power is still the newest, most unique idea in all the long history of man's relation to man. This is the issue: Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American Revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves.
Which do YOU choose?
We're still waiting (01/28/05) for the arrival of our three grand daughters into the world ..... a set of twins from the Eldest Male Child and his wife, and a singleton from the Youngest Male Child and his wife.
Quite a lot of excitement in the family!
It was a good Christmas .... all three of the kids and their wives/kids/SOs were here for it ..... felt like old times around the house again!
More and more, President Bush gives me reason to respect him. That business of pulling the Secret Service agent out of the crowd of security people in Chile was the act of a true leader who has real concern about his people. Way to go!
Not long ago, the whole crew of us went to Disneyland. At one point, I was taking care of Rocco The Grandson (he's two now) and had so darn many people admiring him in his stroller that I almost hung a sign up: "See the Cute Baby only 25 cents!"
Probably would have made a killing at it, tho the Sweet Lady Wife says I should have made it a dollar.
A college student challenged a senior citizen, saying it was impossible for the younger generation to understand the older. "You grew up in a different world," the student said. "Today we have television, jet planes, space travel, nuclear energy, computers..."
Taking advantage of a pause in the student's litany, the mature gentleman replied, "You're right. We didn't have those things when we were young; so we invented them! What are you doing for the next generation?"
Good Political Websites:
- Ann Coulter
- Matt Drudge
- Front Page Magazine
- National Review OnLine
- Right Voices
- Rush Limbaugh
- Mark Steyn
- The Weekly Standard
- Timm's Shovel
- The Museum of Left Wing Lunacy
It's raining babies around here.
My youngest boy and his wife are about to have their second child, and my oldest boy and his wife (both wives are named Jennifer. Figures.) are about to give us twins.
I plan to be absolutely insufferable about the whole thing!
Folks ask me "Who do you support for President?"
Kerry, and any Democrat, with their long record of anti-2nd Amendment policies, vicious slanders of their opponents, and literal anti-America attitudes, have turned me off so badly that I have no choice but to vote for Mr. Bush.
No, I don't agree with all his policies, but in a profession (politics) where everybody smells bad, the stench from Mr. Kerry is too much for me to stomach.
I realize that in the world of professional acoustic music this stance may hurt me. I have seen it happen to others. Well, if folks want to play Joe McCarthy/blacklist, so be it.
It will only confirm my opinions.
GOOD QUOTE
I do not subscribe to the fashionable belief that human beings suddenly got much smarter and more moral around 1965, and that everyone who lived prior to that date was a benighted ignoramus. There are plenty of people long dead who seem to me to have been very smart indeed — much smarter than I, in many cases. It is even possible that one or two of them may have been smarter than the editorialists at the New York Times.
- John Derbyshire
THANKSGIVING 2003
No matter what you think of President Bush, after his Thanksgiving flying visit to Baghdad you gotta admire the man's courage and dedication. Kudos and admiration to him!
Don't have much on the schedule for December, so we plan to do a lot of work on the covers and liner notes for the new CD "That Great Big Way Out There." I'd sure like to get it out in time for the National Festival of the West!
Those of you that knew my Whippet (Falach the 900 Mile an Hour Wonder Dog) .... we lost her the day after Thanksgiving. At two months short of 17 years old, she just couldn't make it any further. She was a good dog and a real friend to me for a long time. I miss her terribly. Ceilidh the Silly Greyhound is doing all she can to cheer me up, tho, and Rumble the Cat is very concerned about the Sweet Lady Wife and me. We're in good hands with the both of them.
I hope this is the last visit by the Angel of Death to us for a while .... losing my father, two old friends (Darlene Rutherford and Bob McClure), my best friend (Rick Felix) and Falach within about two months or so is a bit much to handle.
Rocco the Grandson is one year old and it is agreed by all that he is The Cutest Baby In The Universe. Very cool to be a grandfather.
That's about all for now .... more later as the urge takes me.
SEEN ON THE NET:
(11/30/03) "When was it, exactly, that common sense became an uncommon virtue?"
12 men or 13 men?
Robert Conquest's Three Laws of Politics:
Everyone is conservative about what he knows best.
- Any organization not explicitly right-wing sooner or later becomes left-wing.
- The simplest way to explain the behavior of any bureaucratic organization is to assume that it is controlled by a cabal of its enemies.
Rules of Life
1. Never give yourself a haircut after three alcoholic beverages of any kind.
2. You need only two tools: WD-40 and duct tape. If it doesn't move and it should, use the WD-40. If it moves and it shouldn't, use the duct tape.
3. The five most essential words for a healthy, vital relationship are, "I apologize" and "You are right."
4. Everyone seems normal until you get to know them.
5. When you make a mistake, make amends immediately. It's easier to eat crow while it's still warm.
6. The only really good advice that your mother ever gave you was: "Go! You might meet somebody!"
7. If he/she says that you are too good for him/her - believe them.
8. Learn to pick your battles. Ask yourself, "Will this matter one year from now? How about one month? One week? One day?"
9. Never pass up an opportunity to pee.
10. If you woke up breathing, congratulations! You have another chance!
11. Living well really is the best revenge. Being miserable because of a bad or former relationship just might mean that the other person was right about you.
12. Work is good, but it's not that important.
13. And finally; Be really nice to your friends and family. You never know when you are going to need them to empty your bedpan.
12/22/03: I'd like you to read this article and think about it's implications for the future of your children and grandchildren.
12/23/03: Got this today in e-mail:
Joe Smith started the day early having set his alarm clock (MADE IN JAPAN) for 6am. While his coffeepot (MADE IN CHINA) was perking, he shaved with his electric razor (MADE IN HONG KONG).. He put on a dress shirt (MADE IN SRI LANKA), designer jeans (MADE IN SINGAPORE) and tennis shoes (MADE IN KOREA). After cooking his breakfast in his new electric skillet (MADE IN INDIA) he sat down with his calculator (MADE IN MEXICO) to see how much he could spend today. After setting his watch (MADE IN TAIWAN) to the radio (MADE IN INDIA) he got in his car (MADE IN GERMANY) and continued his search for a good paying AMERICAN JOB. At the end of yet another discouraging and fruitless day, Joe decided to relax for a while. He put on his sandals (MADE IN BRAZIL) poured himself a glass of wine (MADE IN FRANCE) and turned on his TV (MADE IN INDONESIA), and then wondered why he can't find a good paying job in... AMERICA...
02/12/04: The North Vietnamese general in charge of the military campaign that finally drove the U.S. out of South Vietnam in 1975 credited a group led by Democratic presidential front-runner John Kerry with helping him achieve victory.
In his 1985 memoir about the war, Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap wrote that if it weren't for organizations like Kerry's Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Hanoi would have surrendered to the U.S. - according to Fox News Channel war historian Oliver North.
Hmmmmmm.
