Wednesday, October 31, 2012





All Hallows Eve

Trick or treating, barren branches claw
On rooftops ‘gainst the biting Autumn air.
Jack O’Lantern flickers. Would he gnaw
An arm away, or set aflame the hair ––
Conspicuously real above the masks ––
Kindling Kindergartners at the door?
Only Satan’s own perform such tasks,
Leering, lisping, limping as to war.
Awake! All Hallows Eve lets loose the ghosts.
No one escapes the Grave for long. Be wise.
The Jack O’Lanterns flicker on the posts ––
Each one a sentry for the Lord of Flies.
Run home to mother lest the Evil One
Nabs you, while you think you’re having fun.

~ FreeThinke - The Sandpiper, Autumn, 1996


Monday, October 29, 2012

Sunday, October 28, 2012


"No War By Any Nation in Any Age Has Ever Been Declared by 'the People'."


There are history lessons and heroes we should never forget, but, alas, all too often do. The courageous actions of a few truly great men who’ve acted alone, driven by their conscience and unshakable high principles, have been buried by the sands of time. Given his unwavering adherence to high ideals for world peace and the good of mankind, Eugene Deb’s name belongs right up there with such iconic men of peace as Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King.


Socialist Party leader Eugene V. Debs spoke out against World War I, and all wars, in a speech on June 16, 1918 in Canton, Ohio. Because of this speech, Debs was arrested two weeks later, charged with ten counts of sedition, and sentenced to ten years in prison under the Espionage Act of 1917. While in prison, Debs ran for president in 1921 and received nearly one million votes. He served two years, eight months in prison before having his sentence commuted (for health reasons) by President Harding in 1921.


Eugene V. Debs (1855-1926). Traitor or man of principle?



Here are excerpts from Debs’s 1918 Canton speech:

"Wars throughout history have been waged for conquest and plunder. In the Middle Ages, when the feudal lords who inhabited the castles whose towers may still be seen along the Rhine concluded to enlarge their domains, to increase their power, their prestige and their wealth, they declared war upon one another.   
  
"But they themselves did not go to war any more than the modern feudal lords, the barons of Wall Street, go to war. The feudal barons of the Middle Ages –– the economic predecessors of the capitalists of our day –– declared all wars. And their miserable serfs fought all the battles".  

 "And that is war in a nutshell. The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and all to lose –– especially their lives.  

 "They have always taught and trained you to believe it to be your patriotic duty to go to war and to have yourselves slaughtered at their command. But in all the history of the world, you, the people, have never had a voice in declaring war, and strange as it certainly appears, no war by any nation in any age has ever been declared by the people.   

 "And here let me emphasize the fact--and it cannot be repeated too often –– that the working class that fights all the battles, the working class that makes the supreme sacrifices, the working class that freely sheds its blood and furnishes the corpses, has never yet had a voice in either declaring war or making peace. 

"It is the ruling class that invariably does both. They alone declare war and they alone make peace. "Yours not to reason why; Yours but to do and die.” That is their motto, and we object on the part of the awakening workers of this nation." 

From Debb’s statement to the judge before sentencing:

"Your Honor, years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.  
  
 "I listened to all that was said in this court in support and justification of this prosecution, but my mind remains unchanged. I look upon the Espionage Law as a despotic enactment in flagrant conflict with democratic principles and with the spirit of free institutions" 

"Your Honor, I have stated in this court that I am opposed to the social system in which we live; that I believe in a fundamental change –– but if possible by peaceable and orderly means"  

The Espionage Act of 1917, though amended over the years, is still in effect. Prior to the time President Obama took office, It had been used three times for cases involving government officials providing classified information to the media. It has been used at least six times during the Obama's time in office, including against Bradley Manning. According to David Carr of the  New York Times [1], "the majority of the recent prosecutions seem to have everything to do with administrative secrecy and very little to do with national security."


Actor Mark Ruffalo reads  Debs's Canton speech  [4min] :

Friday, October 26, 2012

The Three Little Monkeys of the Enemedia




FRIDAY PHILOSOPHY
Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton settle their differences - 1804.

At this point in the electoral process nothing is going to change anyone's mind either way, because with very few exceptions we human beings are governed entirely by our passions and prejudices –– never by Reason.

“REASON is the but the SLAVE of PASSION” and ever more shall be so.

I have watched our once beautiful country throw away most-if-not-all of her advantages one by one in the past fifty-five years, primarily because the Public Mind has been conditioned by Master Manipulators in the Education, Entertainment, News and Information Industries –– and what may be left of Book Publishing ––– to adopt suicidal policies in the names of Fairness, Decency and Enlightened Thinking. 

We've been had, and most of us don't begin to realize it. 

The intellectual cancer emanating from The Frankfurt School through places like Berkeley, the University of Chicago and The Ivy League has metastasized to such an extent that The USA, as we have known and loved it, is now terminal –– beyond hope.

The "Pen," is, indeed, "mightier than the Sword."

The spirit of the revolution Thomas Paine’s little pamphlet helped spark has been destroyed by the likes of Abraham Lincoln, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Herbert Marcuse and Saul Alinsky.

Lincoln subverted the Constitution and made himself our first dictator. Later on the Industrial Revolution spawned the Labor Movement which led inevitably to The Communist Manifesto. Because of the Marxists and their filthy ilk ––- perverted mischief makers all ––  we don't know who we are anymore.
These moronic games of GOTCHA! began –– as far as I can remember –– with the unabashed reveling indulged in by the Liberal Media Establishment over Dan Quayle's POTATOE.

It's been off to the races ever since.

It amuses the hell out of me to see leftists get all huffy puffy and bent out of shape when the right wing gives them a taste of their own medicine.

Only the LEFT believe in ONE-WAY RUDENESS.

"We" on the right –– or I should say IN the right ;-) –– have been awfully slow to catch on, but now that we've finally decided that "what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander," you on the left are crying "FOUL!" in stentorian tones.

If all this display of mutual disingenuousness weren't so bad for the country, I'd just laugh myself silly.

If you don't like it, please try to remember who started it. It might help assuage your ire ––- a bit.
Well, Ms. Shaw Kenawe, with whom I rarely agree, but like a good deal on a personal level, even so, responded thusly:

’I don't understand what "it" you say I don't like, since my only remarks here have nothing to do with disliking.

Remember who started "it?"
We'd have to go all the way back to the Adams-Jefferson feud. That's when all this nastiness started.

Mr. Washington wanted no part of political parties. But humans are tribal, and here we are.’

Agreed, Ms. Shaw, but I for one wish we could stop ourselves from indulging in all these fake histrionics over petty nonsense –– like "potatoe," "fifty-seven states," "I did not have sex with that woman –– Ms. Lewinsky," and "the 47%," etc.

Everyone with a shred of intelligence knows these are spurious concerns that have no bearing on the economy, the shrinking value of the dollar, job availability, international trade imbalances, increasing Central Control of essentially Private Matters, increasing disregard for LIFE as the thing we should hold most sacred, Waste, Fraud, Abuse of Power on every conceivable level. Raising levels of LITERACY, FACTUAL KNOWLEDGE, comprehensive study of DISPARATE POINTS OF VIEW, encouraging appreciation of Art, Architecture, Music, Literature from a long range historical perspective, etc. etc. etc.

It's my view we need to drive "AGENDAS" of ALL kinds –– both liberal AND conservative –– from the field of Education at all levels.

If we simply showed students the world as it is and has been sans "interpretation" with a political, philosophical or religious "slant," society would benefit enormously.

Right now in my never humble opinion we're all much too busy trying to tell each other how we ought to think, and how we should be leading our lives.

The policy has generated a great deal of hatred and misunderstanding on all sides. We're all at each other's throats as much –– or more –– than ever.

Surely we should be able to appreciate each other's good points without feeling we must CAPITULATE to someone else's point of view in order to secure their good will and possible friendship.

As for Jefferson and Adams' famous feud –– and all that followed in its wake –– you're right. Proving once again that "The more things change, the more they remain the same."
I suspect, however, that such carryings on in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries were more THEATRICAL than PERSONAL –– rather like the stories we hear of lawyers who've been beating each other to a bloody pulp in the courtroom going out to lunch together during the trial, or hoisting a few together at the local pub in the evening, or playing friendly rounds of golf together at the same country club, etc.

There's something deadlier –– really chilling –– about what's going on today. Because of the introduction of Marxian notions of "Class Warfare" as a legitimate moral concern and the advent of Unions acting as gangsters engaged in Thuggery, Extortion –– and sometimes even Murder –– the scene is no longer intellectual and theatrical. Instead it has become brutal and truly hateful.

And oh yes, such events as the infamous Burr-Hamilton duel certainly prove that brutality, though of a more decorous, stylized sort, was very much alive during the seemingly elegant lifestyle enjoyed by our Founders.

The veneer of Civilization has always been wafer thin and fragile as a flower, but today –– thanks to advancing "Proletarianism" for want of a better term –– it appears to be wearing away altogether.

I hate to see us lapsing into neo-barbarism touted as "egalitarianism."

~ FreeThinke

Thursday, October 25, 2012



Gloria Allred



Castigating vixen on the prowl
Under no constraints of good decorum
Never missing chances to cry foul
This dominatrix seizes every forum.
Overbearing, shrieking old virago,
Nasty as three-day-old garlic breath,
This baggage must have studied in Chicago.
Her nature like the lady named Macbeth
Eerily erupts in ersatz rage
Prompted by the lust to castrate men.
Roaring like a mad beast in a cage
Our All Red Gloria befouls her den.
With extravagant dishonesty she’ll claim
Love for Justice, but her claim is lame.

~ FreeThinke


Wednesday, October 24, 2012


PERCEPTION


A newly arrived prisoner, who had been convicted on a sex offense charge, underwent the usual preliminary examination by the prison psychiatrist. The shrink showed the man a series of Rorschach patterns and asked the prisoner what he thought they represented. At least 90% of the time the man said they were pictures either of sex organs or sex acts.

At the conclusion of the interview the psychiatrist said, “Well this interview has certainly confirmed what we knew all along that you are, indeed, almost totally obsessed by thoughts relating to sex -- a grave mental aberration that makes you a danger to yourself and to society.”

The prisoner then spoke up and said, “That ain’t fair. The whole thing was cooked up so you would get the result you was looking for. If you’d really been interested in what I was like, you would have shown me something besides all them dirty pictures.



~ FreeThinke

Monday, October 22, 2012


The Debate



Obama was assertive, confident, accusatory in spouting the same old highly practiced campaign rhetoric and fabrications he’s been using since the 2008 campaign.

Romney was more diffident, more reserved, less assured, stammered too much, but was in possession of solid provable data as opposed to Obama’s fantastic projections, self-serving exaggerations and dubious visions presented as fact.




Obama, as usual, was rude, disrespectful, and small-minded, but cloaked it successfully in an aura of righteous dignity. He did a good job as an actor pretending to be strong and authoritative. Romney behaved like the perfect gentleman he undoubtedly is. 

As it was with the other avowedly liberal moderators, Bob Schieffer let Obama step all over Mitt Romney's lines with impunity. 

So what else would you expect?

PREDICTION: The public tends to equate loud, fast and aggressive with intelligent and competent, ergo the public will perceive Obama as the winner.

That is why The Beatles were able to say with perfect confidence fifty years ago that they were more popular than Jesus.

Unfortunately, there were no surprises during the debate with the possible exception of Romney's failure to attack Obama over the Benghazi fracas, which is being spun by most conservative pundits as great tactical wisdom on Governor Romney's part.

Que sera era!

~ FreeThinke


ADDENDUM:


Early Headlines With Links From Lcom.



American Thinker, by Karin McQuillan    Original Article

Investor's Business Daily, by Editorial    Original Article

Creators Syndicate, by Thomas Sowell    Original Article

Politico, by Maggie Haberman    Original Article

Daily Caller, by David Martosko    Original Article

Vanity Fair, by Jim Kelly    Original Article

Commentary Magazine, by Jonathan S. Tobin    Original Article

Washington Examiner [DC], by Michael Barone    Original Article

CNN, by John D. Sutter    Original Article

Weekly Standard, by Jay Cost    Original Article

Boston Herald, by Howie Carr    Original Article

New York Post, by John Podhoretz    Original Article

ABC News, by Rick Klein    Original Article

Washington Times, by Editorial    Original Article

Daily Beast, by Brett O'Donnell    Original Article

Weekly Standard, by Fred Barnes    Original Article

National Review Online, by Frederick H. Fleitz    Original Article

New York Sun, by Editorial    Original Article

Breitbart's Big Peace, by Joel B. Pollak    Original Article

Washington Times, by Charles Hurt    Original Article
  
Washington Times, by Gary Bauer    Original Article

Associated Press, by Staff    Original Article

CBS News, by Brian Montopoli    Original Article

Real Clear Politics, by Ian Schwartz    Original Article


Dooryard Gardens

Happy times when done within your means.
Overspending can, of course, bring grief.
Mendacious workmen too, who play the thief,
Erode faith when they act like feckless teens.
Raging at injustice makes them laugh.
Expect integrity and you will weep.
Not many have a conscience that would keep
Outrageous overreaching down by half.
Value in the process is still great.
A transformation from a dreary hovel
To a jewel-like place where soon we’ll shovel
Inspiring garden beds due to await
Our joy in planting shrubbery and flowers
Nestled in the dooryard’s leafy bowers.

~ FreeThinke 10/21/12)


Saturday, October 20, 2012




    Why Be A Democrat?

Willfulness is part of what it takes;
Haughtiness makes a component too.
Yearning for a better life’s heartaches
Beset by Self-Deception’s shuttered view

Earns suicidal urges ‘mongst the Rich,
And fosters dreams of Vengeance in the Poor.
Deny this truth? You’re apt to lose your niche
Ending up locked outside your own door.

Money too diffused loses its power.
Our hope to see Equality for All
Creates a fractious mental climate sour
Resulting in Revolt bound to appall.

A misperception of our truest needs
Traps us where upon ourselves we feed.

~ FreeThinke (5/4/12)

Friday, October 19, 2012

ENCOURAGING NEWS from RCP!



BATTLE FOR WHITE HOUSE

STATE CHANGES

      ROMNEY 206 ELECTORAL VOTES
    OBAMA 201 ELECTORAL VOTES