Monday, July 3, 2017



FIREWORKS 


The fountains in the sky in brilliance burst
Over throngs who thrill as patterns spread
In radiant arms of glowing hues disbursed
Natant in the blackness overhead.


Deafening as any cannonade
Explosions follow soon the hiss and squeal --Preliminaries to the star brigade
Erupting floridly, yet quite unreal.


Naumachia was naught compare to this
Delirium. Decorum’s cast aside.
Enraptured like Narcissus we know bliss,
Non sequitur to what’s seen nationwide.



Could joy we take in heaven’s fireworks
Earthbound hold us, while the Devil smirks?



~ FreeThinke - The Sandpiper - Summer 1996



The 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky
(as transcribed by Igor Buketoff)

~ § ~



INDEPENDENCE DAY, 2017

IS AMERICA STILL 
A NATION?

Pat Buchanan: “Are we passing on 
the house we inherited –– or 
observing its demolition?

by Patrick J, Buchanan



[NOTE: Pat Buchanan was twice a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination and the Reform Party's candidate in 2000. He is also a founder and editor of The American Conservative.  Buchanan served three presidents in the White House, was a founding panelist of three national TV shows, and is the author of 11 books. His latest is ”]

In the first line of the Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776, Thomas Jefferson speaks of “one people.” The Constitution, agreed upon by the Founding Fathers in Philadelphia in 1789, begins, “We the people …”

And who were these “people”?

In Federalist No. 2, John Jay writes of them as “one united people … descended from the same ancestors, speaking the same language, professing the same religion, attached to the same principles of government, very similar in their manners and customs. …”

If such are the elements of nationhood and peoplehood, can we still speak of Americans as one nation and one people?

We no longer have the same ancestors. They are of every color and from every country. We do not speak one language, but rather English, Spanish and a host of others. We long ago ceased to profess the same religion. We are evangelical Christians, mainstream Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Mormons, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists, agnostics and atheists.

Federalist No. 2 celebrated our unity. Today’s elites proclaim that our diversity is our strength. But is this true, or a tenet of trendy ideology?

After the attempted massacre of Republican congressmen at that ball field in Alexandria, Fareed Zakaria wrote: “The political polarization that is ripping this country apart” is about “identity … gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation (and) social class.” He might have added – religion, morality, culture and history.

Zakaria seems to be tracing the disintegration of our society to that very diversity that its elites proclaim to be its greatest attribute: “If the core issues are about identity, culture and religion … then compromise seems immoral. American politics is becoming more like Middle Eastern politics, where there is no middle ground between being Sunni or Shiite.”

Among the issues on which we Americans are at war with one another – abortion, homosexuality, same-sex marriage, white cops, black crime, Confederate monuments, LGBT rights, affirmative action.

Was the discovery of America and conquest of this continent from 1492 to the 20th century among the most glorious chapters in the history of man? Or was it a half-millennium marked by mankind’s most scarlet of sins: the genocide of native peoples, the enslavement of Africans, the annihilation of indigenous cultures, the spoliation of a virgin land?

Is America really “God’s Country”? Or was Barack Obama’s pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, justified when, after 9/11, he denounced calls of “God Bless America!” with the curse “God Damn America!?”

With its silence, the congregation seemed to assent.

In 1954, the Pledge of Allegiance many of us recited daily at the end of noon recess in the schoolyard was amended to read, “one nation, under God, indivisible.”

Are we still one nation under God? At the Democratic Convention in Charlotte to renominate Barack Obama, a motion to put “God” back into the platform was hooted and booed by half the assembly.

With this July 4 long weekend, many writers have bewailed the animus Americans exhibit toward one another and urged new efforts to reunite us. Yet, recall again those first words of Jefferson in 1776:

“When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them …”

Are we approaching such a point? Could the Constitution, as currently interpreted, win the approval of two-thirds of our citizens and three-fourth of our states, if it were not already the supreme law of the land? How would a national referendum on the Constitution turn out, when many Americans are already seeking a new constitutional convention?

All of which invites the question: Are we still a nation? And what is a nation? French writer Ernest Renan gave us the answer in the 19th century:

“A nation is a soul, a spiritual principle. Two things … constitute this soul, this spiritual principle. One is the past, the other is the present. One is the possession in common of a rich legacy of memories; the other is present consent, the desire to live together, the desire to continue to invest in the heritage that we have jointly received.

“Of all cults, that of the ancestors is the most legitimate: our ancestors have made us what we are. A heroic past with great men and glory … is the social capital upon which the national idea rests. These are the essential conditions of being a people: having common glories in the past and a will to continue them in the present; having made great things together and wishing to make them again.”

Does this sound at all like us today?

Watching our Lilliputians tearing down statues and monuments, renaming buildings and streets, rewriting history books to replace heroes and historical truths with the doings of ciphers, are we disassembling the nation we once were?

“One loves in proportion to the sacrifices that one has committed and the troubles that one has suffered,” writes Renan, “One loves the house that one has built and that one passes on.”

Are we passing on the house we inherited – or observing its demolition?

Happy Fourth. And God bless the USA.





~ § ~


We ask you please to CONTINUE sending your prayers, best thoughts, and fondest hopes for the recovery of our friend


JERSEY McJONES

now suffering with advanced, 
metastatic cancer.

THANK YOU!

32 comments:

  1. If patriotism means burning high grade weed in bongs, then I'll agree that Obama was Patriotic

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL! He was a better president of the Choom Gang than he was President of the United States.

      Delete
    2. What a poor way to begin a renewed celebration of the nearly-miraculous achiement of our Founding against unsuperable odds!

      Our Founding Fathers did not accomplish what they did by merely grumbling amongst themselves about how much they disliked King George III and the tyranny they believed he represented.

      Delete
  2. The devil may be smirking, but I'm smirking right back at him.

    Happy Independence Day, FT!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ATTA GIRL! §;^D

      And a Happy Fourth of July to YOU too!

      Delete
    2. The Devil by the way is ALWAYS smirking –– and cackling –– and guffawing –– and hooting –– and hollering –– and mocking –– and thmbing his nose and pointing an accusatory, condemnatory finger at everything beautiful, right, good, decent, charmng, delightful, enchanting, encouraging, wholesome, right and true.

      That's why we are doing ourselves great harm by imitating the methods of The Evil One in the way we try to combat our ideological enemies,

      Delete
  3. I love the 1812 Overture!

    Today, of course, our most dangerous enemy is within our borders. May we defeat that enemy!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Trump's Bigliest FanJuly 3, 2017 at 7:20 PM

      Trump?

      Delete
    2. That's a very special version of the Tchaikovsky. The choral parts were added by American conductor, composer, and arranger Igor Buketoff at the request of Eugene Ormandy.

      Igor Buketoff presided over the Young Peoples Concerts at Carnegie Hall when I was a boy, and he was a MARVELLOUS teacher. Why he never achieved the full measure of fame he deserved I'll never understand, but he was highly respected in the Classical Music World had a distinguished international career all the same, bless his heart.

      Delete
  4. Lets celebrate on our newly found INDEPENDENCE!
    AND GOD BLESS AMERICA. THE LONG EIGHT YEAR NIGHTMARE HAS ENDED!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope you are havng great Fourth, DD. I agree with yiur sentiments, but also realize "the nightmare" never really ends, because maintaining freedom is –– and always will be –– a constant battle against insuperable odds and hostile forces both aggressive and insidious –– especially the latter.

      Remember these prohetic words of Ben Franklin written soon after the Constitution was finally adopted in 1786:

      "Our Constitution is in actual operation; everything appears to promise that it will last, but in this world nothing is certain but death and taxes."

      ~ Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

      The Founding Fathers were not fools, neither were they starry-eyed idealists. They understood Human Nature all too well, BUT –– and this I believe is the greatest thing about them –– they were NOT cynics.

      Delete
  5. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tom, please don't waste time casting aspersions on fellow bloggers. There's enough ill will in the world without compounding it.

      I still regard Miss Shaw as a personal friend, even though our political vews are about as far apart as they could get.

      HAPPY FOURTH of JULY to YOU!

      Let Independence be our boast
      Ever mindful what it cost
      Ever grateful for the prize
      Let its altar reach the skies.

      Firm, united let us be
      Rallying 'round our Liberty.
      As a band of brothers joined
      Peace and safety we shall find.


      ~ Joseph Hopkinson - Hail, Columbia!

      Delete
  6. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Allowing others to define you is not smart.

      "Wising the hell up" does not entail changing your thoughts and feelings based upon tittle-tattle delivered by people with the brainpower of a childish and buffoonish Kardashian fan.

      Delete
    2. Please try not to address the trolls, Dick. Instead, wish them a HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY –– as I now do for you. Be of good cheer –– no matter what!

      Delete
  7. I never realized that you were that neive FT
    Please wake up and smell your enemies.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Doris, you don't really know me. That means you could not possibly understand my reasons for thinking and believng as I do,

      I don't believe it could possibly be good to believe we can't be friends with those who don't have the same interests we do, or share our political or religious beliefs.

      The ONLY way we could possibly overcome evil is to do our best to smother it with GOOD.

      That's what Jesus told us to do, and believe it or not I try to follow Him as closely as I can –– not that I don't fail often to meet His standards. I do, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't keep trying, which is all ANY of us could do anyway.

      Drawug battle lines, takung pot shots, and slinging grenades at one another is as STUOUD as it is DESTRUCTIVE.

      If we allow ourselves to lose sight of our ideals, and lose faith in the essential goodness of creation, we revert to our origins as brutish beasts thus negating every bit of genuine progress our forefathers we able to make –– always an uphill battle even in the best of times.

      Be well,Doris, and have a HAPPY FOURTH of JULY –– a day set aside for the expression of Joy and Gladness.

      Delete
  8. I honor my country by being patient. The wheels of Justice grind slow but only because they crush and destroy malfeasance. However the Orange one and his mafia family will get theirs, it's just a matter of time now.
    But Praise the Lord it's coming.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We believe you are entirely wrong in your opinion, PP, BUT if it turns out that you are correct after all, I sincerely hope your prophecy comes true.

      But try to remember this:

      ...Kaleidoscopic in their vast profusion ––
      Useless bits of moribund meanness thrown
      Zealously –– adds to our confusion ––
      Now narrowness in thee has grown.
      Imitating counterfeits of Christ
      Keeps us in despair and unsufficed.


      ~ Unknown


      Delete
    2. Saw that same comment on another progressive's blog.
      I think it's blog administrator makes up fake names and comments

      Delete
    3. Oh sure, Lisa. That's SOP in the blogosohere. I don't worry about it.

      I only get annoyed when people say nasty stupid things to and about each other. I try to s scrub that kind of stuff off the board whenever i check in.

      Hope you've had a good Fourth! Do anything special?

      Delete
  9. The following was written and Posted by THAT PERSON WHO YOU DESCRIBED AS
    "A PERSONAL FRIEND ".


    We are now engaged in a great civil war, of sorts, testing whether this nation, conceived and dedicated to the proposition of democratic rule, can long endure the demagogic witlessness of Trump and the boundless depravity of his followers. My money is on yes, even though ours is the most wretched, unAmerican Fourth of July since that of 1861."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Like it or not everyone has a right to his opinion. That IS the basic premise of our Founding.

      Truth springs from argument amongst friends.

      David Hume (1711-1776) - Scottish Philosopher, Historian, Essayist

      Delete
  10. Today is the fourth of July, a day of celebration for Americans at gaining their freedom and nationhood from the United Kingdom hundreds of years ago. Let's all show our appreciation to Our new President Donald Truy by standing up for him against the. Leftist Lowlife Degenerats who are attacking him.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ya gotta AC-CEN-tu-ate the positive
      E-LIM-in-ate the negative
      LATCH ON to the affirmative
      Don't fool with Mr. In Between.


      It's the FOURTH of JULY! A time to GET HAPPY, if ever there was one, so GET with the PROGRAM.

      Be of good cheer!

      ~ Made famous by Bing Crosby back in the 1940's

      ______________________

      Sing Hallelujah! c'moin get happy
      Ya gotta chase all those blues away.
      Sing Hallelujah! c'mon get happy
      Get ready fir the Judgment Day.


      ~ Made famous by Judy Garland in the 1950's

      Delete
  11. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unfortunately, GTBR, the vituperative, wholly negative TONE of your shrieking, roaring tirade proves you to be WRONG.

      If you want to be consumed with rage tand petty feelings of spite that's your privilege, but you will not be peritted to express it HERE –– especially not today.

      Let others take heed as well.

      Delete
  12. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry, but at THIS blog yur commentary must relate to the post.

      Delete

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