It is with deep sadness and regret we note the passing of our beloved friend, friendly adversary and notably
colorful blogging colleague
colorful blogging colleague
 |
| A lovable, truly unforgettable character and all-around good sport has left us. |
JERSEY McJONES
who lost his battle with advanced,
metastatic cancer yesterday
JERSEY, TRULY YOU WERE LARGER-THAN-LIFE,
MAY GOD LOVE YOU THROUGHOUT ETERNITY.
WE OFFER NOW OUR KINDEST THOUGHTS, SWEETEST PRAYERS and FONDEST HOPES for HIS WIFE, FAMILY MEMBERS,
and PERSONAL FRIENDS
My deepest Condolences to Jersey's Family and my Prayers are with them today
ReplyDeleteThank you, DD, I haven't announced this officially, and won't until I talk with Jersey's wife. –– hopefully later today –– and hear it from her. I can only imagine how she must feel, and she may not want to talk for a while. I don't believe it right to intrude on anyone's grief. .
DeleteI did email her early this morning. I'll try the phone late today.
And to you FT, thank you for your friendship with Jersey, I know that you and he were special friends.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for your understanding, DD. Some may find it hard to believe that two people with diametrically opposing political views could be fond of one another, but Jersey and I transcended that barrier and found much to like about each other.
DeleteThe only people I truly despise are the HATERS –– and, as I'm sure you know, –– we find those too readily on BOTH sides of the metaphorical aisle.
Too often we human beings equate disapproval of something believed to be wrong –– or any attempt to correct errors of any kind in others –– with HATRED.
That mistaken idea is the cause of much unnecessary strife and damage.
Now, oppositionists could doubtless dig up all sorts of quasi-heated exchanges between Jersey and me from other blogs, quote them with malicious glee, call them "facts" and brand me as both a LIAR and a HYPOCRITE –– the kind of thing in which nattering nabobs of negativism revel and delight.
They would, however, be WRONG –– not that anyone could ever persuade them to believe it, so in love are they with their warped, literalistic, determinedly dismal, morbid view of life.
Unfortunately far too many folks take things personally when discussion leads to disagreement over issues, whether they be business, government/politics, or religion. The more entrenched individuals are in their beliefs the greater the likelihood this will occur.
DeleteFrom disagreement comes the opportunity for improvement, but, and this is a big but, improvement can occur only as long as ALL sides are willing to consider compromise and remain willing to work towards a win-win resolution.
You Mr. FreeThinke and Jersey I think understood this.
May our friend Jersey Rest in Peace.
Professor Victor Schenck
I believe it was Einstein who said, "Truth springs from disagreement among friends" –– or something very like that.
DeleteThe emphasis, of course, belongs on the category FRIENDS.
We appear to have lost sight of that in the bitter, vituperative partisanship that dominates our politics today.
This is obviously a FASCIST website, and I punch NAZIs like FreeThinke right in the FACE!
ReplyDeleteMy late friend, Jersey McJones, was a Leftist –– or liked to think he was –– and we had many an argument thatmust have sounded to outsiders as though we hated each other, BUT the conflict between us was not PERSONAL, and each of us had enough sense to know it, thank God.
DeleteOur differences were not strong enough to overcome our fundamental liking for each other.
Life would improve for all if we each could learn to take a page from Jersey's book in that regard.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteWe disapprove of impersonation of ither bloggers no matter how odious the prototype may be.
DeleteWe also] discourage gratuitous insults and disparaging remarks in general, UNLESS they contain a possible ANTIDOTE to the objectionable ideas and characteristics involved.
I have no idea who my stalking friend is, the content of his/her post, or the logic of disrupting a sensitive moment of sadness and reflection.
DeleteMy condolences.
It is abundantly clear that the Republican agenda has failed, and that Trump's presidency has failed as well.
ReplyDeleteThe GOP cannot govern. They are incapable of matching the legislative successes of the Democratic Party. I realize this is a bitter pill for conservatives to swallow, but here we are.
Thank you, FreeThinke, for your poetry, your trenchant wit, and your expert eye for trenchant cartoons you bring us.
ReplyDeleteThat clamoring, yapping horde of horses asses known collectively as the "the press," is a suppurating pustule on the inflamed backside of our great nation. Today's over-educated commentariate class possesses no understanding of that which they presume to educate us. Gone are the days of the hard-boiled shoe leather reporter who could smell a rat and who wouldn't be caught dead dining and yucking it up with taxpayer-fed politicians.
Today's media personalities are propagators of bovine excrement and red propaganda. They are blissfully ignorant of human nature and are possessed of a Kindergartener's understanding of economics and real life. They willingly aid and abet government waste, state-sponsored theft, and willful abuse of citizens by the federal government.
The US news media is directly responsible for the tens of millions of brain dead dullards marching in legions for socialism in America.
God help us.
Thank you, Abelard. Your kind evaluation of what we try to do here is much appreciated.
DeleteHowever, I don't believe the American Public is "brain dead," as much they HAVE been put into a trance-like state by a form of MASS HYPNOSIS –– a technique perfected by the moguls who own and operate the ENEMEDIA and their equally entranced minions conditioned by decades of Leftist Indoctrination in the Educational Establishment which has functined as Cu;tural Marxism's Most Powerful Ally for more years than most of us have been alive.
This sonnet was penned twenty years ago in reference to the Clintons‘ Whitewater woes, but I see now that the basic sentiments apply to the way politics is conducted all the time. Proof once more that "The more things change, the more they remain the same.” - FT
ReplyDelete_____ Sail On, O Ship of State ______
What the truth might be no one can find.
Hopeless is the quest on either side
Invested as they are in staying blind
To anything that points to Power denied.
Entrenched in battle lines made to endure,
Weapons drawn and ready to attack.
A motivating force that’s quite impure
Twists logic into seeing white as black.
Examining our leaders’ feet of clay
Removes us from confronting our own flaws,
While they decisive action can delay
On how to rid the Nation’s Face of yaws.
Electing pugilists who throw the fight
Scorches angels’ wings, yet sheds no light.
~ FreeThinke - The Sandpiper, Summer 1997
Lovely bardsmanship!
DeleteThank you for continuing to present your poetry for our appreciation and enjoyment.
If you have it salted away, as I do, why not try to get some USE out of it.
DeleteBut thanks for your kind words. We do strive for good craftsmanship when it comes to "wordsmithery," but must leave judgment as to its artistic merit to others.
We all will lose the fight in the end. I always enjoyed the back and forth with Jersey and wish him well in his next adventure.
ReplyDeleteAfter great pain ––
ReplyDeleteA formal feeling comes.
The nerves sit ceremoniously ––
Like tombs.
The stiff heart questions ––
"Was it He that bore
And Yesterday or centuries before?"
The feet, mechanical, go 'round ––
A wooden way ––
Of ground –– or air –– or ought ––
Regardless grown ––
A quartz contentment –– like a stone.
This is the Hour of Lead.
Remembered –– if outlived ––
As freezing persons recollect the snow.
First chill –– then stupor ––
Then the letting go.
~ Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
ReplyDelete_________ NOCTURNE _________
Now through night's caressing grip
Earth and all her oceans slip,
Capes of China slide away
From her fingers into day
And th'Americas incline
Coasts towards her shadow line.
Now the ragged baggar creeps
Into crooked holes to sleep:
Just and unjust, worst and best,
Change their places as they rest:
Awkward lovers like in fields
Where disdainful beauty yields:
While the splendid and the proud
Naked stand before the crowd
And the losing gambler gains
And the beggar entertains:
May sleep's healing power extend
Through these hours to our friend.
Unpursued by hostile force,
Traction engine, bull, or horse
Or revolting succubus;
Calmly till the morning break
Let him lie, then gently wake.
~ W.H. Auden (1907-1973)
Set to music by Benjamin Britten as part of the cycle "On This Island."
Who never lost, are unprepared
ReplyDeleteA Coronet to find!
Who never thirsted
Flagons, and Cooling Tamarind!
Who never climbed the weary league —
Can such a foot explore
The purple territories
On Pizarro's shore?
How many Legions overcome —
The Emperor will say?
How many Colors taken
On Revolution Day?
How many Bullets bearest?
Hast Thou the Royal scar?
Angels! Write "Promoted"
On this Soldier's brow!
~ Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
Farmer John qoted this at his blog today as a fitting trbute to Jersey's memory. have to assume he won't object to my repeating it here:
ReplyDeleteHORATIO
Now cracks a noble heart. Good night sweet prince:
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!
Why does the drum come hither?
March within.
[Enter FORTINBRAS, the English Ambassadors, and others.]
PRINCE FORTINBRAS
Let four captains
Bear [Jersey], like a soldier, to the stage;
For he was likely, had he been put on,
To have proved most royally: and, for his passage,
The soldiers' music and the rites of war
Speak loudly for him.
Take up the bodies: such a sight as this
Becomes the field, but here shows much amiss.
Go, bid the soldiers shoot.
[A dead march. Exeunt, bearing off the dead bodies; after which a peal of ordnance is shot off.-
~ William Shakespeare, "Hamlet"
_________ REMEMBER _________
ReplyDeleteRemember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more, day by day,
You tell me of our future that you plann'd:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.
~ Christina Rossetti (1836-1894)
Our friend Jersey has gone the way of all flesh. May God bless him and grant him eternal peace.
ReplyDeleteEach of us is given but an afternoon in the sun. Enjoy it and thank the Lord for it.
memento mori
Where's he's is now nobody knows
DeleteWhere he's gone to everyone goes
The wind blows
The sea flows
But nobody knows.
Give All to Love
ReplyDeleteGive all to love;
Obey thy heart;
Friends, kindred, days,
Estate, good-fame,
Plans, credit and the Muse,—
Nothing refuse.
’Tis a brave master;
Let it have scope:
Follow it utterly,
Hope beyond hope:
High and more high
It dives into noon,
With wing unspent,
Untold intent:
But it is a god,
Knows its own path
And the outlets of the sky.
It was never for the mean;
It requireth courage stout.
Souls above doubt,
Valor unbending,
It will reward,—
They shall return
More than they were,
And ever ascending.
Leave all for love;
Yet, hear me, yet,
One word more thy heart behoved,
One pulse more of firm endeavor,—
Keep thee today,
Tomorrow, forever,
Free as an Arab
Of thy beloved.
Cling with life to the maid;
But when the surprise,
First vague shadow of surmise
Flits across her bosom young,
Of a joy apart from thee,
Free be she, fancy-free;
Nor thou detain her vesture’s hem,
Nor the palest rose she flung
From her summer diadem.
Though thou loved her as thyself,
As a self of purer clay,
Though her parting dims the day,
Stealing grace from all alive;
Heartily know,
When half-gods go,
The gods arrive.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
He will certainly be sorely missed. God be with his family and friends.
ReplyDeleteFT, I LOVE that line from SOME OTHER TIME, a song so few know anymore...I particularly loved singing those exact lines..gorgeous. And fitting.
Thank you, Z.
DeleteIt's lovely to see you here again.
Call me when the second line begins...
ReplyDelete;)
DeleteMay God Bless Mr. Jersey and his Faiily as well as all the people who loved him.
ReplyDeleteThan you for being a friend to Jersey and his family FT . A wonderful tribute to a really remarkable individual Rest Easy Jersey
ReplyDeleteHe was a great guy.
DeleteMy sincere condolences to JMJ's family and friends.
ReplyDeleteYou were a good friend to Jersey, FT. I know that you shall miss him. Youve written a lovely tribute to him and marked well his passing.
Thank you, AOW! My friendship with Jersey proved that politics is not everything when it cmes to human interrelationship –– not by a long shot.
DeleteJersey and I may have disagreed politically, but we had fun when it came to music. My blog team enjoyed his comments on my blogs whenever one of us posted a video link to a music video. On behalf of the enforcers at mystere's moonbat slayer club and the sister blogs, here's to you, Jersey! See you on the other side!
ReplyDeleteFUNNY! Though I frankly –– and unashamedly –– dislike the kind of music I believe was instrumental in creating an unlikely bond beween the two of you, JERSEY was kind enough –– and broad-minded enough, bless his heart –– to express admiration and appreciation for the performances of the classical music I played and the liturgical music I composed and performed now posted on YouTube.
DeleteThat kind of magnanimity displays a remarkably fine character. Knowing him was a humbling experience.
Jersey was a person from whom all of us could learn many a valuable lesson.
A TRAGIC IRONY in the NEWS
ReplyDeleteSen. John McCain, 80, has been diagnosed with a primary glioblastoma, a type of brain tumor, Mayo Clinic doctors directly involved in the senator's care told CNN exclusively. (CNN)
That's CANCER of the BRAIN in plain layman's language. –– virtually the same disease that took our buddy Jersey away at age 48.
At least McCain survived to age 80 before this overtook him. Jersey never had the chance to fulfill his own potential.
Early reports on MSNBC claim that the surgeons at the MAYO CLINIC were able to remove the entire mass. One can't help but wonder, however, when –– or even if –– the senator will be able to resume his duties in congress.
I'll be frank. I never liked or trusted Senator McCain. In my view he was a detriment to any hope of implementng a Conservative-Libertarian agenda. HOWEVER, anyone who attempts to gloat over this tragic turnn of events, or express delight or satisfaction that the senator has been effectively taken out of the game will be DELETED on CONTACT, so don't even try.
I'm betting Jersey is rooting for John McCain right now, in hopes he'll fight hard to the end. I happen to know a Los Angeles TV weatherlady who lost her husband to this brutal cancer. She is rooting for John McCain's health as well.
DeleteRIP Jersey
ReplyDeleteRest Well My Good Friend
ReplyDelete____________ Riders in the Sky ___________
ReplyDeleteAn old cowpoke went riding out one dark and windy day
Upon a ridge he rested as he went along his way
When all at once a mighty herd of red-eyed cows he saw
A'plowin' through the ragged skies and up a cloudy draw
Yi-pi-yi-ay, Yi-pi-yi-o
Ghost riders in the sky
Their brands were still on fire and their hooves were made of steel
Their horns wuz black and shiny and their hot breath he could feel
A bolt of fear went through him as they thundered through the sky
For he saw the riders comin' hard and he heard their mournful cry
Yi-pi-yi-ay, Yi-pi-yi-o
Ghost riders in the sky
Their faces gaunt, their eyes were blurred, and shirts all soaked with sweat
They're ridin' hard to catch that herd but they ain't caught them yet
They've got to ride forever in that range up in the sky
On horses snortin' fire, as they ride on, hear their cry
Yi-pi-yi-ay, Yi-pi-yi-o
Ghost riders in the sky
As the riders loped on by him, he heard one call his name
"If you want to save your soul from hell a' ridin' on our range"
"Then cowboy change your ways today or with us you will ride"
"A-tryin' to catch the Devil's herd across these endless skies."
Yi-pi-yi-ay, Yi-pi-yi-o
Ghost riders in the sky
Ghost riders in the sky
~ Oliver Jones (1949) - recorded by Frankie Laine, Vaughan Monroe, Bing Crosby, Peggy Lee, and Johnny cash among others
When I was a boy, this song was heard on the radio every day and on every jukebox in every hash house and restaurant for many months. It was certainly not Jersey's style –– at least not as he presented himself here in Blogistan –– but I think he would have found it appealing all the same. I was fortunate to be able to get to know him outside the blogosphere, and found he had a vivid imagination and the capacity to see far beyond his familiar parochial interests.
He knew full well that I frankly despised the kind of music he professed to love best, and yet he was KIND enough, and WISE enough to realize there was great virtue in classical music. He told me he did in fact enjoy Beethoven & CO. a lot, and had even been known to attend the opera now and then, though he preferred not to emphasizethat side of himself here –– part of maintaining the unique, rough and ready blog persona he had created for himself no doubt.
At any rate, –– though I doubt two people could be farther apart in their stated political aims, –– and all the other things that might have kept us forever at odds ––, we were able to look beneath the surface and find much to like and respect in each other because of our common humanity –– and doubtless our common point of origin in the New York metropolitan area. The latter created an instant bond no doubt. You'd have to have been born and brought up there, yourself, to understand, but we New Yorkers and Jerseyites have an instinctive understanding, love and respect for each other that transcends, social, economic and cultural barriers.
In short Jersey and I LIKED each other –– even LOVED each other before it was al over –– and in the end, my friends, that is ALL that really matters.
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DeleteI'm so sorry you removed your comment, SF. I can't think why? I appreciated it very much.
DeleteWE NEED to LOOK FOR THINGS WE CAN LIKE, RESPECT, and ADMIRE in EACH OTHER, and STOP SEARCHING ENDLESSLY for THINGS about which WE CAN FIND "A GOOD EXCUSE" to COMPLAIN , LAMENT, DESPISE and DISDAIN.
ReplyDeleteMy seemingly unlikely friendship with Jersey McJones taught me that, so to him I shall be eternally grateful.
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DeleteAgain, I'm very sorry you removed your comment, Silver. WHY? I found it most sympatheitc, truthful, and agreeable.
DeletePerhaos I should have said s much earlier?
I am grateful to Z for posting this at her blog about Jersey.
ReplyDelete"Some of you have blogged at Silverfiddle’s blog, and FreeThinke’s…..I believe Jersey McJones commented at those blogs…and that some of you will remember him and may have learned that he’s been fighting cancer.
"Yesterday, at only 48 years old, Jersey lost his fight.
"As FT emailed me just now, “Jersey was that rarity of rarities –– a lovable Liberal.”
"Yes, he was. May he rest in peace and may God give his family comfort and some kind of peace after the initial terrible grief.
"The blogosphere is less without Jersey."
Z
THANK YOU again, Z. It was very gracious of you to post that at Geeeez. Though I never met him in person, Jersey and I had gotten very close –– particularly in the last few months. I must now concentrate on doing what can to help his wife. Hard at long distance, but often just being thought of really does help. That's part of what prayers are for. isn't it?
While Jersey and I were on opposite sides of the fence politically, Jersey knew what he believed in and more importantly knew why, he was a true Western Hero.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Finntann. I feel the same.
DeleteAs I've said many times, Jersey was that great rarity –– a Lovable Liberal.
I'll never forget him, and part of me will always miss him.