FreeThinke

Saturday, July 2, 2016

Which Serves Us Best?

GRATITUDE? or CYNICISM?

As we approach Independence Day, please compare the words of “Hail, Columbia,” a once-popular patriotic song by Joseph Hopkinson, to the carryings in of the modern poet Alberto Terego, who came of age in the turbulent nineteen-sixties, and was obviously very much disenchanted with what he found.

Hail, Columbia, happy land!

Hail. ye heroes, heaven-born band,

Who fought and bled for freedom’s cause

And when the storm of war was done

Enjoyed the peace your valor won.

Let independence be our boast,

Ever mindful what it cost,

Ever grateful for the prize,

Let it’s 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.

~ § ~

Do you prefer that, or would you rather subscribe to the following “modernist” view of American patriotism?

Bashing the Navy blue of sky

fierce color whirls and thrusts itself

in senseless patterns!

Loud noises crack and shrill

in mockery of cannon shot.

Open-Mouthed,

the “little folk”

sit and stare

forgetting each other

in vapid contentment.

Sedentary buttocks spread and sag

in canvas deck chairs.

Ice cream-sticky,

chocolate-covered children

gape and giggle ––

whine and whimper.

Rolled in a rough blanket

adolescent lovers

mockingly tempt fate,

And cling to the destruction

of their sweetness.

Crack! and the sky fills

with cruel white light.

Now, God can see

each family group

spread in shabby rows

Neatly spelling out ‘DEATH,”

punctuated with beer cans.

The flag has now flown

and dropped its burning stars

one by one to the ground.

No one listens as the band plays

the national anthem ––

out of tune.

~ § ~

Which sort of thinking suits your brand of patriotism? Which would make glad the hearts of of John Adams, Ben Franklin and the others glad they bothered to risk all for the love of Principle and Freedom? They are gone now.We have only their words left to guide us, but just as it was with them it's up to each of us to choose what course we will take. HINT: The paths of least resistance will never lead us toward Liberty and Justice, but only to Chains and Slavery.

As befits the present fragile, fearfully tenuous condition of the nation today we've having a SOMBER - CONTEMPLATIVE - SUPPLICATORY - and PRAYERFUL observance of INDEPENDENCE DAY WEEKEND here at FreeThinke's blogspot.

This does not mean expressions of joy and good humor are not welcome, but it does mean that mockery, cynical sneering and mindless, partisan BOILERPLATE –– from either side of the aisle –– will either be deleted or denounced.

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

WHOOPEE!

Back in the Saddle Again

But for How Long?

Stay Tuned ...

COMMENTS ARE WELCOME ONCE AGAIN,
BUT ONLY IF YOU FOLLOW OUR GUIDELINES.

EYE-CATCHING HEADLINES

at the

DRUDGE REPORT

http://www.drudgereport.com/

Do Check ‘Em Out.

De Blasio’s Social Media Director Quits:

‘For The Sake Of My Health And My Sanity’

FEC SECRET VOTE TO PUNISH FOXNEWS…

Japan top court approves blanket surveillance

of country's Muslims...

Ku Klux Klan dreams of rising again

150 years after founding...

CHICAGOLAND: Man Forces 2 Women Walking Along Street To Perform Sex Acts...

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

First Corinthians

Chapter 13, verses 1-13

Though I speak with the tongues of men
and of angels, and have not Love,

I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

And though I have the gift of prophecy,
and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge;

and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains,
and have not Love, I am nothing.

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor,
and though I give my body to be burned,

and have not Love, it profiteth me nothing.

Love suffereth long, and is kind; Love envieth not;
Love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own,
is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

Beareth all things, believeth all things,
hopeth all things, endureth all things.

Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail;

whether there be tongues, they shall cease;

whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

But when that which is perfect is come,
then that which is in part shall be done away.

When I was a child, I spake as a child,
I understood as a child, I thought as a child:

but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

For now we see through a glass, darkly;
but then face to face: now I know in part;

but then shall I know even as also I am known.

And now abideth Faith, Hope, Love, these three;

but the greatest of these is Love.

~ St. Paul

~ § ~

Let nothing disturb thee,
Nothing affright thee
All things are passing;
God never changeth;
Patient endurance
Attaineth to all things;
Who God possesseth
In nothing is wanting;
God alone sufficeth.

~ St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

Lines Written in Her Breviary (as translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

Friday, January 15, 2016

Coney Island's Steeplechase Man. Note the resemblance to HRC?

THE DEBATE

OUR VERDICT

Trump - Boisterous

Cruz - Clamorous

Rubio - Vociferous

Christie - Loqacious

Kasich - Articulate

Carson - Judicious

Bush - Pretentious

One of two adults in the room. Who was the other?

What’s YOUR opinion?

See Saw from whore to whore.
Soon, we’ll be newly mastered,
But nothing’s ever going to change,
‘Cause each candidates is a bastard.

~ Marjorie Daw

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Well, what do

YOU

think of

The Speech?

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

________ A Sad Anniversary ________

A little gray one looked up from the floor,

Locked in my gaze with piercing topaz eyes.

I felt odd fear, but soon came to adore

The fluffy little beast, who’d mesmerize

The faintest trace of doubt away. Her cries

Left me helpless, as she deftly climbed

Eagerly upon my knee. My sighs

Gave in to her seduction so well-timed

Removing doubt that I had been well-primed ––

A target from the moment I arrived ––

Yearning that my inner bell be chimed.

O, little beast, affection for you thrived.

No pleasure since disease took you away

Eased the pain of loss renewed each day.

~ FreeThinke (1/12/15)

Priscilla (June 2004 - January 12, 2015)

Sunday, January 10, 2016

“May not and ought not the children of these fathers rightly say: "Our fathers were Englishmen which came over this great ocean, and were ready to perish in this wilderness but they cried unto the Lord, and He heard their voice, and looked on their adversity, &c. Let them therefore praise the Lord, because He is good, and His mercies endure forever. Yea, let them which have been redeemed of the Lord, shew how He hath delivered them from the hand of the oppressor. When they wandered in the; desert wilderness out of the way, and found no city to dwell in, both hungry, and thirsty, their soul was overwhelmed in them. Let them confess before the Lord His loving kindness, and His wonderful works before

the sons of men.”

~ William Bradford (1590-1653)

Wm. Bradford served as the Plymouth Colony Colonial Governor at different times for over 30 years, from 1621 to 1657. His journal, written from 1620 to 1647, and published as "Of Plymouth Plantation," is credited as the first civil authority to designate the First Thanksgiving on North American Shores. He is considered by historians to be one of the most influential of the Pilgrim settlers for his outstanding leadership, his desire to hold steadfastly to his religious and moral ideals and his determination to keep Plymouth a thriving and independent colony.

Born to a wealthy family, his early childhood was marked by tragedy, His father died when he was about a year old. His grandfather, with whom he lived after his mother remarried died when he was six years old Then his mother died when he was 7. He then went he went to live with his uncles, where he became interested in reading the Bible and classical literature.

At age 12 he heard the sermon of a Puritan minister, Reverend Richard Clyfton, and was greatly inspired by his preaching. He soon joined the Puritan faith who met secretly at Scrooby Manor and in 1607 they severed ties with the traditional Church of England and became known as Separatists.

The Separatists, or Puritans, were subject to religious persecution and many were either fined or imprisoned for religious disobedience. In 1607 the Scrooby congregation attempted to leave England and go to the Dutch Republic of the Netherlands, where freedom of religion was allowed, but they were betrayed by the English sea captain who had agreed to take them there and most of the congregation, including Bradford, were imprisoned for a short time.

The following year he and the congregation managed to escape and settled at Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, where they had to work at low-paying jobs and live under poor conditions. Nine months later he moved with the congregation to Leiden, in an attempt to better themselves.

In 1611 he was able to claim his family inheritance and his living conditions improved. He bought his own house and established a workshop as a fustian weaver, earning a reputable living.

In 1617 the congregation made plans to relocate to America and establish their own colony in Virginia and in July 1620 and with Bradford's assistance they secured financial backing in London to embark on their first journey to America with about 50 people, including Bradford and his wife, on the ship "Speedwell," which was to meet up with the ship "Mayflower" that was transporting non-Separtists who had been recruited for their vocational skills.

The "Speedwell" proved to be unsuitable to make the long voyage and its passengers were put aboard the "Mayflower" for its trip across the Atlantic Ocean. They left England in September 1620 and after two months of extremely harsh sailing conditions, they spotted land (Cape Cod).

Attempting to sail south to reach their final destination in the Colony of Virginia, the ship was rebuffed by strong winter seas and they were forced to return to Cape Cod Harbor. Bradford volunteered to be a member of the exploration party to find a suitable settlement location, eventually choosing present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts.

When he returned to the ship with news of the settlement selection, he learned that his wife had died by drowning after falling overboard. Arriving in Plymouth Bay on December 20, 1620 the settlers disembarked and started building houses. By the following spring almost half of them died from disease. In April 1621 Bradford became governor of the Plymouth Colony upon the death of John Carver and would remain in that position for most of the remainder of his life. Through his faith and perseverance he kept the Plymouth colony alive. He died there in 1657 at the age of 67. - by Wm. Bjornstad (edited by FT)

William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, 1620-1647

Saturday, January 9, 2016

I maintain, despite the moment's evidence against the claim, that we are born and grow up with a fondness for each other, and we have genes for that. We can be talked out of it, for the genetic message is like a distant music, and some of us are hard-of-hearing. Societies are noisy affairs, drowning out the sound of ourselves and our connection.

~ Lewis Thomas (1913-1993)

Dr. Thomas was Chair from 1954 to 1958 and, in this short time, broadened the role of the Department from academic morphologic pathology to experimental pathology with a strong emphasis on immunology and inflammation, turning NYU Pathology into one of the preeminent pathology departments in the country. Until his departure from NYU in 1969, he also served as Chair of Medicine at Bellevue Hospital and Dean of the NYU School of Medicine. Among his many interests were infectious diseases, post streptococcal rheumatic fever and glomerulonephritis. He was a gifted teacher, noted author of The Lives of a Cell, and founder of the School of Medicine Honors Program and an experimental pathology training program, both supported with NIH funding. Thomas recruited many significant faculty members and profoundly shaped the leadership role of the Department. His extraordinary work provided the basis for genuine interdisciplinary and collaborative research at NYU. Frequently hailed as the "father of experimental pathology," Thomas was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1961 and the National Academy of Science in 1972.

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

TRUE or FALSE?

Add caption

More Killed by Autos than by Guns

~ § ~

Gun Deaths Are Mostly Suicides

Margot Sanger-Katz

New York Times

OCT. 8, 2015

When Americans think about deaths from guns, we tend to focus on homicides. But the problem of gun suicide is inescapable: More than 60 percent of people in this country who die from guns die by suicide.

Suicide gets a lot less attention than murders for a few reasons. One big one is that news organizations generally don’t cover suicides the way they do murders. There’s evidence that news attention involving suicide can lead to more suicides ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/09/upshot/gun-deaths-are-mostly-suicides.html?_r=0