Ode on the Recent Banning 

of Public Nudity in San Francisco

Oh what's the harm in being nude,

If no one's viewed while getting screwed?

Though natural, that would be too crude,

Even if one's not a prude.

Every father –– every mother ––

Possesses one thing –– or another ––

As does every sister, brother,

So why the fuss, the muss, the bother?

As long as brother's made like dad,

And sister has what mother had,

There's no call to be sad or mad,

In fact it should make most feel glad.

If parts got switched, then there'd be cause

For consternation –– not applause ––

So, I guess at least should be one clause

Or two within a township's laws

Restricting what may be displayed 

On side streets, park grounds, on parade,

In sunshine, rain, in light or shade

Deterred, not just deferred, delayed.

For most folks shy away from freaks,

And soon react with piercing shrieks,

And then there are the gawking geeks,

And those who publicly take leaks!

And then, comparison of size,

While never wise, engenders sighs,

Besides, the sight of flabby thighs

Might gag reflexes energize!

And so, since mobs are rarely quiet,

And many fatties will not diet,

Would-be voyeurs will not buy it.

So, just stay clothed. Why start a riot?

~ FreeThinke (11/24/12)

The GOP and the New Culture

November 23, 2012

by Alan M Aszkler (edited and partially truncated by FT)

http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/11/the_gop_and_the_new_culture.html

Obama won re-election in one of the worst economic periods in American history. Collectively the GOP brain trust is correct in their analysis of why Romney lost yet has missed the most fundamental point. The new America Culture just didn't feel good voting Romney.

Rush Limbaugh believes it's difficult to beat Santa Claus. 

Ann Coulter believes the country has reached the tipping point. 

Laura Ingram believes the loss was the fault of those running the Romney campaign. 

Bill O'Reilly, feels "Romney lost because he was an establishment Candidate and it's not a traditional America anymore."

Sean Hannity believes "It's time to start nominating disciplined, principled, conservatives –– men and women will who will defeat their opponents, not themselves." 

Newt Gingrich said, "We were clearly wrong on a whole range of fronts." 

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal attributed Romney's loss to a lack of "a specific vision that connected with the American people." 

Sen. Scott Brown, "We need to be a larger-tent party." 

Mitt Romney believed "The Obama campaign was following the old playbook of giving a lot of stuff to groups that they hoped they could get to vote for them and be motivated to go out to the polls."

Contrary to what is believed by the GOP leadership and conservative talking heads, the devastating loss of the presidency was not tied to a failure to expound the virtues of conservative values widely held by the majority of Americans. We have to promote conservative values to a new American culture that needs to feel good about voting conservative. We cannot make them vote conservative because it's the right thing to do. We need to attract the attention of the culture so they are ready to hear the conservative narrative.

In the last election, Republicans and Mitt Romney came across as the scolding parent to an audience of adolescents.

Romney, while preaching to adult conservatives, told the liberal children it's time to get out of bed, brush your teeth, put on your Sunday best because we are going to Church and that's final.

The electorate heard an overbearing parent telling them they must grow up; get to work, and work hard to make a better life.

And the RNC brain trust wonders why this message failed to pierce the cultural ear buds? OMG, Romney is not there to be my best friend for life!

How did this cultural shift happen?

Government monopoly of public education has facilitated a cultural shift since the era of the Great Society. Schools teach students to feign rational approaches to problem solving and filter decisions through emotions. How does it make you feel implementing your solution? Public education rewards effort over results, because it is not fair that students have different skills or abilities –– it's not your grades that count but how you feel about your attempts to pursue them! History is no longer about facts but is taught from an emotional perspective. 

America enslaved African Negroes to farm land stolen from the indigenous people. You shouldn't feel good about that nor should you be proud to be American.

Obama wooed voters with emotional focus-group tested messages, allowing them to accept the abysmal failure of his presidency. Voters re-elected him because it felt good to vote for him, again.

Overview of the DNC message, "vote for us because you should be free to do what you want when you want to do it!" No worries, the government will be there to provide for your needs and get this we will make those overbearing parents pay for it. ...

They heard the Message. Sa-weet! We can flip off the parents, smoke pot, have sex, party like a rock star or do whatever we want and Obama will make our parents pay for it. I'm voting for Obama!

So what needs to be done about it?

Romney's candidacy was the perfect representation of what a Reagan Conservative should be. He lost because America's cultural base has shifted from a self-reliant, God, Family, and Country culture to a nation of dependency looking to the government to provide for social needs, and to legislate fairness. America's populace [has been conditioned to be] willing to trade liberty for security. Hence any candidate preaching conservative values does not resonate with this New American Culture.

The RNC needs to accept that we have a culture of adolescents remaining there well into their 30's, and be knowledgeable of the cultural differences with the Hispanic, Black and Asian communities. Successfully broadcasting conservative values in a culturally specific message that allows each demographic to feel good about their voting decision is a winning strategy. ...

Conservatives believe all American's should have unlimited opportunities in a robust flourishing economy. All voters are welcome in our tents who want the freedom to choose their destiny. Our opponents are the party that wants you to believe you can do whatever you want without consequences, as long as you follow the government rules –– clearly an oxymoron.

Conservatives really do understand people want to have the freedom to make their own decisions and pursue happiness, we get that. We call it liberty. We believe that nobody likes an overbearing parent or overreaching government telling you what you can and cannot do.

We have solutions that are fair for all American's. Vote with us because when you are ready to succeed, you and all Americans will have great opportunities.

The RNC should spend a few million on anthropologists to study the new culture, determine why they vote, and promote a message to attract them. With the electorate ready any conservative candidate will succeed in 2016.

_________________________________________

Alanaszkler@gmail.com is a Polish American conservative and frequent contributor to American Thinker and has been interviewed on national syndicated talk radio for works published here.

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/11/the_gop_and_the_new_culture.html#ixzz2D7KN5lPm

J.S. Bach literally dances a jig –– in Church –– 

and gets away with it.

Now, Thank We All Our God

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Cantata: 

BWV 192 - Nun danket alle Gott (Now, thank we all our God)

First performance:
Leipzig - 31.10.1730

Concentus musicus Wien - Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Tölzer Knabenchor - Gerhard Schmidt-Gaden

Soprano:

Helmut Wittek (Tölzer Knabenchor)

Bass:
Thomas Hampson

Text and Translation:
http://webdocs.cs.ualberta.ca/~wfb/cantatas/192.html
http://www.bach-cantatas.com/IndexBWV4.htm

Recording (1987)
http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/H&L-Rec6.htm
http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/H&L-Rec7.htm

Painting:
Dance of the Villagers - Peter Paul Rubens

To Thanksgiving

Home for Thanksgiving - Norman Rockwell

This holiday is often overlooked

One feels, because it doesn’t generate

The flow of cash, the airlines overbooked,

Hysteria at fear of being late.

A humble, homey, family-style affair,

No supernatural glamour European

Kicks Concupiscence awake to dare

Sobriety to drink and make a scene.

Giving thanks for what one has is not 

In fashion in this Age of Gimmemore.

Virtue, quaintly comical, has got

Inhibited. It fears to be a bore.

Nothing satisfies, however wild, like

Giving thanks for home in manner childlike.

~ FreeThinke, The Sandpiper, Autumn, 1996

Saying Grace - Norman Rockwell

On Thanksgiving

Of all events parading through the year

Not one can to this humble feast compare.

To feel or offer thanks today is rare 

However well our lives remain in gear.

As ease became the norm, we soon forgot 

None of Plymouth’s Pilgrims felt regret. 

Knowing death and cruel privation’s threat

Spoiled not their faith, or made them curse their lot.

Given much yet now we seem to crave

Immeasurable bounty we don’t need 

Voluptuous excess revealing Greed 

Indifference to the noble, fine and brave.

No pilgrim, pioneer or great tycoon*

Grew up as a self-indulgent goon.

~ FreeThinke - 11/24/11

The First Thanksgiving - John Leon Jerome Ferris (1863-1930)

________________________

*Tycoon

1. A wealthy and powerful businessperson or industrialist; a magnate.

2. Used formerly as a title for a Japanese shogun.

ETYMOLOGY: 

Japanese taikun, title of a shogun, of Chinese origin

WORD HISTORY:

Claims have been made in today's global economy that some business leaders have more power than heads of states. It is etymologically fitting that such leaders are sometimes called tycoons. Tycoon came into English from Japanese, which had borrowed the title, meaning "great prince," from Chinese. Use of the word was intended to make the shogun, the commander in chief of the Japanese army, more impressive to foreigners (his official title shogun merely meant "general"). It worked with Matthew C. Perry, who opened Japan to the West in 1854; Perry carried out his negotiations with the shogun, thinking him to be the emperor. In fact, the shogun did rule Japan, although he was supposedly acting for the emperor. The shogun's title, taikun, was brought back to the United States after Perry's visit. Abraham Lincoln's cabinet members used tycoon as an affectionate nickname for the President. The word soon came to be used for business and industry leaders at times being applied to figures like J. P. Morgan, who may indeed have wielded more power than many princes and presidents.

~ Merriam Webster, 11th edition. online text

Virtue in Coercion

FORMAL NOTICE:

Comments unrelated to the material presented in each daily post 

will be summarily deleted, UNLESS I, myself, find them 

of potential value to others, or of particular interest 

to me, personally.

~ FreeThinke

The Bard of Murdock and FreeThinke 

Have Teamed Up!

Here is the Result:

Let Them Eat Bread!

by The Bard of Murdock

Alas! The Twinkie has expired.

The Hostess brand is dead.

The unions killed the golden cake,

And cried, “Let them eat bread!”

Though cream was what the masses craved,

The unions overfed.

They chose an unemployment check,

And cried, “Let them eat bread!”

So when Thanksgiving dinner’s served

I’ll gaze across the spread,

And cry a tear for Twinkies lost –

And binge on pie instead.

~ § ~

FreeThinke Responds:

Alas! you never told us 

Wonder Bread was also killed.

It's dead white spongy texture 

No longer can be swilled.

No more the red, blue, yellow circles 

That adorned its wrapper

Will show on shelves in grocery stores 

Looking rather dapper.

But, we must face a dismal fact: 

The late, lamented Twinkie

Was a cheesy, sleazy product. 

Mother told me it was stinky.

The greedy selfish unions 

Who have played fast and loose

With workers' long term interests 

Have killed their Golden Goose!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

http://www.thebardofmurdock.com/

One Party Statelets 

by Mark Steyn

November 18, 2012 8:36 A.M.

Earlier this year, up north, I celebrated a modest victory in my battle against Canada’s “human rights” commissions, and wrote en passant:

After Hosni Mubarak was “re-elected” with 97.1 per cent of the vote, he was said to be furious with his officials for stealing too much of the election and making him look like one of those crude ham-fisted dictator-for-life types like Saddam and Kim Il-Sung. So next time round his officials arranged for him to “win” with a mere 96.3 per cent of the vote.

Now comes the news that, following his impressive 100 per cent share of the vote in 59 Philadelphia precincts, Barack Obama was able to eke out a 100 per cent total victory in a mere 37 precincts in his home town of Tikrit ––whoops, I mean Chicago. NBC reports:

In 37 Chicago Precincts, Romney Received No Votes

Heavy concentration of Big Bird fans perhaps. One commenter observes:

Statistically, even if among 10′s of thousands of voters all wanted to vote for Obama, it would not be possible to receive 100% of the vote because at least a few would make a mistake and vote incorrectly for Romney.

Just to be clear: I think Obama won the election, and his victory represents the will of the American people. Which is why the Democrats should have heeded Mubarak’s words and not over-stolen it. I was not one of those who objected to the presence of international observers at this month’s election, as if the United States were just another banana republic: By comparison with Canada, Australia, and most other free societies, the integrity of the American ballot is a joke, and ought to be a source of shame.

http://www.nationalreview.com/author/200428

The Lord of the Dance

I danced in the morning when the world was begun

I danced in the Moon and the Stars and the Sun

I came down from Heaven and I danced on Earth

At Bethlehem I had my birth:

Dance then, wherever you may be

I am the Lord of the Dance, said He!

And I'll lead you all, wherever you may be

And I'll lead you all in the Dance, said He!

(...lead you all in the Dance, said He!)

I danced for the scribe and the pharisee

But they would not dance and they wouldn't follow me

I danced for fishermen, for James and John

They came with me and the Dance went on:

I danced on the Sabbath and I cured the lame

The holy people said it was a shame!

They whipped and they stripped and they hung me high

And they left me there on a cross to die!

I danced on a Friday when the sky turned black

It's hard to dance with the devil on your back

They buried my body and they thought I'd gone

But I am the Dance and I still go on!

They cut me down and I leapt up high

I am the Life that'll never, never die!

I'll live in you if you'll live in Me ––

I am the Lord of the Dance, said He!

~ Sydney Carter (1915-2004)

A Doubletoon for the Afternoon

Ron Paul's Farewell Address to Congress

You owe it to yourselves –– and our country –– to take the time necessary to listen very carefully with close attention to this address.

The only candidate who told the truth was treated abominably by our self-serving, truth-hating Establishment –– and by stupid people preoccupied with the idiotic fear of being called a "racist," or an "anti-Semite."

Listen, learn, then weep for the great opportunity we threw away with both hands, when we allowed the Republican Establishment and the enemedia to treat this very bright, dedicated, deeply sincere man so shabbily.

~§~ 

Many thanks to Waylon for providing the following link 

to the text of Dr. Paul’s address

http://www.paul.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2025&Itemid=60

~ FreeThinke

Hope

(Original Verse By The Bard of Murdock)

I strode into the public square

To politick the throng.

I hoped to get a hearing there,

But found that I was wrong.

I spoke of freedom to achieve,

By labor well applied.

But multitudes would sooner reave*

Than have the gilt subside.

I spoke to them of wrong and right,

Of evil and of good.

But greed and envy, hate and spite

Were all they understood.

I spoke to them of sacrifice,

Of temperance and restraint.

But welfare was their asking price,

And Marx their patron saint.

Perhaps a generation hence

The spell that Marx has cast,

Will yield to truth and common sense

And virtue’s reign at last.

And thus, returning to the square,

I politick the crowd.

I hope to get a hearing there;

Defeated, but unbowed.

~ § ~

http://www.thebardofmurdock.com/

_____________________________

* reave - to plunder and despoil