INANITY IN AMERICAN ADVERTISING 

AT ITS BEST? OR AT ITS WORST?

Do you remember these ads back in the in innocent days of yore –– or have you spent all these years trying to forget?

If you consider these ads "demeaning to women," you must be a Post-Modern Feminist.

Why was no one upset when they first came out back in the 1950's? Why did no one consider them pornographic? Even "churchladies" of the period found them quite acceptable, because they appeared in The Ladies Home Journal and all the other respectable magazines of the period.

What's the Trouble with Modernism?  

It spends most of its time angrily ATTACKING, or sullenly DISAPPROVING, or childishly REBELLING. It rarely-if-ever evokes Empathy, inspires a deeper appreciation of Beauty, Affection or Mirth, neither does it attempt to appreciate Tenderness or inspire Courage, Loyalty and Devotion to anything higher than Self. 

Taken altogether most of the "Art" and "Philosophy" of the past century might be interpreted as a gigantic TEMPER TANTRUM –– ACCUSATION –– a nose-thumbing REJECTION and HATRED of REALITY. In other words it's largely been a cynical celebration of NIHILISM. It seems nothing more nor less than an all-out embrace of utter IRRATIONALITY.

I dislike letting myself be defined by others, because in truth I don’t fit neatly into any pre-constructed pigeonhole –– and don’t want to. I much prefer to design and build my own life. However, I suppose I must qualify most closely as a true PALEO-Conservative –– a term I don't even believe in, because it assumes there is another, more "modern" form of Conservatism –– NEO-Conservatism –– which is a TRAVESTY of the real thing. 

Anything that strives to be different merely for the sake of being different is only a childishly perverse IMITATION of what is real and good. Doing the exact opposite of any established, value, virtue or accepted norm is nothing more than a form of imitation.  It takes a great deal more than that to produce something genuinely original. 

Any fool can give Beauty a black eye, a broken nose or a fat lip. That in no way means he, she or it has established NEW STANDARDS of BEAUTY.

What Is Wrong With This Comparison?

Anonymous Phone Call Syndrome

There's a Spiteful Silly Little Child in most of us just dying to get out and do it's darndest. Caller ID has made prank calls all-but impossible now, so these types –– many of whom might be bank presidents, college professors. medical doctors, or high-paid business executives in "real" life –– have found the net –– and various blogs and websites an easy outlet for the little demon within.

None of these people would ever DREAM of acting this way in any face-to-face business, social or professional context.

Most of us like to think we are above such behavior, but few really are when given the chance to "act out" with impunity.

Frankly, I don't think it's anything to get too excited about.

Here's my favorite proverb:

YOU FIND OUT MORE ABOUT PETER FROM WHAT HE SAYS ABOUT PAUL, THAN YOU DO ABOUT PAUL.

An' ain' DAT de troof? ;-)

Keeping your sense of humor in good shape is a great help, if you hope to stay sane, believe me.

I rarely use Comment Moderation, but I do feel free to delete "garbage” whenever I find it.

 I’m glad Ms Shaw, whom I regard as a friend, despite our opposing political views, understood what I was driving at with the recent experiment I called HATE WEEK. 

I just wonder how many looked in that mirror I set up, and recognized THEMSELVES?

Another favorite proverb -- this from Horace Walpole:

LIFE IS A TRAGEDY TO HIM WHO FEELS AND A COMEDY TO HIM WHO THINKS.

NOW WHAT IN THE WORLD 

COULD BE GOING ON HERE?

Gawd, Chris, I'm impressed! That's the only part of you
that does NOT need to lose weight. ~ Dick Wilde

Use your imagination, and offer us your version 

of a suitable caption for this candid shot.

Try to be subtle, and not too mean.

Prizes will be awarded at the end of the day.

Remember: Only Fools AIM for the Booby Prize.

THE FIRST PRIZE GOES TO DICK WILDE!

Hear the astonishing 
CONDOLEEZA RICE 
perform the First Movement of 
DVORAK's PIANO QUINTET in A -Major



Here is a TRUE American Success Story  of the first magnitude made manifest. HALLELUJAH!
I KNOW this music, and you can take it from me this remarkable woman plays astonishingly well.  Frankly, I had no idea. I am humbled –– as all of us should be.
It's too bad the string players are not quite up to her level, but they'll do nicely, even so.

THE STARS and STRIPES FOREVER

Arkady Volodos, one of the greatest living piano virtuosi in a field overcrowded with brilliant performers beefs up Vladimir Horowitz's already-high-powered transcription of John Philip Sousa's most beloved All-American march. 

MEMORIAL DAY 2013

In loving memory and deepest gratitude 

for all who fought, suffered injuries, and died 

that we might live in freedom today.

Remember

Remember 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)

We still called this occasion "Decoration Day" when I was in elementary school. It originated after the Civil War to honor those dead.

Veterans Day was called Armistice Day back then too.

Have we ever given official thanks to those who fought, suffered, bled, died and went broke during the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812?

After the decisive victory won by The Allies in World War Two it seems downright criminal to me that even ONE American has had to die in the many staged Exercises in Futility we've been led to indulge in since for the benefit of Munitions Manufacturers and the International Bankers who play all sides against the middle to our great detriment.

We should all be armed to the teeth to repel foreign invaders and shoot to death anyone who dares intrude upon the sanctity of our homes.

Aggressors of any kind deserve nothing less than DEATH.

However, when we are duped into becoming aggressors, ourselves, in the name of some phony, trumped-up "cause" or manufactured international "crisis," our soldiers then become nothing more than pawns –– victims of the greed and corrupt ambition of the few who own and operate our leaders and dictate our policies for nefarious purposes of the their own behind the scenes.

Even so, a father, son, husband, brother, lover or friend killed in these Wars of Waste and Warped Ambition is no less deserving of our love, respect and reverence than those who died for genuine, noble causes.

Their sacrifice may have been in vain, but as Kipling said in The Charge of the Light Brigade:

"Theirs not to reason why;
Theirs but to do and die."

For that alone they deserve our love, respect and unending support. Courage and sacrifice are still what they are even when tragically –– or diabolically -- misdirected.

May God grant our people –– and ALL people –– access to Truth, and give them the wisdom to seek Truth, then act in accordance with it when at last Truth becomes known.

AMEN!

Dorothy Parker (1893-1967)

Celebrated author. Brilliant wit. Tender heart. 
Desperately unhappy liberal, but I love her.

Coda

There’s little in taking or giving,

There’s little in water or wine;

This living, this living, this living

Was never a project of mine.

Oh, hard is the struggle, and sparse is

The gain of the one at the top,

For art is a form of catharsis,

And love is a permanent flop,

And work is the province of cattle,

And rest’s for a clam in a shell,

So I’m thinking of throwing the battle—

Would you kindly direct me to hell?

~ Dorothy Parker 

Resumé

Razors pain you;
Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you;
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren't lawful;
Nooses give;
Gas smells awful;
You might as well live. 

~ Dorothy Parker 

Live and laugh and love and lie.

Dance the reeling midnight through,

For tomorrow we may die,

But, Alas! we never do!

~ Dorothy Parker

IRREFUTABLE!

The True Face of Islam

 He's holding a knife and machete, and that's an English soldier's BLOOD
he got all over his hands from hacking the soldier to pieces
 and cutting his head off on a London street in broad daylight.

Detain

Intern

Disempower

And

Deport

Islamaniacs

Now!!!

Mild-mannered Major Hasan practicing Takeeya

Treachery is the 

True Face 

of Islam

Mass Murderer Hasan unmasked as an Islamaniac

DIDADIN

Thomas Jefferson designed this building for the University of Virginia
which he founded in his 81st year.

THOMAS JEFFERSON

PART ONE

Thomas Jefferson was an extraordinary man who began learning very early in life and never stopped.

At 5, began studying under his cousin's tutor.

At 9, studied Latin, Greek and French. 

At 14, studied classical literature and additional languages. 

At 16, entered the College of William and Mary. 

At 19, studied Law for 5 years starting under George Wythe. 

At 23, started his own law practice. 

At 25, was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses. 

At 31, wrote the widely circulated "Summary View of the Rights of British America ? And retired from his law practice. 

At 32, was a Delegate to the Second Continental Congress. 

At 33, wrote the Declaration of Independence . 

At 33, took three years to revise Virginia 's legal code and wrote a Public Education bill and a statute for Religious Freedom. 

At 36, was elected the second Governor of Virginia succeeding Patrick Henry. 

At 40, served in Congress for two years. 

At 41, was the American minister to France and negotiated commercial treaties with European nations along with Ben Franklin and John Adams. 

At 46, served as the first Secretary of State under George Washington. 

At 53, served as Vice President and was elected president of the American Philosophical Society. 

At 55, drafted the Kentucky Resolutions and became the active head of Republican Party. 

At 57, was elected the third president of the United States . 

At 60, obtained the Louisiana Purchase doubling the nation's size. 

At 61, was elected to a second term as President. 

At 65, retired to Monticello . 

At 80, helped President Monroe shape the Monroe Doctrine. 

At 81, almost single-handedly created the University of Virginia and served as its first president. 

At 83, died on the 50th anniversary of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence along with John Adams. 

Thomas Jefferson knew because he himself studied the previous failed attempts at government. He understood actual history, the nature of God, his laws and the nature of man. That happens to be way more than what most understand today. Jefferson really knew his stuff. A voice from the past to lead us in the future: 

John F. Kennedy held a dinner in the white House for a group of the brightest minds in the nation at that time. He made this statement: "This is perhaps the assembly of the most intelligence ever to gather at one time in the White House with the exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone." 

PART TWO

"When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe ."

~ Thomas Jefferson

"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government." 

~ Thomas Jefferson

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."

~ Thomas Jefferson 

"It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world."

~ Thomas Jefferson 

"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." 

~ Thomas Jefferson 

"My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government."

~ Thomas Jefferson 

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms."

~ Thomas Jefferson 

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is is natural manure."

~ Thomas Jefferson 

"To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical." 

~ Thomas Jefferson 

Thomas Jefferson said in 1802: 

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations sure to grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property - until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." 

I wish everyone in our country could see this and appreciate its wisdom. If it were taught in our schools, it would be a big help, but it no longer is, so we must do what we can, ourselves, while we are still American Citizens and no yet subjects to a dictatorship that installed itself by stealth right under our noses.

University of Virginia campus designed by Mr. Jefferson

Taxes on some wealthy French 

top 100 percent of income 

Socialist Francois Hollande

PARIS | Sat May 18, 2013

[Reuters] The newspaper said that the exceptionally high level of taxation was due to a one-off levy last year on 2011 incomes for households with assets of more than 1.3 million euros ($1.67 million).

President Francois Hollande's Socialist government imposed the tax surcharge last year, shortly after taking office, to offset the impact of a rebate scheme created by its conservative predecessor to cap an individual's overall taxation at 50 percent of income.

The government has been forced to redraft a proposed bill to levy a temporary 75 percent tax on earnings over 1 million euros, which had been one of Hollande's campaign pledges.

The Constitutional Council has judged such a high rate of taxation to be unfair, leaving the government to rehash it to hit companies rather than individuals.

Since then, a top administrative court has determined that a marginal tax rate higher than 66.66 percent on a single household risked being considered as confiscatory by the council.

Les Echos reported that nearly 12,000 households paid taxes last year worth more than 75 percent of their 2011 revenues due to the exceptional levy. ($1 = 0.7798 euros)

[Reporting by Leigh Thomas, Editing by Mark Trevelyan]

Morris Seligman Dees v. a large, spontaneous grass roots movement

What do you really know about 

Morris Seligman Dees 

and the 

Southern Poverty Law Center?

What do you really know about the Tea Party?

Is there any proper basis for comparison, or is this just one of those nonsensical pieces of internet propaganda disguised 

as a logical, "factual" presentation?

To This We Came
Now, where could we go?