Beethoven's Fifth Symphony presented here in its entirety in a stunning new performance with Gustavo Dudamel conducting, was used by the Allied Forces during World War Two as a symbol of Courage, Faith, Strength, Dignity, Perseverance, Grace under Pressure and Triumph over Adversity.  There could be no better time than now to draw inspiration from this exhilarating, ennobling, spine-stiffening work again. 

Do you want HIM?

Or do you want HER?

[NOTE:We want to thank Impertinent, a long time blogging colleague, for allowing us to reprint 
this article he presented at Kid's blog 
Diary of a Right Wing Pussycat]

Does Anyone Have A Bead 

On Reality?

COMMON SENSE POLITICAL 
PHILOSOPHY in FOUR PARTS 

I

A. Back off and let those men who want to marry men, marry men.

B. Allow those women who want to marry women, marry women.

C. Allow those folks who want to abort their babies, abort their babies.

D. In three generations, there will be no Democrats.

I love it when a plan comes together; don’t you?

II

The Ten Poorest Cities in America 

  

1. Detroit, MI 32.5%

2. Buffalo, NY 29.9%

3. Cincinnati, OH 27.8%

4. Cleveland, OH 27.0%

5. Miami, FL 26.9%

6. St. Louis, MO 26.8%

7. El Paso, TX 26.4%

8. Milwaukee, WI 26.2%

9. Philadelphia, PA 25.1%

10. Newark, NJ 24.2%

What do the top ten cities (over 250,000 pop.) with the highest poverty rate all have in common?

Detroit, MI - (1st on poverty rate list) hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1961

Buffalo, NY - (2nd) hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1954

Cincinnati, OH - (3rd) no Republican mayor since 1984

Cleveland, OH - (4th) no Republican mayor since 1989

Miami, FL - (5th) has never had a Republican mayor

St. Louis, MO - (6th) no Republican mayor since 1949

El Paso, TX - (7th) has never had a Republican mayor

Milwaukee, WI - (8th) no Republican mayor since 1908

Philadelphia, PA - (9th) no Republican mayor since 1952

Newark, NJ - (10th) no Republican mayor since 1907

Einstein once said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

It is the poor who habitually elect Democrats, yet THEY REMAIN POOR.

III 

"You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.

You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.

You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.

You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.

You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.

You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's Initiative and independence.

You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves."

~ Abraham Lincoln

"Any man who thinks he can be happy and prosperous by letting the government take care of him had better take a much closer look at the American Indian."

~ Henry Ford

IV

Here are six questions to see how much history you really know.  Be honest; it's kind of fun and revealing. If you don't know the answer, make your best guess.  Answer all of the questions (no cheating) before looking at the answers.

1. "We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good."

1. Karl Marx                    
2. Adolph Hitler                  
3. Joseph Stalin
4. Barack Obama
5. None of the above

2.”It's time for a new beginning, for an end to government of few, by the few, and for the few… And to replace it with shared responsibility, for shared prosperity."

1. Lenin                          
2. Mussolini                        
3. Idi Amin
4. Barack Obama
5. None of the above

3. "(We).... Can't just let business as usual go on, and that means something has to be taken away from some people."

1. Nikita  Khrushchev        
2. Joseph Goebbels            
3. Boris Yeltsin
4. Barack Obama            
5. None of the above

4. "We have to build a political consensus and that requires people to give up a little bit of their own ... In order to create this common ground."

1. Mao Tse Tung            
2. Hugo Chavez                    
3. Kim Jong II
4. Barack Obama            
5. None of the above

5. "I certainly think the free-market has failed."

A.   Karl Marx                  

B.   Lenin                                

C.   Molotov

D.   Barack Obama            

E.   None of the above

6. "I think it's time to send a clear message to what has become the most profitable sector in (the) entire economy that they are being watched."

1. Pinochet                      
2. Milosevic                          
3. Saddam Hussein
4. Barack Obama
5. None of the above

Now Please Scroll Down to See the Answers. No Peeking!

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(1)  E. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Rodham Clinton 6/29/2004

(2)  E. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Rodham Clinton 5/29/2007

(3)  E. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Rodham Clinton 6/4/2007

(4)  E. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Rodham Clinton 6/4/2007

(5)  E. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Rodham Clinton 6/4/2007

(6)  E. None of the above. Statement was made by Hillary Rodham Clinton 9/2/2005

Cast Your Vote to Prevent this Dark Vision 

from Becoming Reality 

HERE IT IS

The OCTOBER SURPRISE 

We’ve All Been Dreading 

The OTHER SHOE has DROPPED

(Courtesy of Matt Drudge)

Heh heh heh! You always KNEW he was gonna getcha, didn'tya?

CONFUSED COMEY CLEARS HER AGAIN! 

TRUMP: 'SHE'S PROTECTED BY RIGGED SYSTEM' 

POLL: THISCLOSE

42 MILLION VOTE ALREADY

CLINTON WARNS 'FAKE' WIKIS COMING


Meanwhile ...

And haven't we suspected something like this for a long time? I have.  These people either qualify as Oligarchs, 
or the are in the pay –– and 
under the control of 
The Oligarchs.  

Either way does it really matter?

The OLIGARCHS are IN CONTROL.

WE the PEOPLE have been rendered POWERLESS through Craft, Guile 
and Sophistry in a long series of 
BLOODLESS COUPS.

 In Memoriam 

With you I always saw the potted palms

Marble floors and Chinese jardinieres

Polished ancient oak and well-worn arms

Of venerable tufted leather chairs.

Curious how your face evoked the glow

Of firelight and candles in old brass!

When I knew you, the wine had ceased to flow,

And so I have no love for Irish glass.

But crewel and damask –– spices from the East ––

Herbal tea and pottery Quimper

Feed my sorrow, as my my eyes do feast

On relics left from life within your care.

O, dearest, gentle one, you were the Past ––

A waking dream –– a joy that could not last.

~ FreeThinke

~ § ~

November 5, 2008

On your last day disaster struck the land

For months you had been teetering on the Ledge

Was it th’ election that pushed you off the Edge? ––

The knowledge that by hot air we’d been damned?

We did not know the last thing you would eat

Would be canned pears. How utterly banal!

You’d been my boss, my colleague, my great pal

On whom I’d foisted many a gourmet treat.

Yet, as your life was moving toward the Shade,

You lay quite still, and like a baby bird

Opened up your mouth without a word

And ate those pears –– your last choice ever made.

When you’d had enough, I turned and cried.

You never heard. –– You had already died.

~ FreeThinke

Posted this day, November 5, 2016.

In loving memory of GWS (1930-2008) 

who died eight years ago today.

~ § ~

__ The House on the Hill __

They are all gone away, 

The House is shut and still, 

There is nothing more to say. 

Through broken walls and gray 

The winds blow bleak and shrill: 

They are all gone away. 

Nor is there one to-day 

To speak them good or ill: 

There is nothing more to say. 

Why is it then we stray 

Around the sunken sill? 

They are all gone away, 

And our poor fancy-play 

For them is wasted skill: 

There is nothing more to say. 

There is ruin and decay 

In the House on the Hill: 

They are all gone away, 

There is nothing more to say.

~ Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869-1935)

NOW COMES the SAVIOR of the HEATHEN
Organ Chorale Prelude by J.S. Bach
transcribed for piano by Ferrucio Busoni
performed by
VLADIMIR HOROWITZ


THIS THREAD is CLOSED 
to POLITICAL COMMENTARY 
The previous thread is still open,
if you must comment on the election
and the issues and personalities
surrounding it.

An Awful Truth 

Do most old women stop enjoying sex

Once the saggy baggy phase sets in?

Could any potent male regard these wrecks

As outlets for the joys of carnal sin?

Lechery in randy, aging goats

Arises at the thought of flesh still fresh ––

Softly rounded curves and slim white throats

Not too long departed from the creche.

Ironic that old pussies cracked and wizened

Still dream of ardent service from Fair Youth,

But no matter how these crones appear bedizened

‘Tis just their cash that lures, and that’s the truth.

The resource that best sustains us when we’re old

Is found in vaults replete with jewels and gold.

~ FreeThinke

A good case in point

Today's Triumvirate. Tragedy or Travesty?

She's all mouth, folks. ALL Mouth!

HEADLINES and LINKS 

to the 

LATEST NEWS 

and 

COMMENTARY 

on the 

CLINTON CAMPAIGN FIASCO 

at lucianne.com 

News Forum Homepage

WikiLeaks: Tax Form Reveals John Podesta Continued Ties

to Russian Energy Company After Claiming He Divested 

Pull this thread and watch the whole cheap suit unravel.

 

Inside the FBI's Internal Feud Over Hillary Clinton Probe 

No dueling in the hall....yet.

Come inside the Justice Dept. sausage factory 

and watch it being made.

FBI Investigation Into Bribery With Clinton

Foundation Spans Nation, Multiple

Field Offices, Says WSJ 

Get ready for this to be a whole lot

bigger than expected

.

 

DC Attorney: FBI Never Destroyed Laptops Of Clinton Aides 

The latest twist in this twisted tale.

 

FBI agents ´wanted to investigate the Clinton foundation

but were barred by their bosses at the Justice Department´ 

Sounds like it was "Boss" singular, 

as in Loretta Lynch.

Happy Halloween!

The only ghost I ever saw

Was dressed in mechlin, –– so

He wore no sandal on his foot,

And stepped like flakes of snow.

His gait was soundless, like the bird,

But rapid, like the roe ––

His fashions quaint, mosaic,

Or, haply, mistletoe.

Hi conversation seldom,

His laughter like the breeze

That dies away in dimples

Among the pensive trees.

Our interview was transient, —

Of me, himself was shy ––

And God forbid I look behind

Since that appalling day!

~ Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

~ § ~

________ All Hallows Eve ________

Trick or treating, barren branches claw

On rooftops ‘gainst the biting Autumn air.

Jack O’Lantern flickers. Would he gnaw

An arm away ––, or set aflame the hair ––

Conspicuously real above the masks ––

Kindling Kindergartners at the door?

Only Satan’s own perform such tasks,

Leering, lisping, limping as to war.

Awake! All Hallows Eve lets loose the ghosts.

No one escapes the Grave for long. Be wise.

The Jack O’Lanterns flicker on the posts ––

Each one a sentry for the Lord of Flies.

Run home to mother lest the Evil One

Nabs you, while you think you’re having fun.

~ FreeThinke - The Sandpiper, Autumn, 1996

Happy Halloween!

from 

Glinda the Good Witch!

now

Follow 

the 

Yellow Brick Road!

Back to Basics

Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby Ye are sealed unto the Day of Redemption.

Let all Bitterness, and Wrath, and Anger and Clamor, and Evil-Speaking be put away from you with all Malice.

And be Ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God, who for Christ’s sake, hath forgiven you.

Amen!

The 

Madness 

of 

Hillary Rodham Clinton

Our Hope for the Nation

A bilious temperament may shower

Many a lush and fragrant bower

With noxious regurgitation

Withering blooms and vegetation.

But roots of every healthy plant

Remain immune to toxic cant.

And soon the stench will clear away

As Beauty returns renewed by Decay.

~ FreeThinke