tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post7963118893780655107..comments2023-10-03T07:01:41.144-05:00Comments on Always On Watch: Semper Vigilans: Happy Birthday, America — Land That I Love!Always On Watchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.comBlogger73125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-91656428372739030532020-07-06T05:28:34.685-05:002020-07-06T05:28:34.685-05:00To Jez:
A [very] short answer:
Please read Democ...To Jez:<br /><br />A [very] short answer:<br /><br />Please read Democracy in America by Alxeis de Tocqueville. That might be a good place to start. Then, get back to me.Franco Aragostahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11088635482766081825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-14518959099780456622020-07-06T05:16:01.478-05:002020-07-06T05:16:01.478-05:00I ask this question as humbly as possible, my hist...I ask this question as humbly as possible, my history has more holes in it than substance especially the 18th and 19th centuries (I can bluff my way through English history reasonably well prior to *our* civil war), but what was so great about America in 1860?jezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14865247084509280406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-62048819926244710262020-07-06T05:03:24.476-05:002020-07-06T05:03:24.476-05:00Seconded. Best wishes to Ducky and Jayhawk too.Seconded. Best wishes to Ducky and Jayhawk too.jezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14865247084509280406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-31520070394749284892020-07-06T04:13:19.891-05:002020-07-06T04:13:19.891-05:00This is what prompted the discussion here in this ...<a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/live-updates-protests-for-racial-justice/2020/07/02/886936096/the-nfl-will-play-lift-every-voice-and-sing-before-each-season-opener-game" rel="nofollow">This</a> is what prompted the discussion here in this thread:<br /><br /><i>"Lift Every Voice and Sing" will be played or performed live before every Week 1 NFL game, as the league considers ways to recognize victims of systemic racism.<br /><br />The song known as the Black national anthem will play at the start of every season opener game, coming before "The Star Spangled Banner," a source familiar with the league's discussions told NPR....</i>Always On Watchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-81914800645829118952020-07-05T18:13:10.166-05:002020-07-05T18:13:10.166-05:00As far as I know, NO ONE has ever seriously sugges...<b>As far as I know, NO ONE has ever seriously suggested tatJohnson's piece should be officilly placed on a equal footing with The Star Spangled Banner.</b>Franco Aragostahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11088635482766081825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-392974197689932362020-07-05T18:08:59.454-05:002020-07-05T18:08:59.454-05:00Aristocratic Alexander Hamilton referred to them a...Aristocratic Alexander Hamilton referred to them as <b>"The Vulgar Populace."</b> He clearly didn't trust the masses of uneducated, illiterate, low class, ill-bred "peasants" to make crucial public policy decisions for themselves.<br /><br />Frankly I tend to agree with him.<br /><br />The Constitution, as originally written, was much farther removed from Direct Democracy that subsquent amendments later allowed.<br /><br />Andrew Jackson was our first president drawn from decidedly "common" stock. The vision of the Founding Fathers began to fade in the Jacksonisn era. By the time Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated the concept of federalism and sovereign states with specific inviolable rights was pretty much destroyed.<br /><br /><br />In truth America, as founded, has been disintegrating and going downhill ever since th Civil War.Franco Aragostahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11088635482766081825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-63062398251222089792020-07-05T16:26:06.767-05:002020-07-05T16:26:06.767-05:00Franco,
I concur with SF!Franco,<br />I concur with SF!Always On Watchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-32730633105497041832020-07-05T15:42:18.779-05:002020-07-05T15:42:18.779-05:00LOL! Another good one from the poet's pen.
++...LOL! Another good one from the poet's pen.<br /><br />+++Silverfiddlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13541652236676260219noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-54323114393694639732020-07-05T14:31:29.821-05:002020-07-05T14:31:29.821-05:00BEHOLD the LEFTIST VERSION of a NATIONAL ANTHEM fo...BEHOLD the LEFTIST VERSION of a NATIONAL ANTHEM for the USA:<br /><br /><b>_____ FAIL, COLUMBIA _____<br /><br /><i> Fail, Columbia, crappy land<br />Fail, ye zeroes, hellbound band<br />Who fought to kill the Founder's Cause<br />To hear the Devil's loud applause, <br />And when the storm of words was done<br />Enjoyed the wreck your efforts won.<br /><br />Let sick dependence<br />Be your boast<br />Ever mindful what you've lost<br />Ever scornful you have won the prize:<br />Independence vanquished lies.<br /><br />Disunited let us be<br />Lauding our slavery<br />As a band of gangsters joined<br />Endless conflict we shall find.</i></b><br /><br /> ~ Joseph Hoaxington<br /><br />IF YOU DIDN'T RECOGNIZE THAT AS SATIRE, YOU'RE IN DESPERATE NEED OF A GOOD STIFF COURSE IN LANGUAGE ARTS AND REMEDIAL ENGLISH.Franco Aragostahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11088635482766081825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-47081353555747429822020-07-05T13:28:30.778-05:002020-07-05T13:28:30.778-05:00I'm sorry too, Ducky. Believe me I am!
I re...I'm sorry too, Ducky. Believe me I am! <br /><br />I read Jayphawk's encouraging remarks just below, and hope you will avail yourself of the termendous amount of medical expertise concentrated in the Greater Boston area. You probbly couln't be in a better location to cope with a major medical challenge.<br /><br />Whatever you do, DON'T GIVE UP. Keep looking for alternative therapies. Hopefully you will find one tat works well for your particular case.<br /><br />I hope Trump' s RIGHT TO TRY executive order will prove beneficial to you.<br /><br />AND REMEMBER THE IMMORTAL WORDS OF THE GREAT AMERICAN SAGE <b>YOGI BERRA</b>:<br /><br /><b><i>"IT AIN'T OVER TILL IT'S OVER."</i></b> };^)>Franco Aragostahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11088635482766081825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-3082737430813519782020-07-05T13:23:55.375-05:002020-07-05T13:23:55.375-05:00Best to you Ducky and thanks to Jayhawk for such f...Best to you Ducky and thanks to Jayhawk for such fine advice. KPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13788103894599339102noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-53571154346215938462020-07-05T12:16:04.009-05:002020-07-05T12:16:04.009-05:00Duck,
I'm so sorry! I wish you all the best a...Duck,<br />I'm so sorry! I wish you all the best as you battle Parkinson's.<br /><br />And please keep in mind what Jayhawk said below:<br /><br /><i><b>Parkinson's is a highly variable disease. Do not let doomsayers lead you down a path of despair</b></i>.Always On Watchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-70248718312921477692020-07-05T12:03:09.720-05:002020-07-05T12:03:09.720-05:00@ Ducky
I was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 20...@ Ducky<br />I was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2005. Progression has been very limited, partly due to advances in medications, but partly just by good fortune. Parkinson's is a highly variable disease. Do not let doomsayers lead you down a path of despair. <br /><br />Check for the best doctor. Neurology is actually a rather broad field, and it is essential that you be treated by one who specializes in movement disorders.<br /><br />As I've mentioned here, I have some trouble typing. My fingers keep hitting the wrong keys, as they don't always go where I aim them. But I focus more on what I can do than on what I can't. I can't move fast, but I can move. Life is a journey - it doesn't matter how soon you get there.<br />Jayhawkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00756807802218022043noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-29247121761178910542020-07-05T11:03:25.663-05:002020-07-05T11:03:25.663-05:00@ Ducky,
Dammit. Bad enough for anyone, but for ...@ Ducky,<br /><br />Dammit. Bad enough for anyone, but for photographers and musicians, that is a particularly mean curse. <br /><br />I wish you well, and please keep us updated. Have you investigated Dragon Naturally Speaking or other such voice to text options?Silverfiddlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13541652236676260219noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-20141701736535487782020-07-05T10:08:20.360-05:002020-07-05T10:08:20.360-05:00Health update - I've been diagnosed with Parki...Health update - I've been diagnosed with Parkinson's.Ducky's herehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14608115001116619877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-7847373452912043602020-07-05T10:05:51.448-05:002020-07-05T10:05:51.448-05:00Maybe, but what good is that, if the CITY is engul...<b>Maybe, but what good is that, if the CITY is engulfed in FLAMES set by illegal insurgent, Communist MOBS whom the CITY refused to neutralize before they became a grave danger to all the DECENT citizens of the republic?</b>Franco Aragostahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11088635482766081825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-44416635860304529122020-07-05T09:46:30.989-05:002020-07-05T09:46:30.989-05:00Franco,
The "counter-revolutionists" --...Franco, <br />The "counter-revolutionists" --that is, those who despise or are excluded from a nation's culture. Others might refer to them as the parasites. Always On Watchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-15203253228501656522020-07-05T09:20:54.976-05:002020-07-05T09:20:54.976-05:00Gods TRUTH and ages-old, well-articulated, bedrock...Gods TRUTH and ages-old, well-articulated, bedrock PRINCIPLES never get "old and frail." unfortunately, those who are charged with the responsibility of maintaining strong resolve and devotion to TRUTH and PRINCIPLE do get tired, lose faith, abandon resolve, and so Great Things are weakened from NEGLECT and DERELICTION of DUTY.<br /><br />But the the TRUTH which is GOD, Himself, is ETERNAL, and can never be killed will endure DESPITE the advance of corrosive cynicism, and demonic belligerence. <br /><br />After all SATAN who never sleeps, and never admits defeat, is still very much alive. Can't you tell?<br /><br />Franco Aragostahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11088635482766081825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-45214632091749695322020-07-05T08:48:32.865-05:002020-07-05T08:48:32.865-05:00I STILL would like to know what YOU –– or ANYONE h...I STILL would like to know what YOU –– or ANYONE here present –– thinks Kipling meant when he referred repeatedly to "The LITTLE FOLK?"<br /><br />It's crucial to an nderstanding of the poem.<br /><br />It's NOT about ROME, and it's NOT about PICTS, but something much broader and more consequential.Franco Aragostahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11088635482766081825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-43662896128918328482020-07-05T07:13:47.595-05:002020-07-05T07:13:47.595-05:00PLEASE read what I wrote above about Life Every Vo...PLEASE read what I wrote above about <b>Life Every Voice and Sing</b>. And then read the complete text, itself.<br /><br />That should dispel a lot of potentially harmful misconceptions.<br /><br />Whitman said: <i><b>"Be CURIOUS, not JUDGMENTAL."</b></i><br /><br />I feel compelled to add in light of today's supercharged fractious mental climate:<br /><br /><b><i>"Be CURIOUS, not COMBATIVE."</i></b>Franco Aragostahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11088635482766081825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-82606464937484537462020-07-05T07:06:43.000-05:002020-07-05T07:06:43.000-05:00Since it was raised with DEROGATION and not the sl...Since it was raised with DEROGATION and not the slightest hint of CUROSITY, I think it only fir hat the COMPLETE text shoul be published here for everyone's due consideration:<br /><br /><b>Lift Every Voice and Sing<br /><br /><i>Lift every voice and sing,<br />Till earth and heaven ring,<br />Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;<br />Let our rejoicing rise<br />High as the list'ning skies,<br />Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.<br /><br />Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,<br />Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;<br /><br />Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,<br />Let us march on till victory is won.</i></b><br /><br />*****************************<br /><br /><b><i>Stony the road we trod,<br />Bitter the chast'ning rod,<br />Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;<br />Yet with a steady beat,<br />Have not our weary feet<br />Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?<br /><br />We have come over a way that with tears has been watered.<br />We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,<br /><br />Out from the gloomy past,<br />Till now we stand at last<br />Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.</i></b><br /><br /><br />*****************************<br /><br /><b><i>God of our weary years,<br />God of our silent tears,<br />Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way;<br />Thou who hast by Thy might,<br />Led us into the light,<br />Keep us forever in the path, we pray.<br /><br />Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,<br />Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;<br /><br />Shadowed beneath Thy hand,<br />May we forever stand,<br />True to our God,<br />True to our native land.</i></b><br /><br />~ James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938)<br />Franco Aragostahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11088635482766081825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-86464811967907480202020-07-05T06:57:12.705-05:002020-07-05T06:57:12.705-05:00There is no way to fix the past. The best than an...There is no way to fix the past. The best than anyone can do is "go forward from here" (as Warren says).<br /><br />I am strongly opposed to a second National Anthem. No more balkanization!Always On Watchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-26290260324126105522020-07-05T05:44:38.353-05:002020-07-05T05:44:38.353-05:00And the same to you, KP!And the same to you, KP!Always On Watchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-66233471676469096582020-07-05T05:42:02.016-05:002020-07-05T05:42:02.016-05:00The words to the poem. Note the last verse, and I...<a href="https://poets.org/poem/lift-every-voice-and-sing" rel="nofollow">The words to the poem</a>. Note the last verse, and I wonder how many know it (as opposed to the more "militant" first verse):<br /><br /><i><b>God of our weary years,<br />God of our silent tears,<br />Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way;<br />Thou who hast by Thy might,<br />Led us into the light,<br />Keep us forever in the path, we pray.<br />Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,<br />Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;<br />Shadowed beneath Thy hand,<br />May we forever stand,<br />True to our God,<br />True to our native land </b></i>.Always On Watchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08192688822955022541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320479736034351430.post-21160716124201010762020-07-05T04:23:43.182-05:002020-07-05T04:23:43.182-05:00FROM GATEWAY PUN DIT:
“Black National Anthem” to ...FROM GATEWAY PUN DIT:<br /><br />“Black National Anthem” to be Sung at NFL Games This Year — <b>Was Written by Black Republican Who Denounced Democrats for Lynching Blacks</b><br /> <br />James Weldon Johnson was an American civil rights activist, school principal and writer. According to Grand Ole Partisan, in 1900, he wrote the poem Lift Up Your Voice and Sing . . .Franco Aragostahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11088635482766081825noreply@blogger.com