Saturday, July 02, 2005
Song of the Day:
-Keep the Faith, Bon Jovi
This Day in History:
Today is Monday, July 4, the 185th day of 2005. There are 180 days left in the year. This is Independence Day. It is also a month away from my birthday. Just saying, is all.
In 1776, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence.
THAT, my friends, is writing at it's grandest and most complete scale. A masterwork of function with power and vigor, and yet has grace and eloquence, style and form simple unequated.
In 1802, the United States Military Academy officially opened at West Point, N.Y.
In 1826, 50 years to the day after the Declaration of Independence was adopted, former presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died.
In 1831, the fifth president of the United States, James Monroe, died in New York City.
In 1845, Henry David Thoreau began his two-year experiment in simpler living at Walden Pond, near Concord, Mass.
In 1872, the 30th president of the United States, Calvin Coolidge, was born in Plymouth, Vt.
In 1917, during a ceremony in Paris honoring the French hero of the American Revolution, U.S. Lieutenant Colonel Charles E. Stanton declared, "Lafayette, we are here!"
Lafayette is what many of us wish we could be. He gave up a life of oppulance and luxury to fight for the freedom of those who were not even his own countrymen. At great personal cost, he fought for our freedom, and then tried to do what he could to change his own home country of France. It cost him dearly. But he provides an example that we can only hope to live up to.
In 1939, baseball's "Iron Horse," Lou Gehrig, said farewell to his fans at New York's Yankee Stadium.
To learn more or contribute to the fight of ALS, click here.
In 1976, Israeli commandos raided Entebbe airport in Uganda, rescuing almost all of the passengers and crew of an Air France jetliner seized by pro-Palestinian hijackers.
In 1997, NASA's Pathfinder spacecraft landed on Mars, inaugurating a new era in the search for life on the Red Planet.
In 2003, rhythm-and-blues singer Barry White died in Los Angeles at age 58. Do yourself a favor if you check out the link...turn up the bass on your system.
Today's Birthdays:
Conductor Mitch Miller is 94.
Advice columnist Pauline Phillips (the original "Dear Abby") is 87.
Actress Eva Marie Saint is 81.
Playwright Neil Simon is 78.
Baseball team owner George Steinbrenner is 75.
Singer Bill Withers is 67.He's a man you can lean on when you're not strong. He'll be your friend. He'll help you car-ray on.
Broadcast journalist Geraldo Rivera is 62. For all his efforts to be taken seriously, the only things he will be remembered for is the emptiness of what was supposed to be Al Capone's vault, and getting hit in the nose with a chair on his talk show. That said, it set the stage for The Jerry Springer Show. SO he can take credit for that, if he wants. I don't know that I would personally, but who knows what he is thinking.
Rhythm-and-blues musician Ralph Johnson (Earth, Wind and Fire) is 54. Not many know this, but your humble writer was the 4th member of Earth, Wind, and Fire. It was ACTUALLY supposed ot be Earth, Wind, Fire, and Rain. But then James Taylor wrote a scathing song that many took to be a sad song about friendship. Instead it was a devisive force between Ralph and myself (he being Fire, and I being Rain). There were heated discussions between us as we tried to determine who had stabbed who in the back, and Taylor played us off against each other, forcing me to leave the group. THe rest, as they say, is altered and falwed history. SOme even might say an outright lie.
Rock musician Domingo Ortiz (Widespread Panic) is 53. Was he part of "Domestic Disturbance"? OR Riot? Was it a Quiet Riot? I could have sworn he was part of the great band "Uneasy Tension".
Singer John Waite is 50. Waite. Waite. I never had a chance to love you.
Tennis Hall of Famer Pam Shriver is 43.
I checked. She's no Maria Sharapova.
Peek a boo! I see you. (on your knees.)
Random picture tying together patriotism and semi-naked women. Because those things just go hand in hand, I think. And don't think that they don't, because if you've read any biography on Benjamin Franklin, you'd know they do. Anyway, here's the colon to show it to you:
Word of the day:
Liberty n.
The condition of being free from restriction or control.
The right and power to act, believe, or express oneself in a manner of one's own choosing.
The condition of being physically and legally free from confinement, servitude, or forced labor. See Synonyms at freedom.
Freedom from unjust or undue governmental control.
A right or immunity to engage in certain actions without control or interference: the liberties protected by the Bill of Rights.
A breach or overstepping of propriety or social convention. Often used in the plural.
A statement, attitude, or action not warranted by conditions or actualities: a historical novel that takes liberties with chronology.
An unwarranted risk; a chance: took foolish liberties on the ski slopes.
A period, usually short, during which a sailor is authorized to go ashore.
Shakespere Quote of the Day:
King. How is it that the clouds still hang
on you?
Ham. Not so, my lord; I am too much i' the
sun.
Rachel Sterling. Because the flag is flying at full mast anyway:
"Ode to Greatness"
What is it like?
To have greatness thrust upon you?
I shall never know, for I was blessed with greatness since birth.
It has led me throughout my life.
Even in times of sorrow, greatness was there to lead me out of it.
For some, greatness is elusive.
Greatness is not for everyone.
Not everyone knows how to handle greatness.
They must learn to grasp greatness with both hands.
And only after they have will they feel the greatness within them.
Greatness is rewarding in so mnay ways.
What would YOU give to have my greatness?
Mother mother tell your children
That their time has just begun
I have suffered for my anger
There are wars that can’t be won
Father father please believe me
I am laying down my guns
I am broken like an arrow
Forgive me
Forgive your wayward son
Everybody needs somebody to love
(mother, mother)
Everybody needs somebody to hate
(please believe me)
Everybody’s bitching
’cause they can’t get enough
And it’s hard to hold on
When there’s no one to lean on
Faith: you know you’re gonna live thru the rain
Lord you got to keep the faith
Faith: don’t let your love turn to hate
Right now we got to
Keep the faith
Keep the faith
Keep the faith
Lord we got to keep the faith
Tell me baby when I hurt you
Do you keep it all inside
Do you tell me all’s forgiven
And just hide behind your pride
-Keep the Faith, Bon Jovi
This Day in History:
Today is Monday, July 4, the 185th day of 2005. There are 180 days left in the year. This is Independence Day. It is also a month away from my birthday. Just saying, is all.
In 1776, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence.
IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
THAT, my friends, is writing at it's grandest and most complete scale. A masterwork of function with power and vigor, and yet has grace and eloquence, style and form simple unequated.
In 1802, the United States Military Academy officially opened at West Point, N.Y.
In 1826, 50 years to the day after the Declaration of Independence was adopted, former presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died.
In 1831, the fifth president of the United States, James Monroe, died in New York City.
In 1845, Henry David Thoreau began his two-year experiment in simpler living at Walden Pond, near Concord, Mass.
In 1872, the 30th president of the United States, Calvin Coolidge, was born in Plymouth, Vt.
In 1917, during a ceremony in Paris honoring the French hero of the American Revolution, U.S. Lieutenant Colonel Charles E. Stanton declared, "Lafayette, we are here!"
Lafayette is what many of us wish we could be. He gave up a life of oppulance and luxury to fight for the freedom of those who were not even his own countrymen. At great personal cost, he fought for our freedom, and then tried to do what he could to change his own home country of France. It cost him dearly. But he provides an example that we can only hope to live up to.
In 1939, baseball's "Iron Horse," Lou Gehrig, said farewell to his fans at New York's Yankee Stadium.
To learn more or contribute to the fight of ALS, click here.
In 1976, Israeli commandos raided Entebbe airport in Uganda, rescuing almost all of the passengers and crew of an Air France jetliner seized by pro-Palestinian hijackers.
In 1997, NASA's Pathfinder spacecraft landed on Mars, inaugurating a new era in the search for life on the Red Planet.
In 2003, rhythm-and-blues singer Barry White died in Los Angeles at age 58. Do yourself a favor if you check out the link...turn up the bass on your system.
Today's Birthdays:
Conductor Mitch Miller is 94.
Advice columnist Pauline Phillips (the original "Dear Abby") is 87.
Actress Eva Marie Saint is 81.
Playwright Neil Simon is 78.
Baseball team owner George Steinbrenner is 75.
Singer Bill Withers is 67.He's a man you can lean on when you're not strong. He'll be your friend. He'll help you car-ray on.
Broadcast journalist Geraldo Rivera is 62. For all his efforts to be taken seriously, the only things he will be remembered for is the emptiness of what was supposed to be Al Capone's vault, and getting hit in the nose with a chair on his talk show. That said, it set the stage for The Jerry Springer Show. SO he can take credit for that, if he wants. I don't know that I would personally, but who knows what he is thinking.
Rhythm-and-blues musician Ralph Johnson (Earth, Wind and Fire) is 54. Not many know this, but your humble writer was the 4th member of Earth, Wind, and Fire. It was ACTUALLY supposed ot be Earth, Wind, Fire, and Rain. But then James Taylor wrote a scathing song that many took to be a sad song about friendship. Instead it was a devisive force between Ralph and myself (he being Fire, and I being Rain). There were heated discussions between us as we tried to determine who had stabbed who in the back, and Taylor played us off against each other, forcing me to leave the group. THe rest, as they say, is altered and falwed history. SOme even might say an outright lie.
Rock musician Domingo Ortiz (Widespread Panic) is 53. Was he part of "Domestic Disturbance"? OR Riot? Was it a Quiet Riot? I could have sworn he was part of the great band "Uneasy Tension".
Singer John Waite is 50. Waite. Waite. I never had a chance to love you.
Tennis Hall of Famer Pam Shriver is 43.
I checked. She's no Maria Sharapova.
Peek a boo! I see you. (on your knees.)
Random picture tying together patriotism and semi-naked women. Because those things just go hand in hand, I think. And don't think that they don't, because if you've read any biography on Benjamin Franklin, you'd know they do. Anyway, here's the colon to show it to you:
Word of the day:
Liberty n.
The condition of being free from restriction or control.
The right and power to act, believe, or express oneself in a manner of one's own choosing.
The condition of being physically and legally free from confinement, servitude, or forced labor. See Synonyms at freedom.
Freedom from unjust or undue governmental control.
A right or immunity to engage in certain actions without control or interference: the liberties protected by the Bill of Rights.
A breach or overstepping of propriety or social convention. Often used in the plural.
A statement, attitude, or action not warranted by conditions or actualities: a historical novel that takes liberties with chronology.
An unwarranted risk; a chance: took foolish liberties on the ski slopes.
A period, usually short, during which a sailor is authorized to go ashore.
Shakespere Quote of the Day:
King. How is it that the clouds still hang
on you?
Ham. Not so, my lord; I am too much i' the
sun.
Rachel Sterling. Because the flag is flying at full mast anyway:
"Ode to Greatness"
What is it like?
To have greatness thrust upon you?
I shall never know, for I was blessed with greatness since birth.
It has led me throughout my life.
Even in times of sorrow, greatness was there to lead me out of it.
For some, greatness is elusive.
Greatness is not for everyone.
Not everyone knows how to handle greatness.
They must learn to grasp greatness with both hands.
And only after they have will they feel the greatness within them.
Greatness is rewarding in so mnay ways.
What would YOU give to have my greatness?
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