Happy belated birthday, Mr. Lincoln. Thanks for saving the Republic! With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.
The last group on the above list Worldly, Luke Warm Once Saved-Always Saved Christians is a bit excessive….the sign writer could have just said “Presbyterian”
Tuesday’s radio show set. 2nd half hour guest ~ Clifton B. Well known fact: If you don’t listen to the JWS blog talk show at least once every week you’ll never have sex again. It’s a true fact. Ask anyone.
I knew there was something sketchy about this guy
Douche Du Jour: Lady Gaga, ya know what…enough already. I am starting to really hate this concoction. Madonna ripped everyone off so it’s hard to fault Lady Blah-Blah for ripping off Madonna…but, sheesh, could she at least try to seem original. In Gaga’s world it’s always 1991….
Go Badgers! Wisconsin’s very own holy site.
Here’s to all the world’s lovers!
Gaga is stuck in a 90s timewarp but I still like her.
According to that sign, I am on my way to Hell. A Dem, a liberal, a confirmed though non-practicing Catholic, married to a Mason, who also was once involved in the Shrine, as was my father.
I’m obviously a lost cause. And this is a “Christian” group, right? Oh, and btw, my paternal grandmother was Presbyterian. :0)
You know the old saying, “If they’re going to be in heaven, I’d rather be in hell”. Wherever the guy who made that sign is going is definitely not a place I want to be.
Be careful about what u say. On your death bed, u can ONLY HOPE that God doesnt exist, or else you will be remembering this blog in torment. Ask yourself, what if it is real and remember that all your thoughts, motives and deeds will be revealed on Judgement day to your humiliation. Trillions of trillions of years of torment and it would still be beginning. You must trust Jesus as your savior and PROVE your faith by REPENTANCE and good works. Hopefully you will not allow the irreversible event to take place.
I expect to be persecuted by negative comments, but in the Bible, Believers were persecuted and that brought them joy because it proved that the world was not worthy of them, so if you want to persecute me, I cant stop you.
I actually liked most of the Grammy’s last night (first time in years), although found Gaga’s bit not only derivative but strangely boring too. (Her music is usually fun even when it’s a clear rip-off).
There were actually some great musical acts represented that I (and I bet a lot of America) hadn’t heard and never would have if they weren’t featured – like Mumford and Sons (great!). Best New Artist had me looking up this Esperanza Spaulding, who’s wonderful! And, I was over the moon that Spaulding won over Bieber. I don’t really have anything against the kid; it just seems like he needs to have a couple of knocks in his career to help his growth. And, this seemed one of those rare instances at the Grammys when deep, nuanced quality music overcame purely extreme, borderline cloying, popularity.
Plus, great tribute to Aretha (although can Aguilera just belt out a song for once rather than trying to impress us with her ability to do the full range of the musical scale on each note; I know she can do it).
And, is always fun to see Jagger’s energy. (Hey – Usher – take a lesson in how to capture a stadium crowd without 1800 backup dancers – and some dancers in front of you – and sunglasses and a huge headseat obscuring the emotions on your face).
Interesting Kunstler post today: http://kunstler.com/blog/2011/02/next.html
He articulates much better than I ever could the niggling unease I have with the trimuphalism and celebrations over the Egyptian popular revolt against Mubarek. An oppressive dictator gone is a really good thing, always, but people ignore that history has as many instances of people capturing “freedom” from a dictator only to have the next dictator in line assume power and in some cases, experiencing a worse end result.
Egypt is still extremely poor with too many people inhabiting too limited of an area of the country that has too few resources with too much power invested in a military and institutions that are largely corrupt (which the military has not rooted out). Now, they have overt military control and no constitution. This is probably completely necessary and certainly the people feel it’s better than Mubarek but for how long?
No one knows how this will turn out in the end. I guess it’s a matter of whether you see the glass half full or half empty. Does dumping an oppressive leader mean automatic reform, a civil and democratic society? Of course not. The Egyptians need democratic institutions in place, a revamped constitution, an independent judiciary, the formation of political parties, etc., etc., etc. This isn’t an easy fix and there are dangerous elements lurking in the shadows, hoping to run this ball to their own very specific goalposts.
But despite all that danger there is possibility of something better coming out of this. For me. the positive is in the fact that ordinary people hit the streets and with a minimum of violence turned a seemingly intractable regime on its head. Doesn’t mean that the military can’t turn on a dime, withdraw every promise they’ve made to midwife a more just society into existence.
But as I said over at Uppity’s, I’m pulling for the light that illuminated Cairo for 18 remarkable days. I might have my illusions ultimately shattered but I’m willing to be patient and see how this plays out. I’m certainly not about to buy into the Communist/Liberal/Islamic conspiracy theories running amuck right now. Like there isn’t enough craziness already.
I’ll have to read Kunstler’s piece. Thanks for the link.
Points well made Peggy and I agree with you. The journey to Democracy is perilous, but colonists did it over 200 years ago with nothing but a dream and determination, so why not the Egyptians. At least they have democratic societies to model, and working democratic constitutions to assess while building their own, which is more than the colonists had.
And while we watch Egypt, as they attempt to reform their government into a democracy, it’s worth noting that the Iranian people were so inspired by the events in Egypt that it has reignited the green revolution. The Iranian Govt kept them from watching coverage of Egypt through Al Jazeera, but they still got the story. Today, they attempted to demonstrate peacefully and were met with violent confrontation by the Guard, still they stayed with their protests. I watched video just a few minutes ago of today’s demonstrations and I was amazed at the number of women who took to the streets. Repressive regimes ALWAYS fall to the will of the people. I expect Iran to get very bloody, but if the Aytollah and Ahmadinejad don’t loosen the reins, they will go the way of Mubarak. It will take a lot longer and it will obviously be bloody and brutal, but it will happen.
And our real Leader, Hillary Clinton, speaking on today’s protests in Iran.
U.S. supports protesters
The United States stands with Iranian opposition supporters, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Monday, calling on Tehran to grant its citizens the same freedoms that were recently won by protests in Egypt.
“Let me, clearly and directly, support the aspirations of the people who are in the streets in Iran today,” Clinton told reporters after meeting with the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, John Boehner.
“What we see happening in Iran today is a testament to the courage of the Iranian people, and an indictment of the hypocrisy of the Iranian regime — a regime which over the last three weeks has constantly hailed what went on in Egypt,” Clinton said.
“We wish the opposition and the brave people in the streets across cities in Iran the same opportunities that they saw their Egyptian counterparts seize.”
And where, oh where is POTUS on the Iranian street fights? I heard HRC and she didn’t pull any punches. The Iranians were all for the Egyptian uprising until their own youth took to the streets. The Revolutionary Guard has already said they will meet any resistance with clubs and guns.
Truly dangerous situation. For everyone!
Stupid Ahmadinejad thought he could parallel the revolt in Egypt with the Iranian Revolution. (Note: Hillary called Ahmadinejad a “Hypocrite” today) Over the past 3 weeks the Iranian govt attempted to impose their own special spin of the events in Egypty onto the people by denying them access to legitimate reporting. They seem to have forgotten that there are methods of getting the news apart from Iranian State sanctioned TV and the majority of the people in Iran know that the Egyptian Protests were pro-democracy, not pro-islamist theocracy. The Iranian Guard and para-military govt groups think they can squash this, but their time is running out because most people in Iran want Democracy.
As for our POTUS, he’d prefer to let Hillary do the dirty work, that way if this thing gets really bloody, which is the only way the Iranian people will ever get democracy, he can keep his hands clean.
Anon – I would argue that the colonists STARTED it over 200 years ago and it took about another 150 years give or take plus a civil war to have anywhere near a truly representative democracy with respect for the civil rights of all (which is pretty important). And, they did this with overwhelmingly abundant natural resources (some of it stolen . . ) Not trying to knock what they began, because it was without parallel and world shaking, but it was a looooonnnnng journey to a republic.
Again, I want to be unabashedly optimistic about the events in Egypt, but history teaches us there is much to worry about. This is particularly so since attention spans (particularly Western ones) are notoriously short and fickle. And, Egypt needs the attention and support of the world right now to ensure that they continue down an enlightened path rather than the alternative.
For example, I found myself wondering what is the current situation in Tunisia – the little country that started all this – and about which almost no one talks anymore. (And, it’s been less than a month since their leader was ousted!) Doing a search on google news about the country only brings up articles about the fact that Tunisia began the wave of protests, not about how it is faring – other than the current interim govt extended the state of emergency. Al Jazeera has more, but none of it very encouraging since there are continued protests and violence and riots over food and unemployment there.
It’s still early days, but I wonder what happens in Egypt after the spotlight is no longer on it . . . .
With the sterile Paris Hiltonesque pod people littering the popular music landscape, GaGa is most welcome in my ears. I’m just glad to see someone trying to do something unusual.
Based on their performance on the grammy’s and my subsequent itunes download, I’d highly recommend Mumford and Sons if you want some out-of-the mainstream, high quality, toe-tapping, high energy music.
I feel older than dirt when I don’t know who half the people are on most award shows. Having admitted that, I love Eminem. Not some of his lyrics, but his struggle to be part of what was a Black genre, and his fight for his dying hometown. Something very American about him..plus, c’mon, he’s cute,and smart.
Signed,
his oldest fan
Considering the length of the list on that sign, that’s pretty much everybody, most likely including the sign holder.