Vailia Dennis, 87, who refused open-heart surgery, delights in the warmth of sunlight on her hands.
-Photo by DON BARTLETTI / Los Angeles Times
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(P2) Poetical
Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray,
Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth
piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years
of unrequited toil shall be sunk,
and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash
shall be paid by another drawn with the sword,
as was said three thousand years ago,
so still it must be said
"the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."
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.
- Abraham Lincoln
(from his second inaugural address, March 4, 1865 and thank you for this, Larry Robinson, Sebastopol, CA)
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(P3) Political
Gore's Convergence With History
Wonderful commentator Bob Cesca at The Huffington Post (Feb. 20), makes this thoughtful plea to Al Gore to run for President. Cesca begins by admitting that, whoever becomes President will need to laboriously work on reducing the dung pile left behind by Bush, however, continues Cesca,
Al Gore was made -- designed -- for this time in human history to confront this issue from the world's largest stage with the world's largest slide show. History shows us that this kind of convergence between leaders and issues is rare, but when the planets align and it actually happens, its results are spectacular. Jefferson and the Revolution. Lincoln and the Civil War. Teddy Roosevelt and the labor movement. FDR and World War II. Contrast that with President Bush who was absolutely the wrong leader for this era by any standard or measure. His bloody roster of bungling failures are proof.Sure it's a dirty job, but for Gore to withhold his voice from the race would be to forgo what appears to be his era of convergence. His time. And for us, without Gore leading the free world, we face the potential for a continued path of ignorance -- a dark ride through an alternate reality in which global warming and the survival of humanity as we know it is allowed to slip beyond the zero barrier.
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Answer to Our Last Trivia Question, Who said:
"The position in which we are now is a very strange one which in general political life never happened. Namely, the thing that I refer to is this: To have security against atomic bombs and against the other biological weapons, we have to prevent war, for if we cannot prevent war every nation will use every means that is at their disposal; and in spite of all promises they make, they will do it. At the same time, so long as war is not prevented, all the governments of the nations have to prepare for war, and if you have to prepare for war, then you are in a state where you cannot abolish war.This is really the cornerstone of our situation. Now, I believe what we should try to bring about is the general conviction that the first thing you have to abolish is war at all costs, and every other point of view must be of secondary importance."
- Albert Einstein in his Address to the symposium "The Social Task of the Scientist in the Atomic Era" at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey (17 November 1946)
6 comments:
This is an answer to Bob F.'s comment regarding the Al Gore piece. He posted his comment in the Feb. 13 post:
Bob,
I do read the science, and I don't know what your sources are, but well over 90 percent of earth scientists seem more than convinced about climate change or global warming. I do understand the desire to deny the horrible obvious, but as far as "flat earthers", right back atcha! Subscribing to this left wing media bias b.s. is buying into propaganda plied to the same nitwits that say the totally immoral invasion of Iraq actually had something to do with the attack on America on 9-11-01. Check out the comments of Michael Scheuer, head of the CIA's Bin Laden or Al Quaida Bureau, who says unequivocally that Iraq had nothing to do with the attack, and when the further attack on the US occurs, it will originate in Afghanistan or Pakistan (and eventually will involve a nuclear weapon). He further remarks that, if our government truly is interested in stopping further attacks (and it seems they are not), they should concentrate on those two countries, not on Iraq. As to Iraq, it feels like our powers that be believe, "It's so unlike God to plant our oil under their sand." To me, the whole mess feels like a kid who, after murdering his parents, complains about being an orphan.
My two cents.
Why would Al Gore put himself through the anguish of another losing campaign? Al Gore's destiny is not to become President; his destiny is to become the next Jimmy Carter.
This Sunday's Oscar Celebration will be Al Gore's coronation as the "Godfather of Enviros" when he wins his Oscar for "An Inconvenient Truth".
If he is really as smart as everyone touts him to be, then he will grab this golden opportunity to integrate himself into the environmental community as fast as possible and laugh all the way to the bank for the rest of his life.
Regards,
Paul S.
Paul,
Thank you for your comment. What do you mean by another "losing" campaign. Gore WON the popular vote in 2000 and probably, but for the Florida farce, probably also the electoral vote.
Ed
Dear Ed,
The "popular vote" is a meaningless factoid in an electoral college system.
Florida was a farce, but in my opinion Gore lost due to his own legal miscalculations more than anything; he should have demanded a complete recount of the entire state the first time instead of the few select districts. It would have made a stronger legal case he might have won.
A loss is still a loss regardless of the reason in politics.
Regards,
Paul
Hi Ed,
I also forgot to mention that even if he did run again, Hillary and Barack would probably eat his breakfast, lunch and dinner in the primaries. He's just old news Ed.
Thanks,
Paul
I agree that Christians feel threatened by the loss of power through the fictionalization of its core values, but so far no one has stabbed Cameron as would be the case if this was a threat to Islam.
Adolf
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