HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!la fraternité d'égalité de liberté! fraternità di uguaglianza di libertà! Freiheitsgleichheitsbrüderschaft! fraternidad de igualdad de libertad! братство равенства свободы! 自由平等兄弟の間柄! Vrijheidsgelijkheidsbroederlijkheid! fraternidade de igualdade de liberdade! 自由同等互助會! frihetslikestillingsbroderskap! 自由平等互助会! saoirse ionannas bráithreachas! αδελφότητα ισότητας ελευθερίας! حرية حالة تساو أخويّة! 자유 평등! liberty equality fraternity!
".... 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 to 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.... 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." -- Declaration of Independence
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!
I'm very proud to be my father's daughter. May the force, honor and glory be with all those who similarly truly cherish their children and their country, and visa versa.
"... The 65th Anniversary of D-Day (June 6, 1944) will be observed in a special ceremony at the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia.... A one-of-a-kind Nighttime Illumination of the Memorial display honoring the some 4400 servicemen killed in action at D-Day will take place.... Luminaries will be placed around the grounds and features of the Memorial fully illuminating the 9-acre facility." -- Overlord Echoes from the Blue Ridge Digest, Spring 2009
Happy Memorial Day to all the veterans and active duty personnel who have served and do serve our country wisely and well.
"Not all who serve perish fulfilling their duty. They return to us as veterans and deserve our thanks and a commitment to serve them." -- Republican Representative Dr. Phil Roe, 1st District Tennessee, who also introduced a House Resolution, passed unanimously, urging all Americans to visit "the hollowed ground" of our national cemeteries, memorials and markers on May 31st in paying their respects to our fallen heroes, from The Johnson City News & Neighbor, 3/30/09
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!
"...Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the
means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each
bearing after their own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
but of God...." -- Julia Ward Howe, Proclamation, Boston 1870
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AMERICA!! My country, 'tis of thee, Sweet land of liberty, Of thee I sing; Land where my fathers died, Land of the Pilgrims' pride, From ev'ry mountainside Let freedom ring. My native country, thee Land of the noble free, Thy name I love; I love thy rocks and rills, Thy woods and templed hills; My heart with rapture thrills Like that above. Let music swell the breeze, And ring from all the trees Sweet freedom's song; Let mortal tongues awake; Let all that breathe partake; Let rocks their silence break, The sound prolong. Our fathers' God, to Thee, Author of Liberty, To Thee we sing; Long may our land be bright With freedom's holy light; Protect us by Thy might, Great God, our King. |
"No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord."
-- Isaiah 54:17... merchants by the thousands all over the country were forced to the wall, banks failed, and railroads went into bankruptcy. In New York City alone 30,000 people lost their jobs. Additionally, the nation was gripped by tensions over slavery and the future of our nation seemed bleak .... Amidst disaster and with a yearning need for divine assistance, citizens turned to God in prayer individually and in meetings across the country. Up to 50,000 were converted every week and nearly a million within one year in ways "unaccountable by any natural causes, entirely above and beyond what any human device or power could produce, an outpouring of the Spirit of God upon God's people, quickening them to greater earnestness in His service; and upon the unconverted, to make them new creatures in Christ Jesus."
-- paraphrased from various sources regarding the economic Crash of 1857"If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land"
-- II Chronicles 7:14"...Stand up, stand up for Jesus,/ the strife will not be long;/ this day the noise of battle,/ the next the victor's song./ To those who vanquish evil/ a crown of life shall be;/ they with the King of Glory/ shall reign eternally."
-- Stand Up, Stand Up For Jesus by George Duffield Jr. and George J. Webb, 1858
-- Marcel du Champ "Here appears definitely the goal toward which the different arts are tending, the place where they will meet perhaps: the future city of the spiritual life, to be built by them [the Impressionsists], of which poetry, as the state of the soul, would be the commanding gesture, music the atmosphere and painting the marvellous decoration." -- Achille Delaroche, "Concerning the Painter Paul Gauguin from an Aesthetic Point of View," as quoted in Paul Gauguin's Intimate Journals, translated by Van Wyck Brooks "...for he shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor." -- Micah 9:12 "L'Chaim!" -- traditional Jewish toast meaning "To Life!"
 from Index of Acrylics by Jeannette Harris New York's Statue of Liberty is a 151-foot statue of a woman holding a book and a torch on-high -- "One of the colossal sculptures of world history, the Statue of Liberty has greeted millions from other lands who crossed the ocean in search of freedom, opportunity, and is a symbol to the world of those ideals of liberty upon which our nation and form of government were founded."
The Internet Site ofAppalachian Life and Art "A jewel on the web" since April 1996
or Click gold ACR, Inc. banner below for full-screen version
UPDATED FOR SPRING 2009
"You see, in many ways, Appalachia isn't what it used to be. We have lost more than 1 million acres of land, along with 1000+ of miles of our once pristine streams, and 90% of our traditional coal jobs to mountaintop removal mining. This barbaric practice has reduced much of our home to rubble, and further damaged our perennially struggling local economies. The jobs are gone. The people are leaving. The water is toxic. And they are blowing up the mountains themselves. "But the face of Appalachian resistance to 'Big Coal' is changing. Not only are we seeing unprecedented national and international media like NPR, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal run with stories about the Appalachian people's struggle to end mountaintop removal, but we are seeing 100s of online activists and bloggers participate in helping us spread the word through the iLoveMountains Bloggers Challenge. "Each week there will be featured blogs, activists, videos, facts, photos and more...." -- Appalachian Voices
"... On phosphorous wings the phoenix floated/ The fires froze and the sea was hushed/ And when I tried to speak, the sun imploded/ And the war will wage in my guts/ Till the Devil bites the dust,/ I never saw him losin' a race, but I think he must/ ..." |
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rag n. 1. old, worn clothes 2. a newspaper 3. a composition in ragtime -- chew the rag [Slang] to chat |
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Exotic Listings Jenny's made of earth and sky and she knows more than she knows. She's a butterfly in a flowered thong, a song that washes passing boats with the husks of swaying straw, a fiddle bending to her tune and a dance that slithers wide. She's a renaissance that rises on the wild fields of your mind, a chord that sweet seduces from the mystery of her laughing woman-child. (1997)
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Cenantua There's a rush, a rumbling in the wind as we stumble on this old trail. Greening branches thicken over us. They crosshatch our path. In leafy folds, winged creatures watch. Through pools of moss, snakes writhe. When tumbling rocks crash like our dreams, we'll pick up a shard and fashion a brazier for warmth and rest. The air is cool and gentle at the crest and the land cascades in startled wonder from the sky. (1983)
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Original material c A Country Rag, Inc. and/or Jeannette Harris, Jonesborough, TN, April 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2009. All rights reserved.