Vive Les Etats Unis

.....Today is the 4th of July, a day when our independence from the tyranny of King George III of England was declared.  I have never read a document as soul shearing as The Declaration of Independence is. Its birth occurred when the Continental Congress appointed a committee of five to write a document declaring the colonies' independence.  Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Ben Franklin turned out to be the principal authors of this revered and deathless article of poetry and patriotism.  Adams insisted that Jefferson do the writing and the rest would edit it.  Jefferson objected and said that Adams was a higher member of Congress, but Adams said that Jefferson was more revered than he, and a much better writer.  And so he did.  It has been 236 years since The Declaration was written, and we must wonder if the five considered what America would be like in our own time, and whether or not the Union survived.  Indeed it did. And so we must wonder what America would be like 236 years from now and whether or not patriotism and country would survive on all the July 4ths to come. 

.....Adlai Stevenson once said that ",,,when an American says that he loves his country, he means not only that he loves the New England hills, the prairies glistening in the sun, the wide and rising plains, the great mountains, and the sea.  He means that he loves an inner air, and inner light in which freedom lives and in which a man can draw the breath of self respect". 

.....Self respect and freedom were the goals of the Colonies in 1776 and Jefferson sought to achieve it for all of us, and for all of time, with the incredible Declaration of Independence when he wrote, "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."  I don't know about the "created equal" part.  Just take a look at and watch LaBron James.  I wish I were as equal as he.  Nevertheless, we do live now with a greater measure of acceptance of fellow Americans of every breed and color and religion than ever before.  In the name of achieving the goals that Jefferson cites, it is time to put aside our partisan differences and work together in order to serve our country and save our country with declarations of Patriotism so that rich and poor can live a life of liberty and the pursuit of happiness like all Americans seek and are entitled to by virtue of the Fathers of our Country.

Is the Revolution Over?

.....I've recently gone back to writing posts for this blog simply because I'm up against a wall with my Great American Famous Unknown Novel.  I have to take the characters somewhere, and I've got several places I would like to take them, but there is a load of research involved and that takes up a lot of my time.  I don't know if I can ever finish this book.  I've sent sample chapters out to a few relations and friends, but with barely any responses,so thus far it must not have stirred any hearts and minds...only blahs.  Blahs have never been sufficient for me.  That's why I've had a relatively brief career on the HLI stage...now no one to give me the claps.  A lot of brand new faces around that I have never seen before, so I'm sure very few are left who have seen my soul stirring performances in productions like The Mikado, Music Man, etc.  The turnover in this community has been vast.  Many well-wishers and breakaleg comrades have passed on to that big stage in the sky.  


.....As the days go by now, there is difficulty in figuring out what to do, except to make doctors' appointments.  That's what happens when you get on in the years.  I try to keep my brain active, but my body lags behind.  I have a doctor for almost every ailment that has been invented...I said almost--not every.  There is the internist, the dermatologist, the orthopedist, the cardiologist, the pulmonologist, the psychiatrist, the podiatrist, and the pedacurist.  They are all skilled and educated people who have a bad habit of making you wait 45 minutes past your appointment time.  When you go to checkin counter to find out what's going on, the answers are as follows: "The doctor is running late." (No kidding?) Or, "Oh, the doctor had an emergency appendectomy." 
So, where is he now, I might ask. "He's in the hospital."  So, I might ask why I've been made to sit in this waiting room without anyone coming out to tell me what is going on.
Well, again, this is what you have to contend with as the years creep on.  


.....It's been over a year since I've been to a movie.  It appears to me that film is now geared to the younger set who are able to contend with the 3D glasses one must now wear in order to have monsters or whatever to jump from the screen onto your lap.  Since I wear distance lenses, these monsters never really reach me, so perhaps reading lenses might help.  I'll have to try it.  That is, if I ever feel the need to go to a movie.  I can see one on my TV for five bucks.  Well, have a safe and sane 4th my friends...especially sane.

"A woman is a dish for the gods." (Antony & Cleopatra)

.....   Lately there has been a big brouhaha about Mitt Romney’s firm stance regarding the rights of women, especially, among other things, on the place that abortion plays in their lives, a right which he opposes.  I, too, oppose abortion, but I respect a woman's right to make her own decision. Washington Irving wrote that in every true woman’s heart there is “...a spark of heavenly  fire, which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity, but which kindles up and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity."  I read that over several times and I have come to the same conclusion that Ashley Montague came to in his book “The Natural Superiority of Women”; that is, women are by nature, the superior sex.  In my mind there is no doubt.  It is only male scholars who have pointed to the larger male brain, skeleton height, and muscle mass as clear evidence of male superiority. As in “might makes right.” So much for the male ego, especially the Islamic one. 

            However, in spite of the overall performance of the male anatomy and physiology, Montague believes women come out on top.  Although a woman's  brain may be smaller than a man’s, it has more neurons and is more highly developed and is capable of thinking more soundly and intuitive than the male brain.  The end result is that women are more insightful with greater stamina and longevity.  Women stand the test of time; Irving got it right. Some male relation recently commented that Montague chose a girl’s name not realizing that Ashley was the true love of Scarlett in GWTW (which he probably never saw) and that it is actually a boy’s name. I checked it out on Google.  Even Shakespeare agrees, for in "Love's Labor's Lost" he concludes that "...women's...eyes sparkle still the right Promethean fire, they are the books, the arts, the academes, They show, contain, and nourish all the world."  What I am trying to say is that there are two sexes on this planet, and a woman being one of them has the right to her own body without male politicians deciding differently.

            If you stop and really think about it women work much harder than men do throughout their lives.  They bear the children, they raise the children, they diaper the children, they drive the children to soccer games, they read to children, they do the shopping, they do the cooking, they do the laundry and the folding, they make the beds, they wash the dishes, and if they are not Jewish, they do the cleaning. Because of this, God has arranged for women to have sex on their back so that they can get a little rest.