Richard Burton reads Gerard Manley Hopkins' poem 'The Leaden Echo & The Golden Echo'

Via The Excavator

Richard Burton races through this poem with unbelievable speed. A technical tour de force.

The Leaden Echo And The Golden Echo
(Maidens' song from St. Winefred's Well)_

THE LEADEN ECHO

How to keep--is there any any, is there none such, nowhere known some, bow or brooch or braid or brace, lace, latch or catch or key to keep
Back beauty, keep it, beauty, beauty, beauty, . . . from vanishing away?
O is there no frowning of these wrinkles, ranked wrinkles deep,
Down? no waving off of these most mournful messengers, still messengers, sad and stealing messengers of grey?
No there's none, there's none, O no there's none,
Nor can you long be, what you now are, called fair,
Do what you may do, what, do what you may,
And wisdom is early to despair:
Be beginning; since, no, nothing can be done
To keep at bay
Age and age's evils, hoar hair,
Ruck and wrinkle, drooping, dying, death's worst, winding sheets, tombs and worms and tumbling to decay;
So be beginning, be beginning to despair.
O there's none; no no no there's none:
Be beginning to despair, to despair,
Despair, despair, despair, despair.

THE GOLDEN ECHO

Spare!
There is one, yes I have one (Hush there!);
Only not within seeing of the sun,
Not within the singeing of the strong sun,
Tall sun's tingeing, or treacherous the tainting of the earth's air.
Somewhere elsewhere there is ah well where! one,
One. Yes I can tell such a key, I do know such a place,
Where whatever's prized and passes of us, everything that's fresh and fast flying of us, seems to us sweet of us and swiftly away with, done away with, undone,
Undone, done with, soon done with, and yet dearly and dangerously sweet
Of us, the wimpled-water-dimpled, not-by-morning-matched face,
The flower of beauty, fleece of beauty, too too apt to, ah! to fleet,
Never fleets more, fastened with the tenderest truth
To its own best being and its loveliness of youth: it is an ever-lastingness of, O it is an all youth!
Come then, your ways and airs and looks, locks, maiden gear, gallantry and gaiety and grace,
Winning ways, airs innocent, maiden manners, sweet looks, loose locks, long locks, lovelocks, gaygear, going gallant, girlgrace--
Resign them, sign them, seal them, send them, motion them with breath,
And with sighs soaring, soaring sighs deliver
Them; beauty-in-the-ghost, deliver it, early now, long before death
Give beauty back, beauty, beauty, beauty, back to God, beauty's self and beauty's giver.
See; not a hair is, not an eyelash, not the least lash lost; every hair
Is, hair of the head, numbered.
Nay, what we had lighthanded left in surly the mere mould
Will have waked and have waxed and have walked with the wind what while we slept,
This side, that side hurling a heavyheaded hundredfold
What while we, while we slumbered.
O then, weary then why should we tread? O why are we so haggard at the heart, so care-coiled, care-killed, so fagged, so fashed, so cogged, so cumbered,
When the thing we freely forfeit is kept with fonder a care,
Fonder a care kept than we could have kept it, kept
Far with fonder a care (and we, we should have lost it) finer, fonder
A care kept. Where kept? Do but tell us where kept, where.--
Yonder.--What high as that! We follow, now we follow.--
Yonder, yes yonder, yonder,
Yonder.

Hey Dems, I have a question about the 13,000 pages of new ObamaTax rules

Milton Wolf
VERBATIM POST

Gateway Pundit is on the case: Lawyers Have Already Drafted 13,000 Pages of Regulations for New ObamaTax Law

So here's my question to all my Democrat friends who support ObamaCare: Will you trust George W. Bush to rewrite these rules? [Let me ask essentially the same question to my Republican friends who support the Patriot Act: Will you trust Barack Obama to rewrite these rules?]

Think about it. ObamaCare was purposefully written to be as vague as possible. We talk about the 2,700 pages of the law but the reality is that the law is so vague that it will engender somewhere around 100,000 new pages of bureaucratic rules. These rules can be written and re-written with each new president. This is the problem with vague laws: they give vast powers to the executive branch and these powers that will affect your life, from how much water your toilet can flush to what chemotherapy your mother can receive.

Now, consider this...

Sooner or later George W. Bush will be back in the White House. No, the 43rd president won't return, but someone you will come to despise and distrust every bit as much will. Maybe his name will be Mitt Romney, or her name, Sarah Palin. Or maybe he or she hasn't even been born yet. But, you know this much is true: it's only a matter of time.

Let me make a modest proposal...

To my Democrat friends: Don't support any law that you wouldn't trust George W. Bush to execute.

To my Republican friends: Don't support any law that you wouldn't trust Barack Obama to execute.

Is President Obama's Prostate Gland More Important Than Yours?

Via Milton Wolf

When President Obama turned 50 last year, he made an “informed patient request” for a PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) test. This is the blood test routinely used to screen men over 50 for possible prostate cancer. The President received his PSA test. But under ObamaCare, you may not be able to.

Now that ObamaCare has been upheld by the Supreme Court, all of its major provisions will be in force, not just the controversial “individual mandate.” This includes government medical practice guidelines that will affect millions of Americans.

ObamaCare empowers the government U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) to determine which preventive health services are medically appropriate. This is the same agency that aroused enormous controversy in 2009 when it proposed restricting screening mammograms to women over age 50 (and only every 2 years), despite the proven benefits of annual mammograms beginning at age 40. (Under pressure, Secretary of Health Sebelius later backpedalled from those guidelines, declaring them non-binding.)

This year, the USPSTF aroused similar controversy by giving a “D” grade (“not recommended”) to routine PSA prostate cancer screening.

More @ Forbes

‘Great Day For The First Amendment’: Walker Wins Appeal Vs. Kimberlin Peace Order

Via Legal Insurrection

Today both parties were back in court in front of Appellate Judge Nelson Rupp. This time, Walker was represented by attorney Reginald Bours.

Kimberlin made a number of statements, but his basic argument boiled down to Walker wanted to encourage people to blog about Kimberlin to incite others to harass him and send him death threats. As evidence, Kimberlin again had pages of Twitter feeds and blog posts.

This time, though, Judge Rupp did something extraordinary that Judge Vaughey did not. He actually looked at the evidence Kimberlin presented. After looking at them, Rupp declared, “I see nothing in here that threatens you personally.” ….

In the end, Judge Rupp wasn’t buying Kimberlin’s spiel. He ruled that there was no evidence to support stalking or harassment, and the peace order against Walker was thrown out.

Kimberlin quickly left the court room.

I asked Walker if he had any comment. He replied, “It’s a great day for the First Amendment.”

More @ IBD

Savages And Primitive Beasts In The "Syrian Opposition" Throw A Pro-Assad Person Out The Window

The Excavator
VERBATIM POST

This is naked savagery and terrorism, sponsored by NATO and the medieval Gulf monarchies.

To learn about more gruesome acts of murder committed by the foreign-created armed opposition in Syria, read: Shocking Videos Reveal Truth Behind Syrian “Freedom Fighters.”

The Fake Syrian Army (FSA) terrorists, so called freedom and democracy fighters by the likes of CNN and Al Jazeera, throw man out of balcony for being pro syrian government.

========

Two on Zimmerman

Lester VS. Zimmerman Bond Decision….. “Advanced Lessons In Judicial Railroading”

Judge Lester is specifically and intentionally using his power to manipulate the Orlando court system, in a flawed ideological effort to avoid being on the wrong side of those political forces who can bring him down. It appears George Zimmerman is being set up to fail with the current Bond Ruling.

More @ The Last Refuge

========

Free Advice – FWIW

I’m nobody, and this is just my opinion. Disregard it, take it with a grain of salt, consider it irrelevant. I’m certainly not in your shoes, but for what it’s worth:

George, STAY IN JAIL ! - Sometimes the worst thing you can give your opposition is exactly what they want. The entire bond construct, including restrictions, are beyond ridiculous and absurd.

Save your money, stay in jail. Take control and use the situation to your advantage. Use the money you would have spent on freedom to hire a media team to get the truth out. Frame your own narrative. Yeah, you have $211,000 to defend yourself against the onslaught, but tell your story.

More @ The Last Refuge

War Story, Jim Morris

How true.

"It s a mistake to call the girls whores because that word has connotations that do not apply in Asia. Their services were offered in much the same spirit, and with no more shame, than bar peanuts or table napkins. A simple commercial transaction with no moral or personal implications."

========

Thuy Kieu is the heroine of The Tale Of Kieu which is Vietnam's Epic National Poem, by Nguyen Du. It is difficult to think that a poem in another language could be translated so it reads as though it was written in English, but Huynh Sanh Thong of Yale accomplishes just this. There are other translations, but this is the one to read. On one page it has the Vietnamese, while on the adjoining page English. There are so many footnotes that you won't really enjoy the rhythm until you read it for the second or third time, as without actually following the footnotes and determining their meaning, much of the tale would be lost to the average reader. It has 3,254 verses with 22,778 words. BT

Thuy Kieu

A hundred years in this life span on earth/
talent and destiny are apt to feud./
You must go through a play of ebb and flow/
and watch such things as make you sick at heart/
Is it so strange that losses balance gains? /

SIMILARITIES BETWEEN KIEU AND THE AUTHOR NGUYEN DU

Kieu sold herself to settle the debt of her family	Nguyen Du considered the action of joining the new government as selling himself
Kieu had to endure suffering and hardship	Nguyen Du suffered greatly because of his loyalty to his former king
Deep in her heart, Kieu stays faithful to Kim Trong	Nguyen Du was truly loyal to the Le Dynasty
Finally Kieu was reunited with Kim Trong	Nguyen Du hoped for the return of his king

More @ The Tale of Kieu

Lifeguard fired after participating in beach rescue

Via Moonbattery

As lifeguards are paid and trained to do, Tomas Lopez rushed down the beach to rescue a drowning man — and then got fired for it.

The problem: Lopez stepped out of the beach zone his company is paid to patrol, a supervisor said Tuesday.

"I ran out to do the job I was trained to do," said Lopez, 21, of Davie. "I didn't think about it at all."

---

At least two other lifeguards have quit in protest.

"What was he supposed to do? Watch a man drown?" asked one, Szilard Janko.

Lifeguards in Hallandale Beach work for Orlando-based company Jeff Ellis and Associates, which has been providing lifeguard services for the city's beaches and pools since 2003.

Company officials on Tuesday said Lopez broke a rule that could've put beachgoers in his designated area in jeopardy. The firm could ultimately have been sued, officials said.

"We have liability issues and can't go out of the protected area," said supervisor Susan Ellis. "What he did was his own decision. He knew the company rules and did what he thought he needed to do."

More @ Sun Sentinel

Defense – Obstacles Part V: More On Slowing The Threat Down on Roads and Trails.

I’m sorry it’s taken so long to get this next entry up but life has been eating my time up. Anyhow in this entry we’re going to look at a couple of other ways to “block” a road and slow down traffic. Now when I write blocking a road remember the some of the basic tenants of obstacles. A determined and capable threat is only going to be slowed by an obstacle. Obstacles can also slow your exit from the area down as well if you have to shag out. In this entry we’ll focus once again on stopping what will probably be the first type of threat we’ll likely encounter – a four wheel drive pickup full of dirtbags that have expanded beyond the picked clean towns to raid rural areas. Also note these obstacles are calculated based on the performance characteristics of an HMMWV which is really representative of a good 4×4 pickup.

First up is a standard pole driven into the road. This can be something as simple as a section of telephone pole, section of tree, or even a piece of railroad rail. And as always the red arrow represents the direction of threat travel.

More @ The Lizard Farmer

3rd Annual Popcorn Sutton Acoustic Jam

August 3 - 4: 3rd Annual Popcorn Sutton Acoustic Jam; Friday, August 3, 4:00pm to 11:00pm & Saturday, August 4, 11:00am to 11:00pm 2012. This is an all day music festival celebrating legendary local moonshiner, Popcorn Sutton. Open to the public with price of admission; $2 per day. For more information go to Popcorn Sutton Tribute Page.

LANGUAGE

Outlaws and leaders

Infographic: A Neutral Look at Police Brutality

A Neutral Look at Police Brutality, shared with CopBlock.org by Matthew Pelletier of http://Accelerated-degree.com cites outlets such as DOJ’s National Criminal Justice Reference Service for a somewhat inside look behind the thin blue line.

I love these infographics – they take seemingly-dry statistics and make them visually appealing, which helps in their overall objective of communicating information.

Let’s unpack this graphic:

• Many of the stats speak directly to the culture that exists today in policing, a system that suffers from server perverse incentives since it is an artificial monopoly. In plain English that just means that while cops claim to serve and protect you the “customer,” they put themselves and their colleagues first. Turning a blind-eye to an overly-aggressive and heavy-handed colleague is the norm. As is ostracizing the rare (but increasing!) colleague who speaks-out against such actions. And that’s not surprising – police employees are sheltered from competition and any real mechanism of accountability (just check out the last data-point to see how responsive Chicago PD has been), save for withdrawing your consent. Fortunately, that’s the angle many are now advocating.
  
• One caption near the bottom says: “79% of police feel that reports in the news media have caused the public to distrust law enforcement” – that level of distrust is earned. If the lamestream media didn’t default to giving a free pass to aggressors who wear a badge that number would likely be closer to 100% Just think of how most news outlets back off from asking tough questions or posting personal information when the accused aggressor wears a badge.
  
• re: the “A few bad apples” portion – might these rates be higher if filing a complaint actually made any difference? Hell yes they would. Instead, most people wronged by someone wearing a badge realize that it’d be a waste of their time to file a complaint. Just how much justice can be had when the investigators and aggressor work for the same outfit? When the “rules” are created out of thin air and interpreted by their friends? When omitting or distorting the truth is so rampant that the word testlying is common vernacular. This is why Cop-Reports.com was created.

More @ Cop Block

US Healthcare Predicted In One Example: Man, 22, who died from dehydration in hospital rang police for a drink of water

Death By Socialism - A 22 year old who died from dehydration whilst in hospital was so desperate for a drink of water he phoned the police from his bed for help, an inquest has been told.

UK Telegraph - Kane Gorny’s mum Rita Cronin told an inquest into her son’s death that when the police turned up at St George’s Hospital, Tooting, they were turned away by doctors and she was repeatedly ignored by staff when she begged for help for her son.

Giving evidence at the first day of a four-day inquest, she revealed how she received a distressed phone call from her son the day after his operation, in which he revealed he had called the police because he was so desperate for a drink.

The inquest heard Ms Cronin immediately went to the hospital, where Kane was “confused and angry,” shouting at staff and behaving in an uncharacteristic abusive manner.

Despite expressing her concerns that he was not behaving normally, one doctor asked if he was “coming off booze” and another asked if he was “always like this.”

Kane, who had been a keen footballer and runner until he suffered a brain tumour the previous year, was undergoing a routine hip replacement after life-saving steroids he had been given had weakened his bones.

Due to his condition, he needed hormone medication to control fluid levels in his body, but despite repeated reminders by Kane and his family, staff failed to give him the tablets.

More @ The Last Refuge

Moscow may hand Iran S-300, breach arms embargo if Assad ousted

Moscow has removed the gloves in its defense of Syrian ruler Bashar Assad. Wednesday, July 4, senior official Ruslan Pukhov warned: “If the Syrian regime is changed by force or if Russia doesn't like the outcome, it most likely will respond by selling S-300s to Iran."

Pukhov, who sits on the Russian Defense Ministry’s advisory board and heads a defense affairs think tank in Moscow, added: "The fall of the Syrian government would significantly increase the chances of a strike on Iran. Resuming S-300 shipments to Iran may be a very timely decision."

Moscow has since 2010 withheld the S-300 air defense system from Iran at the request of the US and Israel. The Pukhov statement indicated that, just as that was the correct decision for the time, the strategic situation in the Middle East with regard to Syria and Iran has since changed, and so providing Iran with these weapons would be the timely decision now.

More @ The Coming Crisis

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

This was sweet of Miss Violet

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISS DIXIE! AND MANY MORE!


2010
Haven't gotten to this year's pictures yet.

Cook Gunned Down Over Long Wait Times Racial slurs reportedly used before shooting

Via Confederate Colonel

Police released public surveillance images on Tuesday of two suspects in the shooting death of a cook and father of five who was gunned down at the Sherman Oaks restaurant where he worked.

KNX 1070′s Claudia Peschiutta reports Raul Lopez was working one of his two jobs when the robbery occurred.

Lopez, 38, was fatally shot in the chest shortly after 11 p.m. last Friday night at Hoagies & Wings on Ventura Boulevard as he tried to ward off a group of five black men who were causing a disturbance.

Police said one of the customers apparently became angry with Lopez about how long it was taking for the food to be prepared, and some racial slurs were reportedly used.

More @ CBS

Obamacare: Don't Get Mad, Get to Work

Via Milton Wolf

Get up.

Yeah, we got knocked on our tails last week. And? This isn’t the first time and won’t be the last. Now we have a choice to make. We can either choose to roll up into the fetal position and hope our new progressive overlords are merciful, or we can stand up – like Americans – and take this country and our Constitution back.

November is coming, and we’re not going to win this thing sitting around trying to figure out why John Roberts took the off ramp to Stupidville.

Maybe he was eager to bask in the Strange New Respect McCain used to have from the liberal elite up until the time he became inconvenient. Maybe he sought to preserve the legitimacy of the Supreme Court – at least in the eyes of ivory tower law professors, aspiring bureaucrats, and Democrat collectivists. Maybe this was all a cunning scheme to save the Constitution by snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Who cares? It doesn’t matter.

All that matters is what we do about it right now.

More @ Breitbart

Long Beach Officers Shown Walking on Employee and Then Destroying Video System of Pot Dispensary Before Smashing Up Store

Via CATO

The video below is now the basis for an investigation into a raid by Long Beach California officers of the THC marijuana dispensary. The officer accused the dispensary of operating without a permit. However, one officer first steps on an employee and then other officers target the security video system and destroy the cameras before tearing the place apart.

More than a dozen Long Beach Police officers raided the store and show officers forcing one employee on the ground. Officers then proceed to step on him. The volunteer employee Dorian Brooks was entirely cooperative at the scene before being stepped on.

THe officers then notice the security cameras and proceeded to destroy them with a metal bar. The after-raid video shows extensive damage to the store. The dispensary lacked a city permit, but was operating in compliance with state law. Five people were arrested.

On its face, the stepping on the suspect is an obvious violation.

More @ Jonathan Turley

Zimmerman bail set at $1 million

But since he probably only has to put up 10% in cash, he should be walking free soon. (Order here and at bottom of post)

Via Orlando Sentinel:

A Sanford judge today ordered George Zimmerman, the Neighborhood Watch volunteer who shot and killed Trayvon Martin, an unarmed 17-year-old, released on $1 million bail.

It was not immediately clear how long it would take the 28-year-old Zimmerman to arrange his release.

Defense attorney Mark O’Mara said Friday that Zimmerman’s legal defense fund had a balance of $211,000, more than enough to cover the 10-percent non-refundable portion charged by most bonding companies.

More details to follow.

Updates: The evidence submitted by Zimmerman at the second bond hearing is posted at a special website set up by his attorney, Mark O’Mara.

Some key passages from the Order (full embed at bottom of post):

More @ Legal Insurrection

Obamacare talking points:)

Via The Last Refuge

Likely Voters: Carter Was a Better President than Obama

Via Milton Wolf

Jimmy Carter, -20 points (5 percent place in top-2, 25 percent place in bottom-2)

Barack Obama, -25 points (11 percent place in top-2, 36 percent place in bottom-2)

More @ The Weekly Standard

Fuel and Toys of Goths and Vandals

The barbarian invader will often destroy his victim’s institutions of religion and learning, symbols having no meaning for him or something that he fears. This invader will destroy literature which exceeds his narrow vision, and replace it with that which extols his more primitive culture and base ideals, and then inform his captives that this is progress.

Bernhard Thuersam, Director
Cape Fear Historical Institute
www.cfhi.net

Fuel and Toys of Goths and Vandals:

“Almost in the twinkling of an eye the whole social fabric of the South was swept away, and a half-century has hardly sufficed to produce an entire readjustment to new conditions, so fundamental was the change. The libraries and colleges, indeed all institutions that fostered and conserved its culture, suffered heaviest.

Almost every school building in the South was occupied at one time or other by soldiers as barracks or hospitals, and books and instruments of unknown value were used as fuel or served as toys for the idle hours of high privates. In many of the libraries, broken sets and mutilated volumes still remain as pathetic reminders of the days of blood and fire.

The famous library at Charleston was partially destroyed, the building being used as a military hospital; all the Virginia institutions suffered greatly, as did those in Kentucky and Tennessee. The most astonishing episode, however, of the kind, in that most astonishing conflict, was the burning of the library building and collections of the University of Alabama, during the final days of the war. This library, which was one of the largest and best selected in the South, was ruthlessly destroyed at a time when the issue of the conflict had been decided, and no conceivable gain could have resulted from such an action.

Of the influence of his books upon the man of the early South, we are permitted to judge by the work the Southerner did in the forming of the nation. [The] schools and libraries of ante-bellum days surely had a large share in the development of the men who defended, by impassioned speech and heroic deed, social traditions and an ideal of the state doomed by the spirit of progress.”

(The South in the Building of the Nation, Volume VII, Edwin Wiley, Southern Historical Publication Society, 1909, pp. 500-501, 510)

Fuel and Toys of Goths and Vandals

Trump: Obama will start Iran war to win election

Donald Trump is again predicting President Obama will start a war with Iran solely to help his chances of getting re-elected this November.

The billionaire developer made his forecast both on the Internet and television Tuesday, initially tweeting: “Just as I predicted, Barack Obama is preparing a possible attack on Iran right before November.”

He then spoke via phone to Greta Van Susteren of Fox News, confirming: “Yes, I believe that we will end up in a war with Iran because I think Obama views that as politically good for him. … I have said for a year and a half that in the end, somewhere before the election we will end up in a form of war with Iran, and I think he’s doing it for political reasons.

Appearing somewhat incredulous at his sentiment, Van Susteren said, “You’re saying that the president is really thinking about doing the unthinkable for political advantage for himself, taking us to war. I think most people would say that’s beyond, that’s beyond fair.”

Trump responded, “I don’t think it’s beyond. That’s my opinion, and let’s see what happens. I hope that doesn’t happen.”

“What should happen is Iran has to be – despite their bravado – they have to be scared stiff right now because, I mean, they’ve just looked at what’s happened to other countries because we are the most powerful, and what we’ve done to others, whether we should have been there or shouldn’t have been there, is unbelievable. So what should happen is the right person should negotiate a phenomenal deal. Everything. We should get 100 percent of everything. I have predicted that I think it’s not going to go that way. We don’t negotiate. We don’t know how to negotiate.”

More @ WND

NC: DNPE Update - 2012-2013 School Year Annual Online Home School Update

Spring Home School Day at Tryon Palace

Dear Home School Chief Administrator:

As explained during the previous academic year, DNPE will no longer mail the gray postcards for families to update their home school information. We will now send an email correspondence with a link to the online portal to update your home school contact information and enrollment numbers. This email is a reminder that the online update will begin August 1, 2012 and conclude September 28, 2012. You will receive an email with directions and a link for accessing your individual information on or after July 31, 2012.

Please remember that your participation is completely voluntary. We encourage you to review your contact information to ensure that we have the correct information for your school. The law does require that each home school chief administrator provide the most current and accurate address for the home school. An invalid address can result in the termination of a home school.

Again, this is a reminder and another email with specific instructions will be emailed on or after July 31, 2012. Have a great summer!

DNPE Staff
Annual Reports Section
NC Division of Non-Public Education

10 Famous CEOs Who Think You Should Skip College

The fact that the debate over whether a college degree is a sound investment even exists says volumes about the state of higher education in America today. But not only is the debate real, well-known figures are getting in on the discussion. It would be one thing if musicians or baseball players were making noise about how they skipped college and turned out fine, but it’s another thing to hear millionaire businessmen say college is not a must. These 10 past and present CEOs, founders, and all-around corporate stars bear witness that you might be better off leap-frogging campus for the real world.

1. Peter Thiel:

   

   The uncontested leader of the anti-college movement is PayPal co-founder and former CEO Peter Thiel. Himself a billionaire thanks to his entrepreneurial spirit and sound investments in companies like Facebook, Thiel believes college stifles entrepreneurship or gets in the way of business opportunities. He sees the high number of successful CEOs without college degrees as proof that a degree is not necessary. To prove his point, he launched the 20 Under 20 Thiel Fellowship, which pays the 20 brightest students under the age of 20 he can find to drop out of school and do their own research and create their own businesses.

2. Mark Cuban:

3. More @ MBA