Thought For the Day: Extremism In the Defense of Liberty Is No Vice. And Moderation In the Pursuit of Justice Is No Virtue

Posted on March 12, 2025 by alohapromisesforever

“Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.”

– Karl Hess, as speechwriter for Barry Goldwater’s acceptance speech

This was later restated by Malcom X, in December, 1964, as:

“My reason for believing in extremism—intelligently directed extremism, extremism in defense of liberty, extremism in quest of justice—is because I firmly believe in my heart that the day the black man takes an uncompromising step and realizes he’s within his rights, when his own freedom is being jeopardized, to use any means necessary to bring about his own freedom or put a halt to that injustice, I don’t think he’ll be by himself. [Emphasis added.]”

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First Principles: Moderation In Temper Is Always A Virtue, But Moderation In Principle Is Always A Vice

Posted on March 12, 2025 by alohapromisesforever

“Moderation in temper is always a virtue, but moderation in principle is always a vice.” – Thomas Paine

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Angel In Blue Jeans

Posted on March 11, 2025 by alohapromisesforever 
Angel In Blue Jeans
by Michael Doyle

From across the fragile spaces
I feel your soulful traces
It was something like I've never felt
As your heavenly ways move me to melt

My heart was amazed by the hand dealt
When your love shined my way to melt
This stubborn heart of mine
That dared to dream you'd be my Valentine

With a simple hello from across the way
My soul was yours on that beautiful day
Somewhere between the divine and ordinary
Where everything about you was extraordinary

You were accessible in your sweet humility.
Dressed in jeans, yet your halo lent dignity
Grounded yet angelic, you were approachable
If only that is, I might believe myself capable

Of winning my way into your life forever 
But it seems so seldom that I'm ever that clever
Yet, there you stood in all your majesty
And I told you, you scared me with complete honesty

Afraid that I could so quickly love an angel in blue jeans
Who seemed a figment of maybe a million silver screens
Defiantly hesitant of my every hope and expectation
I stood before you, waiting for your complete rejection

And instead, you chose to watch out for me in my humanity
As I was astounded to find that you loved me in my vanity
You have become my guardian angel hidden in plain sight
Nothing is quite so natural as you in my arms, held tight

An angel, fallen and wandered somehow into my life
A denim-clad dream who wants to redeem me as my wife
You bring me comfort in your claims upon my meager life
You bring me solace in this simple peace instead of strife

And all that I know how to say earnestly with my eyes
Is that I love you, my angel in your blue jeans disguise
My heart is filled every moment in our heavenly latitude
With the simple love of this mortal man who feels gratitude

(c) March 11, 2025   Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
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First Principles: Let Us Tenderly and Kindly Cherish Therefore, the Means of Knowledge. Let Us Dare To Read, Think, Speak, and Write

Posted on March 11, 2025 by alohapromisesforever

“Let us tenderly and kindly cherish therefore, the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write .” – John Adams, The Works of John Adams: Second President of the United States

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Thought For the Day: The Laws of Nature Are Written By the Hand of God In the Language of Mathematics

Posted on March 11, 2025 by alohapromisesforever

“The laws of nature are written by the hand of God in the language of mathematics.” – Galileo Galilei

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Love and Heartbreak (From the Lens of Gen Z)

Posted on March 10, 2025 by alohapromisesforever 
Love and Heartbreak (From the Lens of Gen Z)
by Michael Doyle

It's not worth a second glance
This pathos of modern romance
Gen Z is alright to join the dance
But a steady love has blown its chance

Roll the bones and place the bet
Nine times out of ten, it's regret
That comes rolling home to keep
Smart boys and girls don't want to weep

It's no longer held with great optimism
That there is truth in Plato's Symposium
It's not the love has been replaced by hate
It's only that soulmates tend to complicate

Who in this rush-a-day world will sacrifice
It seems an antiquated plot theme of artifice
Being dependent on another half causes scare
And really who has time enough to care?

Giving the best is a waste of risky business
History seems to show that there is no bliss
But that every step walked should be in independence
Isn't it dysfunctional to believe in codependence?

Generations lost in space have lost the ability
Refusing to surrender to the beauty of vulnerability
Hesitation undefined lends itself to situationship
Which on the surface is safer than relationship

It's no longer held with great optimism
That there is truth in Plato's Symposium
It's not the love has been replaced by hate
It's only that soul mates tend to complicate

Who in this rush-a-day world will sacrifice
It seems an antiquated plot theme of artifice
Being dependent on another half causes scare
And really who has time enough to care?

Trial and error leads hearts astray and alone
It is better to stay safe and on one's own
Shades of a brave new world floats into vision
As true coping mechanisms are treated with derision

Splintered marriages are known by their multiplication
A history to learn from and identity fates the satisfaction
The march of time has grown slower in its jaded hesitation
Can they come to believe without the rite of initiation?

(c) March 10, 2025   Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
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First Principles: The Deterioration of Every Government Begins With the Decay of the Principles On Which It Was Founded

Posted on March 10, 2025 by alohapromisesforever

“The deterioration of every government begins with the decay of the principles on which it was founded.” – Baron de Montesquieu

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Thought For the Day: Life Does Not Consist Mainly, Or Even Largely, of Facts Or Happenings. It Consists Mainly of the Storm of Thoughts That Is Forever Flowing Through One’s Head

Posted on March 10, 2025 by alohapromisesforever

“Life does not consist mainly, or even largely, of facts or happenings. It consists mainly of the storm of thoughts that is forever flowing through one’s head.” – Mark Twain


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Secure In My Salvation

Posted on March 9, 2025 by alohapromisesforever 
Secure In My Salvation
by Michael Doyle

My life's abundance has no regret
My gains are my life's net
My life has become better since I met
Our Lord and savior, never to forget

My belief, our belief, quietly persists
That our God fully and entirely exists
As we see the truth of our need
He takes on our debt and we are freed

This peace and grace give our hope and love
As we walk the Earth as if in Heaven above
In our waking moment we celebrate the good
With God's holiness becoming understood

I've stood astounded by what I'm viewing
And knowing that it is all His doing
In the game of comparison, there is no debate
That Adam's fall made mankind wait

Until Jesus walked among us in grace
Overflowing with love and just justified the human race
Disobedience caused us to pay our consequence
The grace of God brought us our recompense

One man came in the name of love
To redeem us to God above
One sin cracked the world's door
Making mankind realize we needed more

Blame shifting fixed nothing for the blind
The problem is with vision in all of mankind
Doing it our way changed our day
Until we came to doing it God's way

Jesus is the path and the remedy
Having died on the cross for you and me
It's the great reversal back to the beginning
Adam's legacy; Jesus's victory - mankind's winning

Believing no one took nothing and created everything
Is not scientific in understanding this thing
That we see all around us comprehend
The walk of faith explores a lot to upend

The false arguments that the unbelievers present
God is in the business of gaining our consent
To live our best lives in His full majesty
Through gracefully giving our heavenly victory

God walked into the desperation of opportunity
Waking humanity up to find our true liberty
He walked us back from our eternal alienation
Despite ourselves, he has secured our salvation

All of our brokenness is put to one side
When we humbly put away our fall pride
It is suggested quietly and shaped by a love this tender
That we gain our grace with our gentle surrender

Born again into taking up our rightful legacy
Humanity stumbles its way into our victory
As Jesus died for us on his account, not our own
This is indeed the only way that mankind atones

(c) March 9, 2025   Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
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Thought For the Day: A Man Who Knows That He Lives In Sin Against God Will Not Be Inclined To Come Daily Into the Presence of God

Posted on March 9, 2025 by alohapromisesforever

“A man who knows that he lives in sin against God will not be inclined to come daily into the presence of God.” – Jonathan Edwards

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