“The freedom of speech is a principal Pillar in a free Government: when this support is taken away the Constitution is dissolved, and Tyranny is erected on its Ruins.” – Benjamin Franklin, Pennsylvania Gazette (November 17, 1737)
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Thought For the Day: There Is Always More Goodness In the World Than There Appears To Be, Because Goodness Is of Its Very Nature Modest and Retiring
“There is always more goodness in the world than there appears to be, because goodness is of its very nature modest and retiring.” -Evelyn Beatrice Hall, biographer (28 Sep 1868-1956)
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Always, Appear, Evelyn Beatrice Hall, Goodness, Modest, Nature, Retiring, Thought For the Day, World
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The Black Book Blues
The Black Book Blues
by Michael Doyle
A father's hand
Clutches his son's blood
Mired in the sand
Clotting in the mud
Corruption is as corruption does
Some things never change
It's as bad as it ever was
Some things simply rearrange
An honest man can't always be nice
Not when this world extracts its price
Leaving a heart that has been broken
And its mercies are merely token
From inside, there is a look
From the father's black book
That those memories have their cost
When truth can no longer be tossed
Aside like someone else's grief
Such pain has no known relief
It's said it is for our own good
And with a wink and nudge, it's understood
An honest man can be a danger
Remaining outside as a stranger
Unwilling to lose integrity
However, that may seem incendiary
More willing to burn the place down
Than to be made its prince clown
He holds fast to costly truth
The same as he did in his youth
No life is held to be spare
As the wicked spring their snares
The battles must be fought
However tragic, the truth is sought
Evil comes in the black of the night
To blot out any bit of searing light
Until the honest man makes it right
Keeping sacred truth in his sight
Lessons are taught without mistake
Brutal as they are, filled with heartbreak
With nowhere left to hide or to run
No mercy will be shown; none
(c) September 27, 2023 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Bad As It Ever Was, Battles, Black Book, Blues, Broken, Brutal, Burn, Change, Clot, Clown, Corruption, Cost, Danger, Evil, Father's Hand, Good, Grief, Heart, Heartbreak, Hide, Honest Man, Incendiary, Integrity, Lesson, Light, Look, Memories, Mercies, Mercy, Mistake, Mud, None, Nowhere, Pain, Poetry and Poems, Price, Relief, Right, Run, Sand, Shown, Sight, Snare, Son's Blood, Spare, Stranger, Token, Tossed, Truth, Understood, Wink and Nudge, Youth
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Thought For the Day: Civilization Is A Choice. We Get Up Every Morning and Decide To Follow Certain Rules of Decorum and Behavior Because That’s How You Keep Society Together
“Civilization is a choice. We get up every morning and decide to follow certain rules of decorum and behavior because that’s how you keep a society together. We have seen a total breakdown of those norms year after year. It affects music, arts, public discourse, behavior in our schools, you name it. While some standards may change and relax over time, the wholesale abandonment of standards is rarely, if ever, a good thing.” – Gary Bauer
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Abandonment, Behavior, Breakdown, Certain Rules, Change, Choice, Civilization, Decide, Decorum, Every Morning, Gary Bauer, Keep, Norms, Society, Standards, Thought For the Day, Time, Together
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First Principles: The Hour Is Fast Approaching, On Which the Honor and Success of This Army, and the Safety of Our Bleeding Country Depend
“The hour is fast approaching, on which the Honor and Success of this army, and the safety of our bleeding Country depend.” – George Washington (1776)
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Approach, Army, Bleeding Country, Blessings of Liberty, Depend, First Principles, George Washington, Honor, Hour, Safety, Success
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Seen In Communion
Seen In Communion
by Michael Doyle
A plate of bread
And juice of grape
Brings life to be spread
Like its spiritual landscape
We come together for communion
As part of God's family
Celebrating in this reunion
The blessing that brings us unity
Forgiveness in Christ is shared
Through the burden of the cross
All the sin of man is bared
That we gain salvation and not loss
In the Lord's Supper, we recognize
A table set in three directions
Laid out before our spiritual eyes
The past, present, and future in inspection
At Passover, bread and cup were passed around
A New Covenant borne by His body broken
This was done in remembrance of the past
In atonement given that would come to last
This sacrifice was freely offered and given
That all us sinners could be forgiven
Bringing us fellowship in the present of now
With God and other believers as we bow
Joining hands in prayer and with commitment
That reminds us that through Jesus we have victory
In the destruction of Satan, we can be confident
In the hope of resurrection as is His story
Through the Hell suffered in those three days
We find cause to pause, spent in reflection
On God's love and faithfulness shown in His ways
We accept now this gentle yoke of His correction
(c) September 26, 2023 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Accept, Atonement, Blessing, Bow, Bread, Bread and Cup, Broken, Burden of the Cross, Cause To Pause, Celebrate, Christ, Come Together, Commitment, Communion, Confident, Correction, Destruction, Faithfulness, Fellowship, Forgiven, Forgiveness, Future, Gain, Gentle, Given, God, God's Family, Grape, Hell, His Ways, Hope, Inspection, Juice, Last, Life, Lord's Supper, Love, New Covenant, Now, Offered, Other Believers, Passover, Past, Plate, Poetry and Poems, Prayer, Present, Recognize, Reflection, Remembrance, Remind Us, Resurrection, Reunion, Sacrifice, Satan, Seen, Shared, Sin of Man, Sinners, Slavation, Spiritual Eyes, Spiritual Lanscape, Spread, Story, Table, Three Days, Three Directions, Unity, Yoke
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First Principles: Man, Once Surrendering His Reason, Has No Remaining Guard Against Absurdities…and Like A Ship Without Rudder, Is the Sport of Every Wind
“Man, once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind.” – Thomas Jefferson (1822)
Doesn’t this sound like the response to Covid in all of its variants? .. And a bit like Biden’s economic policies that he touts as working so well despite doing the reverse.
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Absurdities, First Principles, Guard, Mankind, Reason, Rudder, Ship, Sport, Surrender, Thomas Jefferson, Wind
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Thought For the Day: The Hollow Men: Between the Idea and the Reality, Between the Motion and the Act, Falls the Shadow
“The Hollow Men: Between the idea / And the reality / Between the motion / And the act / Falls the shadow.” – T.S. Eliot, poet (26 Sep 1888-1965)
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Fall, Hollow Men, Idea, Motion, Reality, Shadow, T.S. Eliot, Thought For the Day, Way
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Happy National Daughters Day!!
It’s no mystery here. I am happily, doting father who loves his daughters more than life itself! I am blessed enough to have two beautiful girls who call me dad. If you have a daughter or are a daughter, Happy National Daughters Day!!
Cornerstone
Cornerstone
by Michael Doyle
I have a cornerstone
On which I build my life
The Rock of my foundation
Is Christ the Lord
As the holder of the keys
Of our proclaimed oath
Declaring the truth
In every step we take
I link hands in prayer
As part of the Church
To build this up
With every breath taken
Every song that I sing
Serves as praise
For the one who died for us
In the worthy name of Jesus
(c) September 25, 2023 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Build, Christ the Lord, Church, Cornerstone, Died, Every Breath, Every Step, Foundation, Hands, Holder, Jesus, Keys, Life, Link, Poetry and Poems, Praise, Praise of Liberty, Prayer, Proclaim, Rock, Serve, Sing, Song, Take, Truth, Us, Worthy Name
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