Thought For the Day: Only In Washington, DC Do People Seem To Think That Spending Trillions More of Taxpayers’ Money Will Cure Our Problems, Let Alone Inflation

“For months, I have been ringing the alarm bell about inflation. Once again, we are witnessing that the threat of inflation is real. There is not a corner of this nation where hard-working families are able to escape the noticeable impact of this ‘inflation tax.’ Inflation taxes are draining the hard-earned wages of every American, and it’s causing real and severe economic pain that can no longer be ignored. It’s beyond time for the Federal Reserve to tackle this issue head on, and Congress and the Administration must proceed with caution before adding more fuel to an economy already on fire. As inflation and our $30 trillion in national debt continue a historic climb, only in Washington, DC do people seem to think that spending trillions more of taxpayers’ money will cure our problems, let alone inflation. We must get serious about the finances of our country. It’s time we start acting like stewards of our economy and the money the American people entrust their government with. Now, more than ever, we must remember it is not our money, it’s the American people’s money. It is not our economy, it’s their economy. We all have a responsibly to do all that is possible to roll back inflation and manage our debts because the longer we or the Federal Reserve waits to act, the more economic pain will be caused.” – Senator Joe Manchin

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First Principles: I Wish To Be Useful, and Every Kind of Service Necessary For the Public Good, Become Honorable By Being Necessary

“I am not influenced by the expectation of promotion or pecuniary reward. I wish to be useful, and every kind of service necessary for the public good, become honorable by being necessary.” – Nathan Hale, 1776

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In A Hermitage of Petrified Words

Aurelias - Sunset On A Forest Path
In A Hermitage of Petrified Words
by Michael Doyle

Like a forest well petrified
By minerals filling in for life
A poet thinks in his hermitage
Dreaming about things to study on
There's an abandonment of conjunction
When like Chomsky, language ceases to function

We drift like lyrics without meaning
Frozen in acceptance of bygone eras
As we discriminate on misplaced prepositions
Changing verbs into rooms never meant to occupy
It's a place where words flow into emptiness
Making their way while pseudo-thinkers nod in bliss

Advocating a gradual linguistic evolution
That forms words as sterile as cross-bred mules
Words like survivor from simply feeling unsafe
Or the resistance of those politically aggressive
Which only makes sense if existence is attack
Minted like emblems in opposition taken aback

It's a dangerous gambit to take a liar's word
The truth of time is that history does not take sides
In a world where deficit adds up to surplus
And the Krazy Glue whiffed is treated as perfection
These words from modern times have taken life as self
But their meanings will not be taken from Webster's shelf

There is a perpetual messing with the sort of everything
Seeking to find our way through all of this emptiness
Because our fates depend on our coming to understanding
And certainty of meaning has become misconstrued
In this petrified forest of words, quite often ill-conceived
There is an immutable stillness in a poet feeling deceived

(c) February 10, 2022 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
A Thousand Words -A Good Read and  A Bit of Woods

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First Principles: If Virtue and Knowledge Are Diffused Among the People, The Will Never Be Enslaved. This Will Be Their Great Security

“If Virtue & Knowledge are diffused among the People, they will never be enslav’d. This will be their great Security.” – Samuel Adams (1779)

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Thought For the Day: Beauty Comes In All Shapes and Sizes. Small, Large, Circle, Square, Thin Crust, Thick Crust, Stuffed Crust, Extra Toppings

“Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes. Small, large, circle, square, thin crust, thick crust, stuffed crust, extra toppings.” – Anonymous

Happy National Pizza Day!

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A Penitent’s Tale Begins

Temple Beth Shalom of Hikari - Star of David
A Penitent's Tale Begins
by Michael Doyle

What do we do then when we awake
To find our life has been a mistake
What then is life if we do not grow
Examined questions offer answers yet to know

There is greatness in the sum of what is read
As its lessons spin roundabout in our heads
With words engraved that yet speak to me and you
And somehow draw us closer to what is true

Once the Romans put down a great Jewish insurgency
With such fury as if seeking to remove God's legacy
Spilling blood of Jews and toppling the Temple in defile
Such as escaped only the Bible, Rabbis, Jews into exile

Only the Rabbis were left to expound on ancient belief
While in diaspora, the Jews sustained despite grief
Continuing on despite their embittered state of persecution
Clinging to heritage as God's chosen institution

Yiddish became the Germanic dialect of lore
That sprang up in poetry, prose, and something more
Yet, even assimilated Jews were treated as stranger
And knew themselves to always live in a state of danger

Isaac Singer was rich to the depths of his blessed soul
As he took his place in his story teller's dutiful role
The first time in Jerusalem, he visited the Wailing Wall
He met a Penitent whose tale was told best he could recall

It is a tale of a type meant to change another's life
Bringing completeness where once was only strife
A tale it seems to tell what a life has been been
Even for the righteous who fled from the world's sin

(c) February 9, 2022 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
House of JewelZ - Dreamz of Babylon

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First Principles: The Essence of Government Is Power, Lodged As It Must In Human Hands, Will Ever Be Liable To Abuse

“The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.” – James Madison (1829)

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Thought For the Day: Whether You Think You Can Or You Think You Can’t, You’re Right

“Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” – Henry Ford

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Cicero Speaks On Becoming Older

80Days - The Bayou- Dixie Belle Flamingos
Cicero Speaks On Becoming Older
by Michael Doyle

Life passes through many a stage
Until calumniating in old age
It's a folly to hold this in despise
We'd be better off to open our eyes

Cicero offers us his philosopher's look
In his writing of many a good book
Well versed as he was in his education
Much the wiser in his elegant elocution

For his justice, he was found a triumph
Being honest it was truth he worshipped
When at last, he chose to retire to his estate
He took the opportunity then to meditate

Writing many an astute essay on inner beauty
Even choosing to detail the ways of moral duty
And yet another on old age, laced with integrity
That would live on until the ends of history

Old age is assumed to be a time of infirmity
When loss is felt in body and mental faculty
The assumption given that an elder waits to die
And what I have left to wonder is a simple, why?

Pointing back in times of near and far history
Cicero points to the wisdom that is Plato's legacy
Time and again, there is and was wisdom to be found
In the observations of the elders who remained profound

Old age is not useless if you allow it to serve as guide
In which experience is drawn from far and from wide
Providing leadership when it is most urgently needed
And whose wizened grandparent should not be heeded?

The elders lead in the Senate in collective wisdom
As it was in the days of many a remembered kingdom
Counsel of the elders comes with time's olden age
Such is the proffered wisdom of many a needed sage

Life's lessons are effective and in the end prevail
Each teaching us much by which we gain and do not fail
Mental abilities kept sharp are what keep us alert
And by sharp eyes growing to ever be and quietly assert

That life may be different but the elders are valuable
Offering much to be given and is often quite usable
Pleasures have come and pleasures pass until they're gone
And yet a better quality of life continues on

Different sensual pleasures are what are now found
By having the time to farm and come close to sacred ground
Taking the moments to observe and with clarity to see
There is a lot more left to living and yet to be

While we never know how much time we have yet got
The immortality of the soul must not be forgot
It is in the belief of this near fabled immortality
As Phaedo teaches, that brings us to gated eternity

Given as a hope of truth in seeking this fair prize
Be we ever ready to cherish this sweet surprise
Every stage of life is to be so fully cherished
Allowing no opportunity to be wasted or have perished

When the Ides of March come in their final assassination
Freedom belongs to those who rebuke with indignation
And give reasons to speak on behalf of freedom and liberty
Standing strong against the tides of wicked tyranny

Offering throat, hands, and even oratory's divine tongue
There is much for the aged yet to give to those young
Like Franklin rising to his feet in a storied constitutional hall
It is the wisdom of the aged in all ages that bring us law

(c) February 8, 2022 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Battery Park, NY - Lady Liberty

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First Principles: No Nation Is Permitted To Live In Ignorance With Impunity

“No nation is permitted to live in ignorance with impunity” – Thomas Jefferson

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