“Nothing is easier than spending public money. It does not appear to belong to anybody. The temptation is overwhelming to bestow it on somebody.” – President Calvin Coolidge (1873-1933)
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First Principles: Nothing Is Easier Than Spending Public Money. It Does Not Appear To Belong To Anybody. The Temptation Is Overwhelming To Bestow It On Somebody.
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Anybody, Appear, Bestow, Calvin Coolidge, Easy, First Principles, Nothing, Public Money, Somebody, Spend, Temptation
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Thought For the Day: Courage Is the Greatest Of All the Virtues… If You Haven’t Courage, You May Not Have An Opportunity To Use Any of the Others
“Courage is the greatest of all the virtues. Because if you haven’t courage, you may not have an opportunity to use any of the others.” – English author Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Courage, Great, Opportunity, Samuel Johnson, Thought For the Day, Virtue
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We’re Going To Make It
We're Going To Make It
by Michael Doyle
Whatever today's bit of sorrow
Keep holding on for tomorrow
Not giving in to the gray skies
Until you see the bright sunrise
That will greet your dreams
Held together now taped at the seams
In a world that even sells alibis
With a quarter, you get three more tries
Singing for a brand new day
We're going to make it there someday
No matter what the newsmen say
In all our hopes and dreams we'll stay
Clinging to that bit of optimism
Not giving in to shanty town pessimism
Empty pockets to keep your fingers warm
Just another adjustment to the new norm
Another day of clueless shreds of blame
We know that not all tomorrows will be the same
Stuffed with the emptiness of platitude
The wisest will hang onto hope and gratitude
Singing for a brand new day
We're going to make it there someday
No matter what the newsmen say
In all our hopes and dreams we'll stay
Souls in need of refuge on a winter's day
We have to keep warmth lingering some way
Sharing make believe cheerfulness here
Bravely keeping on without giving into fear
Singing for a brand new day
We're going to make it there someday
No matter what the newsmen say
In all our hopes and dreams we'll stay
(c) January 3, 2022 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Adjustment, Alibis, Blame, Brave, Cheerfulness, Clueless, Dreams, Empty, Empty Pockets, Fear, Gratitude, Gray Skies, Greet, Holding On, Hope, Hopes and Dreams, Linger, Make Believe, Make It, New Day, New Norm, Newsmen, Optimism, Pessimism, Platitude, Poetry and Poems, Quarter, Refuge, Same, Seams, Shanty Town, Sing, Someday, Sorrow, Souls, Stay, Sunrise, Today, Together, Tomorrow, Warm, Warmth, We, Winter's Day, Wise, World
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First Principles: In the Supposed State of Nature, All Men Are Equally Bound By the Laws of Nature, Or To Speak More Properly, the Laws of the Creator
“In the supposed state of nature, all men are equally bound by the laws of nature, or to speak more properly, the laws of the Creator.” – Samuel Adams
Posted in First Principles
Tagged All Men, Equal, First Principles, Laws of Nature, Laws of the Creator, Nature, Samuel Adams, State
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Thought For the Day: It Does Not Do To Leave A Live Dragon Out of Your Calculations, If You Live Near Him
“It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.” -J.R.R. Tolkien, novelist and philologist (3 Jan 1892-1973)
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Calculations, Does Not Do, Dragon, J.R.R. Tolkien, Live, Thought For the Day
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To Lean Out of Wandering
To Lean Out of Wandering
by Michael Doyle
Living out the days of my back forty
Knowing that the end may come shortly
Like Moses, I lift my hands in prayer
Living a moment of taking proper care
Having learned to number my precious days
I long to live the wisdom of God's ways
Where then is the focus that we put on
Before these numbered days are all gone
Time is to be managed ever so wisely
This is not to be said derisively
We do not have time to waste or kill
As time passes just as it does and will
Escaping out of the hourglass, grain by grain
Without our focus being on what to attain
Why then is this the thing we have begun
Taking heed of the paths traveled before we're done
We make the most of what we've been given
Knowing all of our failures are long forgiven
Keeping our eyes focused now on the future
We let our past die as our future we nurture
Our sins separated as far from East to the West
The pains of the past are done as a put away test
We'll have no more living in the shadowy past
Good or bad, these were the times that did not last
The thief of time is found in procrastination
Self-defeating and keeping us from our destination
Drawn away from what we know matters the most
The questions of yesterday live on as if ghosts
Let's not overlook the moments that make up today
Let's live in the awareness of the rhymes at play
Each time we step into the the light of new morning
There is new cause for celebration and not mourning
Yet, while life should not be lived in hurried haste
Neither should days lived be lived in abject waste
Let's travel no roads leading to a barren nowhere
Instead we spent time in mastering living our prayer
Time it seems is meant to be managed well
Keeping the balance in play of life's precious wheel
Let's make the most of whatever time we have got
Fighting the important battles that must be fought
There is always the way set out with good reason
Realizing that everything has its place and season
As we lean into the steps of our ready affirmation
Letting lives lived in joy serve as our confirmation
Taking stock of the important moments of our days
Building on the best of these in all of our ways
Life is not the bits and minutes but the moments
And from these are the best of what life foments
These balls in life can make us into basket cases
If we do not juggle well all of our needed bases
Taking the time to live well the best of our traces
In all that we taking in within our embraces
Time is too short to live holding onto any regret
We should instead take the opportunity to reset
Living for our tomorrows by today sowing faithful seed
We do this by making the right decisions that we need
(c) January 2, 2022 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Affirmation, Back Forty, Bases, Celebration, Confirmation, Days, Decisions, East, Embrace, Failsures, Focus, Forgiven, Future, Ghosts, God's Ways, Gone, Grain, Hands, Haste, Hourglass, Important Battles, Joy, Juggle, Lean, Live, Living Our Prayer, Manage, Moment, Moments, Moses, Need, New Morning, Nowhere, Number, Nurture, Pains, Past, Paths, Play, Poetry and Poems, Prayer, Procrastination, Proper Care, Questions, Reason, Regret, Reset, Rhymes, Season, Seed, Self-Defeating, Shortly, Sins, Sow, Stock, Test, The End, Thief of Time, Time, Today, Traces, Wandering, Waste, West, Wheel, Wisdom
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First Principles: Can the Liberties of A Nation Be Secure When We Have Removed A Conviction That These Liberties Are the Gift of God?
“God who gave us life gave us Liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever.” – Thomas Jefferson (1774)
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Conviction, Country, First Principles, Forever, Gift of God, God, Just, Justice, Liberties of A Nation, Liberty, Life, Reflect, Secure, Sleep, Thomas Jefferson, Tremble
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Thought For the Day: Butterflies Are Like Women – We May Look Pretty and Delicate, But, Baby, We Can Fly Through A Hurricane
“Butterflies are like women — we may look pretty and delicate, but baby, we can fly through a hurricane.” – Betty White
May she rest in peace.
Posted in Thought For the Day
Tagged Betty White, Butterflies, Delicate, Fly, Hurricane, Pretty, Thought For the Day, Women
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Just Like Hollywood
Just Like Hollywood
by Michael Doyle
Every baby truly belongs
Even in the world of wrongs
Dreams turn into nightmares
In this world filled with cares
Sometimes maybe it's alright
To know what's worth the fight
And maybe love is one of those
That would be one those we chose
Closing our eyes as we say goodnight
Knowing that one truth held tight
Where do you run, when running is no good
Just need to hold on tight as we should
No matter how life tries to push us down
If we push back, we can have the victor's crown
There is no throwing the towel in
When we know that we came here to win
We put it together strung into a song
To lift up our hearts when we have to be strong
Hard knock lives give way into the good
When we play it out just like living Hollywood
(c) January 1, 2022 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Alright, Baby, Belongs, Came Here To Win, Cares, Chose, Dreams, Eyes, Good, Hard Knock Lives, Hearts, Hold On, Hollywood, Lift Up, Love, Nightmares, No Good, Play It Out, Poetry and Poems, Push Back, Push Us Down, Put It Together, Run, Say Goodnight, Song, Strong, Those, Throwing the Towel In, Tight, Truth, Victor's Crown, World, Worth the Fight, Wrongs
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First Principles: A General Dissolution of Principles and Manners Will More Surely Overthrow the Liberties of America Than the Whole Force of the Common Enemy
“A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue then will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader.” – Samuel Adams, letter to James Warren, 1779
And haven’t we seen this happening in the last many decades? The more dumbed down and ill-mannered the majority of society has become, the more our nation’s virtues have declined and the closer we have come to the brink of the loss of the American republic. The time is long since past that we who dedicated to this republic must push back hard against this decline, overcoming all obstacles and restoring our nation to righteousness.
