Core: noun, the most important part of a thing, the essence; from the Latin cor, meaning heart.

The Blog from the Core by E. L. Core
America's Small-Town Weblog

  Needless Commentary from Small-Town America  

   
   
 

Abraham Lincoln, January 27, 1838


Friday, July 03, 2009

The Good Old Days of the Civil War

Yesterday, Assistant Village Idiot blogged about "Separation":

Instapundit linked today to a Randian article on separation of economy and state.
I'm not providing the link. Don't go there today. Just let that phrase run around in your mind for awhile.

And I posted a comment:

That sounds wonderful.

Here's another idea to savor: a Congress that is hardly ever in session.

This is an official compilation of the Congressional sessions:

Congressional Directory: Statistical Information

Have a look at, for instance, the time of the Civil War, numbered Page 519. See, in 1861, the year the war began, Congress was not in session from August 7th all the way through December 1st. (It wouldn't have been in session from March 29th through December 1st had not Lincoln called an extraordinary session in the summer to deal with the war.) And see, in 1865, the year the war ended, Congress was not in session from March 12th all the way through December 3rd.

Congress not in session for months at a time. Doesn't that sound wonderful?

And... if they could have it that way during critical years of the Civil War, why can't we have it that way now?

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Fri. 07/03/09 08:24:07 AM
Categorized as Historical & Political.

The Blog from the Year 2003
The Blog from the Year 2002


Sunday, June 28, 2009

Complete Entry.

Tabb Centenary Year XXXVIII

Five poems by Rev. John B. Tabb.

Song of the Morning-Glories

We wedded each a star—
   A warrior true,
That plighted faith afar
   In drops of dew.

But comes the cruel dawn;
   The dew is dry;
And we, our lovers gone,
   Lamenting, die.

1897 (p. 17, Nature: Flowers)

Fog

The ghost am I
Of winds that die
   Alike on land or sea,
In silence deep
To shroud and keep
   Their mournful memory.

A spirit white
I stalk the night,
   Or, shadowing the skies,
Forbid the sun
To look upon
   My noonday mysteries.

March 1903 (p. 59, Nature: Clouds and Sky)

All in All

One heaven above;
But many a heaven below
The dewdrops show—
God’s tenderness
Subdued in every teardrop to express
   The whole of love.

April 1895 (p. 135, Life, Death and Similar Themes: Love)

To a Rose

Thou hast not toiled, sweet Rose,
   Yet needest rest;
Softly thy petals close
   Upon thy breast,
Like folded hands, of labor long oppressed.

Naught knowest thou of sin,
   Yet tears are thine;
Baptismal drops within
   Thy chalice shine,
At morning’s birth, at evening’s calm decline.

Alas! one day hath told
   The tale to thee!
Thy tender leaves enfold
   Life’s mystery:
Its shadow falls alike on thee and me!

1894 (p. 7, Nature: Flowers)

Moon-Flowers

The summer night remembers
   The morning glories slain,
And from the twilight embers
   Recalls their ghosts again.

November 1898 (p. 327, Nature: Flowers)

[“Song of the Morning-Glories”: the Morning Glory is a flowering plant whose blossoms usually last for only one morning, new blossoms opening each day. “To a Rose”: the Rose is a common perennial flowering shrub. “Moon-Flowers”: these are flowering plants of the genus Datura that bloom at night; most of the species have white flowers.]

Complete Entry.......

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sun. 06/28/09 11:53:05 AM
Categorized as Father Tabb Centenary Year & Literary.

The Blog from the Year 2003
The Blog from the Year 2002


Saturday, June 27, 2009

Complete Entry.

The Week That Was

On Monday, all the news was Iran; by Friday, all the news was Michael Jackson. The breakneck speed at which the newscasters and punditocracy switched gears from one to the other was both astonishing and expected. Here are three pieces that say very well what I could only say rather poorly.

Complete Entry.......

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sat. 06/27/09 10:46:39 PM
Categorized as International & Media & Political.

The Blog from the Year 2003
The Blog from the Year 2002


Tuesday, June 23, 2009

The Avalon Project

It's an archive of Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy at Yale Law School.

(Thanks, Richard.)

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Tue. 06/23/09 09:10:12 PM
Categorized as WorldWideWeb Stuff.

The Blog from the Year 2004
The Blog from the Year 2003


Sunday, June 21, 2009

Midsummer Day

The first day of Summer 2009.

I was going to blog a summer poem, but discovered that I have already done so: "In Summer Fields".

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sun. 06/21/09 07:38:01 PM
Categorized as Literary.


Complete Entry.

Tabb Centenary Year XXXVII

Five poems by Rev. John B. Tabb.

Reflection

Where closing water-lilies are
I’ve sometimes seen the Evening Star,
   A-blossom just below,
And I have wondered if there be
No pools in heaven where souls may see
   How water-lilies grow.

1902 (p. 18, Nature: Flowers)

Beyond

The river to the sea,
In language of the land,
Interpreter would be
Of life beyond the strand;
Of billowy heights that never fall
When winds have gone their way,
Of waving forests, dark and tall,
Of flocks, and herds, and fertile vales,
Of warbling birds and blossom-spray
That scents the wandering gales.
Alas! ’tis all a mystery!
She does not understand.

(p. 70, Nature: The Sea)

Life’s Gulf Stream

Stars that in the darkness bloom
Wither in the light;
Dreams begotten of the gloom,
Take their morning flight.

And, the gleam of fancy gone,
From the current of the dawn
Tidal memories are drawn
To the coast of Night.

1910 (p. 77, Nature: Day and Night)

Sympathy

Lo! of gladness or regret
Teardrops in the violet
Weeping till her leaves are wet,
Dewdrops in mine eyes beget!

Mirrored in each lucid sphere,
Highest heaven to earth is near;
Closer sympathies are here
’Twixt the dewdrop and the tear.

April 1894 (p. 150, Life, Death and Similar Themes: Life)

Sunset at Sea

Lo, where he sinks from sight,
The day forgets her light;
   Nor breathes a wave
To break the silence sweet
Where sky and ocean meet
   Above his grave.

February 1892 (p. 64, Nature: The Sea)

[“Reflection”: the Evening Star is the planet Venus, so called during the periods when it is brightest just after sunset. “Beyond”: in the last line, “She” refers to the sea. “Life’s Gulf Stream”: the Gulf Stream is a powerful, warm current in the Atlantic Ocean, running along the Eastern seaboard of North America.]

Complete Entry.......

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sun. 06/21/09 06:28:01 PM
Categorized as Father Tabb Centenary Year & Literary.

The Blog from the Year 2006
The Blog from the Year 2004
The Blog from the Year 2002


Friday, June 19, 2009

World Day of Prayer for Priests 2009

Today is the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, since 2003 also the World Day of Prayer for Priests.

O Jesus, I pray for Your faithful and fervent priests; for Your unfaithful and tepid priests; for Your priests labouring at home or abroad in distant mission fields; for Your tempted priests; for Your lonely and desolate priests; for Your young priests; for Your dying priests; for the souls of Your priests in purgatory. But above all I commend to You the priests dearest to me; the priest who baptized me; the priests who absolved me from my sins; the priests at whose Masses I assisted and who gave me Your Body and Blood in Holy communion; the priests who taught and instructed me; all the priests to whom I am indebted in any other way. O Jesus, keep them all close to Your heart, and bless them abundantly in time and in eternity. Amen. (Source.)

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Fri. 06/19/09 08:43:29 AM
Categorized as Religious.

The Blog from the Year 2008
The Blog from the Year 2006
The Blog from the Year 2004
The Blog from the Year 2003
The Blog from the Year 2002


Sunday, June 14, 2009

"The American Flag"

Flag Day 2009.

June 14 is Flag Day in the United States.

The American Flag

                              I.

When Freedom from her mountain height
   Unfurled her standard to the air,
She tore the azure robe of night,
   And set the stars of glory there.
And mingled with its gorgeous dyes
The milky baldric of the skies,
And striped its pure celestial white
With streakings of the morning light;
Then from his mansion in the sun
She called her eagle bearer down,
And gave into his mighty hand,
   The symbol of her chosen land.

                              II.

Majestic monarch of the cloud,
   Who rear'st aloft thy regal form,
To hear the tempest trumpings loud
   And see the lightning lances driven,
When strive the warriors of the storm,
   And rolls the thunder-drum of heaven,
Child of the sun! to thee 'tis given
   To guard the banner of the free,
To hover in the sulphur smoke,
To ward away the battle stroke,
And bid its blendings shine afar,
Like rainbows on the cloud of war,
   The harbingers of victory!

                              III.

Flag of the brave! thy folds shall fly,
   The sign of hope and triumph high,
When speaks the signal trumpet tone,
   And the long line comes gleaming on.
Ere yet the life-blood, warm and wet,
   Has dimmed the glistening bayonet,
Each soldier eye shall brightly turn
   To where thy sky-born glories burn,
And, as his springing steps advance,
   Catch war and vengeance from the glance.
And when the cannon-mouthings loud
   Heave in wild wreaths the battle shroud,
And gory sabres rise and fall
Like shoots of flame on midnight's pall;
   Then shall thy meteor glances glow,
And cowering foes shall shrink beneath
   Each gallant arm that strikes below
That lovely messenger of death.

                              IV.

Flag of the seas! on ocean wave
   Thy stars shall glitter o'er the brave;
When death, careering on the gale,
   Sweeps darkly round the bellied sail,
And frighted waves rush wildly back
   Before the broadside's reeling rack,
Each dying wanderer of the sea
   Shall look at once to heaven and thee,
   And smile to see thy splendors fly
   In triumph o'er his closing eye.

                              V.

Flag of the free heart's hope and home!
   By angel hands to valor given;
Thy stars have lit the welkin dome,
   And all thy hues were born in heaven.
Forever float that standard sheet!
   Where breathes the foe but falls before us,
With Freedom's soil beneath our feet,
   And Freedom's banner streaming o'er us?

Joseph Rodman Drake (1795-1820)

American Poetry: The Nineteenth Century (1993), ed. John Hollander, Volume One, pp. 209ff.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sun. 06/14/09 06:42:20 PM
Categorized as Literary.


Complete Entry.

Tabb Centenary Year XXXVI

Five poems by Rev. John B. Tabb.

A Query

Was it the dawn that waked the bird
   With yonder spark?
Or had the sleeping darkness stirred
   Before the Lark?

For either rival to declare
   The winds are loth;
And blossoms, nodding everywhere,
   Affirm for both.

April 1893 (p. 73, Nature: Day and Night)

The Duet

A little yellow bird above,
A little yellow flower below;
The little bird can sing the love
That bird and blossom know;
The blossom has no song nor wing,
But breathes the love he cannot sing.

1899 (p. 45, Nature: Birds)

God

I see Thee in the distant blue;
But in the violet’s dell of dew,
Behold, I breathe and touch Thee too.

March 1895 (p. 218, Religion: Doctrine)

The Bluebird

When God had made a host of them,
One little flower still lacked a stem
   To hold its blossom blue;
So into it He breathed a song,
And suddenly, with petals strong
   As wings, away it flew.

1899 (p. 46, Nature: Birds)

Discrepancy

One dream the bird and blossom dreamed
   Of love the whole night long;
Yet twain its revelation seemed,
   In fragrance and in song.

April 1893 (p. 359, Quatrains: Miscellaneous)

[“A Query”: larks are songbirds; only one, the Horned Lark, lives in North America. “God”: violets are widely distributed flowering plants; this was the first poem of Father Tabb’s that I ever read. “The Bluebird”: bluebirds are songbirds belonging to the Thrush family; one species, the Eastern Bluebird, lives year-round in Virginia, where Father Tabb resided.]

Complete Entry.......

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sun. 06/14/09 06:19:48 PM
Categorized as Father Tabb Centenary Year & Literary.


Assistant Village Idiot

The Blog from the Core has had the "psychblog" Assistant Village Idiot in the blogroll for a long time; the blogger has kindly returned the favor, whereupon I left the following comment:

The blog has been mostly poetry this year. I used to write a lot more myself and post more frequently with wider variety; but, after a few years, I got to thinking that I'd already said everything I'd wanted to say about current events and issues. (The faces and places change often, but the ideas in play don't change very much at all.) There are so many blogs that follow the issues and events of the day, I decided that I might actually make a more valuable contribution if most of my blogging were less timely and topical. As C.S. Lewis said somewhere, the more up-to-date something is, the sooner it's out of date.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sun. 06/14/09 06:08:00 PM
Categorized as Blogosphere Stuff.

The Blog from the Year 2006
The Blog from the Year 2004
The Blog from the Year 2003
The Blog from the Year 2002


Sunday, June 07, 2009

Complete Entry.

Tabb Centenary Year XXXV

Five lyrics by Rev. John B. Tabb.

The Mist

Eurydice eludes the dark
   To follow Orpheus, the lark
That leads her to the dawn
   With rhapsodies of star-delight,
   Till, looking backward in his flight,
He finds that she is gone.

December 1900 (p. 62, Nature: Clouds and Sky)

The Shower

   Against the royal blue,
   A mist rebellious flew—
A night-born, wind-uplifted shade
That for an angry moment stayed,
   Then wept itself away.

   The earth with moistened eyes
   Beholds the sunlit skies
Again, but never to forget
The cloud whose life-drops mingle yet
   With her maternal clay.

August 1895 (p. 57, Nature: Clouds and Sky)

Tides

Like inland streams, O sea,
   Through joy and pain
All nature dreams of thee;
   Nor more appears
Thy life in mist or rain
   Than in our tears.

July 1909 (p. 69, Nature: The Sea)

Desert-Orbs

The world, they tell us, dwindles,
   When matched with other spheres;
And yet in all their amplitudes
   No place for human tears.

How sterile is the sunshine,
   How masculine the blue,
That breeds no shadow, nor betrays
   A memory of dew!

July 1909 (p. 151, Life, Death, and Similar Themes: Sympathy)

A Legacy

Do you remember, little cloud,
   This morning when you lay—
A mist along the river—what
   The waters had to say?

And how the many-coloured flowers
   That on the margin grew
All promised when the day was done
   To leave their tints to you?

1899 (p. 59, Nature: Clouds and Sky)

[“The Mist”: Eurydice and her husband Orpheus are figures in Greek mythology; dismayed by the death of Eurydice, Orpheus travels to the underworld to win her return; in the poem, the mist is Eurydice and the lark is Orpheus.]

Complete Entry.......

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sun. 06/07/09 06:24:25 PM
Categorized as Father Tabb Centenary Year & Literary.

The Blog from the Year 2008
The Blog from the Year 2004
The Blog from the Year 2003
The Blog from the Year 2002


Saturday, June 06, 2009

The 25th Anniversary of the 40th Anniversary of D-Day

Twenty-five years ago today, Ronald Reagan delivered two speeches in France in honor of the fortieth anniversary of D-Day. Here follows the entry in his diary for that day.

+ + + + +

The 40th anniversary of the landing on D. Day. We helicoptered across the channel. First stop was Pointe du Hoc where 40 yrs. ago our Rangers — 225 of them climbed the 100 foot sheer cliff to establish a position. Only 90 were still combatable by the 2nd day. We met 62 who had returned for this anniversary. I addressed them & the large crowd. It was an emotional experience for everyone. Nancy & I went into the massive concrete pill box from which the Germans had 1st seen at daybreak the 5000 ships in the invasion fleet.

Walter Cronkite did a 5 min. TV interview with me — then we flew to Omaha beach. This was the heart breaker — row on row of white marble crosses (& stars of David) more than 9000 of them. We have a picture of one — the grave of our Ann's brother, we're giving it to her. Pres. of France, Mitterrand arrived.

Together we placed wreaths at the monument then I spoke. My speech contained many quotes from a letter I'd received a few days before the trip from a young lady whose father landed on D. Day. All her life she had heard his stories of what the day had meant to him. A few years ago he died of Cancer. He'd always said one day he would return to Omaha Beach. She promised she'd do it for him. We made it possible for the family to be there. I had difficulty getting through my speech. From there it was on to Utah beach. This was the biggest affair. Pres. Mitterrand made the only speech but on the beach were mil. formations of Ours, the French, English, Norway, Belgium, Netherlands & Canada. All the heads of state of those countries were there. The crowd was tremendous in size.

British & American forces were off shore. One of ours was the aircraft carrier Eisenhower. On the way back our helicopter circled her while I addressed the 5000 crew members by radio. They were drawn up on the desk [sic] in a formation that spelled Ike.

+ + + + +

The Blog from the Core asserts Fair Use for non-commercial, non-profit educational purposes.

Source: The Reagan Diaries, p. 245.

P.S. See also Pres. Roosevelt's prayer and press conference on D-Day itself. (Yes, the president's prayer, broadcast nationwide. The. president's. prayer.)

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sat. 06/06/09 09:28:24 PM
Categorized as Historical & Speeches and Suchlike.


The Real Race?

Over at Dr. Sanity, I left a comment yesterday:

In the race to destroy America, it looks like a neck-and-neck contest between the Islamists and the Obamists.
Unless it's a relay race.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sat. 06/06/09 09:30:47 AM
Categorized as International & Political.

The Blog from the Year 2006
The Blog from the Year 2004
The Blog from the Year 2003
The Blog from the Year 2002


Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Pope John in Color

Bl. Pope John XXIII died this day, June 3, 1963.

LIFE photo archive has quite a few pictures of the pope, including a few wonderful images in color.

Pope John XXIII

Pope John XXIII

Pope John XXIII

Pope John XXIII

Ora pro nobis.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Wed. 06/03/09 10:38:31 PM
Categorized as Historical & Photos & Religious.


An Unusual Fortieth Anniversary

Forty years ago today, when I was a boy of eleven, the last of the first-run episodes of Star Trek, entitled "Turnabout Intruder", was broadcast on NBC at 10:00 p.m.

I can barely just remember getting to stay up late to watch some Star Trek in the 1960s. Later, in the 1970s, I watched a lot of Star Trek in syndicated reruns.

As I said the other day, tempus fugit.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Wed. 06/03/09 10:00:00 PM
Categorized as Other.

The Blog from the Year 2008
The Blog from the Year 2004
The Blog from the Year 2003
The Blog from the Year 2002


Monday, June 01, 2009

Recent Comments

A couple of recent columns prompt me to blog here some comments I've made at other blogs this year.

First, Barack Obama and the CIA: why does President Pantywaist hate America so badly? by Gerald Warner, Apr. 24:

If al-Qaeda, the Taliban and the rest of the Looney Tunes brigade want to kick America to death, they had better move in quickly and grab a piece of the action before Barack Obama finishes the job himself. Never in the history of the United States has a president worked so actively against the interests of his own people - not even Jimmy Carter.
Obama's problem is that he does not know who the enemy is. To him, the enemy does not squat in caves in Waziristan, clutching automatic weapons and reciting the more militant verses from the Koran: instead, it sits around at tea parties in Kentucky quoting from the US Constitution. Obama is not at war with terrorists, but with his Republican fellow citizens. He has never abandoned the campaign trail....
President Pantywaist's recent world tour, cosying up to all the bad guys, excited the ambitions of America's enemies. Here, they realised, is a sucker they can really take to the cleaners. His only enemies are fellow Americans. Which prompts the question: why does President Pantywaist hate America so badly?

That called to mind my recent comment:

Two things America's enemies around the world have learned over the past 35 years: Republicans will fight America's enemies around the world, and Democrats will fight Republicans.

It also called to mind my comment at American Digest, March 11:

I hate to say it, but I suspect that Obama in the White House says to our enemies around the world what blood in the water says to sharks. And our enemies around the world are paying a heck of a lot more attention to his (and his associates') goofs and gaffes than most Americans are (thanks to MSM's partisan bias), and they're learning a lot. America, I fear, is going to eventually learn what it means to have a completely unqualified and wholly unprepared man as President; after which, I fear, the world will learn just how much it owed to the Pax Americana. True, I may fear too much; then again, maybe not.

Now, It’s increasingly evident that Obama should resign, by the execrable Ted Rall (of all people), May 29:

We expected broken promises. But the gap between the soaring expectations that accompanied Barack Obama’s inauguration and his wretched performance is the broadest such chasm in recent historical memory. This guy makes Bill Clinton look like a paragon of integrity and follow-through....

Here's a similar comparison of mine at Dr. Sanity's, March 2:

Who would have thought that even the Democrats could come up so soon with another politician on the national stage who is a liar as smooth, easy, and natural as Bill Clinton? They not only did it within a decade, they actually came up with somebody who, by comparison, makes Bill Clinton look like an honest man.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Mon. 06/01/09 06:17:45 PM
Categorized as International & Political.

The Blog from the Year 2008
The Blog from the Year 2004
The Blog from the Year 2003


Sunday, May 31, 2009

Complete Entry.

Tabb Centenary Year XXXIV

Five sonnets by Rev. John B. Tabb.

The Hermit

High on the hoary mountain-top he dwelt
Alone with God, whose handiwork above
The wonders of the firmament approve
In an eternal silence. There he spelt
The name of the Omnipotent, and knelt
In lowly reverence of adoring love.
Beneath him, all the elements that move
In Nature’s prayerful harmonies he felt
And knew their mystic meaning. Thus the tone
Of lifted billows and the storm that sways
The forest-seas in chorus spake alone
Divinity, scarce hidden from his gaze;
And with their mighty voices blent his own
In one majestic utterance of praise.

1882 (p. 296, Sonnets)

Restraint

Pause while thine eyes are alien to the scene
That lies before thee. Let the Fancy range,
As yet she may, sole sovereign of the strange
Uncharted region of that wide demesne
Where Truth the tyrant never yet hath been.
He, once supreme, as in a narrowed grange
Thenceforth abides forever—Chance and Change
Foregone his guarded barriers between.
Pass not; before the all-discerning Light
The angels veil their faces. To the wise
The tree of Knowledge in their Eden stands
Untasted, lest the Death that in it lies
Prevail, the bud of Innocence to blight,
And cloud the glimpse of ever-widening lands.

1897 (p. 299, Sonnets)

The Druid

Godlike beneath his grave divinities,
The last of all their worshippers, he stood.
The shadows of a vanished multitude
Enwound him, and their voices in the breeze
Made murmur, while the meditative trees
Reared of their strong fraternal branches rude
A temple meet for prayer. What blossoms strewed
The path between life’s morning hours and these?
What lay beyond the darkness? He alone
The sunshine and the shadow and the dew
Had shared alike with leaf, and flower, and stem:
Their life had been his lesson; and from them
A dream of immortality he drew,
As in their fate foreshadowing his own.

August 1896 (p. 295, Sonnets)

The Petrel

A wanderer o’er the sea-graves ever green,
Whereon the foam-flowers blossom day by day,
Thou flittest as a doomful shadow gray
That from the wave no sundering light can wean.
What wouldst thou from the deep unfathomed glean,
Frail voyager? and whither leads thy way?
Or art thou, as the sailor legends say,
An exile from the spirit-world unseen?
Lo! desolate, above a colder tide,
Pale Memory, a sea-bird like to thee,
Flits outward where the whitening billows hide
What seemed of Life the one reality—
A mist whereon the morning bloom hath died,
Returning, ghost-like, to the restless sea.

September 1883 (p. 287, Sonnets)

Unuttered

Waiting for words—as on the broad expanse
Of heaven the formless vapors of the night,
Expectant, wait the oracle of light
Interpreting their dumb significance;
Or like a star that in the morning glance
Shrinks, as a folding blossom, from the sight,
Nor wakens till upon the western height
The shadows to their evening towers advance—
So, in my soul, a dream ineffable,
Expectant of the sunshine or the shade,
Hath oft, upon the brink of twilight chill,
Or at the dawn’s pale glimmering portal stayed
In tears, that all the quivering eyelids fill,
In smiles, that on the lip of silence fade.

June 1883 (p. 282, Sonnets)

[“Restraint”: a demesne (the second syllable is prounced "main") is a territory or region; see Genesis, Chapter 2 and Chapter 3, for Eden and the tree of Knowledge. “The Druid”: druids were a learned and/or priestly class in ancient Celtic and Gallic regions of Europe, about whom little is actually known but much has been fancied. “The Petrel”: petrels are seabirds that live in open oceans or seas, returning to land only to breed.]

Complete Entry.......

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sun. 05/31/09 07:17:33 PM
Categorized as Father Tabb Centenary Year & Literary.

The Blog from the Year 2006
The Blog from the Year 2005
The Blog from the Year 2004
The Blog from the Year 2002


Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Seventh Blogiversary!

The Blog from the Core is seven years old today.

Tempus fugit.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Tue. 05/26/09 07:32:28 AM
Categorized as Blog Stuff.

The Blog from the Year 2008
The Blog from the Year 2007
The Blog from the Year 2006
The Blog from the Year 2005
The Blog from the Year 2004
The Blog from the Year 2003
The Blog from the Year 2002


Sunday, May 24, 2009

Complete Entry.

Tabb Centenary Year XXXIII

Five quatrains by Rev. John B. Tabb.

Abashed

The cock crows; and behold the hidden Day,
   The thrice-denied, appears,
And Darkness, conscience-stricken, steals away,
   His face bedewed with tears.

1910 (p. 335, Quatrains: Day and Night)

Archery

A bow across the sky,
   Another in the river
Whence swallows upward fly,
   Like arrows from a quiver.

1899 (p. 330, Quatrains: Birds)

The Lark

He rose and singing passed from sight:
   A shadow kindling with the sun,
His joy ecstatic flamed, till light
   And heavenly song were one.

August 1892 (p. 329, Quatrains: Birds)

The Sunbeam

A ladder from the land of light,
   I rest upon the sod,
Whence dewy angels of the night
   Climb back again to God.

December 1892 (p. 331, Quatrains: Day and Night)

Signals

The prophet Star, the Maiden Dawn, the Sun—
   So light begins his reign;
Then Sunset, widowed Twilight, and anon
   The prophet Star again.

July 1904 (p. 336, Quatrains: Day and Night)

[“Abashed”: the poem alludes to the narrative in Matthew 26:69-75. “The Sunbeam”: the poem alludes to the Old Testament story of Jacob's Ladder, Genesis 28:10-22; see also John 1:51. “Signals”: anon means soon.]

Complete Entry.......

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sun. 05/24/09 08:08:44 AM
Categorized as Father Tabb Centenary Year & Literary.

The Blog from the Year 2008
The Blog from the Year 2004
The Blog from the Year 2003


Thursday, May 21, 2009

The Brightness of the Year V

As has been customary since 2003, The Blog from the Core marks today the beginning of the brightest period of the year in the Northern Hemisphere: the month preceding and the month following the Summer Solstice on June 21st.

These are the longest days — but they will fly.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Thu. 05/21/09 09:49:54 PM
Categorized as Other.

The Blog from the Year 2005
The Blog from the Year 2004
The Blog from the Year 2003


Abraham Lincoln, September 4, 1864

 
     
 
Links
 
     
 

The Blog from the Core

Core's Law of New Media
There Is No Such Thing As Local News Anymore:
In the Internet Age, anything anybody has said, or written, or done — anywhere, anytime — can sooner or later become known everywhere else.

The Blog from the Core

The Blog from the Core, and all original material, © 2002-2009 E. L. Core. All rights reserved.

The Blog from the Core

Your Humble, Faithful Blogster
Your Humble, Faithful Blogster - January 27, 2009
January 27, 2009 / May 10, 2009

E-mail the Blogster

The Blog from the Core

لن أستسلم

Flight 93 Memorial Wallpapers & Screen Saver: In honor of the fifth anniversary.

لن أستسلم

Verboten / The Danish cartoons of Mohammed. / Originally published in Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten, September 30, 2005.

لن أستسلم

The Blog from the Core

Syndicate
RDF XML

The Blog from the Core

A Proud Member of The Jammies Brigade


The Blog from the Core

Pray for the Nation: The Jesus Flag

The Blog from the Core

Latest Entries (5113 Total):

Indices to Latest Weeks:

The Blog from the Core

The Blog from the Core adheres to the Welborn Protocol: any messages addressed to the weblog's e-mail address will be assumed to be eligible for blogging, unless specified otherwise by the sender. (Name and e-mail address, however, will not be posted, unless explicitly requested by the sender.)

A link on The Blog from the Core does not necessarily indicate unqualified endorsement of any statements of fact or any expressions of opinion on the linked website or webpage. And the opinions expressed here are mine alone: they do not necessarily reflect those of any other person or organization.

Citation of, and/or quotation of, articles in mainstream-media publications by The Blog from the Core — especially those in The New York Times — assume that the article was written by the one given credit for writing it; that assertions as to the time and place of authorship are true; that assertions of fact in the article are, indeed, factual; that any individuals mentioned or quoted are, indeed, who they are said to be; and, that quotations are substantially correct and were actually said and/or written by the person or persons to whom they are attributed. The Blog acknowledges that this assumption is quite shaky.

Unsolicited Testimonial: "The Blog from the Core is my absolutely favorite weblog. Crisp. Sparkling. Sometimes almost effervescent. I cannot imagine having to get through a day without it. I recommend it to everybody on the face of the Earth." Greg Packer ;-)

The Blog from the Core


Flight 93 @ ELCore.Net

The Blog from the Core


The Blog from the Core Archives

The Blog from the Core


Here a Blog, There a Blog

St. Blog's Catholic Parish

Social, Political, Legal and/or Media Commentary

Others of Interest

Watches

The Blog from the Core


Core Links

ELCore.Net
The View from the Core

The Blog from the Core

Special Sites

The Blog from the Core

Remember September 11

The Blog from the Core

Sources of News & Opinion

The Blog from the Core

Columnists

The Blog from the Core

Catholic Resources

Documents, Collections, etc.

Significant Apologetics Sites

Message Boards

Some Catholic Blogs

<< # St. Blog's Parish ? >>

The Blog from the Core

Web Gallery of Art

Jesus Christ the Lord

The Presentation of Christ (Melchior Broederlam)

The Blog from the Core

Baptism of Christ (Joachim Patenier)

The Blog from the Core

Transfiguration of Christ (Giovanni Bellini)

The Blog from the Core

The Capture of Christ (Cimabue)

The Blog from the Core

Scenes from the Life of Christ: Crucifixion (Giotto)

The Blog from the Core

Resurrection (Dieric Bouts the Elder)

The Blog from the Core

The Ascension of Christ (Pietro Perugino)

The Blog from the Core

Detail from Christ Surrounded by Musician Angels (Hans Memling)

St. Peter the Apostle

Christ Handing the Keys to St. Peter (Pietro Perugino)

The Blog from the Core

St. Peter (Francesco del Cossa)

The Blog from the Core

St. Peter (El Greco)

The Blog from the Core

Ss. Paul and Peter (Bartolomeo Vivarini)

The Blog from the Core

St. Paul Visits St. Peter in Prison (Filippino Lippi)

The Blog from the Core

St. Peter Freed from Prison (Filippino Lippi)

The Blog from the Core

Crucifixion of St. Peter (Filippino Lippi)

The Blog from the Core

Some Significant Quotations

Abraham Lincoln

What constitutes the bulwark of our own liberty and independence? It is not our frowning battlements, our bristling seacoasts, the guns of our war steamers, or the strength of our gallant and disciplined army. These are not our reliance against a resumption of tyranny in our fair land. All of them may be turned against our liberties, without making us stronger or weaker for the struggle. Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in our bosoms. Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere. Destroy this spirit, and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own doors. Familiarize yourselves with the chains of bondage, and you are preparing your own limbs to wear them. Accustomed to trample on the rights of those around you, you have lost the genius of your own independence, and become the fit subjects of the first cunning tyrant who rises.

(Speech at Edwardsville, Illinois, Sep. 11, 1858)

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

A good society is able to face schemes of world domination and foreign revolutions alike without fear. Since the beginning of our American history we have been engaged in change, in a perpetual, peaceful revolution, a revolution which goes on steadily, quietly, adjusting itself to changing conditions without the concentration camp or the quicklime in the ditch. The world order which we seek is the cooperation of free countries, working together in a friendly, civilized society. This nation has placed its destiny in the hands, heads and hearts of its millions of free men and women, and its faith in freedom under the guidance of God. Freedom means the supremacy of human rights everywhere. Our support goes to those who struggle to gain those rights and keep them. Our strength is our unity of purpose. To that high concept there can be no end save victory.

(State of the Union Address, Jan. 6, 1941)

John F. Kennedy

The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe — the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God. We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans — born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage — and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this Nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world. Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

(Inaugural Address, Jan. 20, 1961)

George W. Bush

It is presumptuous and insulting to suggest that a whole region of the world — or the one-fifth of humanity that is Muslim — is somehow untouched by the most basic aspirations of life. Human cultures can be vastly different. Yet the human heart desires the same good things, everywhere on Earth. In our desire to be safe from brutal and bullying oppression, human beings are the same. In our desire to care for our children and give them a better life, we are the same. For these fundamental reasons, freedom and democracy will always and everywhere have greater appeal than the slogans of hatred and the tactics of terror.

(Address at the American Enterprise Institute, Feb. 26, 2003)

Tony Blair

There is a myth. That though we love freedom, others don't, that our attachment to freedom is a product of our culture. That freedom, democracy, human rights, the rule of law are American values or Western values. That Afghan women were content under the lash of the Taliban. That Saddam was beloved by his people. That Milosevic was Serbia's saviour. Ours are not Western values. They are the universal values of the human spirit and anywhere, any time, ordinary people are given the chance to choose, the choice is the same. Freedom not tyranny. Democracy not dictatorship. The rule of law not the rule of the secret police. The spread of freedom is the best security for the free. It is our last line of defence and our first line of attack.

(Address to a Joint Session of Congress, Jul. 17, 2003)

The Blog from the Core

Your Humble, Faithful Blogster
Your Humble, Faithful Blogster - January 27, 2009
January 27, 2009 / May 10, 2009

E-mail the Blogster

The Blog from the Core adheres to the Welborn Protocol: any messages addressed to the weblog's e-mail address will be assumed to be eligible for blogging, unless specified otherwise by the sender. (Name and e-mail address, however, will not be posted, unless explicitly requested by the sender.)

A link on The Blog from the Core does not necessarily indicate unqualified endorsement of any statements of fact or any expressions of opinion on the linked website or webpage. And the opinions expressed here are mine alone: they do not necessarily reflect those of any other person or organization.

Citation of, and/or quotation of, articles in mainstream-media publications by The Blog from the Core — especially those in The New York Times — assume that the article was written by the one given credit for writing it; that assertions as to the time and place of authorship are true; that assertions of fact in the article are, indeed, factual; that any individuals mentioned or quoted are, indeed, who they are said to be; and, that quotations are substantially correct and were actually said and/or written by the person or persons to whom they are attributed. The Blog acknowledges that this assumption is quite shaky.

Unsolicited Testimonial: "The Blog from the Core is my absolutely favorite weblog. Crisp. Sparkling. Sometimes almost effervescent. I cannot imagine having to get through a day without it. I recommend it to everybody on the face of the Earth." Greg Packer ;-)

The Blog from the Core

Pray for the Nation: The Jesus Flag

The Blog from the Core


A Proud Member of The Jammies Brigade

The Blog from the Core

The Blog from the Core, and all original material, © 2002-2009 E. L. Core. All rights reserved.

The Blog from the Core

Movable Type

The Blog from the Core

Syndicate
RDF XML

The Blog from the Core


 


  Needless Commentary from Small-Town America  

The View from the Core, and all original material, © 2002-2004 E. L. Core. All rights reserved.

Cor ad cor loquitur J. H. Newman — “Heart speaks to heart”