Sewing Machine, Inventor, and Elias Howe (1819.07.09)

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An inventor who revolutionized garment manufacturing with his patented stitching machine, Elias Howe was born on this date in 1819.  You can tune up your sewing machine while you seamlessly listen on your radio to the Howe birthday on Crosscurrents, 7/9 at 8 am.

ELIAS HOWE ON CROSSCURRRENTS, 7/9: live on air link: http://www.krnn.org

Playlist to include:  In My Own Fashion; Sharp Dressed Man; A Lawyer And A Draper; Her Strut; Needles And Pins; A Good Idea At The Time; Heart Machine; Silver Thread And Golden Needles; Ain’t No Easy Way; and Pincussion… among others.

Independence Day quote: a cherished emblem… bedrock principle…

Justice William J. Brennan, Jr.  declared,

           “We can imagine no more appropriate response to burning a flag than waving one’s own, no better way to counter a flag burner’s message than by saluting the flag that burns, no surer means of preserving the dignity even of the flag that burned than by – as one witness here did – according its remains a respectful burial.   We do not consecrate the flag by punishing its desecration, for in doing so we dilute the freedom that this cherished emblem represents.”

“If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.”

— Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397, 414, 1989

Happy Independence Day to you…

…let us all continue to safeguard our democracy!

Equal Protection of the Law; Liberty For All; and Thurgood Marshall (1908.07.02)

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 An advocate for civil rights when  appeared before, and served on, the U.S. Supreme Court, Thurgood Marshall was born on this date in 1908.  You are invited to join the concurring opinion before the radio court of tunes for the Marshall birthday on Crosscurrents, 7/2 at 8 am.    Live on air link: http://www.krnn.org

His words are relevant today as a reminder to us all:

At a time in our history when the streets of the Nation’s cities inspire fear and despair, rather than pride and hope, it is difficult to maintain objectivity and concern for our fellow citizens. But, the measure of a country’s greatness is its ability to retain compassion in time of crisis. No nation in the recorded history of man has a greater tradition of revering justice and fair treatment for all its citizens in times of turmoil, confusion, and tension than ours. This is a country which stands tallest in troubled times, a country that clings to fundamental principles, cherishes its constitutional heritage, and rejects simple solutions that compromise the values that lie at the roots of our democratic system.

                ~~~ Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238, Concurring opinion (January 17, 1972

America must get to work. In the chilled climate in which we live, we must go against the prevailing winds. We must dissent from the indifference. We must dissent from the apathy. We must dissent from the fear, the hatred, and the mistrust. We must dissent from a nation that buried its head in the sand waiting in vain for the needs of its poor, its elderly, and its sick to disappear and just blow away. We must dissent from a government that has left its young without jobs, education, or hope. We must dissent from the poverty of vision and timeless absence of moral leadership. We must dissent, because America can do better, because America has no choice but to do better.

               ~~~ Speech delivered on September 6, 1990, before the Annual Judicial Conference of the Second Circuit, quoted in Supreme Justice Speeches and Writings Thurgood Marshall. Edited by J. Clay Smith, Jr., 2002

The legal system can force open doors, and sometimes-even knock down walls, but it cannot build bridges. That job belongs to you and me. The country can’t do it. Afro and White, rich and poor, educated and illiterate, our fates are bound together. We can run from each other, but we cannot escape each other. We will only attain freedom if we learn to appreciate what is different, and muster the courage to discover what is fundamentally the same. America’s diversity offers so much richness and opportunity. Take a chance, won’t you? Knock down the fences, which divide. Tear apart the walls that imprison you. Reach out. Freedom lies just on the other side. We shall have liberty for all.

             ~~~ Speech delivered on September 6, 1990, before the Annual Judicial Conference of the Second Circuit, quoted in Supreme Justice Speeches and Writings Thurgood Marshall. Edited by J. Clay Smith, Jr., 2002

Customary greeting to Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, What’s shaking, chiefy baby?

           ~~~ Source: quoted by M.D. Davis and H.R. Clark in Thurgood Marshall: Warrior at the Bar, Rebel on the Bench, 1992

Animal Farm, 1984, and George Orwell (1903.06.25)

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An English novelist most known for his satirical works “Animal Farm” and “1984”, George Orwell was born on this date in 1903.  You will find no “doublethink” and that “all animals are equal” on the KRNN farm to which you are invited for an Orwellian birthday playlist on Crosscurrents, 6/25 at 8am.  ORWELL ON CROSSCURRENTS, 6/25: stream live via the web:  http://www.krnn.org

GEORGE ORWELL QUOTES

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”
― George Orwell, Animal Farm

“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
― George Orwell, 1984

Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood.”
―1984

 “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”
― 1984

 “In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
― George Orwell

 “War is peace.
Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength.”
― 1984

 “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”
― Animal Farm

 “Every generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.”
― George Orwell

 “The best books… are those that tell you what you know already.”
― 1984

 “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”
― Animal Farm

 “If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself.”
― 1984

“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.”
― George Orwell

 “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”
― 1984

 “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—for ever.”
― 1984

“We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness.”
― 1984

 “But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.”
―  1984

 “Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. ”
― George Orwell

 “Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.”
― 1984

“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”
― George Orwell

“Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.”
― 1984

“The choice for mankind lies between freedom and happiness and for the great bulk of mankind, happiness is better.”
― 1984

“One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship.”
― 1984

“There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad.”
― 1984

“If you kept the small rules, you could break the big ones.”
1984

“We are the dead. Our only true life is in the future.”
― 1984

“Can you not understand that liberty is worth more than just ribbons?”
―  Animal Farm

“If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable – what then?”
― 1984

“He was a lonely ghost uttering a truth that nobody would ever hear.”
― 1984

“Until they become conscious, they will never rebel”
― 1984

“In general, the greater the understanding, the greater the delusion; the more intelligent, the less sane.”
― 1984

“If there is hope, it lies in the proles.”
― 1984

“You must try harder. It is not easy to become sane.”
“Those who control the present, control the past and those who control the past control the future.”
― 1984

“Those who control the present, control the past and those who control the past control the future.”
―  1984

“The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became the truth.”
―  1984

“The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became the truth.”
― 1984

Mount Everest, Climber, and George Mallory (1886.06.18)

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MALLORY ON CROSSCURRENTS, 6/18: Renowned mountaineer leading three British expeditions to Mount Everest, George Mallory was born on this date in 1886.  You can be your own mountain by joining our Mallory radio party on Crosscurrents, 6/18 at 8 am.

Playlist to include:  Aint No Mountain High Enough;  A Higher Place; Hold On I’m Coming;  I Can’t Help Myself;  Hang On Sloopy;  You’ll Be Coming Down;  Come Together;  Let’s Stay Together;  Reach Out I’ll Be There;  and… Stand By Me.

 

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British Monarch, American Revolution, and King George III (1738.06.04)

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KING GEORGE III ON CROSSCURRENTS, 6/4:  The British monarch presiding over the loss of the American Revolution, King George III was born on this day in 1738.  Including a playlist of some of unusual British 60’s mod musicians, America’s last monarch has a birthday party to which you are welcome is celebrated on Crosscurrents, 6/4 at 8 am.

  1. HOME GROWN:  George III became heir to the throne on the death of his father in 1751, succeeding his grandfather, George II, in 1760. He was the third Hanoverian monarch and the first one to be born in England and to use English as his first language.

  2. BUSY MAN:  George III was devoted to his wife, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. They had 15 children, 13 of whom reached adulthood.

  3. GEORGE, THE SCIENCE GUY:  George III was the first king to study science as part of his education (he had his own astronomical observatory), and examples of his collection of scientific instruments can now be seen in the Science Museum.

  4. WIN SOME, LOSE SOME:  The American War of Independence ran from 1775 to 1783 and resulted in Britain’s loss of many its colonies in North America. France was eager to retaliate against Great Britain following their defeat during the Seven Years’ War.

  5. HE LIKED A GOOD RIDE:  In 1760 George III commissioned the Gold State Coach is an enclosed, eight horse-drawn carriage still used by the British Royal Family today.

  6. FOLLOW THE MONEY: George III’s accession in 1760 marked a significant change in royal finances. In 1760, it was decided that the whole cost of the Civil List (judges and embassadors etc.) should be provided by Parliament, in return for the surrender of the hereditary revenues by the King from the Crown Estate for the duration of his reign.

  7. ROYAL REAL ESTATE KING:  George III bought Buckingham House (now known as Buckingham Palace) in 1761 for his wife Queen Charlotte to use as a comfortable family home close to St James’s Palace, where many court functions were held. Buckingham House became known as the Queen’s House.

  8. PAPER BACK WRITER:  One of the most cultured of monarchs, George III started a new royal collection of books (65,000 of his books were later given to the British Museum, as the nucleus of a national library) and opened his library to scholars.

  9. DUKE OF DIRT:  During his reign, George III acquired the nickname ‘Farmer George’, in part due to his agricultural interests and in part as a playful pun.

  10. HOSPITALIZATION;  After serious bouts of illness in 1788-89 and again in 1801, George became permanently deranged in 1810. He was mentally unfit to rule in the last decade of his reign; his eldest son – the later George IV – acted as Prince Regent from 1811. Some medical historians have said that George III’s mental instability was caused by a hereditary physical disorder called porphyria.

 

The Blue and The Gray on Memorial Day 2018

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The Blue And The Gray

(abridged)
by Francis Miles Finch (1827-1907)

By the flow of the inland river,
Whence the fleets of iron have fled,
Where the blades of the grave-grass quiver,
Asleep are the ranks of the dead:
Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment-day;
Under the one, the Blue,
Under the other, the Gray….

….No more shall the war cry sever,
Or the winding rivers be red;
They banish our anger forever
When they laurel the graves of our dead!
Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment-day,
Love and tears for the Blue,
Tears and love for the Gray.