Well, The last Car CD has been spinning on repeat in the Cruiser since March. Thus it was time for a new mix. Realising that my daughter knew nothing of our country’s heritage, this CD is very patriotic (as our latest trips to the Library have been as well.) So here is the “July Car CD” (that may last until October!)

My daughter like many types of music, but the Danielson Familie, Joy Electric, Soul Junk and Sandra Boyntn are her favorites. The Cutest Lil’ Dragon and “I Want This Beat” were Specific requests from the lady herself.

1. 
   Battle of New Orleans  

   

   Johnny Horton’s Greatest Hits

2. Star Spangled Banner – Barber Shop Quartet – Free Patriotic Songs

3. American Skies – 

   

   America

   Havalina Rail Co.

(They have a “thing” for giving music away – Check it out)

4. 
   Head Shoulders knees toes (as U2)

   

   Mother Goose Rocks! Volume 5

5. Ephesians 6:1

6. Cutest Lil’ Dragon 

   

   Tri-Danielson, Vol. 2

   Danielson Famile

7. pi = 3.14159265

8. Galatians 5:22

9. 
   Fireworks 

   

   Schoolhouse Rock!

10. Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag – John Wane – Free Patriotic Songs

11. 
    No More Kings 

    

    Schoolhouse Rock!

12. 
    Johnny Freedom 

    

    Johnny Horton’s Greatest Hits

13. 
    Here in America (The Music video was directed by Steve Taylor!)

    

    A Liturgy, A Legacy & A Ragamuffin Band

    Rich Mullins

14. I’ve Got peace Like A River 
    

    You Are My Little Bird

    Elizabeth Mitchell

15. This little Light of Mine as Sting 
    

    Mother Goose Rocks, Vol. 4

16. Children, Obey Your Parents 

    

    The Word & Song Children’s Bible cd SET 

17. 
    The Modern Church Historical 

    
    The History of God and Man

    Paul Aldrich

18. 
    Tricycle 

    

    Fascinating Creatures

    Frances England

19. Mr Buechner’s Dream
    

    Mr. Buechner’s Dream

    Daniel Amos

20. Tom Bombadil 

    

    Lord of the Rings At Dawn in Rivendell

21. Virse of the Ring

    

    Lord of the Rings At Dawn in Rivendell
    

22. In the Hall of the Mountain King

23. books of the Old Testament Song
24. books of the  New Testament Song

25. Psalm 1 

    

    1959

    Soul-Junk

26. Psalm 11 

    

    1959

    Soul-Junk

27. Psalm 27 

    

    The Audio Bible Drama. Audio Drama

    Faith comes by hearing

28. 
    Courage (Someday I’ll Be Heard), Psalms 27:14 

    

    Five Stars for Failure

    Joy Electric

29. I want this Beat
    
    Motion Factory

    Zero

30. Ill-M-I 

    

    1956

    Soul-Junk
    (tobyMac got it from THEM – but my Daughter just does not like his versions – This may be her favorite song)

31. Psalm 7

    

    1959

    Soul-Junk

32. The Gettysburg Address – Johnny Cash - Free Patriotic Songs

33. This Land Is Your Land – Woody Guthry – Free Patriotic Songs

34. 
    Star Spangled Banner (live) – Sufjan Stevens

35. old testement bible dance WTB – Amnesia CD – Old Testament
    

    Walk Thru the Old Testament

36. Sweet to My Soul (White Hot Apostle Mix)

    

    1956

    Soul-Junk

I was originally planning on just a week, but I needed more material to be satisfied, so I extended the time. Then I kinda forgot about it while I kept writing shit down, so now it may be a little too long. Oh well. At any rate, it’s my inaugural WordPress blog, so I’ll have to see how it goes. Let me know what you think.

“I’ve got my sights set on you, and I’m ready to aim.” – Miley Cyrus

Technically, I’m cheating a little bit here, because she didn’t say it recently. I was listening to “Punk Goes Pop Volume 2″. I had never heard her song, “See You Again”, so when Breathe Carolina’s cover came on, the opening lyrics struck me as incredibly stupid. Needless to say, I wasn’t terribly surprised to find out it was a Miley Cyrus cover.

FYI Miley – if you have me in your sights, THEN YOU’RE ALREADY FUCKING AIMING! I’m no sharpshooting marksman or anything, but I’m pretty sure that’s how that shit works. Ask Billy Ray. I’m sure he can tell you all about the shooting of guns and whatnot.

“Now would be the time for them to score a power play goal.” – Unknown Announcer

You mean like on the fucking power play? I was watching the 3rd period of the Bruins-Hurricanes game a few Sundays ago, when the Bruins went on the power play, and the announcer said this. The Bruins were down 3-0 and had just gone on the power play. Now, of course they needed a goal, but I’m pretty sure that by definition, any goal they score on the power play is going to be a power play goal. It’s not like it could have been the time for a shorthanded goal.

“You get security briefings every day and depending on what’s going on, maybe more than just daily. Maybe several times a day.” – Former US Ambassador to Belgium Sam Fox on Mark Reardon’s post-Rush show.

Not surprisingly, Fox was a Bush appointee. Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but if you get more than one security briefing a day, you’re getting several. There’s really no need to clarify between “more than one” and “several”. They mean the same fucking thing! But who are we kidding? You’re the ambassador to Belgium. Your security briefings probably consisted on the dangers of a Belgian Dip.

“Hungary is unique in that it is bordered by seven other countries. I can’t think of another nation that borders seven other countries.” Us Ambassador to Hungary George Herbert Walker III on the same show as the above.

Ahh, yes, another Bush appointee. You may recognize the name. Sounds awfully familiar, doesn’t it? Yeah, so intelligence clearly runs in the family. I’m glad former President Bush had the foresight to appoint a couple men of such stunning intellect to such important posts. Why is his statement so dumb? Well, for starters, sharing a border with 7 nations isn’t anything to write home about. Russia and China each share a border with 12 countries, and these are things I know off the top of my head. As Bush might put it, “That’s almost double!” And let’s not forget that one of the countries bordering Hungary is Poland, which incidentally, also borders 7 other countries. So, much like John Kerry in 2004, George Herbert Walker III also forgot about Poland.

A while back, after Rush’s show was over, Mark Reardon was on, and I actually listened. He clearly leans to the right, but he’s nowhere near as bad as Rush is, and he actually does make occasionally valid points. This day, however, was an exception.

Mark Reardon was discussing Obama’s plan to tax soft drinks and generally unhealthy sugary beverages to pay for health care. According to Reardon, this goes against Obama’s pledge to not raise taxes on the middle class. On top of that, a caller called in to say something about how if it’s unhealthy, it’s their choice to put that into their body, and they don’t want to be told what to do with their bodies, which Mark agreed with.

A) Rich people drink soda, too. It’s a new tax, sure, but it’s as much a tax on the middle class as it is on the rich and the poor. They pay equal amounts, and it’s not like he’s singling out the middle class to be the only ones to pay the tax, or proscribing that the rich don’t pay the tax. That’s just a dumbass argument. We tax the crap out of cigarettes, too, yet the only complaint we have about that is HOW MUCH we tax them, not the fact that we DO tax them. Why do we tax them? Because they are unhealthy. If people have a problem with taxing sugary beverages, they can NOT DRINK SUGARY BEVERAGES. Besides, is anyone really going to notice a 3 or 4 cent tax increase? It’s not like gas prices, which fluctuate daily by 10 cents or more sometimes.

B) Another caller played the whole “slippery slope” card. Look, if you have to play that card as often as the Right does, maybe it’s time you come up with a better argument. Taxing soft drinks doesn’t mean we’re going to tax coffee or cheerios, as the caller suggested, just as legalizing marijuana doesn’t mean we’re going to legalize heroin or cocaine, and just as legalizing gay marriage is not going to allow adults to marry children or animals. Get over it.

From Carrie Prejean’s press conference with “The Donald” about keeping her Miss California-ship.

“I was very careful to articulate in saying that I did not want to offend anybody.”

Now, if I recall your statement correctly, you said, “You know what, in my country, in my family, I do believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman, no offense to anybody out there.” Is the “no offense to anybody out there” part where you were “very careful to articulate in saying that I did not want to offend anybody?” If so, I think that hardly qualifies. That’s the lamest excuse for a dumbass statement I’ve ever heard. “Well, I did say ‘no offense.’” Really? That’s why you don’t understand the furor over your comments? You said ‘no offense’? If you’re going to say something you know people find offensive, tacking on “no offense” is hardly being careful to articulate that you don’t want to offend someone. I understand your position, and you have every right to hold to it, but saying “no offense” doesn’t excuse any offense you might make, and pretending it does only makes you look less intelligent. What if the No Offense Defense was used at other points in history the way you seem to use it? I can see it now…

[1939 Germany]

Adolf Hitler: No offense, but the Jews must be exterminated.
Jews: What? How can you say that? You’re just going to kill us all?
Hitler: Well, no offense, but yeah. You guys are responsible for all of our problems.
Jews: That’s bullshit! Hey, Churchie, Rosie, can we get a hand?
Churchill: Hear, hear, old bean. What seems to be the cause of all this commotion?
Jews: Hitler wants to exterminate us.
Churchill: Well, I say! That won’t do at all. We can’t have any of that discord going about.
Jews: That’s what we said!
Roosevelt: Adolf, do you care to explain yourself about this ‘killing the Jews’ business?
Hitler: What? I said ‘no offense’!
Roosevelt: Is this true, Jews?
Jews: Well, yes. But c’mon! He still wants to kill us!
Churchill: Sure, but he obviously means no offense by it. Why else would he say that?
Jews: So you’re saying you’re not going to help us?
Roosevelt: I’m sorry, but our hands are tied here. He did say ‘no offense’. There are rules, you know.

Or

[1860 US]

The South: You know what? Fuck them northerners! They say we can’t have slaves, we’ll fuckin’ secede. No offense, black people, but you’re a lower form of human unworthy of freedom and equality.
Black People: What the fuck? You honky motherfuckers! Yo! Abe, can we get a little help down here?
Abe Lincoln: What’s up?
Black People: Yo! These honky motherfuckers don’t want us to be free.
Abe Lincoln: The South, is this true?
The South: Well, yeah, but we did say, “no offense”.
Abe Lincoln: Oh, well. Shit. Sorry black people. There’s not a whole lot I can do here. If The South said “no offense”, then they couldn’t be offending even those of us who are against slavery. Maybe if The South attacks one of our forts without saying “no offense”, we can maybe roll this whole slavery thing into everything else, but as it is, you’re kinda shit out of luck. Maybe next year.
Black People: Well, fuck!

I could do these all day!

More from Carrie Prejean at the same press conference.

“On April 19, on that stage, I exercised my freedom of speech. And I was punished for doing so. This should not happen in America.”

Losing the Miss America pageant was punishment? Or was it all the free publicity you got? The NOM spokesperson gig was punishment? I’m confused. I, and the rest of the country, more than likely know more about you than we do about the actual winner of the pageant! Where’s the punishment you keep talking about? Do you have a bit of a persecution complex or something? On top of that, if you knew anything about the history of this country, you would know that the disagreements that Americans are allowed to have are exactly what make this country so great. If no one disagreed with others exercising their free speech rights, there would be no America.

“You can’t have torture unless you specifically intend to torture. That is, you specifically intend to inflict severe pain and suffering upon someone.” – Some guy on Rush Limbaugh describing the Bybee Memo.

That’s the most ridiculous circular logic to justify torture I’ve ever heard. Apparently, it’s only torture if you intend it to be torture, and in order to intend for it to be torture, you just, well, have to intend to torture. Conversely, if you do torture, but you didn’t intend to torture, it’s not torture. This is the logic employed by John Yoo in the Bybee Memo. Basically, it’s not what it is if I didn’t mean it to be what it is? What. The. Fuck. Let’s look at another aspect of law. If I put something I want to buy in my pocket, and then I walk out without paying for it, am I stealing it? I certainly didn’t mean to steal it, and I meant to pay for it, but I didn’t. Technically, it wouldn’t be theft, right? If I walk out of a store with a new TV, forgetting to pay for it, something tells me that logic wouldn’t apply.

Apparently, Bristol Palin is an ambassador for abstinence. That’s right, Bristol Fucking Palin (pun intended). What, was Jamie Lynn Spears unavailable or something?

“Regardless of what I did personally, I just think that abstinence is the only way you can effectively, 100% foolproof way you can prevent pregnancy.”

Really? You can’t get pregnant without having sex? Let me introduce you to someone. Bristol, meet Nadia Suleman, aka Octomom. I’m pretty sure she didn’t have sex to conceive those last 8 children. But maybe your point was that abstinence is the only 100% way to prevent unintended pregnancies. Oh, well sure, then you have a point. Abstinence is 100% effective. Unless, of course, some random deity decides to virginally impregnate you with his son, sent to Earth to save mankind. Bristol, meet the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus (if you believe the Bible, which I’m sure you do). Pretty sure she didn’t have sex, either. Technically, I would say abstinence is 99.9999999999999999999% effective in preventing unintended pregnancies. But, that’s still not 100%.

Still, it’s interesting that back in February, you said abstinence was “not realistic at all.” Gee, I wonder why you changed your mind and backtracked. Why do you now believe in abstinence as a solution? Let’s see, you have a wonderful son who you consider a blessing in your life (and your father called a “mistake”), he has brought your family closer together, you’re touring talk shows and becoming a public figure, you’ve become a spokesperson and role model for millions of Americans, you’ve hung out with the likes of Hayden Panetierre at abstinence-related functions, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve got a book deal in the works to make yourself some money, on top of the money you undoubtedly received for pictures of Tripp. What part of all that is a good reason to practice abstinence? Oh right – baby daddy drama and the lack of a high school education. Yeah, I can see how those things are totally holding you back.

I never thought I’d be consistently agreeing with a redneck, gun-toting, high school dropout, but Bristol Palin sure is making Levi Johnston sound intelligent.

“My daddy played music and my grandpa played music, so growing up around it sorta planted that seed in my belly.” Larry Bones Denison.

That’s just a funny thing for a male country musician to say. You couldn’t come up with a better phrase than “planted that seed in my belly?” Where’s the banjos from “Deliverance” when you need them?

I listened to a little bit of Rush back when President Obama was releasing torture memos, and found the following statement quite asinine. When discussing Dick Cheney’s craving for vindication after he wanted all the torture memos released, Rush said something  to the effect of “Dick Cheney isn’t motivated by what his legacy will be, he is motivated by love of country.”

Riiiight. And I’m the fucking King of Siam. Here’s the flaw in the argument. Since the whole Torture-gate started, the Right, and Rush Limbaugh in particular, constantly argued that releasing the torture memos was bad for the troops and bad for the country. I’m not saying that’s not true. I think it can be a bad thing and a good thing. However, when Dick Cheney asks for all the memos to be released in order to show the value of torture, nobody on the right bats an eye. If he really felt that way, I would think he wouldn’t want more memos to be released. The only reason he actually does want them released is precisely because he is concerned with his legacy. Don’t kid yourself.

Finally, I was at SIUE on Tuesday to get my return to schooling finalized, when I saw a guy walking through the quad. And then, school hit me full on. I thought, “Ahh, college. The only place where a guy in his mid-50s can walk around in daisy duke length jorts and not wonder, ‘Am I underdressed?’” It was weird.

Random crap from class:

When discussing Ethernet frame construction, my teacher tried to make a joke. An Ethernet frame starts with a preamble. He asked us what a preamble was. No one answered, so he said, “Four score and seven years ago… that’s the preamble to the Constitution.” A couple people laughed. I just looked puzzled as I thought to myself, “That’s the Gettysburg Address. The Preamble to the Constitution starts with “We the people, in order to form a more perfect
union…”

“Is the MAC address or the IP address more important? Yes.” – Question from a student and answer from the instructor.

I just found it odd, since I’m reading about strange loops. If the above statement is true, it creates an infinite loop. The IP is more important than the MAC, which is more important than the IP, which is more important than the MAC, etc.

We just spent 5 minutes discussing the visual bit numbering of a UDP header from left to right because one guy didn’t understand it. It looked odd to me, too…for all of 10 seconds. Ridiculous.

Also in class, we were discussing various TCP ports required by different protocols. One such protocal was the SOCKS protocol, which is used for routing packets through proxy servers. As we got to the SOCKS port, one kid behind me asks, “What’s socks? Is that like to transport your socks around?” and then laughs a little like what he said was funny. At that point, I honestly felt like turning around and saying, “You’re an idiot! Shut the fuck up!” I didn’t, and his repeatedly pathetic attempts at humor made me regret not doing so all the more. I can’t wait until I get to the graduate-only classes. This graduate-undergraduate dynamic is pissing me off. We spend way too much time on things that should be simple for people who are taking a 400 level course.

Things overheard during my trip:

1. “You need to put your seatbelt on because it’s a big plane.” – A woman to her 2-year-old toddler.

A) Really? Your son needs to wear a seatbelt because the plane is big? Not because it’s the law or anything? I can see this being a problem in the future, lady. When your 16-year-old son gets pulled over for not wearing a seatbelt, I can totally see him answering, “Well, my car is smaller than an airplane, so my mom said I don’t need to wear a seatbelt. Creative though that may be, I don’t think it would work. B) It’s not that big. It’s actually pretty damn small. Take it from the 6′1″ crammed into the seat. It’s not that big.

2. “Wow, it’s cloudy in Washington, D.C.” – That same lady to her son again.

A) Why are you saying that like D.C. has a monopoly on clouds or something? It’s called a fucking storm system and clouds are a defining characteristic of a storm system! It’s going to be cloudy in any city with a storm system passing through it! Learn some meteorology, dammit!

3. “Your name is Zach!?” – some old guy to a child on the T to Fenway.

The old guy was talking to the kid’s father for a bit before he introduced himself and met the kid. Why do old people always act surprised when kids tell them their names? Are they surprised they can articulate their own names? Are they surprised they even have names? Like it’s a shock people still name offspring, or something? Or, was this an isolated incident, and the old guy was genuinely excited, because meeting Zach completed his life goal of meeting people with first names starting with every letter of the alphabet, and he had yet to meet a Zach, Zachary, Zachariah, Zeke, Zebulon, or Zanzibar? These are some things I wonder, occasionally.

Random musing:

You know who’s really gonna miss the print industry? The real unseen victims of newspapers and magazines going under? Celebrity stalkers. Think about it. Back in the day, if you wanted to be a celebrity stalker, a real celebrity stalker, the super-creepy ones, not the half-assed obsessed fans, you needed a creepy shrine, right? You could randomly page through newspapers and magazines in public places to find everything you needed to set up the creepy shrine before. Now, the gossip rags skip a lot of celebrity gossip because websites like TMZ and PerezHilton scoop them so badly that by the time they can run any pictures, it’s already old news. So, nowadays, to build a sufficiently creepy celebrity stalking shrine, you need a computer, computer proficiency, a printer, etc. It’s a hassle, and can be a lot more expensive. You used to be able to be a creepy stalker with just a magazine subscription and a pair of scissors.

Random musing #2:

Is there a creepier profession in today’s society than Ice Cream Truck Man? I don’t think so. Jenn suggested mall Santas, but I disagreed. First of all, Santa is always seasonal. Ice cream may not be, depending on where you live. Secondly, you usually see Santa in public places, so he’s not likely to spirit away your kid in front of 100 other people. On the other hand, ice cream truck drivers may get a random kid here and there, and they’ve got the built-in storage and getaway vehicle. Jenn pointed out that in a social situation, somone offering you ice cream is less creepy than someone asking you to sit on their lap. True though that may be, at least Santa is up front about it. You know what’s up with him. Let me make a really tasteless pop culture reference to explain it. Imagine if you ran into Eddie Izzard on the street dressed in drag. Nothing new, right? Not a big surprise, considering he often does his shows in drag. Now, imagine you opened the closet door where they found David Carradine. Who knew he was into auto-erotic asphyxiation, right? Creepy as fuck, right? It’s the shit you don’t see coming that creeps the Hell out of you. Either way, I would be wary of anyone aspiring to drive an ice cream truck, just to be safe. Is it too soon for a David Carradine joke?

More Stupid Shit:

“It’s unfortunate that anyone would presume anything at all without knowing all of the circumstances and facts about the situation,” [Scott] Rosenblum said.

Let me give you a little background on this. A Sunset Hills, MO, police officer got into a car wreck after a night of drinking back in March. She was driving eastbound in the westbound lanes of Dougherty Ferry Rd when she collided with a Honda Accord making a turn into the westbound lanes. She killed 4 Indian college students and severely injured another. Hours after the wreck, her BAC was listed at .169, more than double the legal limit. Her lawyer made the above statement, and it just boggles my mind. What possible circumstances are we unaware of that could possibly justify an officer of the law being charged with 4 counts of vehicular homicide for driving under the influence, driving in the wrong lane, and crashing into a car full of people? Were there aliens involved? Perhaps the Mafia was after her at the time? I’m curious what circumstances and facts are going to change the underlying events.

There’s a 2-year-old toddler in England who’s IQ was tested at 156, matching Bill Gates and Steven Hawking.

Now, beyond the fact that IQs are generally unreliable (read Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers), let’s take a look at this a little closer. She’s 2. I don’t think she’d actually get a 156 on a standardized IQ test. But, they gave her a special IQ where they ask her questions and evaluate her answers based on creativity and whatnot. The major point they made when describing the creativity of her answers was she was asked, “What do you use your eyes for?” Her answer was, “You close them when you sleep” and also “You put contacts in them.” Really? This is a two year-old genius? A two year-old genius is one who thinks eyes are for putting contacts in and closing when you sleep? They’re not, for instance, used for vision or anything? You know, I’m pretty sure you could ask just about any toddler that question and they’ll give you a random-ass answer that sounds “creative”, like “they’re for shooting lasers out of and killing the bad guys.” Now THAT kid is a friggin genius!

Jessica Alba is apparently under investigation for vandalization of public property in Oklahoma City after she posted “Save the Great White Sharks” flyers on a bridge.

Look, if anyone doesn’t need to be aware of the declining Great White Shark population, it’s people who live in Oklahoma City! They live 500 miles from any body of water! I’m sure you’re an intelligent enough woman, Jessica Alba, but Oklahoma City probably isn’t too interested in Great White sharks, unless Jaws is on TV. Apparently, when asked about the flyers, one Oklahoma City resident said, “That’s a mighty big goldfish”, while another said, “What the fuck is a Great White Shark.” Maybe try the coast next time, Jessica.

of the people, by the people and for the people.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

From Bob Cesca’s Awesome Blog:

Bob Cesca has posted a great piece about “Obama the Writer”, in which he links to a fascinating article from the Wall Street Journal that touches on:

All the Presidents’ Literature

Rare is the leader who can actually write well, but those who do offer a window into their governing style. Jonathan Raban on the best presidential writers, and what Barack Obama’s memoirs say about how he’ll lead.

Please stop by and take some time to read the WSJ article.  It is well worth the read.

The speech given by Abraham Lincoln on the battlefield at Gettysburg.

Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address is available at Amazon for $0.49. To Order click here
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Other Products of Interest

• Little Lord Fauntleroy
• The Secret Garden
• The Copper Lady
• Works of William Shakespeare. Incl: Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Hamlet, Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, The Tempest, Julius Caesar, King Lear, Troilus and … & more. Published by MobileReference (mobi)
• US Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, Bill of Rights, and Guide to US Government

President Abraham Lincoln’s Address

At the Dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

November 19, 1863

On the afternoon of November 19, 1983, President Abraham Lincoln spoke at the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetary in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. In July of 1983, over 160,000 American soldiers fought in the Battle of Gettysburg. When the battle was over, 7,500 soldiers and thousands of horses were dead.

The residents of Gettysburg proceded to properly and respectfully bury the dead. Ultimately, Andrew Gregg Curtin, a wealthy local attorney, suggested to the Governor of Pennsylvania that a National Cemetary be created and funded by the states. He subsequently purchased 17 acres for a cemetary to honor the fallen soldiers of the Battle of Gettysburg.

President Lincoln’s Dedicatory Remarks, which was the sixth item on a program of eight, went as follows:

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met here on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of it as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but can never forget what they did here.

It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they have, thus far, so nobly carried on.

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

(Source: The Gettysburg Foundation; http://www.gettysburgfoundation.org/)

Details

The Gettysburg Foundation

The Gettysburg Foundation is a private, nonprofit educational organization working in partnership with the National Park Service to enhance the preservation and understanding of the heritage and lasting significance of Gettysburg.

http://www.gettysburgfoundation.org/

# 30 #

http://youtube.com/watch?v=USIipJnAFIA

The Gettysburg Address

The Lord’s Prayer – 66 words.

The Archimedes Principle – 67 words.

The Ten Commandments – 179 words.

The Gettysburg Address – 286 words.