Eleven Score and Ten Years Ago
In 1863, Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address began with the famous line: "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." He ended that speech with the equally famous and well-remembered line: "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." I wonder if Lincoln were alive today, in addition to changing to: "Eleven score and ten years ago", he'd also modify his speech to "government of the money, by the money, and for the money". After all, Honest Abe would never lie.
posted by ITscout at 6:39 PM
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Almost All You Need To Know About Leadership
This, from Enron juror Freddy Delgado, an elementary school principal: "I can't say that I don't know what my teachers were doing in the classroom. I am still responsible if a child gets lost."
Sounds like the jury-of-one's-peers system, even in a complex corporate trial, is alive and well. Thanks, Principal Delgado, for your service to our country—I envy the parents and students in your school!
http://www.tompeters.com/entries.php?rss=1¬e=http://www.tompeters.com/blogs/main/008895.php
This states exactly how I feel...
This appears to have been lost long ago at the top and it is our fault. If a wolf eats a sheep it is the shepard's fault. Not the wolf, not the sheep and not the owner of the sheep.
Finishing the thought...
But if the owner insists on putting the sheep in harms's way the
shepard must resist or stop being a shepard. Sheep need help.
We have sheep at the top and thought we had Leadership.
I am an American, I like being an American and I refuse to stop being one.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident,"
I disagree with your comment that "we have sheep at the top." I fear our leaders may be wolves in sheep's clothing.
A leader's words have great power because they command an audience.
See if you can identify the author of the following quote.
"The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."
What about identifying the author of the following:
"To those who scare peace-loving people with phantoms of lost liberty, my message is this: 'Your tactics only aid terrorists, for they erode our national unity and diminish our resolve.'"
The first statement is a quote from Hitler's right hand man, Hermann Goering, explaining at his war crimes trial how easily he and his fellow Nazis hijacked Germany's democratic government. The second statement is a quote from Bush's right hand man, John Ashcroft, defending the Patriot Act and explaining why dissent will no longer be tolerated in the age of terrorism.
In each generation we have our share of tyrants and great men existing in the same history, We seek to learn from these entities, things which effect our lives in the moment. Surely we should give our philosiphers and thinkers more advantage to lead by promoting a real concept of free speech, where the common man is not subjugated and bullied by the 15 second sound biytes from the talking heads. What good does it do to memorise speaches from a past age? We cannot boast an age of reason which does not produce reasonable speach, thought and action. The future is always full of hope, the journey is a trial. The destination; Freedom.
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