What would Lincoln do?

Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the Revolution, never to violate in the least particular, the laws of the country; and never to tolerate their violation by others.

As the patriots of seventy-six did to the support of the Declaration of Independence, so to the support of the Constitution and Laws, let every American pledge his life, his property, and his sacred honor; let every man remember that to violate the law, is to trample on the blood of his father, and to tear the charter of his own, and his children's liberty.

Let reverence for the laws, be breathed by every American mother, to the lisping babe, that prattles on her lap; let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges; let it be written in Primers, spelling books, and in Almanacs; let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice. And, in short, let it become the political religion of the nation; and Let the old and the young, the rich and the poor, the grave and the gay, of all sexes and tongues, and colors and conditions, sacrifice unceasingly upon its altars.

While ever a state of feeling, such as this, shall universally, or even, very generally prevail throughout the nation, vain will be every effort, and fruitless every attempt, to subvert our national freedom.

- Abraham Lincoln, January 27, 1838
Address Before the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois

I am bound to be true - Abraham Lincoln

You are young, and I am older; You are hopeful, I am not— Enjoy life, ere it grow colder— Pluck the roses ere they rot. - Abraham Lincoln

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. - Abraham Lincoln

I do the very best I know how - the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what's said against me won't amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference. - Abraham Lincoln

Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. Whether it be true or not, I can say for one that I have no other so great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem. - Abraham Lincoln

I freely acknowledge myself the servant of the people, according to the bond of service - the United States Constitution; and that, as such, I am responsible to them. - Abraham Lincoln

If all men were just, there still would be some, though not so much, need of government. - Abraham Lincoln

The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the government, and to collect the duties and imposts; but beyond what may be necessary for these objects, there will be no invasion, no using of force against or among the people anywhere. - Abraham Lincoln

To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men. - Abraham Lincoln

Cost of Iraq War

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Force is all-conquering, but its victories are short-lived. - Abraham Lincoln

Kings had always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars, pretending generally, if not always, that the good of the people was the object. - Abraham Lincoln

Peace is a thing which a person must be willing to fight for. - Abraham Lincoln

I appeal to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate and aid this effort to maintain the honor, the integrity, and the existence of our National Union, and the perpetuity of popular government; and to redress wrongs already long enough endured. - Abraham Lincoln

My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth. - Abraham Lincoln

While the people retain their virtue, and vigilance, no administration, by any extreme of wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure the government, in the short space of four years. - Abraham Lincoln

I will not support any candidate that promotes or condones torture. Period. This is America. We are not Nazis.

I care not much for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it. - Abraham Lincoln

The world has never had a good definition of the word liberty, and the American people, just now, are much in want of one. - Abraham Lincoln

Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. - Abraham Lincoln

There is more involved in this contest than is realized by every one. There is involved in this struggle the question whether your children and my children shall enjoy the privileges we have enjoyed. - Abraham Lincoln

My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure. - Abraham Lincoln

Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it, nothing can succeed. - Abraham Lincoln

You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time. - Abraham Lincoln

Allow the president to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such a purpose - and you allow him to make war at pleasure. - Abraham Lincoln

I laugh because I must not cry. That is all. That is all. - Abraham Lincoln

I have borne a laborious, and, in some respects to myself, a painful part in the contest. Through all, I have neither assailed, nor wrestled with any part of the constitution. - Abraham Lincoln

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We must not promise what we ought not, lest we be called on to perform what we cannot. - Abraham Lincoln

Exercise your citizen oversight and speak out!

It often requires more courage to dare to do right than to fear to do wrong. - Abraham Lincoln

Determine that the thing can and shall be done, and then we shall find the way. - Abraham Lincoln

I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts. - Abraham Lincoln

When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That is my religion. - Abraham Lincoln

Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm. - Abraham Lincoln

If once you forfeit the confidence of your fellow-citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem. - Abraham Lincoln

100 Awesome Blogs for History Junkies

The Abraham Lincoln Blog

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Oxford University Press Blog

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The Baseline Scenario

Daily Kos

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Progressive Historians

TomPaine.common Sense

Commitment is what transforms a promise into reality. - Abraham Lincoln

AM in the Morning

Common Ground Collective

Beenie Drowned in her House

Bayou Farewell

Katrina Animal Rescue

I am in favor of animal rights as well as human rights. That is the way of a whole human being. - Abraham Lincoln

I had been told I was on the road to hell, but I had no idea it was just a mile down the road with a dome on it. - Abraham Lincoln

These capitalists generally act harmoniously and in concert, to fleece the people. - Abraham Lincoln

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations. - Abraham Lincoln

There are no accidents in my philosophy. Every effect must have its cause. The past is the cause of the present, and the present will be the cause of the future. All these are links in the endless chain stretching from the finite to the infinite. - Abraham Lincoln

Let no feeling of discouragement prey upon you, and in the end you are sure to succeed. - Abraham Lincoln

He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help. - Abraham Lincoln

You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today. - Abraham Lincoln

I could not have slept tonight if I had left that helpless little creature to perish on the ground. - Abraham Lincoln (Reply to friends who chided him for delaying them by stopping to return a fledgling to its nest.)

The Railsplitter

You cannot help small men by tearing down big men. - Abraham Lincoln

Worse than traitors in arms are the men who pretend loyalty to the flag, feast and fatten on the misfortunes of the Nation, while patriotic blood is crimsoning the plains. . . and their countrymen moldering the dust. - Abraham Lincoln

Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up, and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable - a most sacred right - a right, which we hope and believe, is to liberate the world. - Abraham Lincoln

Don't interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties. - Abraham Lincoln

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. - Abraham Lincoln

No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent. - Abraham Lincoln

Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as a heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere. Destroy this spirit and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own doors. - Abraham Lincoln

Our safety, our liberty, depends upon preserving the Constitution of the United States as our fathers made it inviolate. The people of the United States are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution. - Abraham Lincoln

I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong. - Abraham Lincoln

We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature. - Abraham Lincoln

A house divided against itself cannot stand. - Abraham Lincoln

I have never had a feeling, politically, that did not spring from the Declaration of Independence, that all should have an equal chance. This is the sentiment embodied in the Declaration of Independence. I would rather be assassinated on this spot than surrender it. - Abraham Lincoln

The possibility that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just. - Abraham Lincoln

The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise -- with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country. - Abraham Lincoln

I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice. - Abraham Lincoln

I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. Corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. - Abraham Lincoln

To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men - Abraham Lincoln

Friday, May 25, 2007

Those who voted no

Just say no.

Ron Paul was one of only two Republicans in the House to vote against the war. Yes, officially this was a vote to provide the 'war funding' without deadlines or consequences attached.

Senator Hillary was smart enough to know she should vote against the funding bill, and from what I have heard, Obama voted against it at the very last moment (once he knew it would pass? That is what I have heard, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.)

Congressman Dennis Kucinich - of course - voted against the blank check, and a few other Democratic Senators voted against: Leahy, Feingold (of course,) Kerry and Kennedy. Representatives Barbara Boxer and Jerry McNerney also voted nay - I know without looking, because they sent out emails expressing their dismay at the outcome.

Tough (GOP) guys don't cry

Meanwhile, House Minority Leader John Boehner wept openly on the House floor, asking when America was going to 'make the killers of the 3000 9/11 victims accountable for their crimes.'

Well, sir that is a good question. Because you see, the actual terrorists were from Saudi Arabia, not Iraq - and are all dead. The man who took credit for the attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, Osama Bin Laden, is apparently in Pakistan - not Iraq.

So you have a valid point... sort of. Whither Bin Laden? Are we even looking for him? Of course, he is much more useful to Bush alive than dead; he makes a terrific and very convenient boogyman with which to scare the American populace.

Mr. Boehner, sir: everyone knows that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. The only people who don't understand this after years of bungled warfare, are the people who persist in watching Fox News. Perhaps you are one of them, and you really don't have any idea what you are talking (or crying) about. This honestly wouldn't surprise me.

If your tears are in earnest, and you really do want justice... try looking for Bin Laden. Try talking to the Pakistani government. Of course, you can't take their oil, so why would you bother? If you aren't seriously looking for Bin Laden - don't talk to us about 9/11 victims. That is Giuliani's shameless territory.

Don't need no more lies.

Read it and weep

Full tally of yesterday's vote:

House vote

Senate vote

Representative Julia Carson was the lone hero from Indiana - in either the House or the Senate. We're not terribly surprised. I called her office and thanked her.

Labels: Dennis Kucinich, Iraq war, John Boehner, John Kerry, Julia Carson, Leahy, Ron Paul, Rudi Giuliani, Russ Feingold, Senator Ted Kennedy, war supplemental

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Olbermann: The Neville Chamberlain Moment

"Who among us will stop this war?"

Labels: Bush, Iraq, Iraq war, Keith Olbermann, Neville Chamberlain, war supplemental

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

The big cave

The "Neville Chamberlain Moment"

Yesterday, majority Democratic leaders caved; they lay down, rolled over in front of Bush, and played dead. Then sat up and told everyone in earshot that they had made 'great progress.'

Democrats gave up their demand for troop-withdrawal deadlines in an Iraq war spending package yesterday, abandoning their top goal of bringing U.S. troops home and handing President Bush a victory in a debate that has roiled Congress for months.

Bush, who has already vetoed one spending bill with a troop timeline, had threatened to do the same with the next version if it came with such a condition. Democratic leaders had moved ahead anyway, under heavy pressure from liberals who believe that the party won control of Congress in November on the strength of antiwar sentiment. But in the end, Democrats said they did not have enough votes to override a presidential veto and could not delay troop funding.

Um... excuse me oh great and powerful Washington Post... but why? Why couldn't they delay troop funding?

Senator Feingold (D-WI) seems to believe that Bush has plenty of money to run his war through the end of the summer, and that the only way to force him to negotiate is to force him to veto the same bill, over and over again until he realizes that you are serious. Feingold also says - and he was a Rhodes scholar, very bright man - that since Congress holds the purse strings for this war, the only real way to end it is to 'just say no' when Bush asks for more war cash.

Reid and Pelosi: you could have sent your pathetic little benchmarks back 2, 3, maybe even 4 more times. Your original cave (outright betrayal to those who gave you this majority) came when the bill was still in the House. Madam Pelosi 'discouraged' (read snuffed) a vote on the Lee Amendment, which would have redeployed our troops by the end of 2007, and restricted use of these war funds to attack Iran.

This was nothing more than insisting on constitutional and congressional oversight where a declaration of war is concerned. Congress is supposed to declare a war, not the president. The president is supposed go to Congress and officially ask permission when he wants to start a war. Obviously, this president has other plans. The Lee Amendment would have demanded that this basic role of Congress be respected in the case of Iran -- in exchange for the cash.

You call this hardball? You caved immediately.

Reid - you were once a professional boxer? Seriously? No wonder we've never heard of you. Was your modus operandi to walk out into the ring... and immediately lie down on the floor and concede defeat?

I've been comparing you to Neville Chamberlain for some time now, so I wasn't exactly floored when I heard Keith Olbermann use the same likeness, when describing the immensity of this cowardly betrayal. The shoe fits. If only we had a Winston Churchill waiting in the wings.

We need a strong third party, and we need one immediately.

Labels: Bush, Iraq, Iraq war, Pelosi, Reid, war supplemental

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Poor Russ (poor us)

Russ washes his hands. I keep wondering when this guy is going to finally get completely fed up and become an Independent.

By the way, Russ actually posts on Daily KOS. Guess even Senators head to the Internet when desperate to make sense of this ongoing, national nightmare...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MAY 22, 2007
3:39 PM

CONTACT: Senator Russ Feingold
Zach Lowe (202) 224-8657

Statement of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold
On the Iraq Supplemental Conference Report

WASHINGTON - MAY 22 -“Under the President’s Iraq policies, our military has been over-burdened, our national security has been jeopardized, and thousands of Americans have been killed or injured. Despite these realities, and the support of a majority of Americans for ending the President’s open-ended mission in Iraq, congressional leaders now propose a supplemental appropriations bill that does nothing to end this disastrous war. I cannot support a bill that contains nothing more than toothless benchmarks and that allows the President to continue what may be the greatest foreign policy blunder in our nation’s history. There has been a lot of tough talk from members of Congress about wanting to end this war, but it looks like the desire for political comfort won out over real action. Congress should have stood strong, acknowledged the will of the American people, and insisted on a bill requiring a real change of course in Iraq.”

True.

And imagine... now they've even removed those annoying, 'toothless benchmarks!'

They rolled over. Completely. Pelosi and Reid gave Bush that 'blank check.' I'm sure he served them a nice banquet afterwards, in the Rose garden.

Oh, they threw in something about raising the minimum wage... like that is going to somehow make this OK.

Weren't they going to raise minimum wage anyway? When they were running for office last year, I distinctly remember them promising to get us out of Iraq AND raise minimum wage.

Its getting really hard to decide who is more corrupt these days; the GOP, or the Democrats we sent in to replace them.

Did it ever occur to them that this might seem, oh, a little disingenuous? That we may not have wanted to 'trade' something we were already promised, for a blank check on Iraq funding? Did Reid and Pelosi somehow forget why we gave them that majority last November?

My GOD these Democrats are weak. The GOP is corrupt beyond recognition, and the Democrats are weak and capitulating corporate pawns.

Depressing day.

Just to cheer us up even more, here is what we can look forward to during our next national disaster!

On May 9th, Bush released a new presidential directive appointing himself dictator ('disaster decider,' or 'crisis czar,') and of course, 'protector of the constitution' in the event of a national emergency.

Just one more reason to dread a disaster. Now I'm not sure which I'm more afraid of... the F-5 tornado, or W in my yard: with a bull horn, a maniacal grin and a bulldozer.

Protector of our 'constitutional government', huh? Yeah. Somebody had better hide the Constitution now - quick - in a place where he'd never find it (a public library would work.) You can bet that once the document was in his care, Rove or Gonzales would 'accidentally' spill their coffee all over it (or pour gasoline on it and burn it,) rendering it forever illegible... and open to entirely new interpretation!

Labels: Bush, Iraq, Russ Feingold, war supplemental