Wendell Berry
1 9 3 4 – 2 0 2 6
his ‘madness’ was
the lamp of wisdom
in our perilous era
of disconnection
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Archive for the ‘Personalities’ Category
Tuesday, September 1st, 2026
The 3rd of July ~ 250 years later
Friday, July 3rd, 2026“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”
John Adams reportedly thought that today, the 3rd, should have been the true observance, since it more properly fit the signers’ act, with the 4th having been the public disclosure. It bears keeping in mind that tomorrow we also observe the bicentennial of the death of Adams and Jefferson, who both passed on the same day, July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration.
Of course they had flaws, but we can never learn too much about these great revolutionaries, who, perhaps more than anyone of their time, helped articulate for posterity the American heart and mind. It is now our job to preserve for the future the true principles of what it means to live free under God.
I finally finished the McCullough biography. The new Metaxas book is a holiday present from Dana — toward the noble cause of getting my knowledge past being merely “dangerous.”
On the deepening of conversion:
Friday, June 19th, 2026“I think once the process is begun and continues that you are continually turning toward God and away from your own egocentricity and that you have to see this selfish side of yourself in order to turn away from it. I measure God by everything that I am not. I begin with that.”
— Flannery O’Connor — 2/4/61
Sunday, April 19th, 2026
“Friends who know me know I routinely drink out of cow troughs with the cows. I do it not because I’m thirsty, but because I want a bigger variety of bugs in my microbiome. And I want some exposure to whatever unseen antagonist might be out there. The point is to exercise my immune system so that when something really serious comes along, it’s strong enough to fight it off. Yes, I could die tomorrow. But for decades, I have gone many years without the common issues that plague most folks. That is not pride; it is humble acknowledgment that we have a fearfully and wonderfully made body that is ready to house health if we give it half a chance.”
— Joel Salatin — 4/17/26
Monday, February 16th, 2026
Robert Duvall
1 9 3 1 – 2 0 2 6
the quintessential
actor’s actor
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Tuesday, January 6th, 2026
“He ought not have infallibility demanded of him.”
— Mary Cranch to Abigail Adams
Thursday, September 4th, 2025
Runaway technology (with work-depriving automation, electromagnetic pollution, cognition-robbing language models, and legalized plagiarism) is no doubt with us for the duration, but I cannot for the life of me understand how people can rationalize its utility, which surely will be out of proportion to the inevitable human cost. How can usefulness be a justification for not being against it? It is not unlike one being against environmental injury or war, even though many would justify their continuation and ignore the clear evidence of human damage. The only way forward that is rational or righteous is “zero tolerance of harm.” Let’s see if those with a vested interest in seeding communities with artificial intelligence can measure up to that standard. I won’t hold my breath.
Of course, one can take a stand “against” something, but also be accountable for personal behavior, advocate for reforms, and undertake positive action. I think of two of my heroes. Dick Gregory was against medical tyranny, but promoted nutrition, fasting, avoidance of toxic substances, mental wellness through humor, and upholding human rights. Wendell Berry is against industrial agriculture, but promotes the restoration of rural economies, human-scale communities, and stewardship of natural places. And above all those we may admire and hope to emulate, there is always Jesus of Nazareth, who was against the evil doer and wicked conduct, but promoted mercy for the suffering, love of others before self, and the forgiveness of sin.
Saturday, June 28th, 2025
Lalo Schifrin
1 9 3 2 – 2 0 2 5
the incomparable maestro
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Tuesday, March 25th, 2025
“The large-cap U.S. stock markets increasingly present a gruesome picture. Leadership in plunder capitalism and central control, richly subsidized by taxpayer dollars, does not translate into leadership in science and technology, let alone reinvestment in the things that can reverse ecological damage and advance human civilization.”
Tuesday, March 4th, 2025
“Zelensky made it clear during his disastrous visit to the White House last Friday that he’s dead-set on fighting until the last Ukrainian, unless his country either gets NATO membership or Western troops. Neither of those demands is acceptable to Trump since they’d risk World War III, but so too could that risk continue rising if the conflict doesn’t soon end. Trump therefore realized that the only way to force Zelensky to the peace table with Putin is to freeze all military aid until he moderates his extreme stance.”
— Andrew Korybko
Monday, February 3rd, 2025
“The ancien régime just hates it when Trump talks like that. The aspersions cast upon his political opponents, the braggadocio, the typographic bravado — it’s just not the way official Washington is supposed to sound. Not, that was, until January 20. Expect a lot more where that came from. I for one, am deeply grateful for it.”
— Roger Kimball
Thursday, August 1st, 2024
“Three years ago, other dissidents and I told the public that Covid-19 likely originated in a lab leak. Public health officials, led by Dr. Anthony Fauci, said that our concerns were unscientific, that they were ‘misinformation’ and ‘conspiracy theories.’ Now, Congress, the mainstream media, and those same public health officials have cast doubt on Dr. Fauci’s actions, saying not only that he was wrong, but that he deliberately misled the public.”
— Robert F Kennedy Jr
Sunday, July 14th, 2024
“We are seeing how, in broad daylight, it is not actually Joe Biden making the decisions and calling the shots — whether it be related to economic or foreign policy — it’s the Tony Blinkens and the Jake Sullivans and the Hillary Clintons and Lloyd Austins who are making these decisions, which should be troubling to every American because we didn’t vote for any of those people …. a huge problem for us as Americans to have someone in that position who is incapable of fulfilling that responsibility. He should not be in that position, but we also shouldn’t be under any kind of illusion that, should he be forced out or choose to leave, that anything will be different with a President Kamala Harris or anyone else that they choose to fill that position. The Deep State — the military industrial complex — they will continue calling the shots. They only care about power. They don’t care whose face, whose picture is hanging on the wall.”
— Tulsi Gabbard
Saturday, August 12th, 2023
“We know that for most healthy people, Omicron is nothing more than a cold and for the young is usually a very mild cold and often asymptomatic. To use a gene-therapy-technology-based vaccine with a high-risk profile and uncharacterized long-term effects against a mild variant is the height of scientific ignorance and arrogance. It is time to stop.”
— Robert W Malone MD MS, Lies My Gov’t Told Me: And the Better Future Coming (Children’s Health Defense)
Monday, July 10th, 2023
“It is a controversial issue. It shouldn’t be. We should be just naturally wanting to save our children but again there’s those out there that want to exploit them….Can we love God’s children more than we fear evil? That’s the challenge here and Americans are up to it and I love it. They hear the sound of freedom because God’s children are no longer for sale.”
— Jim Caviezel, 7/6/23
Wednesday, June 21st, 2023
“I immediately recognized all of the same tactics that have been deployed against me so often over the last three years. The superficial regurgitating of approved narrative, unwillingness to address the actual issues raised, and of course the ‘liberal’ substitution of ad hominem attacks for actual reporting and analysis. This is all driven by the classical fifth generation warfare/PsyOps/propaganda playbook. Have they no shame?”
— Robert W Malone MD, 6/20/23
Thursday, September 22nd, 2022
“It’s not a stretch to say much of, if not most of, mainstream media has become conduits for shoddy propaganda … all intended to do two things, distract people from the real issues and serve as a bludgeon against anybody who dares to draw the attention back to them.”
— Royce White, 9/18/22
A ‘happy happy’ re-post from 2014
Saturday, September 3rd, 2022“The shoe that fits one person pinches another;
there is no recipe for living that suits all cases.”
— Carl Jung
The distinctive singularity of an individual has been a profound feature of my awareness throughout life. Undoubtedly, it is the basis for much of what I have enjoyed doing most — from solving visual problems for unique entrepreneurs, or creating my own brand of illustrated portraits, and, of course, hand-crafting greeting cards with collage miniatures. I shall never tire of assembling a spontaneous composition with suitable ingredients to honor a particular person. Each collage, like every human being, is a one-of-a-kind creation, and the medium is ideal for personalized expressions. The artist has a remarkable opportunity to interpret the peculiar constellation of personality traits, proclivities, and associations that befit a fellow mortal. To put it simply: I love it!
Dwindling Nest
collage miniature by J A Dixon
collection of J Hellyer
March Ex(clusion) — seventeenth day
Thursday, March 17th, 2022“Some of us, like me, are addicted to truth, logic, and commonsense. We make those who’d rather turn away from the blazing fire of truth uncomfortable. So be it. Are you standing up for what you believe in on a daily basis? Are you looking evil in the eye and refusing to back down when it rears it’s ugly head? Are you a conduit of good? Are you in the asset column or the liability column for your loved ones and community? Do you protect or do you need protecting? Are you a warrior or a victim?”
– Ted Nugent
I spent almost five hours in a chair, wrestling paragraphs about my collage artwork into a first draft for Dana’s able editing. I don’t know what the publishers of Contemporary Collage Magazine are expecting, but I’ll be submitting a profile of myself as a landscape artist (and then we’ll go from there).
Today’s sight bite— A split-second flash of brilliant crimson, —c-l-i-c-k— as the male cardinal flees a nearly finished nest in my topiary yew.
March Ex(clusion) — twelfth day
Saturday, March 12th, 2022“Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm.”
– James Madison, Federalist Papers
It’s getting more difficult to navigate a course of balanced influences, now that everything is so charged with persuasion, hyper-slant, duplicitous rhetoric, or outright psychological manipulation. I’m reading the Pulitzer-Prize-winning book by Thomas E. Ricks about the educational context of four key Framers (not inaccurately sized up as a somewhat revisionist take on how literary writings of the classical world shaped the men who invented the American Republic). I’m monitoring the daily editorial media of populist partisans, as well as alternative analysis (from Tyler Durden to Jimmy Dore). I skim the top stories put out by the Corporate Media. I partake of regular Peterson and Rogan doses. I follow The Marginalian. I watched Oliver Stone’s informative documentary called Ukraine on Fire. Trying to avoid becoming part of somebody’s self-serving agenda can feel like a full-time job!
Today’s sight bite— n o n e