Remember . . .

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* Charity Navigator: Your Guide To Intelligent Giving / Support Veterans and Active Duty Servicemembers *

Remember . . .

 It's amazing how few words would need to be changed to make this speech appropriate 

 for here (the US) and now (2013).

The difference is that only a portion of our lawmakers are holding the entire government hostage, demanding the right to strip us all of our remaining rights - healthcare, education, the vote, collective bargaining, safety nets for the poor & unemployed, and anything else they can get their greedy little fingers on - or they'll crash the entire economy. 

The scene has played out repeatedly over the past six years. They have actually admitted that they will oppose president Obama on everything, even if opposing him is bad for the country. 

Who then are the real traitors, the terrorists, the ones trying to destroy our democracy? 
 

Good evening, London. Allow me first to apologize for this interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of the everyday routine, the security of the familiar, the tranquility of repetition. I enjoy them as much as any bloke. But in the spirit of commemoration - whereby those important events of the past, usually associated with someone's death or the end of some awful bloody struggle, are celebrated with a nice holiday - I thought we could mark this November the fifth, a day that is sadly no longer remembered, by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat.

There are, of course, those who do not want us to speak. I suspect even now orders are being shouted into telephones and men with guns will soon be on their way. Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there?

Cruelty and injustice...intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance, coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those who are more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable. But again, truth be told...if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror.

I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn't be? War. Terror. Disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you and in your panic, you turned to the now High Chancellor Adam Sutler. He promised you order. He promised you peace. And all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent.

Last night, I sought to end that silence. Last night, I destroyed the Old Bailey to remind this country of what it has forgotten. More than four hundred years ago, a great citizen wished to embed the fifth of November forever in our memory. His hope was to remind the world that fairness, justice and freedom are more than words - they are perspectives. So if you've seen nothing, if the crimes of this government remain unknown to you, then I would suggest that you allow the fifth of November to pass unmarked. But if you see what I see, if you feel as I feel, and if you would seek as I seek...then I ask you to stand beside me, one year from tonight, outside the gates of Parliament. And together, we shall give them a fifth of November that shall never, ever, be forgot!

Here is the original:

Female War Veteran Violently Arrested For Playing Banjo In The Wrong Place

Occupy Art.

#OccupyTogether.

. . . and May Dog Bless You!

Meet Lucky, the loyal founder of Dog Bless You.

Dog Bless You supports nonprofits that pair service dogs with war veterans and individuals with disabilities.

Start here to explore and learn about all the lives that have been changed by a service dog. Enjoy photos, films, live cams, blogs, and more.

Also, 

A few dog quotes:

“Dogs’ lives are short, too short, but you know that going in. You know the pain is coming, you’re going to lose a dog, and there’s going to be great anguish, so you live fully in the moment with her, never fail to share her joy or delight in her innocence, because you can’t support the illusion that a dog can be your lifelong companion. There’s such beauty in the hard honesty of that, in accepting and giving love while always aware it comes with an unbearable price. Maybe loving dogs is a way we do penance for all the other illusions we allow ourselves and for the mistakes we make because of those illusions,”

 - Dean Koontz,

 The Darkest Evening of the Year.

“Dogs are our link to paradise. They don’t know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring – it was peace,”

 - Milan Kundera,

 as quoted in The Canine Hiker’s Bible. 

“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened,”

 – Anatole France.

“Dogs are minor angels, and I don’t mean that facetiously. They love unconditionally, forgive immediately, are the truest of friends, willing to do anything that makes us happy, etcetera. If we attributed some of those qualities to a person we would say they are special. If they had all of them, we would call them angelic. But because it’s ‘only’ a dog, we dismiss them as sweet or funny but little more. However when you think about it, what are the things that we most like in another human being? Many times those qualities are seen in our dogs every single day — we’re just so used to them that we pay no attention,”

 - Jonathan Carroll.