For what is Mysticism? Is it not the attempt to draw near to God, not by rites or ceremonies, but by inward disposition? Is it not merely a hard word for 'The Kingdom of Heaven is within'? Heaven is neither a place nor a time. [1873] ~ Florence Nightingale

Florence Nightingale was born in Florence, Italy on May 12, 1820. During the Crimean War, she and a team of nurses improved the unsanitary conditions at a British base hospital, reducing the death count by two-thirds. Her writings sparked worldwide health care reform. In 1860 she established St. Thomas’ Hospital and the Nightingale Training School for Nurses. She died August 13, 1910, in London.

I was annoyed from the start by the attitude of doubt on the part of the spectators that I would never really make the flight. They knew I had never used the machine before, and probably thought I would find some excuse at the last moment to back out of the flight. This attitude made me more determined than ever to succeed. ~  Harriet Quimby [About her English Channel flight]

In her purple satin flying costume Harriet Quimby cut quite a figure in early aviation. While other women aviators wore combinations of men's clothing adapted for safety and comfort in the pilot's seat, Harriet designed her own suit with an attached hood rather than a helmet. Photographs of Harriet Quimby reveal a beautiful, slender woman with dark eyes and a sense of style. Descriptions of her in news articles also noted she was intelligent, inquisitive, creative, and daring enough to fly an aeroplane during a time when driving an automobile was still uncommonly exciting. Since 1991 her lovely face has graced a 50 cent U.S. Airmail stamp as her Bleriot monoplane flies in the background.

You know that being an American is more than a matter of where your parents came from. It is a belief that all men are created free and equal and that everyone deserves an even break. ~ Harry Truman

During his few weeks as Vice President, Harry S. Truman scarcely saw President Roosevelt, and received no briefing on the development of the atomic bomb or the unfolding difficulties with Soviet Russia. Suddenly these and a host of other wartime problems became Truman's to solve when, on April 12, 1945, he became President. He told reporters, "I felt like the moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen on me."

 Asia’s architectural treasures, from a Buddhist monastery in Afghanistan to an ancient city in China, are in danger of vanishing under a tide of economic expansion, war and tourism, according to experts.

The Global Heritage Fund named 10 sites facing “irreparable loss and destruction.”

“These 10 sites represent merely a fragment of the endangered treasures across Asia and the rest of the developing world,” Jeff Morgan, executive director of the fund, said, presenting the report, “Asia’s Heritage in Peril: Saving Our Vanishing Heritage.”

Tell the King, that whole cities are in open revolt against the prosecutions, and that it is impossible to enforce the decrees here. As for myself, I shall continue to hold by the Catholic faith; but I will never give any colour to the tyrannical claim of kings to dictate to the consciences of their people, and to prescribe the form of religion that they choose to impose. Call the King’s attention to the corruption that has crept into the administration of justice. Let the Government be reformed, the Privy Council and the Council of Finance, and increase the authority of the Council of State.

• To the Count of Egmont about what to say to Philip II, 1565, as quoted in William the Silent (1902) by Frederic Harrison, p. 22

The Dutch statesman William the Silent (1533-1584), or William I, Prince of Orange and Count of Nassau, led the revolt of the Low Countries against Spain and created the independent republic of the United Provinces.

A German nobleman by birth, William the Silent became the leader of a rebellion in the Netherlands against the king of Spain. Passionately devoted to the cause of the unity of the Netherlands, he saw the country dividing into distinct northern and southern states under the impact of military events and religious antagonisms. At various times a Lutheran, a Roman Catholic, and a Calvinist, William was most of all dedicated to Erasmian tolerance in religion; yet in the end he had to rely upon fanatical Calvinists in order to stand up to the assaults of conquering Spanish armies. A wealthy, luxury-loving noble in his younger years, he learned to live the meager life of an exile and rebel and came to love the Dutch people, high and low, for whom he gave his life and who loved him as Father of the Fatherland. Trying ceaselessly to persuade foreign princes to take over the sovereignty of the Low Countries in order to save it, he ended by becoming the founder of a free and independent Dutch republic, and only his assassination prevented Holland from making him its count.

‎"To do evil that good may come of it is for bunglers in politics as well as morals." ~ Admiral Sir William Penn

Sir William Penn (23 April 1621 – 16 September 1670) was an English admiral and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1660 to 1670. He was the father of William Penn, founder of the Province of Pennsylvania.

Discernment is God's call to intercession, never to faultfinding. ~ Corrie ten Boom

On February 28, 1944, a man came into their shop and asked Corrie to help him. He stated that he and his wife had been hiding Jews and that she had been arrested. He needed six hundred gilders to bribe a policeman for her freedom. Corrie promised to help. She found out later that he was a quisling, an informant that had worked with the Nazis from the first day of the occupation. He turned their family in to the Gestapo. Later that day, her home was raided, and Corrie and her family were arrested (their Jewish visitors made it to the secret room in time and later were able to escape to new quarters).
Corrie's father died within 10 days from illness, but Corrie and her older sister Betsie remained in a series of prisons and concentration camps, first in Holland and later in Germany. Although for many people, the concentration camp would have been the end of their work, for Corrie and Betsie the months they spent in Ravensbruck became "their finest hour." In her book, Corrie described how she struggled with and overcame the hate that she had for the man who betrayed her family and how she and Betsie gave comfort to other inmates.

I think myself that we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious. ~ Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was born April 13, 1743, in Shadwell, Virginia. He became draftsman of the Declaration of Independence of the United States and the nation's first secretary of state (1789-1794), second vice president (1797-1801), and, as the third president (1801-1809), the statesman responsible for the Louisiana Purchase. Jefferson died in bed at Monticello on July 4, 1826.

It is not growing like a tree In bulk, doth make man better be, 

Or standing long an oak, three hundred year, 

To fall a log at last, dry, bald, and sere: 

A lily of a day Is fairer far in May 

Although it fall and die that night; It was the plant and flower of light. 

In small proportions we just beauties see, 

And in short measures life may perfect be. (Lucius Septimius Severus)

Lucius Septimius Severus restored stability to the Roman empire after the tumultuous reign of the emperor Commodus and the civil wars that erupted in the wake of Commodus' murder. However, by giving greater pay and benefits to soldiers and annexing the troublesome lands of northern Mesopotamia into the Roman empire, Septimius Severus brought increasing financial and military burdens to Rome's government. His prudent administration allowed these burdens to be met during his eighteen years on the throne, but his reign was not entirely sunny. The bloodiness with which Severus gained and maintained control of the empire tarnished his generally positive reputation.

“We are ordinary people, ... Shoemakers, traders, workers. And all we want is to go back, when it is safe. Wherever we go, we will work hard, but we believe that as night follows day, so day follows night; that this is night, and day must again dawn in Uzbekistan.” ~ Timur 

Throughout history, few names have inspired such terror as "Tamerlane."

That was not the Central Asian conqueror's actual name, though. More properly, he is known as Timur, from the Turkic word for "iron."

Amir Timur is remembered as a vicious conqueror, who razed ancient cities to the ground and put entire populations to the sword. On the other hand, he is also known as a great patron of the arts, literature, and architecture. One of his signal achievements is his capital at the beautiful city of Samarkand, in modern-day Uzbekistan.

A complicated man, Timur continues to fascinate us some six centuries after his death.

“Life is act, and not to do is death” ~ Lewis Morris

Lewis Morris (April 8, 1726 – January 22, 1798) was an Americanlandowner and developer from Morrisania, New York. He signed the U.S. Declaration of Independence as a delegate to the Continental Congress for New York.

“The world cares very little about what a man or woman knows; it is what a man or woman is able to do that counts.” ~ Booker T. Washington

Booker T. Washington, born in 1856, was an American educator, author, orator, and political leader. He was the dominant figure in the African American community in the United States from 1890 to 1915. Representative of the last generation of black leaders born in slavery, he spoke on behalf of blacks living in the South.

“To have another language is to possess a second soul.” ~ Charlemagne

Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, was king of the Franks between 768 and 814, and emperor of the West between 800 and 814. He founded the Holy Roman Empire, strengthened European economic and political life, and promoted the cultural revival known as the Carolingian Renaissance. Charlemagne's rule greatly influenced Europe's push to create a unique civilization different from that of Rome or other ancient empires.

“The law established by the Creator, which has existed from the beginning, extends over the whole globe, is everywhere and at all times binding upon mankind [humanity].” ~ Rufus King

Rufus King was was an American lawyer and statesman. He was a delegate for Massachusetts to the Continental Congress. In 1787, he attended the Constitutional Convention and was one of the signers of the United States Constitution. He later represented New York in the Senate, served as Minister to Britain, and was the Federalist candidate for both Vice President and President of the United States.

In 1805 a Boston missionary society requested Red Jacket's permission to proselytize among the Iroquois settlements in northern New York  State. Red Jacket's forceful defense of native religion below, caused the representative to refuse the Indian's handshake and announce that no fellowship could exist between the religion of God and the works of the devil.

Red Jacket was a Seneca Chief and orator. His defense of American Indian religion is classic. With his ability as an orator he told the missionaries to take there so called religion elsewhere with great eloquence.

Friend and brother, it was the will of the Great Spirit that we should meet together this day. He orders all things, and he has given us a fine day for our council. He has taken his garment from before the sun, and caused it to shine with brightness upon us;  our eyes are opened, that we see clearly: our ears are unstopped, that we have been able to hear distinctly the words that you have spoken, for all these favors we thank the Great Spirit, and him only.

Brother, this council fire was kindled by you, it was at your request that we came together at this time, we have listened with attention to what you have said.  You requested us to speak our minds freely; this gives us great joy, for we now consider that we stand upright before you, and can speak what we think; all have heard your voice, and all speak to you as one man, our minds are agreed.

Brother, listen to what we say.  There was a time when our forefathers owned this great island.  Their seats extended from the rising to the setting sun.  The Great Spirit had made it for the use of Indians.  He had created the buffalo, the deer, and other animals for food.  He made the bear and the beaver, and their skins served us for clothing.  he had scattered them over the country, and taught us how to take them.  he had caused the earth to produce corn for bread.  All this he had done for his red children because he loved them.  If we had any disputes about hunting grounds, they were generally settled without the shedding of much blood.  But an evil day came upon us; your forefathers crossed the great waters, and landed on this island.  Their numbers were small, they found friends, and not enemies, they told us they had fled from their own country for fear of wicked men, and come here to enjoy their religion.  They asked for a Small seat; we took pity on them, granted their request, and they sat down amongst us; we gave them corn and meat; they gave us poison in return.  The white people had now found our country; tidings were carried back and more came amongst us; yet we did not fear them, we took them to be friends;  they called us brothers; we believed them, and gave them a larger seat.  At length, their numbers had greatly increased; they wanted more land they wanted our country.  Our eyes were opened, and our minds became uneasy.  Wars took place; Indians were hired to fight against Indians, and many of our people were destroyed.  They also brought strong liquor among us; it was strong and powerful, and has slain thousands.

Brother, our seats were once large, and yours were very small; you have now become a great people, and we have scarcely a place left to spread our blankets; you have got our country, but are not satisfied you want to force your religion upon us.

Brother, continue to listen.  You say you are sent to instruct us how to worship the Great Spirit agreeably to his mind, and if we do not take hold of the religion which you white people teach, we shall be unhappy hereafter.  You say that your are right, and we are lost; how do we know this to be true:  We understand that your religion is written in a book: if it was intended for us as well as you, hwy has not the Great Spirit given it to us, and not only to us, but why did he not give to our forefathers the knowledge of that book, with the means of understanding ir rightly?  We only know what you tell us about it.  How shall we know when to believe, being so often deceived by the white people?

Brother, you say there is but on way to worship and serve the Great Spirit: if there is but on religion, why do you white people differ so much about it?  Why not all agree, as you can all read the book?

Brother, we do not understand these things.  We are told that your religion was given to your forefathers, and has been handed down from father to son.  We also have a religion which was given to our forefathers, and has been handed down to us their children.  We worship that way.  It teacheth us to be thankful for all the favors we receive; to love each other, and to be united.  We never quarrel about religion.

Brother, the Great Spirit has made us all;  but he has made a great difference between his white and red children;  he has given us a different complexion, and different customs; to your he has given the arts; to these he has not opened our eyes;  we know these things to be true.  Since he has made so great a difference between us in other things, why may we not conclude that he has given us a different religion according to our understanding.  The Great Spirit does right; he knows what is best for his children;  we are satisfied.

Brother, we do not wish to destroy your religion, or take it from you; we only want to enjoy our own.

Brother, you say you have not come to get our land or our money, but to enlighten our minds.  I ill now tell you that I have been at your meetings, and saw you collecting money from the meeting. I cannot tell what this money was intended for, but suppose it was for your minister, and if we should conform to your way of thinking, perhaps you may want some from us.

Brother, we are told that you have been preching to the white people in this place.  These people are our neighbors, we are acquainted with them, we will wait, a little while and see what effect your preaching has upon them.  If we find it does them good, makes them honest and less disposed to cheat Indians, we will then consider again what you have said.

Brother, you have now heard our answer to your talk, and this is all we have to say at present.  As we are going to part, we will come and take you by the hand, and hope the Great Spirit will protect you on your journey, and return you safe to your friends.

source: Daniel Drake, Lives of Celebrated American Indians, Boston, Branbury, Soden and Co. 1843 283-87

CoH will apply. Off topic, rerailing, personal attacks will be delete without warning.

From Wikipedia:

The 50 Cent Party (simplified Chinese: 五毛党; traditional Chinese: 五毛黨; pinyin: wǔmáo dǎng) are Internet commentators (simplified Chinese: 网络评论员; traditional Chinese: 網絡評論員; pinyin: wǎngluò pínglùn yuán) hired by the government of the People's Republic of China (both local and central) or the Communist Party to post comments favorable towards party policies in an attempt to shape and sway public opinion on various Internet message boards.^[1][2] The commentators are said to be paid for every post that either steers a discussion away from anti-party or sensitive content on domestic websites, bulletin board systems, and chatrooms,^[3] or that advances the Communist party line.^[4][5]

The Shanghaiist,  a news daily, recently ran an article exposing an internal memorandum from the 50 Cent Party(五毛党, wǔmáodǎng, or paid pro-government internet commentators) in their efforts to "circumscribe the influence of Taiwanese democracy".

Here are the directives found in the internal memorandum to 50 Cent Party staff:

(1) To the extent possible make America the target of criticism. Play down the existence of Taiwan.

(2) Do not directly confront [the idea of] democracy; rather, frame the argument in terms of “what kind of system can truly implement democracy.”

(3) To the extent possible, choose various examples in Western countries of violence and unreasonable circumstances to explain how democracy is not well-suited to capitalism.

(4) Use America’s and other countries’ interference in international affairs to explain how Western democracy is actually an invasion of other countries and [how the West] is forcibly pushing [on other countries] Western values.

(5) Use the bloody and tear-stained history of a [once] weak people [i.e., China] to stir up pro-Party and patriotic emotions.

(6) Increase the exposure that positive developments inside China receive; further accommodate the work of maintaining [social] stability.

The original article from the Shanghaiist is here for your enjoyment:

http://shanghaiist.com/2011/06/27/cdt_leaked_directives_to_50_cent_pa.php

You will run into representatives of the 50 Cent Party on MSNBC whenever there is an article dealing with China.  Sometimes the usage of the English language is very good, sometimes it is very poor. 

At any rate, they are very easy to identify.  The interesting thing about the 50 Cent Party is that the Chinese Central Communist Party actually believe that their efforts do indeed influence public opinion in America. 

Isn't their logo most cute?  It has little nipples and a strategically placed hammer and sickle.  How adorable is that?

Fast is fine, but accuracy is everything. ~ Wyatt Earp

Wyatt Earp (born March 19, 1848, Monmouth, Ill., U.S.—died Jan. 13, 1929, Los Angeles, Calif.) legendary frontiersman of the American West, who was an itinerant saloonkeeper, gambler, lawman, gunslinger, and confidence man. The first major biography, Stuart N. Lake's Wyatt Earp, Frontier Marshal (1931), written with Earp's collaboration, established the rather fictionalized portrait of a fearless lawman.

“The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.” 
― James Madison

Born on March 16, 1751 in Port Conway, Virginia, James Madison served as the fourth President of the United States (18091817) and is considered one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was the principal author of the United States Constitution, and is often called the "Father of the Constitution." As Jefferson's Secretary of State, Madison supervised the Louisiana Purchase.

"It will be my sincere and constant desire to observe toward the Indian tribes within our limits a just and liberal policy, and to give that humane and considerate attention to their rights and their wants which is consistent with the habits of our Government and the feelings of our people." ~ Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson was born March 15, 1767, near the Waxhaws region of South Carolina. His military triumphs along with support and pressure from friends eventually led to his consideration for presidency. He lost to John Quincy Adams in 1824 but defeated him in 1828. Jackson served a second term, as well. He left office more popular than when he entered it, and helped to shape the Democratic Party.

"Come all you rounders for I want you to hear
The story told of a brave engineer"

Casey Jones was born John Luther Jones on March 14, 1864, in Missouri. He was a train engineer known for his speed and use of the whistle. He died on April 30, 1900, in a collision with another train. He had a hand on the brake and a hand on the whistle when he died. Wallace Saunders immortalized Jones’ death in a ballad. Many musicians revised the song over time, making Jones into a folk hero.

The final abolition of war and the establishment of permanent peace must depend upon the convictions of men and women, who are equally responsible …Women have a message to deliver …they can point out the hollowness of the appeals by which men have been stirred to battle. Men react to the appeal to their heroism to be ready to go out and die for their country …The voices of free women rise now above the sounds of battle …The enmity that is stirred up in order to make men kill each other and to rejoice in the killing, we know to be fictitious …

To help the poor, Lillian D. Wald started the Visiting Nurse Service in 1893, and two years later she opened the Henry Street Settlement. Wald also worked on behalf of women’s rights and the welfare of children, establishing the Women’s Trade Union League and spearheaded a federal organization to help children. After years lobbying for this idea, the Children’s Bureau was established in 1912.

“America is a great power possessed of tremendous military might and a wide-ranging economy, but all this is built on an unstable foundation which can be targeted, with special attention to its obvious weak spots. If America is hit in one hundredth of these weak spots, God willing, it will stumble, wither away and relinquish world leadership.” ~ Osama bin Laden

 Osama bin Laden was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 1957. When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, bin Laden joined the Afghan resistance. After the Soviet withdrawal, bin Laden formed the al-Qaeda network which carried out global strikes against Western interests, culminating in the September 11th, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

What beauty. I saw clouds and their light shadows on the distant dear earth.... The water looked like darkish, slightly gleaming spots.... When I watched the horizon, I saw the abrupt, contrasting transition from the earth's light-colored surface to the absolutely black sky. I enjoyed the rich color spectrum of the earth. It is surrounded by a light blue aureole that gradually darkens, becoming turquiose, dark blue, violet, and finally coal black. ~ Yuri Gagarin

• As quoted in Earth's Aura (1977) by Louise B. Young

In April 1961, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin's spacecraft was launched at 9:07, orbited Earth once and landed at 10:55 in the Soviet Union. His spaceflight brought him immediate worldwide fame. He was awarded the Order of Lenin and given the titles Hero of the Soviet Union and Pilot Cosmonaut of the Soviet Union. Monuments were raised to him, and streets were renamed in his honor across the Soviet Union.

William Rockhill Nelson born March 7, 1841, died in 1915 at the age of 74, and it was then that his legacy of an art museum began to be realized. Nelson’s will stipulated that his estate be used to purchase works of fine art “which will contribute to the delectation and enjoyment of the public generally…” Nelson’s wife survived him by six years, and Laura died five years later. Upon their deaths, the will provided for the “construction of a building in Kansas City, Missouri, to bear the name of William Rockhill Nelson and to be followed by the words ‘Gallery of Art.’”

When we, Constantine and Licinius, emperors, had an interview at Milan, and conferred together with respect to the good and security of the commonweal, it seemed to us that, amongst those things that are profitable to mankind in general, the reverence paid to the Divinity merited our first and chief attention, and that it was proper that the Christians and all others should have liberty to follow that mode of religion which to each of them appeared best; so that that God, who is seated in heaven, might be benign and propitious to us, and to every one under our government. ~ Constatine the Great - (Edict of Milan proclaiming proclaimed religious toleration in the Roman Empire, issued by Constantine and Licinius)

His coins give his name as M., or more frequently as C., Flavius Valerius Constantinus. He was born at Naissus, now Nisch in Servia Nis, Serbia --Ed., the son of a Roman officer, Constantius, who later became Roman Emperor, and St. Helena, a woman of humble extraction but remarkable character and unusual ability. The date of his birth is not certain, being given as early as 274 and as late as 288. After his father's elevation to the dignity of Caesar we find him at the court of Diocletian and later (305) fighting under Galerius on the Danube. When, on the resignation of his father, Constantius was made Augustus, the new Emperor of the West asked Galerius, the Eastern Emperor, to let Constantine, whom he had not seen for a long time, return to his father's court. This was reluctantly granted. Constantine joined his father, under whom he had just time to distinguish himself in Britain before death carried off Constantius (25 July, 306). Constantine was immediately proclaimed Caesar by his troops, and his title was acknowledged by Galerius somewhat hesitatingly. This event was the first break in Diocletian's scheme of a four-headed empire (tetrarchy) and was soon followed by the proclamation in Rome of Maxentius, the son of Maximian, a tyrant and profligate, as Caesar, October, 306.

All of the problems we are facing today as a nation can be traced back to one decision in our history.

''THE UNENLIGHTENED IMMIGRATION POLICIES OF AMERICAN INDIANS''...

Just think of the problems that we are faced with today, all and I mean all can be traced to this unenlightened immigration policy by American Indians.

1. Shrinking dollar - we didn't have dollars in 1492.

2. Two-party system - we didn't have parties in 1492, well we did, but not this kind of party.

3. Foreign Wars - we kept our wars within our own borders, not crossing the oceans to fight in another land and call it democracy.

4. Rights of all people - we had universal rights for all segments of our society. Women's rights, actually women were the leaders.

5. Religion, now here is one that really sets me off....Natives religions (I am using the Anglo term, since our beliefs were not a religion as Anglos see it) Not one life was lost due to religious wars. No land was conquered because of religion, no one was converted to the ''right'' god or religion.

6. Politicians - we didn't have politicians, we had LEADERS

7. Environment - this is another one that sets me off - we were good stewards of the environment, today we have smog, vog, polluted rivers lakes, streams. Uncontrolled destruction of the plant and it's called progress..

8. Foreign aid - we aided each other, not other countries that could care less about us.

9. Wall Street - we didn't have a Wall Street, we were traders where everyone got a fair shake.

10. Immigration - see all above

One bad decision has resulted in 500 years of ongoing problems. This list is only the tip of the iceberg.

I do believe we are going to have a major war, with Japan and Germany, and that the war is going to start by a very serious surprise attack and defeat of U.S. armed forces, and that there is going to be a major revulsion on the part of the political power in Washington against all those in command at sea, and they are going to be thrown out, though it won't be their fault necessarily. And I wish to be in a position of sufficient prominence so that I will then be considered as one to be sent to sea, because that appears to be the route.

• On his expectations of war, and that he would someday become the Chief of Naval Operations, in a conversation during the mid 1930s with his son, Chester W. Nimitz, Jr.; as quoted in Nimitz (1976) by E. B. Potter. ISBN 0870214926

Chester W. Nimitz served in World War I as chief of staff to the commander of the U.S. Atlantic submarine force. In 1939 he was appointed chief of the Bureau of Navigation of the U.S. Navy. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he was elevated to commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet. In 1944 he was promoted to fleet admiral. After WWII, he served as chief of naval operation.

"Example, whether it be good or bad, has a powerful influence." ~ George Washington in a letter to Lord Stirling (5 March 1780)

On April 30, 1789, George Washington, standing on the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York, took his oath of office as the first President of the United States. "As the first of every thing, in our situation will serve to establish a Precedent," he wrote James Madison, "it is devoutly wished on my part, that these precedents may be fixed on true principles."

There are two events developing that seek to memorialize Dwight Eisenhower. One is a flamboyant  monument planned for acreage sitting across from the National Mall. The other is a new book,"Eisenhower in War and Peace" by Jean Edward Smith. George Will says Jean Smith's book is the more fitting tribute.

I always distrust people who know so much about what God wants them to do to their fellows. ~ Susan B. Anthony

Susan B. Anthony was a prominent civil rights leader during the women's suffrage movement of the 1800s. She become involved in the anti-slavery movement, but it was in doing that work that she encountered gender inequality. With Elizabeth Cady Stanton, she began her work for women's right to vote. Anthony established a weekly paper called Revolution,co-founded the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), and gave many lectures in the U.S. and Europe.

Everyone regrets drinking and swears an oath (of abstinence); I swore the oath and regret that. ~ Zahir al-Din Muhammed Babur Shah

Babur claimed to be the true and rightful Monarch of the lands of the Lodi dynasty. He believed himself the rightful heir to the throne of Timur, and it was Timur who had originally left Khizr Khan in charge of his vassal in the Punjab, who became the leader, or Sultan, of the Delhi Sultanate, founding the Sayyid dynasty.^[38] The Sayyid dynasty, however, had been ousted by Ibrahim Lodi, a Ghilzai Afghan, and Babur wanted it returned to the Timurids. Indeed, while actively building up the troop numbers for an invasion of the Punjab he sent a request to Ibrahim; "I sent him a goshawk and asked for the countries which from old had depended on the Turk," the 'countries' referred to were the lands of the Delhi Sultanate.

Unfortunately, many people do not consider fun an important item on their daily agenda. For me, that was always high priority in whatever I was doing." ~ Chuck Yeager

Aviator and test pilot Chuck Yeager was born February 23, 1923 in Myra, WV. A fighter pilot ace during World War II, he was the first to break the sound barrier, when he flew the Bell X-1 rocket 670 mph in level flight in October 1947. He broke the sound barrier for the last time at age 79, when his F-15 Eagle reached Mach 1·45 in 2002. He held various air-force command assignments 1954–1962.

The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all, or can not, so well do, for themselves -- in their separate, and individual capacities. ~ Abraham Lincoln -- July 1, 1854 [?] Fragment on Government

Abraham Lincoln is one of America’s greatest heroes because of his unique appeal. His is a remarkable story of the rise from humble beginnings to achieve the highest office in the land; then, a sudden and tragic death at a time when his country needed him most to complete the great task remaining before the nation. His distinctively human and humane personality and historical role as savior of the Union and emancipator of the slaves creates a legacy that endures. His eloquence of democracy,

Do you know what a plimsoll line is?

The plimsoll line (also known as a Load Line or the International Load line) is the marking on a ship's hull that shows how low or high the ship is resting in the water. By examining the plimsoll line you can tell the depth to which a vessel may be safely (and legally) loaded. The marking is now mandatory and international.

In 1887 the ''Dawes Act'' was implemented resulting in the loss of 90 million acres of Indian land. The aftermath of this act still reverberates today.

In 1987 the ''Law Review'' stated. ''No constitutional basis for the Allotment act and its aftermath''

''it is of incalculable importance that America, Australia and Siberia shall pass out of the hands of their Red, Black and Aboriginal owners and become the heritage of the dominant worlds races (read White).

This was the racist statement of the  President of the United States, Teddy Roosevelt at his inaugural address.

I love this land and the buffalo and will not part with it. I want you to understand what I say.  Write it on paper...I hear a great deal of good talk from the gentlemen the Great Father sends us, but they never do what they say. I don't want any of the medicine lodges (schools and church's) within the country.  I want the children raised as I was.  I have heard you intend to settle us on a reservation near the mountains.  I don't want to settle.  I love to roam over the prairies.  There I feel free and happy, but when we settle down we grow pale and die.  A long time ago this land belonged to our fathers, but when I go up to the river I see camps of soldiers on its banks.  These soldiers cut down my timber, they kill my buffalo and when I see that, my heart feels like bursting.

- Santana, Kiowa Chief.

“I never said all Democrats were saloonkeepers; what I said was all saloonkeepers are Democrats.” ~

Horace Greeley

In 1841 Greeley founded the New York Tribune, which he edited and operated the rest of his life. The New Yorker and the Log Cabin were soon absorbed into the Tribune to become a weekly edition for out-of-town subscribers. Over the next two decades circulation rose to more than a quarter of a million, and the Tribune became the most influential newspaper in the country. To customary news reports, Greeley added editorials and commentary on social and political issues. He hired some of the best newspaper men and a few literary luminaries like Margaret Fuller, George Ripley, and Richard Hildreth.

Mehmet VI (Ottoman Turkish: محمد سادس Meḥmed-i sâdis, وحيد الدين Vahidettin. Turkish: Mehmed Vahideddin or Mehmet Vahdettin) (14 January 1861 – 16 May 1926) was the 36th and last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, reigning from 1918 to 1922. The brother of Mehmed V, he succeeded to the throne as the eldest male member of the House of Osman after the 1916 suicide of Abdülaziz's son Yusuf Izzettin Efendi, the heir to the throne. He was girded with the Sword of Osman on 4 June 1918, as the thirty-sixth padishah. His father was sultan Abdülmecid I and mother was Gülüstü (1831 – May 1861), a Circassian. Mehmed was removed from the throne when the Ottoman sultanate was abolished in 1922.

"We look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.... freedom of speech and expression...freedom of every person to worship God in his own way...freedom from want...freedom from fear." ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

Assuming the Presidency at the depth of the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt helped the American people regain faith in themselves. He brought hope as he promised prompt, vigorous action, and asserted in his Inaugural Address, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

“The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.” ~ Thomas Paine

"These are the times that try men's souls." This simple quotation from Founding Father Thomas Paine's The Crisis not only describes the beginnings of the American Revolution, but also the life of Paine himself. Throughout most of his life, his writings inspired passion, but also brought him great criticism. He communicated the ideas of the Revolution to common farmers as easily as to intellectuals, creating prose that stirred the hearts of the fledgling United States. He had a grand vision for society: he was staunchly anti-slavery, and he was one of the first to advocate a world peace organization and social security for the poor and elderly. But his radical views on religion would destroy his success, and by the end of his life, only a handful of people attended his funeral.

The sky lovingly smiles on the earth and her children. ~ Henry Stanley

Most famous for allegedly uttering the words, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume," Henry Morton Stanley was one of the most well-known of all nineteenth-century British explorers. In his early years (as a naturalized American) he led a roving life, fighting in the American Civil War, serving in the merchant marine and the federal navy, and reporting as a journalist on the early days of frontier expansion. He became famous when the New York Herald commissioned him to "find Livingstone" in Africa.

Peter the Great was a Russian czar in the late 17th century who is best known for his extensive reforms in an attempt to establish Russia as a great nation. He created a strong navy, reorganized his army according to Western standards, secularized schools, administered greater control over the reactionary Orthodox Church, and introduced new administrative and territorial divisions of the country.

The air is the only place free from prejudices. ~ Bessie Coleman

After securing funds from Jesse Binga, founder of the Binga State Bank, and other sources, Bessie left for France in November, 1920. In seven months, she completed the ten-month course at the Ecole d'Aviation des Freres Caudon at Le Crotoy in the Somme. She learned to fly in a French Nieuport Type 82, including "tail spins, banking and looping the loop." On June 15, 1921, Bessie received her pilot's license from the renowned Federation Aeronautique Internationale. Her birthdate was listed as 1896 (the year she had given passport authorities in Chicago) rather than 1892 -- making her appear 25 years old instead of the 29 years she actually was. Bessie was not the first black woman (or even the only woman in her class) to receive a license from the FAI -- but she was the first American to obtain her pilot's license from the French school. And she was the first licensed black pilot in the U.S.

Everything is relative, and only that is absolute. ~ Auguste Comte

Comte, a French philosopher, was the founder of Positivism. Positivism is a philosophical system of thought maintaining that the goal of knowledge is simply to describe the phenomena experienced, not to question whether it exists or not. Comte sought to apply the methods of observation and experimentation, as was beginning to be used in the hard sciences, to a field that we now know as sociology. He believed that the solution of persistent social problems might be had by the application of certain hierarchical rules; he believed in the progress of mankind toward a superior state of civilization by means of the science of sociology, itself. (Marx and Hitler had similar notions.) In his later years Comte became involved in mysticism, to the point where Positivism became, in spite of its earlier claims to its scientific approach, more of a religion, than anything else.

Comte's cardinal position was this: "The greatest problem, then, is to raise social feeling by artificial effort to the position which in the natural condition is held by selfish feeling." To which Sir James Fitzjames Stephen responded, "To me this is like saying, the great object of mechanics is to alter the laws of gravitation." [See Liberty, Equality, Fraternity (1873) (University of Chicago Press, 1991) at p. 126.]

“Anyone who trades liberty for security deserves neither liberty nor security” ~ Benjamin Franklin

Ben Franklin was born January 17, 1706 in Boston, Massachusetts. Franklin worked his way up in the printing business before settling into the gentleman lifestyle, which allowed him the opportunity to pursues his interest in public service. In addition to being an inventor, Franklin signed the Declaration of Independence and served as diplomat to France during the American Revolution.

“Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?”

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr., (January 15, 1929-April 4, 1968) was born Michael Luther King, Jr., but later had his name changed to Martin. His grandfather began the family's long tenure as pastors of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, serving from 1914 to 1931; his father has served from then until the present, and from 1960 until his death Martin Luther acted as co-pastor. Martin Luther attended segregated public schools in Georgia, graduating from high school at the age of fifteen; he received the B. A. degree in 1948 from Morehouse College, a distinguished Negro institution of Atlanta from which both his father and grandfather had graduated. After three years of theological study at Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania where he was elected president of a predominantly white senior class, he was awarded the B.D. in 1951. With a fellowship won at Crozer, he enrolled in graduate studies at Boston University, completing his residence for the doctorate in 1953 and receiving the degree in 1955. In Boston he met and married Coretta Scott, a young woman of uncommon intellectual and artistic attainments. Two sons and two daughters were born into the family.

In April 1896 Carver received a unique offer from the African American educator Booker T. Washington (1856–1915) to teach at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Said Washington: "I cannot offer you money, position or fame. The first two you have. The last from the position you now occupy you will no doubt achieve. These things I now ask you to give up. I offer you in their place: work—hard, hard work, the task of bringing a people from degradation, poverty, and waste to full manhood. Your department exists only on paper and your laboratory will have to be in your head."

Carver accepted the challenge. He arrived at the tiny railroad station at Chehaw, Alabama, on October 8, 1896. In a report to Washington he wrote: "8:00 to 9:00 A.M. , Agricultural Chemistry; 9:20 to 10:00 A.M. , the Foundation of Colors (for painters); 10:00 to 11:00 A.M. , a class of farmers. Additional hours in the afternoon. In addition I must oversee and rather imperfectly supervise seven industrial classes, scattered here and there over the grounds. I must test all seeds, examine all fertilizers, based upon an examination of soils in different plots."

“Whenever you're in conflict with someone, there is one factor that can make the difference between damaging your relationship and deepening it. That factor is attitude.” ― William James

William James was an original thinker in and between the disciplines of physiology, psychology and philosophy. His twelve-hundred page masterwork, The Principles of Psychology (1890), is a rich blend of physiology, psychology, philosophy, and personal reflection that has given us such ideas as “the stream of thought” and the baby's impression of the world “as one great blooming, buzzing confusion” (PP 462). It contains seeds of pragmatism and phenomenology, and influenced generations of thinkers in Europe and America, including Edmund Husserl, Bertrand Russell, John Dewey, and Ludwig Wittgenstein. James studied at Harvard's Lawrence Scientific School and the School of Medicine, but his writings were from the outset as much philosophical as scientific. “Some Remarks on Spencer's Notion of Mind as Correspondence” (1878) and “The Sentiment of Rationality” (1879, 1882) presage his future pragmatism and pluralism, and contain the first statements of his view that philosophical theories are reflections of a philosopher's temperament.

The answer to one is the answer to all. Government by "the people" is expedient or it is not. If it is expedient, then obviously all the people must be included. ~ Carrie Lane Chapman Catt

Her effective organizing work brought her quickly into the inner circles of the suffrage movement. Carrie Chapman Catt became head of field organizing for the National American Woman Suffrage Association in 1895 and in 1900, having earned the trust of the leaders of that organization, including Susan B. Anthony, was elected to succeed Anthony as President.

Pavao Ritter Vitezović (7 January 1652 – 20 January 1713) was a noted Croatian writer, historian, linguist and publisher.

Pavao Ritter Vitezović was born in Senj to a family of a frontier soldier. His father was descended from a German immigrant from Alsace, and his mother was Croatian. He finished six grades of the Jesuit gymnasium in Zagreb before moving to Rome, where he stayed at the Illyrian College, and met the renowned Ivan Lučić. He then moved to the castle of Bogensperk (German: Wagensberg) near Litija in Carniola, where Janez Vajkard Valvasor influenced him to start analysing his national history and geography. There he also learned German, how to print and how to etch.

An excellent teaching video.  It puts the renaissance in its historic perspective -- with a British bent, of course.

Well-arranged time is the surest mark of a well-arranged mind. ~ Isaac Pitman

Sir Isaac Pitman (4 January 1813 – 12 January 1897), knighted in 1894, developed the most widely used system of shorthand, known now as Pitman shorthand. He first proposed this in Stenographic Soundhand in 1837. Pitman was a qualified teacher and taught at a private school he founded in Wotton-under-Edge. He was also the vice president of the Vegetarian Society.

"Yesterday was one of the greatest and most beautiful days of my life. I tasted the greatest joys. God was pleased to hold before my eyes the dazzling splendors of eternal hope. After that, doesn't it seem that nothing more could keep me bound to the earth?” ~ Louis Braille

Six dots. Six bumps. Six bumps in different patterns, like constellations, spreading out over the page. What are they? Numbers, letters, words. Who made this code? None other than Louis Braille, a French 12-year-old, who was also blind. And his work changed the world of reading and writing, forever.

Louis was from a small town called Coupvray, near Paris—he was born on January 4 in 1809. Louis became blind by accident, when he was 3 years old. Deep in his Dad's harness workshop, Louis tried to be like his Dad, but it went very wrong; he grabbed an awl, a sharp tool for making holes, and the tool slid and hurt his eye. The wound got infected, and the infection spread, and soon, Louis was blind in both eyes.

“This was I and yet not I. This was the wife of the President of the United States and she took precedence over me.” ~ Grace Anna Goodhue Coolidge

For her "fine personal influence exerted as First Lady of the Land," Grace Coolidge received a gold medal from the National Institute of Social Sciences. In 1931 she was voted one of America's twelve greatest living women.

Most treatments of Lawrence's life can be divided into debunkings and hagiographies. "Hero" by Michael Korda, as the title implies, is closer to the latter category. The author's admiration frequently comes in volleys: "physical courage, hardiness, cool judgment under fire," "an outstanding shot, physically tireless, generous, absolutely fearless, gentle in manner." Yet into this baggy but beguiling biography, Korda, the author of several works of history, has also crammed the darker incarnations of Lawrence, the shy depressive, the tortured ascetic, the "odd gnome, half cad — with a touch of genius," in the words of one of his companions behind Turkish lines.

I've often wondered why February was chosen to be Black History Month. I still don't know the answer, however in doing some research for this article, I found out that opera singer Marian Anderson was born on February 27th. Here it is the last day of Black History Month, and I can think of no more worthy story than that of Ms Marian Andrson.........and her friend Ms Eleanor Roosevelt.

The First Lady wrote in her journal on February 21st, 1936 about the rare treat that she and husband Franklin Delano Roosevelt had the prior Wednesday night in listening to Marian Anderson, "who has made a great success in Europe and this country". Further, she noted that she had sung before all the crowned heads of Europe as well as for their own private recital at the White House. She wrote about how she deserved her great success because rarely had they heard a more "beautiful and moving voice or a more finished artist". "She sang three Schubert songs and.......two Negro Spirituals, one of which I had never heard of before".

Ms Roosevelt was a dynamo, as well as a visionary. She was appalled when in 1939, Ms Anderson was denied the right to perform at Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution (the DAR). First Lady Roosevelt resigned her membership with the DAR over this slap in the face to both women.

Here is Ms Anderson singing in the same year, the song entitled "Deep River":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0L9C4xRL3QE&feature=related

Fitiingly, the great contralto Marian Anderson performed atop the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to nearly 100,000 people of all races:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=315mr5eFNPc&feature=related

Here she is again in 1944, with conductor Leopold Stokowski, singing "Ave Maria":

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/marian-anderson-ave-maria-schubert/85c7f23cc66eb1ccd15b85c7f23cc66eb1ccd15b-526620755255

These early pioneers of justice and racial equality had something going for them that no one can "keep down". Talent.

"It is impossible for me to be insulted or abused in any way. For I do naught that deserves censure, and I care not for what is reported falsely. As for the emperors who are dead and gone, they will avenge themselves in case anyone does them a wrong, if in very truth they are demigods and possess any power." ~ Emperor Titus

Titus (Latin: Titus Flavius Caesar Vespasianus Augustus; 30 December 39 – 13 September 81), was Roman Emperor from 79 to 81. A member of the Flavian dynasty, Titus succeeded his father Vespasian upon his death, thus becoming the first Roman Emperor to come to the throne after his own father.

In the last analysis, my fellow country men, as we in America would be the first to claim, a people are responsible for the acts of their government.
Woodrow Wilson

But the attention of this man of peace was forced to turn to war. In the early days of World War I, Wilson was determined to maintain neutrality. He protested British as well as German acts; he offered mediation to both sides but was rebuffed. The American electorate in 1916, reacting to the slogan «He kept us out of war», reelected Wilson to the presidency. However, in 1917 the issue of freedom of the seas compelled a decisive change. On January 31 Germany announced that «unrestricted submarine warfare» was already started; on March 27, after four American ships had been sunk, Wilson decided to ask for a declaration of war; on April 2 he made the formal request to Congress; and on April 6 the Congress granted it.

I have an almost complete disregard of precedent, and a faith in the possibility of something better. It irritates me to be told how things have always been done. I defy the tyranny of precedent. I go for anything new that might improve the past.
Clara Barton

Clarissa Harlowe Barton -- Clara, as she wished to be called -- is one of the most honored women in American history for being a true pioneer as well as an outstanding humanitarian. As pioneer, she began teaching school at a time when most teachers were men. She was among the first women to gain employment in the federal government. As a pioneer and humanitarian, she risked her life when she was nearly 40 years old to bring supplies and support to soldiers in the field during the Civil War. Then, at age 60, she founded the American Red Cross in 1881 and led it for the next 23 years. Her understanding of the needs of people in distress and the ways in which she could provide help to them guided her throughout her life. By the force of her personal example, she opened paths to the new field of volunteer service. Her intense devotion to the aim of serving others resulted in enough achievements to fill several ordinary lifetimes.

Many are needed to plant and water what has been planted now that the faith has spread so far and there are so many people... No matter who plants or waters, God gives no harvest unless what is planted is the faith of Peter and unless he agrees to his teachings. ~ Thomas Becket

After being appointed [Archbishop] Thomas Becket began to show a concern for the poor. Every morning thirteen poor people were brought to his home. After washing their feet Becket served them a meal. He also gave each one of them four silver pennies.

Instead of wearing expensive clothes, Becket now wore a simple monastic habit. As a penance (punishment for previous sins) he slept on a cold stone floor, wore a tight-fitting hairshirt that was infested with fleas and was scourged (whipped) daily by his monks.

“I realize that patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred toward any one.”
 ~ Edith Louisa Cavell

If you pinch the sea of its liberty, though it be walls of stone or brass, it will beat them down.
~ John Cotton

Next in importance to freedom and justice is popular education, without which neither freedom nor justice can be permanently maintained.
James A. Garfield

This soldier was one the heroes of the Revolutionary War. Like all good soldiers, he never really died; he just faded away. (General Douglass MacArthur)