STEPHEN FOSTER’S “Old Folks at Home,” also known as “Way Down upon the Swanee River,” is a famous American song that was written in 1851 for a minstrel show. The words to the original were about a slave yearning for “de old plantation.” They were altered, lest anyone think a slave could be momentarily happy. Here is the shocking, unexpurgated version:

Way down upon de Swanee Ribber,
Far, far away,
Dere’s wha my heart is turning ebber,
Dere’s wha de old folks stay.

All up and down de whole creation
Sadly I roam,
Still longing for de old plantation,
And for de old folks at home.

Chorus
All de world am sad and dreary,
Eb-rywhere I roam;
Oh, darkeys, how my heart grows weary,
Far from de old folks at home!

All round de little farm I wandered
When I was young,
Den many happy days I squandered,
Many de songs I sung.
When I was playing wid my brudder
Happy was I;
Oh, take me to my kind old mudder!
Dere let me live and die.

One little hut among de bushes,
One dat I love
Still sadly to my memory rushes,
No matter where I rove.
When will I see de bees a-humming
All round de comb?
When will I hear de banjo strumming,
Down in my good old home?

Foster was born on July Fourth in 1826 in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania. According to the Library of Congress, “Foster revealed an early interest in music but received little formal training. Primarily self-taught, Foster displayed an affinity for ‘Ethiopian’ and minstrel songs (he performed in minstrel shows as a boy), yet he also incorporated characteristics of Irish melodies, German songs, and Italian operas in his compositions. He was eighteen when his first song was published, ‘Open Thy Lattice, Love’ (1844), set to a poem by George P. Morris; however, its title page erroneously credited the composer as ‘L. C. Foster.’ Subsequently, Foster served as both composer and lyricist to his songs, which numbered over two hundred.”

Foster never made much money from his songs, though they are among the most popular in American history. If he were alive today, he would not only be poor, he’d probably be on the FBI’s domestic terrorist list. NPR’s Terri Gross had a typically Jewish take on Foster; his music, she said, was “hateful.”

BASED on a poem by George P. Morris which appeared in the New York Mirror magazine in 1830, “Woodman, Spare that Tree,” composed by Henry P. Russell, expresses a simple, patriotic love and gratitude. It was sung here by Derek P. Scott in 1980.

Woodman, spare that tree!
Touch not a single bough!
In youth it sheltered me,
And I’ll protect it now.
‘Twas my forefather’s hand
That placed it near his cot:
There, woodman, let it stand,
Thy axe shall harm it not!

Read More »

LATE FILMMAKER Aaron Russo described a conversation with David Rockefeller in this clip from a famous video made before his death in 2007.

“THE people is the same everywhere. At times it seems to show extreme generosity without understanding a thing, while at other times it behaves ferociously for no apparent reason; sensitive to the point of silliness at times, even when there is no reason to be moved, at other times it remains impassive or even acts cynically when it ought to react or even become enraged so as not to be shamed. The people is what certain elements would like it to be. Such elements crown the people, as they know full well that sovereignty will always rest in their own hands.”

— Leon de Poncins, Emmanuel Malynski, The Occult War

Also of interest by Baldwin: “Is Israel Planning to Relocate to Ukraine?”

Crucifixion of St. Peter, Caravaggio; 1660

“THE Apostle, having reached the spot and come up to the instrument of death, implored of his executioners to set him thereon, not in the usual way, but head downwards, in order, said he, that the servant be not seen in the same position once taken by the Master. His request was granted; and Christian tradition, in all ages, renders testimony to this fact which adds further evidence to the deep humility of so great an Apostle. Peter, with outstretched arms, prayed for the city, prayed for the whole world, the while his blood flowed down upon that Roman soil the conquest of which he had just achieved. At this moment Rome became forever the new Jerusalem. When the apostle had gone through the whole round of his sufferings, he expired; but he was to live again in each one of his Successors, unto the end of time.”

— Dom Prosper Gueranger, “Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul,” The Liturgical Year

Hymn for the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul (English translation)

Lo! beauteous Light Eternal floods, with sacred fires, this golden day which crowns the Princes of Apostles and opens out unto the guilty a free path to Heaven.

The Teacher of the whole earth, as well as the Doorkeeper of Heaven, both of them Fathers of Rome, and Judges of nations, each a victor of death, the one by the sword, the other by the cross, laurel-crowned, both take their seats in the Senate of Eternal Life. Read More »

“OH GOD, to how many and what great dangers are my children exposed, and how insufficient is the protection that I can afford them. Yes, O Lord, I watch in vain over them if Thou does not watch with me. But when they abide under Thy protection how sure may I not be. I recommend then my children to Thy powerful and loving care. Keep graciously far from them all that may be hurtful and dangerous to their life; let them enjoy the blessing of health; but, above all, protect them in the dangers of their souls. Drive away from them with Thy powerful hand whatever may have an injurious influence upon their yet tender and youthful hearts and become for them an occasion of wickedness and sin. Send Thy holy angels, that they may ‘bear them up in their hands, lest they should dash their feet against a stone.’ Almighty Father, lead my children through the dangers and storms of this life so they may arrive one day at the haven of salvation. Amen.”

— From “The Christian Mother,” by the Rev. W. Cramer (Benziger Bros, 1880)

AS JEWISH organizations protest the overturning of Roe v. Wade, it’s worth remembering the work of Bernard Nathanson, the Jewish doctor who was a major figure in legalizing abortion and who performed, by his estimate, 5,000 abortions and presided over more than 60,000 by other doctors. He later recanted his position and became an outspoken opponent of abortion. Read more here.

Robert P. George wrote in an article on Nathanson:

In the mid-1960s, with the sexual revolution roaring after Alfred Kinsey’s fraudulent but influential “scientific” studies of sex and sexuality in America, Hugh Hefner’s aggressive campaign to legitimize pornography and, perhaps above all, the wide distribution of the anovulant birth control pill, Nathanson became a leader in the movement to overturn laws prohibiting abortion. He co-founded the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws (NARAL), which later became the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) and is now NARAL Pro-Choice America. Its goal was to remove the cultural stigma on abortion, eliminate all meaningful legal restraints on it, and make it as widely available as possible across the nation and, indeed, the globe.

To achieve these goals, Nathanson would later reveal, he and fellow abortion crusaders pursued dubious and in some cases straightforwardly dishonest strategies.

First, they promoted the idea that abortion is a medical issue, not a moral one. This required persuading people of the rather obvious falsehood that a normal pregnancy is a natural and healthy condition if the mother wants her baby, and a disease if she does not. The point of medicine, to maintain and restore health, had to be recast as giving health care consumers what they happen to want; and the Hippocratic Oath’s explicit prohibition of abortion had to be removed. In the end, Nathanson and his collaborators succeeded in selling this propaganda to a small but extraordinarily powerful group of men: in the 1973 case of Roe v. Wade, seven Supreme Court justices led by Harry Blackmun, former counsel to the American Medical Association, invalidated virtually all state laws providing meaningful protection for unborn children on the ground that abortion is a “private choice” to be made by women and their doctors.

Second, Nathanson and his friends lied—relentlessly and spectacularly—about the number of women who died each year from illegal abortions.

FROM Lifesite News:

Abortion is now virtually illegal or sharply restricted in at least 10 states, most of which have implemented what are known as “trigger” laws designed to take effect immediately upon the reversal of Roe v. Wade and criminalize abortion throughout pregnancy.

The newly-enforceable bans are a devastating blow to the abortion industry: Since Friday morning, clinics have ceased abortions in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, South Dakota, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Abortions initially stopped in Utah and Louisiana but have resumed this week due to recent court orders.

More than 100,000 abortions took place in those states in 2019, according to CDC data.

In Texas and Alabama, those performing an abortion can face felony charges equivalent to rape or attempted murder and in Louisiana, anyone aborting the child of a minor may face up to 50 years in prison.

So much selfless effort by anti-abortion activists for many years has truly paid off. They will save many lives.

See a complete rundown of the latest developments in the post linked above.

WHEN POLITICS is everything to people, they become aggressive and cruel when they don’t get their way.

This fanatical nastiness, with the happy end of Roe v. Wade, is now more obvious than ever. Some thoughts on this phenomenon from Eddie Scarry, written before last week:

Even when Democrats emerged victorious from the suffocating bonfire of 2020, having control of the White House and all of Congress for two years, has their mood change? No. It’s only gotten worse.

They may have traded their pussy hats for Fauci prayer candles, but the attitude has never been angrier or more spiteful. Vengeance has animated them each and every day.

There are scores of studies, surveys, reports and data to back up that truism.

Spoiled brats are everywhere. And mostly they’re grown adults. Stay away. There’s nothing to gain from engaging them in any political conversation.

Image Credit

THOMAS DROLESKEY’S detailed commentary on the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is must reading. (Please consider tipping the author if you find it of value.)

Mr. Droleskey writes:

While it is indeed wonderful that abortuaries in [some] states have shut their doors, none of this represents any kind of victory, especially when one considers that laws delineating at what age baby-killing can be prohibited makes it appear that his life is fully negotiable and thus expendable before that age. A human being is a human being at conception, and all the talk of gestational age is simply sophistry upon sophistry.

Moreover, do we really think that those who kill for a living are going to scrupulously observe all the terms of these laws even if they have to be confined to the space of a hospital rather than an abortuary to do so?

The Fifth Commandment admits of no exceptions to the inviolability of innocent human life, which can be targeted deliberately for execution. The laws listed above have such “exceptions” and are thus nothing to celebrate.

Am I saying that Roe v. Wade should not have been overturned or that its being overturned is meaningless?

No, I am not saying such a thing.

It is very good that Roe v. Wade and its false reasoning have now been consigned to the proverbial dustbin of history.

Roe v. Wade has, as noted earlier, miseducated generations of people, including many Catholics, that they had a “right” to [murder] innocent unborn babies, whose own “crime” was to be conceived as the natural consequence of that which is used properly in the married state alone for the procreation and education of children according to the mind of Holy Mother Church. Those who created that “right” did so illicitly as it is not given unto men to dispose of the binding precepts of the Fifth Commandments, but it remains to be seen whether the overturning of Roe v. Wade will correct the errors that have become deep-seated in a world where men act as beasts and do not fear the just judgment of Our Divine King and Judge, Christ the King. Read More »

SEAN writes:

Although it may be a concern that abortions may increase, I think this misses the point.

Individuals can always choose to sin whether it is against the law or not. They could have already traveled to abortion-friendly states to obtain an abortion. They can already quite easily get abortion pills and they can do tele”medicine” from wherever. The primary benefit of overturning Roe v. Wade is that it is no longer a national sin. As nations can’t suffer the effects of judgment in purgatory as they only exist here on earth we must corporately suffer the consequences for our national sins (whether you agree with or directly participate in them or not you are still a member of that nation).

The primary purpose of the government is to create the conditions for the common good of the people to aid them in getting to heaven. Getting rid of Roe just made that a lot easier. The temptation of committing the mortal sin of murder has been removed from tens of millions of people. And people who grow up in states with it being banned will grow up with that being normal for them. The ruling, and specifically thanks to justice Thomas, has also opened up the possibility (or at least the conversation) of addressing other laws that are anti-religious/moral such as sodomy, contraceptives, and sham-marriages that were ruled “constitutional” in the same way Roe was.

God bless these justices and credit where it is due Donald Trump. May this accomplishment be large expiation for their many sins. Read More »

“THE United States Supreme Court finally issued its ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Friday, upholding Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban, overturning Roe v. Wade, and delivering the pro-life cause its most transformative victory since Roe unleashed nationwide abortion-on-demand in 1973.

“Justice Samuel Alito delivered the opinion of the Court, which was joined by Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. The ruling declares Roe ‘egregiously wrong from the start.'”

Read more.

Also “Seven Myths about Overturning Roe v. Wade.” Abortion will still be legal in much of the U.S.

And, “Most U.S. Abortions Are Already Performed Using Pills.”

There is cause for concern about the ultimate political repercussions. Brian Shilhavey writes:

I have previously written that if the Supreme Court does strike down the infamous Roe vs. Wade abortion decision, that this will NOT decrease abortions in the United States, but actually increase them.

The issue of abortion will now be dealt with at the State level, and some states, like California, will increase abortion services and become “Abortion Tourism States.” Read More »

GOD does not need us.

He has everything. He lacks nothing. In His three Divine Persons, He even has love. He is a furnace of eternal love.

Think of the world He created out of nothingness with its physical, intellectual and moral splendors. Then why? Why does He love creatures who are so far beneath Him, who can do nothing by comparison?

Theologians have pondered this question for thousands of years. In his book, The Creator And The Creature; Or The Wonders Of Divine Love, Fr. Frederick William Faber devotes an entire chapter to it. We cannot understand God’s ways completely, but the simplest answer is,

God loves us because He created us. 

We are different from all His other creatures. We have the freedom not to love Him, the very Source of our being and all that is good. Our love when it comes is freely given.

In the meantime, God showers us with visible proof of His tenderness and devotion, a love that is both universal and personal. He loves each creature as if it were the only one. He knows and loves each of us more than we know and love ourselves. “Reason and revelation, science and theology, nature, grace, and glory, alike establish the infallible truth that God loves His own creatures, and loves them as only God can love.” More from Fr. Faber:

The whole creation floats, as it were, in the ocean of God’s almighty love. His love is the cause of all things and of all the conditions of all things, and it is their end and rest as well. Read More »