[Vision2020] [Bulk] Re: Famous Speeches

[Paul Rumelhart]

What I'd like to know is, was she trying to say that God told Bush to 
send troops into Iraq as a direct divine intervention, or does she think 
that everything that happens, from invading Iraq to deciding on the type 
of candy bar a company decides to come out with, is part of "God's Plan"?

If she thinks there's any kind of a direct divine connection between our 
politicians and God, then I don't want her anywhere near office.  We've 
had eight years of God's current champion, and I think we all know how 
that's turned out.  Some of the worst things to happen in the world have 
happened because someone thought they'd been told to do it by God.  On 
the other hand, if she's just saying that God has a plan for everything, 
then that's just an expression of her faith.  She won't be expecting the 
Gold Phone to ring to give her personalized, detail instructions, and I 
don't have to worry about being officially stoned to death, or even just 
marginalized, because of some prejudices from a few thousand years ago 
being enshrined in a book.

Paul

Joe Campbell wrote:
> Among the numerous quotes listed below is this one:
>
> Franklin Roosevelt, Declaration of War to Japan, Dec. 8, 1941
> I ask that the Congress declare that since the 
> unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on 
> Sunday, December 7, 1941, a state of war has 
> existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire.
>
> What does this have to do with divine intervention? In fact, what do most of
> the quotes below have to do with divine intervention? I haven't read them all
> but none of the ones that I read are like the Palin quote. Many of them
> merely mention the word "God." Maybe you could sift through the lot and find
> one or two that will support your point.
>
> --
> Joe Campbell
>
> ---- Jeff Harkins <jeffh at moscow.com> wrote: 
>
> =============
> Those who have criticized Gov. Sarah Palin for 
> her remarks on divine intervention might do well 
> to review this sampling of quotations from some 
> of the world's greatest leaders.
>
> Enjoy.
>
> All quotations, except for the quotes from the 
> Declaration of Independence, are taken from the 
> website: http://www.famousquotes.me.uk/speeches/
>
> Winston Churchill, The Retreat from Flanders Speech, June 4th, 1940
> We shall not flag nor fail. We shall go on to the 
> end. We shall fight in France and on the seas and 
> oceans; we shall fight with growing confidence 
> and growing strength in the air. We shall defend 
> our island whatever the cost may be; we shall 
> fight on beaches, landing grounds, in fields, in 
> streets and on the hills. We shall never 
> surrender and even if, which I do not for the 
> moment believe, this island or a large part of it 
> were subjugated and starving, then our empire 
> beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British 
> Fleet, will carry on the struggle until in God's 
> good time the New World with all its power and 
> might, sets forth to the liberation and rescue of the Old.
> Franklin Roosevelt, Declaration of War to Japan, Dec. 8, 1941
> I ask that the Congress declare that since the 
> unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on 
> Sunday, December 7, 1941, a state of war has 
> existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire.
> General George S. Patton, The Final Pep-Talk , May 17th, 1944
> There's one great thing you men can say when it's 
> all over and you're home once more. You can thank 
> God that twenty years from now, when you're 
> sitting around the fireside with your grandson on 
> your knee and he asks you what you did in the 
> war, you won't have to shift him to the other 
> knee, cough, and say, "I shovelled shit in Louisiana."
> General Dwight D. Eisenhower, The D-Day Order Speech, June 6th, 1944
> The tide has turned.
> The free men of the world are marching together 
> to victory. I have full confidence in your 
> courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle.
> We will accept nothing less than full victory.
> Good luck, and let us all beseech the blessings 
> of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.
> Martin Luther King, Jr., The Birth of a New Nation, April 7th, 1957
>
> Moses might not get to see Canaan, but his 
> children will see it. He even got to the 
> mountaintop enough to see it and that assured him 
> that it was coming. But the beauty of the thing 
> is that there’s always a Joshua to take up his 
> work and take the children on in. And it’s there 
> waiting with its milk and honey, and with all of 
> the bountiful beauty that God has in store for 
> His children. Oh, what exceedingly marvellous 
> things God has in store for us. Grant that we 
> will follow Him enough to gain them.
> O God, our gracious Heavenly Father, help us to 
> see the insights that come from this new nation. 
> Help us to follow Thee and all of Thy creative 
> works in this world, and that somehow we will 
> discover that we are made to live together as 
> brothers And that it will come in this 
> generation: the day when all men will recognize 
> the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. Amen.
> Pres. John F. Kennedy, Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You, Jan. 1, 1961
> Finally, whether you are citizens of America or 
> citizens of the world, ask of us the same high 
> standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask 
> of you. With a good conscience our only sure 
> reward, with history the final judge of our 
> deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, 
> asking His blessing and His help, but knowing 
> that here on earth God's work must truly be our own.
> Pres. John F. Kennedy, We Choose to go to the Moon, Sept. 12, 1962
> Well, space is there, and we're going to climb 
> it, and the moon and the planets are there, and 
> new hopes for knowledge and peace are there. And, 
> therefore, as we set sail we ask God's blessing 
> on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest 
> adventure on which man has ever embarked.
> President John F. Kennedy, Cuban Missile Crisis, Oct. 22, 1962
> Our goal is not the victory of might, but the 
> vindication of right-not peace at the expense of 
> freedom, but both peace and freedom, here in this 
> hemisphere, and, we hope, around the world. God 
> willing, that goal will be achieved.
>
> Martin Luther King, Jr., I Have a Dream, Aug. 28th, 1963
> When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring 
> from every village and every hamlet, from every 
> state and every city, we will be able to speed up 
> that day when all of God's children, black men 
> and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and 
> Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in 
> the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at 
> last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
> Martin Luther King, Jr. Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech, Dec. 10th, 1964
> You honour the ground crew without whose labour 
> and sacrifices the jet flights to freedom could 
> never have left the earth. Most of these people 
> will never make the headlines and their names 
> will not appear in Who's Who. Yet when years have 
> rolled past and when the blazing light of truth 
> is focused on this marvellous age in which we 
> live, men and women will know and children will 
> be taught that we have a finer land, a better 
> people, a more noble civilization, because these 
> humble children of God were willing to suffer for righteousness' sake.
> Pres. Lyndon B Johnson, We Shall Overcome, March 15th, 1965
> Above the pyramid on the great seal of the United 
> States it says-in Latin - "God has favoured our 
> undertaking." God will not favour everything that 
> we do. It is rather our duty to divine His will. 
> But I cannot help bee believing that He truly 
> understands and that He really favours the 
> undertaking that we begin here tonight.
> Martin Luther King, Jr. Time to Break Silence, August 28th, 1963
> Now let us begin. Now let us rededicate ourselves 
> to the long and bitter, but beautiful, struggle 
> for a new world. This is the calling of the sons 
> of God, and our brothers wait eagerly for our response.
> Martin Luther King, Jr. , I See the Promised Land,  April 3rd, 1968
> Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've 
> got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't 
> matter with me now. Because I've been to the 
> mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I 
> would like to live a long life. Longevity has its 
> place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I 
> just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me 
> to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. 
> And I've seen the promised land. I may not get 
> there with you. But I want you to know tonight, 
> that we, as a people will get to the promised 
> land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried 
> about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine 
> eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.
>
> Robert F. Kennedy, Death of Martin Luther King, Jr., April 4th, 1968
> My favourite poet was Aeschylus. He wrote: "In 
> our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by 
> drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, 
> against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God."
> Pres. Ronald Reagan, First Inaugural Address,  Jan. 20th, 1981
>
> It does require, however, our best effort and our 
> willingness to believe in ourselves and to 
> believe in our capacity to perform great deeds, 
> and to believe that together with God's help, we 
> can and will resolve the problems which now confront us.
> And after all, why shouldn't we believe that? We are Americans.
> God bless you and thank you.
> Pres. Ronald Reagan, Address to the British Parliament, June 8th, 1982
> The British people know that, given strong 
> leadership, time and a little bit of hope, the 
> forces of good ultimately rally and triumph over 
> evil. Here among you is the cradle of 
> self-government, the Mother of Parliaments. Here 
> is the enduring greatness of the British 
> contribution to mankind, the great civilized 
> ideas: individual liberty, representative 
> government, and the rule of law under God.
> Pres. Bill Clinton, I Have Sinned, Sept. 11, 1998
>
> But I believe that to be forgiven, more than 
> sorrow is required - at least two more things. 
> First, genuine repentance - a determination to 
> change and to repair breaches of my own making. I 
> have repented. Second, what my bible calls a 
> ''broken spirit''; an understanding that I must 
> have God's help to be the person that I want to 
> be; a willingness to give the very forgiveness I 
> seek; a renunciation of the pride and the anger 
> which cloud judgment, lead people to excuse and 
> compare and to blame and complain.
> Pres. Bill Clinton, I Have Sinned, Sept. 11, 1998
> I thank my friend for that. I thank you for being 
> here. I ask you to share my prayer that God will 
> search me and know my heart, try me and know my 
> anxious thoughts, see if there is any hurtfulness 
> in me, and lead me toward the life everlasting. I 
> ask that God give me a clean heart, let me walk by faith and not sight.
> I ask once again to be able to love my neighbour 
> - all my neighbours - as my self, to be an 
> instrument of God's peace; to let the words of my 
> mouth and the meditations of my heart and, in the 
> end, the work of my hands, be pleasing. This is 
> what I wanted to say to you today.
> Declaration of Independence, July 4th, 1776
>
> 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,
> and
> And for the support of this Declaration, with a 
> firm reliance on the protection of Divine 
> Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our 
> Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
>
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