Lincoln's Birthday And Religious Belief

     

Tucson Weather Today

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When one says that today is Abraham Lincoln's birthday, nothing more need be said about it. Every adult American knows who President Abraham Lincoln was and what he did for the nation.

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Religion . . .

For most of my life I thought that the Hindus of India believed that cows were sacred. Now I find that I was wrong. In Hinduism, the cow is revered as the source of food and symbol of life and may never be killed. Hindus do not worship the cow, however, and cows do not have especially charmed lives in India. It is more accurate to say the cow is taboo in Hinduism, rather than sacred.

The fundamental Hindu beliefs include: the authority of the Vedas (the oldest Indian sacred texts) and the Brahmans (priests); the existence of an enduring soul that transmigrates from one body to another at death (reincarnation); and the law of karma that determines one's destiny both in this life and the next.

Karma is regarded as a fundamental law of nature that is automatic and mechanical. It is not something that is imposed by God or a god as a system of punishment or reward, nor something that the gods can interfere with.

Karma

The ultimate goal of all Hindus is release from the cycle of rebirth. For those of a devotional bent, this means being in God's presence, while those of a philosophical persuasion look forward to uniting with God as a drop of rain merges with the sea.

As I grow older I learn more and more, but what I learn seems to be of less and less value. Looking deep within my basic (seemingly instinctual) knowledge base (wisdom?) I choose to believe that I, as a human animal have no greater purpose beyond that of propagating my species -- nothing more -- and possessing a super brain as humans believe we do, is nothing more than carrying around a somewhat more efficient chemical factory within my skull than do the other Earth-bound creatures.

Human life has no meaning, at least as we are able to grok the meaning of meaning. And I know I am right about that.

I can't help it; that's just the way I am.

What do you believe, in all honesty, way down deep within your self?

Or do you even know?

Or want to?

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Did You Know . . .?

The origin of New York City being called "The Big Apple" came from the catchphrase of New York Morning Telegraph track writer John J. Fitz Gerald in the 1920s. He picked up the term from African-American stable hands at the Fair Grounds racetrack in New Orleans, probably on January 14, 1920.

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HISTORICAL EVENT

On this day in 1809 Abraham Lincoln, one of America's most admired presidents was born. He grew up a member of a poor family in Kentucky and Indiana. He attended school for only one year, but thereafter read on his own in a continual effort to improve his mind. As an adult, he lived in Illinois and performed a variety of jobs including stints as a postmaster, surveyor and shopkeeper, before entering politics. He served in the Illinois legislature from 1834 to 1836, and then became an attorney in 1842.

Lincoln won the presidency in 1860 by approximately 400,000 popular votes and carried the Electoral College.

Lincoln is remembered as The Great Emancipator. His greatest legacy was his work to preserve the Union and his signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. To Confederate sympathizers, however, Lincoln's signing of the Emancipation Proclamation reinforced his image as a hated despot and ultimately led John Wilkes Booth to assassinate him on April 14, 1865.

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WORD FOR TODAY

emancipation  [ee-MAN-suh-pay-shun]
noun
1. the act of freeing or state of being freed; liberation.
2. freedom from inhibition and convention.

Wikipedia says that emancipation is any of various efforts to procuring political rights or equality, often for a specifically disenfranchised group, or more generally in discussion of such matters.

Mortimer Adler, an American philosopher, educator, and popular author, once said: "Freedom is the emancipation from the arbitrary rule of other men."

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CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS

Abraham Lincoln

(Feb 12, 1809 - Apr 15, 1865)

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln led the United States through its Civil War--its bloodiest war and its greatest moral, constitutional and political crisis. In so doing he preserved the Union, abolished slavery, strengthened the national government and modernized the economy.

Joanna Kerns

(born February 12, 1953)

Joanna Kerns is an American actress and director best known for her role as Maggie Seaver on the family situation comedy Growing Pains from 1985–1992.

Jesse Gordon Spencer

(born 12 February 1979)

Jesse Spencer is an Australian actor and musician. He is best known for playing Dr. Robert Chase on the American medical drama House, and Billy Kennedy on the Australian soap opera Neighbours. He currently stars as Lieutenant Matthew Casey on the American drama series Chicago Fire.

Alexandra Estella DeAnna "Alex" Meneses

(born February 12, 1965)

Alex Meneses is an American television and film actress. Meneses portrayed Teresa Morales in Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, and has had significant recurring roles on Everybody Loves Raymond as Robert's Italian girlfriend, Stefania; Friends (1997, Third season) as Cookie (Joey Tribiani's sister); and The Hughleys. She has also appeared in Martial Law as Alex Delgado in the episode Lock Up and the films Amanda and the Alien, Selena, Living in Peril, The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas, Auto Focus, NCIS, and Funny Money.

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The Bible and the Church have been the greatest stumbling blocks in the way of women's emancipation.
--Elizabeth Cady Stanton

NASA TV

This Is Who I Am

   

Happiness Is Just A State Of Mind

    

Tucson Weather Today

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How happy is the little Stone
by Emily Dickinson

How happy is the little Stone
That rambles in the Road alone,
And doesn't care about Careers
And Exigencies never fears --
Whose Coat of elemental Brown
A passing Universe put on,
And independent as the Sun
Associates or glows alone,
Fulfilling absolute Decree
In casual simplicity --

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HISTORICAL CLIP

On this day, February 12, in 1809, Abraham Lincoln was born in Hodgenville, Kentucky.

Lincoln, one of America's most admired presidents, grew up a member of a poor family in Kentucky and Indiana. He attended school for only one year, but thereafter read on his own in a continual effort to improve his mind. As an adult, he lived in Illinois and performed a variety of jobs including stints as a postmaster, surveyor and shopkeeper, before entering politics. He served in the Illinois legislature from 1834 to 1836, and then became an attorney. In 1842, Lincoln married Mary Todd; together, the pair raised four sons.

When he won the presidency in 1860 by approximately 400,000 popular votes and carried the Electoral College, he was in effect handed a ticking time bomb. South Carolina led other states in an exodus from the Union that began shortly after his election. By February 1, 1861, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas had also seceded. Soon after, the Civil War began. As the war progressed, Lincoln moved closer to committing himself and the nation to the abolitionist movement and, in 1863, finally signed the Emancipation Proclamation. The document freed slaves in the Confederate states.

Lincoln was the tallest president at 6' 4. As a young man, he impressed others with his sheer physical strength--he was a legendary wrestler in Illinois--and entertained friends and strangers alike with his dry, folksy wit, which was still in evidence years later.

Exasperated by one Civil War military defeat after another, Lincoln wrote to a lethargic general if you are not using the army I should like to borrow it for awhile. An animal lover, Lincoln once declared, "I care not for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it." Fittingly, a variety of pets took up residence at the Lincoln White House, including a pet turkey named Jack and a goat called Nanko. Lincoln's son Tad frequently hitched Nanko to a small wagon and drove around the White House grounds.

Lincoln's sense of humor may have helped him to hide recurring bouts of depression. He admitted to friends and colleagues that he suffered from intense melancholia and hypochondria most of his adult life. Perhaps in order to cope with it, Lincoln engaged in self-effacing humor, even chiding himself about his famously homely looks. When an opponent in an 1858 Senate race debate called him two-faced, he replied, If I had another face do you think I would wear this one?

Lincoln is remembered as The Great Emancipator. To Confederate sympathizers, however, Lincoln's signing of the Emancipation Proclamation reinforced his image as a hated despot and ultimately led John Wilkes Booth to assassinate him on April 14, 1865. His favorite horse, Old Bob, pulled his funeral hearse.

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WORD FOR TODAY

emancipation
noun
-  the act of freeing or state of being freed; liberation
-  informal  freedom from inhibition and convention

Emancipation is any of various efforts to procuring political rights or equality, often for a specifically disenfranchised group, or more generally in discussion of such matters. Emancipation stems from ex manus capere ('take out the hand').

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BORN ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

Abraham Lincoln

Born Feb. 12, 1809
Died April 14, 1865

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln successfully led the United States through its greatest constitutional, military, and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union while ending slavery and promoting economic and financial modernization.

Lorne Greene

Born Feb 12, 1915
Died: Sep 11, 1987

Lyon Himan Green, better known by the stage name Lorne Greene, was a Canadian actor and musician.

His television roles include Ben Cartwright on the western Bonanza, and Commander Adama in the science fiction movie and subsequent TV Series Battlestar Galactica. He also worked on the Canadian television nature documentary series Lorne Greene's New Wilderness, and in television commercials as a dog food spokesman.

Christina Ricci

Born Feb 12, 1980
Age:   32 years old

Christina Ricci is an American actress. Ricci received initial recognition and praise as a child star for her performance as Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family (1991) and Addams Family Values (1993), and her role as Kat Harvey in Casper (1995). Ricci made a transition into more adult-oriented roles with The Ice Storm (1997), followed by an acclaimed performance in Buffalo '66 (1998) and then The Opposite of Sex (1998), for which she received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress.

She continued her success with well-received performances in Sleepy Hollow (1999), Monster (2003), Penelope (2006) and Black Snake Moan (2007). In 2006 Ricci was nominated for an Emmy award for her role as a paramedic in the ABC drama Grey's Anatomy. In 2011–12 she played Maggie Ryan in the television show Pan Am.

Charles Darwin

Born Feb. 12, 1809
Died April 19, 1882

Charles Robert Darwin was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestors, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding.

Darwin published his theory of evolution with compelling evidence in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species, overcoming scientific rejection of earlier concepts of transmutation of species. By the 1870s the scientific community and much of the general public had accepted evolution as a fact.

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If you want total security, go to prison. There you're fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking... is freedom.
--Dwight D. Eisenhower