Free Download of The Month

Here's a shameless plug for my Free Download of The Month which is available from my personal website...

Each month I offer a free, high quality MP3 of one of my original songs via my website.

This month the song is, The Bitter Heart.

The Bitter Heart
© 2006, Jim Lesses. All Rights Reserved.

The bitter heart can not be seen,
By hidden lens or TV screen.
Nor can the bitter heart be bought,
By liars in a bankrupt court.

The bitter heart won’t feel the touch,
Of reason as it seeks to clutch,
At every little hurt and blame,
That helps to feed the burning flame.

The bitter heart may lose its soul,
When men feel they have no control.
And so they seek a martyr's fate,
Forever breeding fear and hate.

The bitter heart may join the cause,
That drag the faithful into wars.
And trap the faithless deep in mud.
And soak them in their tears and blood.

BRIDGE
The bitter heart may turn to ash,
When flesh explodes and hatreds clash.
But even though the flesh is gone,
The bitterness will linger on.

INSTRUMENTAL BREAK

The bitter heart will start to mend,
Where ignorance and fear both end.
Where power and the laws reflect,
A world where all live with respect.

Where love and peace, and trust abound,
Where hope, and future dreams are found.
It’s not too late to make a start –
To seek to heal the bitter heart.

CODA:
It’s not too late to make a start –
Reach out and heal the bitter heart.

--o0o--

The Bitter Heart was my first song for 2006.

I had been reading The Big Ideas of 2006 edition of AdBusters (Jan/Feb., 2006, #63, Vol.14., No.1), and read a piece by Dr. Arthur Kroker called, Can Surveillance Detect a Bitter Heart? Dr. Kroker wrote, in part: “…invisible to the eye of the camera, the bitter heart cannot be detected by technology nor seduced by wealth and power. Its loyalties already belong to different political regimes…”

That was enough to get my creative juices going, and within a few days I had written the song. Once again, it is available as a free MP3 download for the rest of January, from my personal website. If you want to hear it, head over there now and take a listen. If you like what you hear, download it, learn it, sing it, record it -- and send me the royalties :-)

Back to Jim's Website...

Bertrand Russell on tolerance and 'Liberalism'

In an article titled: Shared liberal values define what it is to be British, the writer Keith Farman (writing under the nom-de-plume, Zettel), wrote in August 2005...

"Much has been written lately of what it means to be British. Words like ‘tolerance’ ‘open-mindedness’ ‘fair-play’ recur in this debate but I have not yet seen a coherent satisfying response to the question."

Farman points to a New York Times article published in December 1951, prophetically called 'The Best Answer to Fanaticism - Liberalism', written by the great British philosopher Bertrand Russell. Russell defined liberal values in the form of a decalogue intended to supplement, not supplant, the old Ten Commandments.

Here are Bertrand Russell's 10 principals of Liberalism. To read Farman/Zettel's full online essay including excellent individual responses to Russell's principals, visit this page...

These are Bertrand Russell's 10 principles.

1. Do not feel absolutely certain of anything.
2. Do not think it worthwhile to proceed by concealing evidence for the evidence is sure to come to light.
3. Never discourage thinking for you are sure to succeed.
4. When you meet with opposition, even if it should be from your spouse or children, endeavour to overcome it by argument and not authority, for a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory.
5. Have no respect for the authority of others as there are always contrary authorities to be found.
6. Do not use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do, the opinions will suppress you.
7. Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted, was once eccentric.
8. Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent than in passive agreement, for, if you value intelligence, as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter.
9. Be scrupulously truthful, even when the truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it.
10. Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise, for only a fool will think it is paradise.

Farman concludes by saying, "If we cannot win the war of ideas and ideals against all forms of absolutism, we cannot win at all. And we cannot display faith and courage in our ideals, by sacrificing them in the face of the first attack of a dedicated enemy."

I can only whole heartedly agree.

Once again, Farman/Zettel's full essay can be read in full here...

Quote of The Day...

Lao Tze: "The bad leader is he who the people hate. The good leader is he who the people love. The great leader is he who the people say: "we did it ourselves."

--o0o--

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