Free Republic

Since I first started following Aussie Rules footy at the age of 9 in 1967, the qualities I have most loved seeing are courage at the contest and skill, speed and flair. Outstanding players I have seen in this regard are Barry Price, Keith Greig, Robbie Flower, Barry Cable, Garry Ablett Senior, Eddie Betts, The Krakouer brothers and the current Number 5 of the North Melbourne Kangaroos AFLW team, Tess Craven. As a human being Tess is modest, kind, friendly and helpful and always puts her team ahead of herself. The strength, skill and determination she shows above in tackling...

84 years ago today, Bob Dylan was born. At his Nobel Prize winning best, from 1961 to 1966, he challenged us to rethink everything with everything he wrote. Donald Trump, born about 5 years after Dylan, in 1946, looks to me like he is just entering into a period of his Dylanesque best. Trump forces us to revealuate this modern world all the time. Bob Dylan mastered and elevated American music twice to great literature in a few short years, first as a folkie but then as a great rock n roller. Potus 45 surprised everyone to come down a...

The day I took this photo of Melbourne ruckwoman Georgia Campbell being tackled by key forward Tayla Harris, the configuration of elbows, heads and hands caught my eye as something special. Together, the two players looked like a Lotus Flower - the Buddhist symbol of purity, spiritual enlightenment and rebirth. I asked Tay if she'd like a song to be written about it and she said she'd prefer a rap. So I tried (without huge ability in the art form) to make one. (click here) In Melbourne, Aussie Rules football is often called a religion. Could the game become more...

On January First, 1953, Hank Williams died of heart failure in the back seat of a car on the way to a gig. (He had hired a student to drive him from Alabama to West Virginia to be there. Dedication.) Hank liberated the pop music voice to sound wholeheartedly and powerfully American with unparalleled directness and emotional honesty on the hit song charts in ways no one had done before. He is not the father of The First Amendment but he is for me a pivotal grandfather of modern freedom of speech. The cultural achievements I revere of Dylan, Elvis,...

Weldon Kees write in his poem “June 1940″ : ” ……. the men who were haters of war are mounting the platform./An idiot wind blows; the conscience dies.” Bob Dylan's Idiot Wind is a masterpeice or a messterpeice of fractured emotions and traces of deep love (“Sweet lady ……. a lone soldier on the cross (who) won the wars after losin’ every battle ……. Down the road to ecstasy/I followed you beneath the stars/Hounded by your memory/And all your ragin’ glory ……. } What I hear Dylan sing in the Chris is “Yediot Wind” What is that? A condemnation of...

Lets Remember All Mothers At Xmas. Mothers are the foundation of family and therefore of society. But in the modern industrialised materialistic world not all mothers have the respect owing to them and the protection of family or society. Lest We Forget All Mums Matter.

Norma Shearer died on this date 40 years ago in 1983. She was the first 5-time Oscar acting nominee. "An adventure" she said, "maybe worn as a muddy spot or worn as a proud insignia. It is the woman wearing it who makes it the one thing or the other." and "Being a motion picture actress is the pitch of ecstasy." God Bless Freedom

Judy Garland was wonderful. Freepers please tell me more ........

Doris Day was an incredibly popular and Republican singer and film star, who used her fame to establish the Doris Day Animal Foundation. She said: "I like joy; I want to be joyous; I want to have fun on the set; I want to wear beautiful clothes and look pretty. I want to smile, and I want to make people laugh. And that's all I want. I like it. I like being happy. I want to make others happy." In the movie “Love Me Or Leave Me” which was nominated for 6 academy awards (winning Best Story for Daniel Fuchs),...

Lady Gregory was born on this date, 15 May, 171 years ago, in 1852, in County Galway, Ireland. Wikipedia reports that study of her grandfather-in-law’s letters lead to a shift in her politics “from the “soft” Unionism of her earlier writing on Home Rule to a definite support of Irish nationalism and Republicanism, and to what she was later to describe as “a dislike and distrust of England”.” Lady Gregory took her motto from Aristotle: “To think like a wise man, but to express oneself like the common people.” Here are some examples of her quality thought: “I’ll take no...

Doris Eaton Travis made her Broadway debut at the age of 13 and one year later was the youngest ever cast member of the Ziegfeld follies. After her career in stage and screen ended, she was a dance instructor with Arthur Murray Dance Studios for three decades, rising through the ranks to own & manage nearly twenty dance schools. Travis retired from the dance studio business in 1968. She moved with her husband moved to Norman, Oklahoma, and established a ranch. Initially on 220 acres , which grew to 880 acres. Many of the quarter-horses bred and raised there were...

Oscar winning star Joan Crawford died on this date in 1977. She made a name for herself as a flapper in the 1920's, then starred in the '30's, during The Great Depression, in rags-to-riches stories of hard working young women finding love. "Women's Lib? Poor little things. They always look so unhappy. Have you noticed how bitter their faces are?" - Joan Crawford No need to say more.

Actress Anne Baxter, born on the 7th May, 1923, was the granddaughter of Frank Lloyd Wright, who was recognised as the greatest architect of all time. He designed doll houses for her in her childhood. Anne Baxter was unique in playing two different villains in the Batman television series. Politically, she was a Republican campaigning for Dewey and Ike for president. “Acting is not what I do. It’s what I am. It’s my permanent built-in cathedral.” said the great architect’s granddaughter. God Bless Family, so often the foundation of success.

Margaret Thatcher became the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom forty-four years ago today on May 4, 1979. She fully understood how freedom is at the core of the many factors we must consider in protecting national strength. Her words prove it: "I love argument. I love debate. " “……… no government can do anything except through people, and people must look after themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves and then, also, to look after our neighbours.” ” …….. we must build a society in which we encourage rather than restrict the variety and richness of...

Marlene Dietrich passed away on the 6th of May, 1992, after a life of glamour as a sex symbol and one long marriage. She knew how things work between men and women. Her words prove it: “Darling, the legs aren’t so beautiful, I just know what to do with them.“ “Most women set out to try to change a man, and when they have changed him they do not like him.” “To be completely woman you need a master, and in him a compass for your life. You need a man you can look up to and respect. If you...

Audrey Hepburn was born on the 4th of May, 1929, the daughter of a baron and baroness. She was Belgian royalty who became Hollywood’s equivalent: a much loved movie star, one of Bogie’s many great babes. She was nominated for 6 Oscars and won two. Her other major awards were: 3 BAFTA's, 1 Emmy, 2 Golden Globes, 1 Grammy, 1 Screen Actors Guild Award and 2 Tony's. That's modern royalty. Not inherited, but earned by hard work and intelligence, proved by her Hank Williams-like human-centered mastery of the English language in statements such as: “I was born with an enormous...

Actress and novelist Mary Astor was born on May 3rd, 1906. In making the 1941 movie “The Great Lie”, Bette Davis insisted that a difficult to cast role be given to Astor because Davis liked to work with good actresses who would bring out the best in her. Astor understood this type of risk taking, as opposed to dull self-protective caution, later writing: “Our security must be threatened in order for us to appreciate it.” Astor won the movie's only award, the supporting actress Oscar for her portrayal of pianist Sandra Kovak. In her acceptance speech, Astor thanked Bette Davis...

"You can't test courage cautiously." wrote Annie Dillard, born in Pittsburg on April 30, 1945. She understood both the complexities and straightforwardness of robust life. She also wrote: "There is a muscular energy in sunlight corresponding to the spiritual energy of wind."

Lucille Ball co-created the situation comedy genre through starring in I Love Lucy. Later on, she approved the initial production of Star Trek. Desilu Productions also created Mission:Impossible, The Untouchables and Mannix. ......... She really understood creativity. "The more things you do", she said, "the more things you can do." ....... In World War Two, when freedom was on the line, she didn't mind being a glamorous babe to help keep up the spirits of the guys in uniform risking their lives fighting against tyranny. No third wave feminist crap to weaken our culture in that era ....... "Women's lib?"...

Lita Grey would have turned 115 years old today. If she had lived long enough. She didn't. But she survived marriage to Charlie Chaplin. Read what this babe said about his sense of humour here ........