Thursday, January 07, 2021

“This Is My Song (January 7, 2021)”


“This Is My Song (January 7, 2021)”

This is my song, O God of my dear nation,
a song of peace for this loved land of mine;
this is my home, the country where my heart is;
here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine:
but other hearts in this land are beating
with hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.

May truth and freedom come unto this nation;
may peace abound where strife has raged so long;
that each may seek to love and build together,
a land united, righting every wrong;
a people united in love for freedom,
proclaiming peace together in one song.

O hear my song, thou God of this dear nation,
a song of peace for all lands and for mine.



Adapted by me from “This Is My Song”
by Lloyd Stone and Georgia Harkness
Tune: “Finlandia” by Jean Sibelus

Sunday, January 03, 2021

Extracts from a Letter to Senator Mike Braun of Indiana

Dear Senator Braun --

When I read your recent tweets about objecting to the Electoral College Vote awarding Mr. Biden the presidency and the Indianapolis Star's report that "Indiana Republican U.S. Senator Mike Braun on Saturday said he will object to President-elect Joe Biden's Electoral College victory when Congress meets to certify the election results on Wednesday. ... Braun, in a joint statement with 10 other sitting and incoming Senate Republicans, said the 2020 presidential election
"featured unprecedented allegations of voter fraud" and called for an emergency 10-day audit of the election returns in states in which President Trump had challenged results" I was more than disappointed. I was, and am, outraged.

When I wrote to you earlier about my concerns regarding these ridiculous allegations of massive fraud, you (or some staff member) wrote back telling me that the media did not get to decide who was to become President but rather that the Electoral College did and that Congress would abide by that vote when it meets on January 6, 2021.

I guess you lied to me. Your actions show that. You disregard that we are a nation of laws -- and multiple courts across our land, including the Supreme Court of the United States, have dismissed these cases alleging fraud as without merit. You disrespect our Constitution. You are violating your oath of office, swearing that you would "I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter" and rather are suborning our democracy. 

This is an embarrassment to our state and nation and an affront to Hoosier values of respect and belief in our rule of law.

Please reconsider,

John Brent Bill
Mooresville, IN