A Message From John Waters

Great Freemasons: Will Rogers (1879 - 1935)

"This country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session as when the baby gets hold of a hammer."

(Claremore Lodge No. 53, OK)

Merrie Melodies - Daffy Duck the Wizard

Great Freemasons: John Glenn

I don't know what you could say about a day in which you have seen four beautiful sunsets.
John Glenn

(Concord Lodge No. 688, New Concord, Ohio)

William Shatner is Iron Man!

Great Freemasons: Irving Berlin (1888 - 1989)

"Our attitudes control our lives. Attitudes are a secret power working twenty-four hours a day, for good or bad. It is of paramount importance that we know how to harness and control this great force."
Irving Berlin

(Munn Lodge No. 190, New York)

Great Freemasons: Christopher Wren (1632 - 1723)

"Architecture aims at eternity" Christopher Wren

(Master of Lodge Original, No. 1, now the Lodge of Antiquity No. 2)

Great Freemasons: Cecil B. DeMille (1881 - 1959)

"Creation is a drug I can't do without." Cecil B. DeMille

(Prince of Orange Lodge No. 16, New York City)

Great Freemasons: Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882 - 1945)

"Freedom to learn is the first necessity of guaranteeing that man himself shall be self-reliant enough to be free. Such things did not need as much emphasis a generation ago, but when the clock of civilization can be turned back by burning libraries, by exiling scientists, artists, musicians, writers and teachers; by disbursing universities, and by censoring news and literature and art; an added burden, an added burden is placed on those countries where the courts of free thought and free learning still burn bright. If the fires of freedom and civil liberties burn low in other lands they must be made brighter in our own. If in other lands the press and books and literature of all kinds are censored, we must redouble our efforts here to keep them free. If in other lands the eternal truths of the past are threatened by intolerance we must provide a safe place for their perpetuation."

(Holland Lodge No. 8, New York)

Great Freemasons: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)

"A Mason’s ways are
A type of existence,
And his persistence
... Is as the days are
Of men of the world.
The future hides in it
Good hap or sorrow,
We pass through it-
Naught there abides in it
Daunting us- onward.
And silent, before us,
Veiled the dark portal,
Goal of all mortal;
Stars silent rest over us,
Graves under us silent.
But heard are the voices-
Voices of the sages
Of the world and the ages-
Choose well, your choice is
Brief, but yet endless.
Here eyes do regard you
In eternity’s stillness,
Here is all fullness,
Ye brave, to reward you,
Work and despair not."

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

(Lodge Amelie, Weimar)

Praxeology - Episode 10 - The Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility

Great Freemasons: W.C. Fields (1880 - 1946)

"I never voted for anybody. I always voted against." W.C. Fields

(E. Coppee Mitchell Lodge No. 605, Philadelphia)

Great Freemasons: Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (1771 - 1832)

"One hour of life, crowded to the full with glorious action, and filled with noble risks, is worth whole years of those mean observances of paltry decorum, in which men steal through existence, like sluggish waters through a marsh, without either honour or observation." Sir Walter Scott

Scott was the first English-language author to have a truly international career in his lifetime, with many contemporary readers in Europe, Australia, and North America. His novels and poetry are still read, and many of his works remain classics of both English-language literature and of Scottish literature. Famous titles include 'Ivanhoe,' 'Rob Roy,' 'The Lady of The Lake,' 'Waverley,' 'The Heart of Midlothian' and 'The Bride of Lammermoor.'

(Canongate Kilwinning from Leith/St. David)

Great Freemasons: W. E. B. Du Bois (1868 - 1963)

"I believe in God who made of one blood all races that dwell on earth. I believe that all men, black and brown and white, are brothers, varying through Time and Opportunity, in form and gift and feature, but differing in no essential particular, and alike in soul and in the possibility of infinite development. " W. E. B. Du Bois

"William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an intellectual leader in the United States as a sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, author, and editor. Biographer David Levering Lewis wrote, "In the course of his long, turbulent career, W. E. B. Du Bois attempted virtually every possible solution to the problem of twentieth-century racism—scholarship, propaganda, integration, national self-determination, human rights, cultural and economic separatism, politics, international communism, expatriation, third world solidarity." ~wikipedia


(Bro W. E. B. DuBois was made a Prince Hall Freemason December 12, 1910 when initiated into Widow Son Lodge #1, MWPHGL of CT at New Haven. According to information gathered from "Great Black Men of Masonry: Qualitative Black Achievers who were Freemasons” by Joseph Mason Andrew Cox; 1987 ed., Dr W. E. B. DuBois was a Thirty-Third Degree Mason, Ancient & Accepted Scottish of Freemasonry, PHA, Southern Jurisdiction, USA.)

Source.

Steampunk Wedding Cake

Great Freemasons: Mel Blanc (1908 - 1989)

"That's all folks!" Mel Blanc

Melvin Jerome "Mel" Blanc (May 30, 1908 – July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and comedian. Although he began his nearly six-decade-long career performing in radio commercials, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros. during the "Golden Age of American animation" (and later for Hanna-Barbera television productions) as the voice of such well-known characters as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Sylvester the Cat, Tweety Bird, Foghorn Leghorn, Yosemite Sam, Wile E. Coyote, Woody Woodpecker, Barney Rubble, Mr. Spacely, Speed Buggy, Captain Caveman, Heathcliff, Speedy Gonzales, Tom Cat, and hundreds of others. Having earned the nickname “The Man of a Thousand Voices,” Blanc is regarded as one of the most influential people in the voice-acting industry.

At the time of his death, it was estimated that 20 million people heard his voice every day. ~wikipedia

School House Rock Preamble

E Plebnista!

Great Freemasons: Oliver Ellsworth (1945 - 1807)

"Liberty is a word which, according as it is used, comprehends the most good and the most evil of any in the world. Justly understood it is sacred next to those which we appropriate in divine adoration; but in the mouths of some it means anything, which enervate a necessary government; excite a jealousy of the rulers who are our own choice, and keep society in confu...sion for want of a power sufficiently concentered to promote good.
Oliver Ellsworth, Reference: Essays on the Constitution of the United States, Ford, ed. (146); original The Connecticut Courant


Oliver Ellsworth was an American lawyer and politician, a revolutionary against British rule, a drafter of the United States Constitution, and the third Chief Justice of the United States. While at the Federal Convention, Ellsworth moved to strike the word National from the motion made by Edmund Randolph of Virginia. Randolph had moved successfully to call the government the National Government of United States. Ellsworth moved that the government should continue to be called the United States Government. -wikipedia

Inspiring!

Great Freemasons: John Philip Sousa (1854 - 1932)

‎
‎"Any composer who is gloriously conscious that he is a composer must believe that he receives his inspiration from a source higher than himself."



"Governmental aid is a drawback rather than an assistance, as, although it may facilitate in the routine of artistic production, it is an impediment to the development of true artistic genius."
John Philip Sousa

Great Freemasons: Danny Thomas (1912 - 1991)

It’s Great To Be A Freemason
by Danny Thomas, 33°
The years found me an admirer of the great work the Masonic Order has been doing in making this world a better place for all of us to live. I have, for a long time, desired to be one of you and rejoice that now I can proudly boast of my membership in one of the world’s greatest fraternal associations. I am grateful for those individuals who have in quiet ways motivated me in my work on behalf of unfortunate children. I am grateful for the high moment in my life when the doors of Freemasonry were opened to me. Since then I have had many pleasant times of fraternal fellowship and even opportunities for service in the work of many branches of Freemasonry.

Our Order, for now I can say, "our order," teaches, "the brotherhood of man under the fatherhood of God" and this is great! The world needs so desperately to discover the value of this great truth in human relationships and world affairs. It is also a truth that will motivate men and women to continue to explore avenues of service and areas of common concerns in order to restore a measure of sanity to the madness of our day and to enrich the quality of life for all peoples everywhere. Now I join hands and heart with you in all your endeavors of philanthropy and say we must not slacken our efforts "to do good to all," especially those with needs that will not be met if we fail in our common task of service to humanity.

On stage, screen, platform, and in private life I have always sought to bring a smile to the face of others and put a little joy in their lives. I am grateful now for the larger opportunity which is mine to adopt the tenets of Freemasonry as my own and hopefully be able to have a small part in spreading Masonry’s message of love and caring to a larger audience, for wherever I go, I will be proud to tell others of my work and concern in behalf of all that you are doing, unselfishly, for others.

Someone once asked me, "why did I want to be a Mason," and my reply was: "Because Masons care for those who cannot care for themselves." The Shriners have always been a favorite of mine because of their work for crippled and burned children. Also I am excited about efforts proposed at the recent Conference of Grand Masters in regard to drug abuse among young people.

It is great to be a Freemason! I am proud of what we are doing. I shall assist in every way I can our work of mercy, and it doesn't hurt to be a Brother with a "big mouth and lots of television cameras" to help get the message across. Masons are people of goodwill who want to "keep our kids alive" and we are doing this throughout the world. Our purpose is noble and humanitarian. Our labors will be crowned with success, for as Freemasons we will bring to our mission the best we have, regardless of what it demands from us in the way of sacrifice and service. We will make sure that in the tomorrows, life will be better for those who suffer today.

I was a Freemason in my heart long before I was accepted as a member in this great Fraternity. I was an outsider but now I am one of you, and the remaining years of my life will be spent in seeking in some small way to say to all: "Thank you for making me a Freemason." I want always to make you laugh but I trust that I will also make you care and that now, together, we will put melody in the heart of the world that will sing of a better life for all people. The task challenges us to larger efforts and higher goals that will demand from all of us the best we have to make a better life for others. My promise to Freemasons everywhere is that I will give the task my best!


(Reprinted from the October 1990 Fresno Scottish Rite Bulletin with credit to Kansas Masonic Bulletin.)

Great Freemasons: Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux (1778–1868)

"Education makes a people easy to lead, but difficult to drive; easy to govern but impossible to enslave." Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux (1778–1868)

Abolitionist and founder of "The Edinburgh Review"

(Raised in Fortrose Lodge, Stornway, Scotland)

Great Freemasons: Sir Winston Churchill

"People say we ought not to allow ourselves to be drawn into a theoretical antagonism between Nazidom and democracy; but the antagonism is here now. It is this very conflict of spiritual and moral ideas which gives the free countries a great part of their strength. You see these dictators on their pedestals, surrounded by the bayonets of their soldiers and the truncheons of their police. On all sides they are guarded by masses of armed men, cannons, aeroplanes, fortifications, and the like — they boast and vaunt themselves before the world, yet in their hearts there is unspoken fear. They are afraid of words and thoughts; words spoken abroad, thoughts stirring at home — all the more powerful because forbidden — terrify them. A little mouse of thought appears in the room, and even the mightiest potentates are thrown into panic. They make frantic efforts to bar our thoughts and words; they are afraid of the workings of the human mind. Cannons, airplanes, they can manufacture in large quantities; but how are they to quell the natural promptings of human nature, which after all these centuries of trial and progress has inherited a whole armoury of potent and indestructible knowledge? " Sir Winston Churchill

(Studholme Alliance Lodge No. 1591, Rosemary Lodge No. 2851.)

Note: The Churchill Society claims he resigned from his Lodges in 1912.)

A day there was of monumental villainy...

"A day there was of monumental villainy. A day when a great nation lost its innocence and naked evil stood revealed before a stunned and shattered world.

A day there was when a serpent struck a sleeping giant, a giant who will sleep no more. Soon shall the serpent know the wrath of the mighty, the vengeance of the just.

A day there was when Liberty lost her heart -- and found the strength within her soul." Stan Lee

Great Freemasons: Thurgood Marshall (1908 - 1993)

(On Left)

If the First Amendment means anything, it means that a state has no business telling a man, sitting alone in his house, what books he may read or what films he may watch.
Thurgood Marshall

Coal Creek Lodge No. 88, Tulsa, Oklahoma PHA)

Skeptical

Real Steel | Hit Back - Everything's Better With Eminem

Defiance

STAR WARS™: The Old Republic™ - Character Progression - Smuggler

Great Freemasons: Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900)

"God knows; I won't be an Oxford don anyhow. I'll be a poet, a writer, a dramatist. Somehow or other I'll be famous, and if not famous, I'll be notorious. Or perhaps I'll lead the life of pleasure for a time and then—who knows?—rest and do nothing. What does Plato say is the highest end that man can attain here below? To sit down and contemplate the good. Perhaps that will be the end of me too."
-Quoted in "In Victorian days and other papers" By Sir David Oswald Hunter-Blair, (New York: Longmans, 1939, p122)

Apollo University Lodge No. 357, Oxford (UGLE)

Great Freemasons: Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881 - 1938)

"I have no religion, and at times I wish all religions at the bottom of the sea. He is a weak ruler who needs religion to uphold his government; it is as if he would catch his people in a trap. My people are going to learn the principles of democracy, the dictates of truth and the teachings of science. Superstition must go. Let them worship as they will; every ...man can follow his own conscience, provided it does not interfere with sane reason or bid him against the liberty of his fellow-men." Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was an Ottoman and Turkish army officer, revolutionary statesman, writer, and the first President of Turkey. He is credited with being the founder of the Republic of Turkey.

Death Star Destroys Enterprise

Great Freemasons: William "Count" Basie (1904 - 1984)

Well, if you find a note tonight that sounds good, play the same damn note every night!
William "Count" Basie (1904 - 1984)


Wisdom Lodge No. 102 (Prince Hall), Chicago. Also a Shriner

Gettysburg National Military Park

Friend to Friend
A Brotherhood United

Hot Fett

Great Freemasons: Swami Vivekananda (1863 - 1902)

"Sectarianism, bigotry, and it's horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful Earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization, and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now.
But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal." Swami Vivekananda

(Hope and Anchor Lodge No. 1, Calcutta)

My Next Girlfriend

Mikey Mason's follow-up to his internet hit, "She Don't Like Firefly."




And of course, the original:

Woody Guthrie - Union Burying Ground

Solidarity Forever (Pete Seeger)

Tennessee Ernie Ford - Sixteen Tons

Great Freemasons: Uriah Smith Stephens (1821 - 1882)

In Honor of Labor Day I would like to recognize a Brother who was instrumental to the Labor Movement, Uriah Smith Stephens.

"Uriah Smith Stephens (August 3, 1821 - February 13, 1882) was a U.S. labor leader. He led nine Philadelphia garment workers to found the Knights of Labor in 1869, a more successful early national union.

Stephens was initiated an Entered Apprentice Mason in Kensington Lodge No. 211 in Philadelphia on December 9, 1864; passed to the Degree of Fellowcraft on February 25, 1865; and raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason on March 24, 1865. He was also a member of Keystone Lodge No. 2, Knights of Pythias, and Fidelity Lodge No. 138, Independent Order of Odd Fellows."

Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)

The end of labor is to gain leisure. ~Aristotle

The Dark Lord Meets the King

Ray Charles (1930 - 2004)

What is a soul? It's like electricity - we don't really know what it is, but it's a force that can light a room.
Ray Charles

Great Freemasons: Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)

"For my own Part, when I am employed in serving others, I do not look upon myself as conferring Favours, but as paying Debts. In my Travels, and since my Settlement, I have received much Kindness from Men, to whom I shall never have any Opportunity of making the least direct Return. And numberless Mercies from God, who is infinitely above being benefited by our Services. Those Kindnesses from Men, I can therefore only Return on their Fellow Men; and I can only shew my Gratitude for these mercies from God, by a readiness to help his other Children and my Brethren. For I do not think that Thanks and Compliments, tho’ repeated weekly, can discharge our real Obligations to each other, and much less those to our Creator."
o Letter to Joseph Huey (6 June 1753); published in Albert Henry Smyth, The Writings of Benjamin Franklin, volume 3, p. 144.

(St. John's Lodge, Philadelphia, February 1731)