Article: Lest We Forget; Hymnals and Katrina

I love old Hymnal songs. Yes, I love to sing them as well. But I like church songs for another reason; I like to research who wrote those old songs and when they were copyrighted.

No, I didn't write this song. Wished I had, but I didn't.. Here's the full chorus of the song.

Lest I forget Gethsemane,
Lest I forget Thine agony;
Lest I forget Thy love for me,
Lead me to Calvary.

I have a friend who went to New Orleans for a National School Board Workshop, which used to be held there annually. His thoughts about New Orleans was, "There is something, inherently evil about New Orleans." Yep, the man is a Republican. Me? I laughed my head off. I'd be willing to bet that all those poor folks who lost their lives, had a deep and prevailing belief in Jesus and God. Some of the greatest spirituals have their roots in New Orleans.

The words to Lead Me To Calvary, were written by Quaker, Jennie Evelyn Hussey, New Hampshire, 1921 copyright. The music to the poem was written by William J. Kirkpatrick. Since the source I am using, puts the song copyrighted in 1921, and before 1923, that means it probably is public domain, and I can use it to "Garage Band" my dog Sassie, the greatest Blues Dog in the world, singing it with my Chrome harmonica. She loves to sing The Blues and loves to sing church songs as well.

There's a universal truth in this song, and it lies in the center of the chorus:

Lest I forget Thine Agony;
Lest I forget Thy love for me,

Have you noticed that we aren't getting much news over the television about Katrina?? I wonder why? Could it be that Rove is playing mind games on the US people, again? Katrina was Bush's disaster to win or lose, and with his actions over the 7 day period, the man was a total failure.

In those days, Katrina proved that Bush was incompetent, as well as Cheney, ... and Rice, big time. Katrina should be "the elephant in the 2006 races." I cannot believe any African American would vote for any Republican on the ballot. Blacks should be reregistering as Democrats. Would it have taken Clinton 4 days to show up? I mean, Bush and his administration were out smoking joints or something, when Katrina happened.

I have a couple of Yahoo trolls that bring me messages about "Katrina, Bush too late," and "Katrina, FEMA." So, I am not off the air over Katrina. I'm afraid all of the TV networks have finished their final video of Katrina, though, thinking that it is now over, and we should move on. Time to move on!! Katrina is still living as a behemoth monster in New Orleans and coastal areas and everywhere else it slammed into.

I don't know about you, but I am going to be taking the networks to task with this thing. Every 2 days, we should be updated on the progress along the Gulf Coast, "Lest I forget their Agony." The agony down there will never go away, so we should be reminding our news sources to still cover it. Anderson Cooper is in Afghanistan, right, because that is where the action is, NOT!! The action is still along the coast and the millions of displaced Americans are still, slowly trying to come out of the catastrophe.

Katrina was this administration's storm to get right or get wrong, and we should not let the American people forget about this tragedy and what Bush's Administration did not do. This administration should be held accountable for Iraq, Afghanistan, and ... Katrina/Ritta, a real crime against American citizens by a sitting president and his administration.

ccharpman