Above all, a good heaven,

Beneath all, a good foundation,

In all, a good God.

Firefly Theme Song

Movie Dialogue – Secondhand Lions, 2003

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-aqLUDMTTI

(This is Uncle Hub’s “What every boy needs to know about being a man” speech he gives in abbreviated form to young Walt.  Hub played by Robert Duvall, Walt by Haley Joel Osment.)

If you want to believe in something, then believe in it.  Just because something isn't true, that's no reason you can't believe it.
                   
Alright.
                   
There's a long speech I give to young men, sounds like you need to hear a piece of it. 

Just a piece.
                   
Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things that a man needs
to believe in the most.  That people are basically good; that honor...courage and virtue mean everything; that power and money, money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; and I want you to remember this, that love...true love never dies.

You remember that, boy.  You remember that.  Doesn't matter if it's true or not. You see, a man should believe in those things, because... those are the things worth believing in.

(Note from rwb:  As you watch this movie scene, the boy’s face lights up like Jesus, which isn’t surprising, it is... because Robert Duvall was teaching how to manifest Him.)

Click the line above to see an exuberant Robert Winkler Burke sing a hymn sung to the words of Psalm 23 from the King James Version of the Bible.  Robert received this song after he broke up with a girlfriend many years ago.  Burke dedicates this song to his dear friends in Africa who enjoy the In That Day Teachings. 

MY CHALLENGE TO YOU:  To my friends in Africa (and around the world):  If you see potential in this song, perhaps your singers, choirs and musicians can put this to good use.  If so, please e-mail me a recording or a link to a YouTube showing this heaven-sent hymn performed by folk who are gifted – far beyond me — in harmony, rhythm and God’s love.  On the piano I play it in just two chords: E and A.  It has a slow beat, a mysterious African kind of beat.  Sometimes the chords go into 7ths, but they stay between E and A with the bass line sometimes transposing.  (Freely I have received, now freely I give this especially to Africa.)   --- Hoping all in Christ, Robert

Psalm 23 – KING JAMES VERSION

A Psalm of David.

(modified slightly, with words sometimes repeated to the beat)

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

(Yeah, for his name’s sake)

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before (a’fore) me in the presence of mine (‘n my) enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD

(Gonna dwell in the house of the LORD)

(that’s) forever! (and forever!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExYa6YTx3cQ&feature=related.

THAT'S THE WAY OF THE WORLD Lyrics
Artist(Band):Earth Wind And Fire, released 2000

Maurice White, Charles Stepney & Verdine White


Hearts of fire creates love desire
Take you high and higher to the world you belong
Hearts of fire creates love desire
High and higher to your place on the throne

We’ve come together on this special day
To sing our message loud and clear
Looking back we’ve touched on sorrowful days
Future pass, they disappear

You will find peace of mind
If you look way down in your heart and soul
Don’t hesitate ‘cause the world seems cold
Stay young at heart ‘cause you’re never (never, never, ..) old at heart

That’s the way of the world
Plant your flower and you grow a pearl
A child is born with a heart of gold
The way of the world makes his heart so cold

THAT OLD WHEEL 
(Pierce)
Johnny Cash & Hank Williams


(Chorus) That old wheel is gonna roll around once more
When it does it will even up the score
Don’t be weak: as they sew, they will reap
Turn the other cheek and don’t give in
That old wheel will roll around again

When love is gone and the one you thought would stay
Does you wrong, and you’re left alone to pay
The price is high
But somehow you’ll survive, don’t give in
That old wheel will roll around again

(Chorus)

There’ll be times, hard to control
And you’ll find you’ll hurt down in your soul
There’ll be those who’ll be glad to see you down
But don’t give in, that old wheel will roll around again

(Chorus x 2)

Roll around, around, again, again


“A great man is he who discovers the evil tendencies of his time, and has the wisdom, the ability and the determination to correct them…”  – Oscar R. Straus, U.S. Secretary of Commerce under Theodore Roosevelt

The following is a letter to the editor of the Wall Street Journal, published on 6/20/07.  It speaks of the high poetry of self-sacrifice, brotherly love and life lived always for the good while steadfastly opposed to evil, which is justice for all.

In response to your June 14 editorial “Al Qaeda’s American Harbor”: It is reassuring to know that under the ruling by the Fourth Circuit court, if a Mohammid Atta were apprehended today, before he could murder several thousand people, he would be properly freed and, I’m sure, the authorities who seized him appropriately castigated.  Thankfully, the Fourth Circuit is there to protect our civil liberties and protect our right to die at the hands of terrorists who are not “enemy combatants.”

Interestingly, the silence from those who for years have lambasted the Bush administration over 9/11 is deafening.  It makes one wonder if the demand for accountability was to ensure national security or to put a head on a plate.

The morning of September 11, 2001, my brother, FDNY Capt. Billy Burke of Engine Co. 21, called from his firehouse to his family and friends in New Yo9rk, before the second plane hit, to warn them, “We are under terrorist attack!”  To refer to them as “terrorist” was highly politically incorrect in regard to those who flew the planes that “hit” the towers (the poor “wretched” and “have not,” as Bill Clinton’s assistant secretary of state called them at Yale a few days after).

Regrettably, he did not have time to consider their “combatant” status.  Well, at least he didn’t call them “enemy combatants.”  That sort of designation would be in violation of the spirit of the $500 million, eight-acre 9/11 “memorial” at the WTC site that won’t mention the attacks (or “terrorists”) – so that it will avoid “telling us what to think.”  An hour later, when on the 27^th floor of WTC1 and aware of the collapse of WTC2, my brother ordered the successful evacuation of his men and that of Engine 24 and civilians they helped save.

Capt. Billy Burke perished with Ed Beya, a quadriplegic and Abe Zelmanowitz, his friend, who would not leave Ed’s side.  He had an idea of what duty demanded of him – not nuance, not ambivalence, not legal technicalities.  Just like Abe Zelmanowitz, he would follow it or not.

I suppose my brother would not have made a very good judge or “memorialist.”  However, like his 407 new York Fire Department brothers and two sisters and the millions who throughout history have given their lives for justice before him, it is people like him whom civilization counts on.

                        Michael Burke

                        Bronx, New York

Dance With Me

By Robert Winkler Burke 11/12/02

Copyright 2002

I can dance with the air

I can dance without care

But I can't dance with you

When you're gone.

I can dance with the trees

I can dance with the breeze

But I can't dance with you

When you're gone.

Oh when will you see

My love is for thee?

But I can't dance with you

When you're gone.

I'm there by your side

Along every ride

But I can't dance with you

When you're gone.

When the world makes you think

And fill up full with its drink

Then I can't dance with you

When you're gone.

But come back now to Me

And be all you're to be

And I'll dance with you

As We have done.

Yes dance my love with Me

The way life's meant to be

And I'll dance with you

As We have done.

The birds will rejoice

Seeing you on your course

When I dance with you

As We have done.

Have You Mocked?
By Robert Winkler Burke
Copyright 12/18/04

(A Poem to the Youth of Today)

Have you mocked what’s going on today?

Have you thanked God you don’t serve,

In Iraq with allied soldiers too dumb,

To dodge their calling and swerve?

Have you mocked your peers today,

Wearing those uniforms who serve,

In ROTC and Scouts -- too slow,

To dodge their calling and swerve?

Have you mocked your future today,

And buried deep your desire to serve,

Because making yourself happy now is,

To dodge your calling and swerve?

Have you mocked your eyes today,

And followed blind fools who serve,

Themselves on the throne and teach,

To dodge your calling and swerve?

Have you mocked your spirit today,

And fed it dark things which serve,

Abominable lies and thoughts designed,

To dodge your calling and swerve?

Have you mocked your soul today,

With cool hate and icy nerve,

In brazen enmity and banal bliss,

To dodge your calling and swerve?

Have you mocked the truth today,

And agreed with the world which serves,

The lie that good is evil and evil good,

To dodge your calling and swerve?

Have you mocked the life God gave you,

And the things required by Him to serve?

Have you mocked the man who says to you,

“Don’t dodge your calling and swerve.”?

What’s the Point?

By Robert Winkler Burke

Copyright 5/2/05
What is the Point?
(Or How the Proud Reject Truth)
A Poem Shaped Like an Exclamation Point

By Robert Winkler Burke

Copyright 5/2/05

My Gawd!
What’s the point?
I say to most anyone
Where are you going?
You talk way too long!
For I will never buy
Whatever you sell
If story too long
Do not tell.
My mind
So sharp
Boring!
I will
harp
Be quick
Met to joint
To dismiss all
Is my proud
Point!

 The Cracked Pot

By Robert Winkler Burke

Copyright 12/4/02

There once was a most embarrassingly obvious cracked up pot

Who hid from the knowledge it was best to be cracked up not

But then God tapped his lid

And he gave up his own bid

But the pain-free patch job he longed for was not what he got.

For the cracked pot soon found himself whirling

Into a stone wall much too fast he was hurling

“God, this is my ruin!”

“What are you doing?”

But inside that cracked pot was fine sterling.

Into the wall the pot horrifically smacked

And ugly clay pieces fell away cracked

Now silver shined bright

As the pot was made right

For ‘twas God and God alone the pot lacked.

So don’t blame Satan for all that does hurt us

Pride keeps us from seeing our own hubris

Until God breaks our spirit

His way we’re not near it

So let God do to us as He so chooses.

You think, It won’t happen to me.

God’s day of visitation can’t be

Those through it I mock

So far, I’ve got luck

I’ll call friends, see a movie and stay busy.

But God says, I will have My last laugh

None escapes their recompense bath

When time is to requite

You’ll know I am right

And you’ll break before through just one half.

Turn your back? asks the Potter to the clay

You don’t care what those wiser do say?

Each pot has a purpose

Dig under the surface

Find Me, and each pot finds My good way.

Yes, each pot can find My good way

Yes, each pot has a purpose, I say

Find why you were born

You’ll never again mourn

For, lo, I am with you alway.

But ignore Me today at your peril

I’m not just a Christmas carol

Judgment runs hard

Pay attention, pard

And grief you’ll avoid by the barrel.

Yes, each pot can find My good way

Yes, each pot has a purpose, I say

The world’s upside down

But YOU, I’ll turn ‘round

But I’m waiting for you to say, yea.

For with multitudes I wait for their say

For multitudes I’m tarried with delay

Do they really think

At each NO I wink

With heaven to gain and Gahena to pay?

With everyone getting what has been got?

So busy with business they have bought

How many are blind

To what they can find

But I let them trap themselves full caught.

I honor free will, that’s My choosing

And watch the world go on bruising

My Chosen show the way

Few heed what they say

But some pots do choose to stop losing.

Yes, some pots do choose to stop losing

And turn to me free with their choosing

Sterling they are

Shining like a star

Great glory on them I am fusing.

In these beautiful, humble vessels I quickly come

And do great works needing on earth to be done

While preachers are screeching

Into the depths of hell reaching

For anything possible to manifest but Me, God’s Son.

Amen, amen and amen.

ROB ROY:  Movie Dialogue

This is from a movie called “Rob Roy.”  The movie is about a Scottish warrior in the early 1700’s.  In the following scene, Rob Roy McGregor is having a picnic on some high mountains with his wife and sons.  The sons appear to be around eight and 10 years old.

Son:                

Father, will McGregors ever be kings again?

Rob Roy:           

All men with honor are kings.  But not all kings have honor.

Son:                

What is honor?

Rob Roy:         

Honor is what no man can give you, and none can take away.  Honor is a man’s gift to himself.

Son:                

Do women have it?

Rob Roy:         

Women are the heart of honor.  And we cherish and protect it in them.  You must never mistreat a woman nor malign a man.  Nor stand by and see another do so.

Son:                

How do you know if you have it?

Rob Roy:         

Never worry on the getting of it.  It grows in you and speaks to you.  All you need do is listen.

TOMBSTONE Movie: Dialogue between Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday

Earp:

What makes a man like Ringo, Doc, what makes him do the things he does?

Doc:

A man like Ringo got a great empty hole right through the middle of him.  He can never kill enough, or steal enough, or inflict enough pain to ever fill it.

Earp:

What does he need?

Doc.:

Revenge.

Earp:

For what?

Doc.:

Bein’ born.

---------------

At the Glenwood Sanatorium, Denver:  Doc is in a hospital bed, a Catholic Priest has given him Last Rights.  Earp walks in to visit.

Doc.:

What do you want?

Earp:

Just to live a normal life.

DOC:              

There’s no normal life, Wyatt. There’s just life.  Get on with it.

Earp:

I don’t know how.

DOC:              

Sure you do.  Say goodbye to me.  Go grab that spirited actress and make her your own.  Take that beauty and run and don’t look back.  Live every second.  Live right up to the hilt.  Live, Wyatt.  Live for me.  Wyatt, if you were ever my friend.  If you had even the slightest feeling for me, leave now.  Leave now.  Please.

(Wyatt gets up.)

Earp:

Thanks for always being there, Doc.

The COMANCHEROS:  Movie Dialogue  (1961)

Stuart Whitman (playing Paul Regret) to John Wayne:

You’ve got a lot of Cupid in you.  But I must admit, Cupid picked a strange place to hide!

Fistful of Dynamite:  Movie Dialogue

This scene starts at a forlorn desert with a canyon-size ravine with an old masonry bridge crossing it.  Sean Mallory (played by James Coburn) has decided to blow up the bridge that German soldiers will be crossing.  He will do this dangerous job while all the other Mexican freedom fighters can escape.  Sean’s Mexican friend, Juan Miranda (played by Rod Steiger), decides to stay with Sean.

Juan:                            

 Listen, when they are out of sight, we will make a run for it, sí?

(Sean keeps unpacking machine gun equipment AND dynamite.)

Juan:                            

No?  You mean to stay here?  All those explosions must have gone to your head.  Remember, Johan and Juan!  America!  Millions!  No?

Sean:                           

No.

Juan:                            

I don’t understand you!  I thought you made some kind of a trick so we could get out of here.  What can the two of us do against those lackies?

Sean:                           

You’d be doin’ me a great favor if you’d leave.  If it’s a choice I have to make between a chicken thief and ridding the world of a few uniforms, I’ll not be choosing the chicken thief!

Juan:                            

O.K.  O.K.! (walks away)  NO! (turns back)  Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no!  You will like that, eh?  Well, you listen to me!  You Irish piece of shit!  You think you’re the only man in the world who has the balls to stay?  Well you are wrong!  ‘Cause I have the balls and I stay!

(Sean looks through binoculars at bridge, grins and laughs.)

DISNEY’S THE KID:  Movie Dialogue

Rusty:              

Ross?

Ross:               

Yeah kid?

Rusty:              

I get what you do now, I mean I get what I do.  When I grow up – for a living.  I figured out how to explain.

Ross:               

Let me hear it.

Rusty:              

You help people lie about who they really are, so that they can pretend to be someone else.  Right?

Ross:               

Yeah.

Rusty:              

See?  It’s not hard to explain.

Ross:               

That’s pretty good.

Rusty:              

Goodnight, buddy.

Ross:               

Goodnight, kid.

Fiddler on the Roof:  Movie Dialogue

Motel the Tailor:          

Rabbi, we’ve been waiting all our lives for the Messiah to come.  Wouldn’t this be a good time for Him to come?

Rabbi:                         

We’ll have to wait for Him someplace else.  Meanwhile, let’s start packing.

[Comment from Robert Winkler Burke:  During the entire movie Tevye, the lead character, AND OTHERS have been manifesting Christ at sometimes very high levels!  But the Rabbi, and everybody else, keeps believing Christ will come back in some other literal way.]

The Ten Commandments:  Movie Dialogue

Sephora, played by Yvonne de Carlo, is talking to Moses, played by Charleton Heston in the 1956 movie The Ten Commandments, directed by Cecil B. DeMille.  Moses has been offered to select among the daughters of Jethro whom he would marry.

Sephora:                      

She was very beautiful wasn’t she, this woman of Egypt, who left her scar upon your heart.  Her skin was white as curd.  Her eyes green as the Cedars of Lebanon.  Her lips tamarisk honey.  Like the breast of a dove her arms were soft.  And the wine of desire was in her veins.

Moses:                        

Yes, she was beautiful as a jewel.

Sephora:                      

A jewel has brilliant fire, but gives no warmth.  Our hands are not so soft, but they can serve.  Our bodies not so white, but they are strong.  Our lips are not perfumed, but they speak the truth.  Love is not an art to us, it is life to us.  We are not dressed in gold and fine linen, strength and honor are our clothing.  Our tents are not the columned halls of Egypt, but our children play happily before them.  We can offer you little, but we offer all we have. 

Moses:                        

I have not little, Sephora, I have nothing.

Sephora:                      

Nothing from some is more than gold from others.

-         - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

In this scene Sethi, played by Cedric Hardwicke, is on his death bed.  At his side is his son Rameses, played by Yul Brynner, and Nefretiri, played by Anne Baxter.

Sethi:                           

You’ll be Pharaoh by sunset Rameses.  I hope you are content at last.

Rameses:                     

I‘m content to be your son.  You have restored Egypt to her greatness.  I shall make her greatness feared among nations.

Sethi:                           

No doubt you can overcome anything, but your own arrogance.

Nefretiri:                      

Don’t exhaust yourself great one, dear great one.

Sethi:                           

Why not, kitten.  You are the only thing I regret leaving.  You have been my joy.

Nefretiri:                      

And you my only love.

Sethi:                           

Ah hah.  Now you’re cheating.  There was another.

Nefretiri:                      

Yes.

Sethi:                           

I know.  I love him too.  With my last breath I’ll break my own law and speak the name of Moses, Moses.

Rameses:                     

The royal falcon is flown unto the Sun.

-         - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The movie ends with a picture of the Ten Commandments.  Underneath are the following words:

So it was written,
So it shall be done.

The Enforcer:  Movie Dialogue

This is one of the Dirty Harry movies starring Clint Eastwood as a San Francisco inspector fighting evil despite a liberal city administration gone gelded and lobotomized.

Early scene: 

Callahan on the city administration:  

Besides being wrong, they are stupid.

Ending scene:

[Dirty Harry, with help of a partner who died, has killed all the terrorist, including its leader, Bobby Maxwell, on Alcatraz Island.  The mayor, who was hostage, is now free.]

Mayor:

Callahan, God you saved my life.  There’ll be a letter of commendation for you.  Callahan, Callahan, the chopper is here.  Don’t you want a ride?

Callahan walks away to the dock, needing neither the mayor's accolades or company. 

Loudspeaker from helicopter flying to Alcatraz Island:

Maxwell, Bobby Maxwell this is captain McCaine speaking.  We have your money.  The plane is waiting at the airport.  We have exceeded all your demands to release the mayor. The pilot of this helicopter will fly you and your men to safety.

SOUND OF MUSIC Movie: Dialogue between Maria and Mother Abbess

Mother Abess:  

And what is the most important lesson you lave hearned here, my child?

Maria:               

To find out what is the will of God... and to do it whole heartedly.

Transcript of Eagles Farewell I Tour, Live from Melbourne

Bonus Feature: Eagles Interviews

The Eagles:       Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Joe Walsh, Timothy B. Schmit

Henley:             I think we are performing, we are playing much better than we did in the Seventies...

Frey:                I just love singing with other people, and finding harmony parts, and blending, coming in at the same time, and scooping, and cutting off right.  And you know, it really is a lot of fun.

                        We are still doing variations on a theme.  We are still playing these songs, but I think we are getting better at playing these songs.

                        There is more nuance.  There is more listening to each other on stage going on now than there was when we played in the Seventies.

                        We rehearse a lot… especially vocal rehearse.  It is not an accident that the vocals sound good.

Henley:             We do a sound check every day no matter what.  You know, we go down to the hall and we run through some things, check out the equipment.  And we approach it, you know, very professionally. 

Frey:                You know we have this little section off to the side of the stage we call the Circle of Fear.  And it has eight chairs in a circle and that’s where we go, and we check harmony parts and just play with one acoustic guitar.  And hear what everybody is singing.

Walsh:              It is tough love because your part you may not be singing with the other guys.  And you have got to hear that.

Frey:                It is like singing a cappella.  We are really going to hear what everybody is singing.  And if they are making the notes.  If we are moving together, changing at the same time.

Henley:             You know, we have always been accused of being too perfect, but I don’t see that as a flaw necessarily.  People seem to like that.

Frey:                We don’t move around too much on stage.  We sort of have to, we have to be pretty stationery, close to your mike on a lot of songs.  Especially the ones early in the set.  Find your voice.  Get your part.  Blend.  Be in tune.  Make the changes.  Don’t rush.  Listen to the drummer.  You know, stay in the pocket.

Schmit:             You know, I think even from the first time I saw the Eagles before I was a member to this day it is somewhat of a stoic presentation.  There is not a lot of, you know, ah, butt wagging.

ZATORICHI'S CANE SWORD:  Movie Dialogue

 Zatorichi’s Song:

You may be wearing rags

But the brocade of your heart

Is more beautiful than any flower

We’re only young once

So give it all you’ve got

If you’re a man.

Do something no one else can do

A man hides his tears

And forces a smile

But some girls don’t have any idea

You say you’re in love

But let’s not talk about that

If you’re a man.

See the smile I cast your way.

And a Dice Gambler says this Japanese Proveerb twice in the movie: 

A man’s got to have balls

A woman’s got to be sweet

And a priest better say his prayers.

 Eagle Feathers

By Robert Winkler Burke, Copyright 2003

There once was an old-fashioned daddy half-wise, half-crazy

Who had three modern sons who were half-smart, half-lazy

They said, Our daddy

Is way too he-manny

But away with him on an adventure or whim, life’s a daisy.

Now dad wants us in the Great American Northwest

But close to Mexico now is where our heads rest

Be that as it may

Comes soon the day

When we fly from our magic comfort nest.

‘Course our dad is a mighty rough fellow

With a sharp mouth and stomach like Jello

At times he laughs loud

Or farts and is proud

But when asleep, he almost always is mellow.

But meantime we cling to apron strings

And play with our digital game things

Some day we will awake

This world we will shake

And sing the songs our crazy dad sings.

Yes we’ll sing the songs our crazy dad sings

For which he’s received so many dings

‘Cause we have a destiny

God gives to not many

And we know we’ve been given eagles’ wings.

But our wings are now hidden from sight

In preparation for days of great flight

Our dad looks from afar

And wonders how we are

Until wrongs are someday made right.

So our dad sends a dumb sticker from the Reno Rodeo

Which we find STUPID because we know what we know

That the West

Fails the test

Compared to our spoon-fed entertainment video.

When dad was our age he was a Scout

Into God’s great nature he pushed out

Adventures unfurled

He saw the world

But GET REAL, we are too smart to camp out.

In fact, we know we’ve missed nothing, nothing at all

Our generation is way, way too cool to even once stall

Our dads they are all gone

They did something wrong

We aren’t being set up, to make precisely the same fall.

We say, ‘SO WHAT.  WHO CARES?  WHATEVER.’

Relishing our undisciplined, habitual, ill-will fare

All we see, all we mock

We plug ears if you talk

Don’t correct us, we’ll explode, if you dare.

But our foolish dad sees things much different from us

We don’t think we’re brain-caged in a spider web’s mess

We take one day at a time

Without reason or rhyme

And hope if we’re wrong, we will be able to forgive us.

Now a far away dad says to three fine brothers,

If I were able I’d have done it some way others

I love you all such a lot

So do now what you ought

Start preening those eagle wing feathers.