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Quotes:
American
Power/American Spirit/American lusion
For half a century, the
United States could count as the pacemaker for progress... With
the war in Iraq, it has not only abandoned this role; it has
also given up its role as guarantor of international rights.
And its violation of international law sets a disastrous precedent
for the superpowers of the future. Let us have no illusions:
the normative authority of the United States of America lies
in ruins. --Jurgen
Habermas / The
Fall of the Monument
America, in assuming
its "heady new role as Crusader State). . . would no longer
be the nation our founders created and that has thrived so brilliantly
and wonderfully upon the earth for the past 200 years. --unknown
American
Spirit
...the fundamental maxims
of our policy would insensibly change from liberty to force ...
[and, America] might become the (dictator) of the world. She
would no longer be the ruler of her own spirit. --John Quincy Adams,
July 4th 1821
American
Radicalism
U.S.
security now depends on meeting unseen threats, often before
they fully materialize. These threats will be defined by the
U.S. government, with supporting evidence released at its discretion. --Paul Knox, Globe &
Mail
Many of those who minimize
the threat the radical right now poses to America as we know
it would hate to live in the country Mr. DeLay wants to create.
Yet by playing down the seriousness of the challenge, they help
bring his vision closer to reality. --Paul Krugman
Bush,
George
He is semiliterate at
best, to call him a Fascist would be to flatter him. --Harold
Bloom on George Bush
Belief
The believer
is happy; the doubter is wise --
Hungarian Proverb
The Bible
contains six admonishments to homosexuals and 362 admonishments
to heterosexuals. That doesn't mean that God doesn't love heterosexuals.
It's just that they
need more supervision. --Lynn Lavner
Bullshit
Governments
burn incense too, and they have their special scents --liberty,
democracy, war-on-terror. Sometimes these are used to cover
the smell of totalitarianism. --Roshi Bob; Analect
170 with Commentary
The
National Government will regard it as its first and foremost
duty to revive in the nation the spirit of unity and cooperation.
It will preserve and defend those basic principles on which our
nation has been built. It regards Christianity as the foundation
of our national morality, and the family as the basis of national
life."--Adolph
Hitler
Remember,
a government corrupt enough to tell you only what you want to
hear is also corrupt enough to tell you only what it wants you
to know.
--Davy
Crockett (paraphrased)
Censorship
Class
Globalization
isn’t an issue of skilled vs. unskilled workers—it’s
the world’s investors and CEOs vs. the world’s workers,
no matter what the skill level. --Chuck Kelly;
Kellysite
This President is not
fighting for our jobs. His administration has on numerous occasions
said that the out-sourcing of American jobs is good for this
country. Well, it may be good for Wall Street, but it is lousy
on Main Street. If he thinks that jobs moving overseas is good
for us, why would he ever fight for American jobs?" --John
Edwards
Competence
Violence is the last
refuge of the incompetent." ---Isaac Asimov
Corruption
But perhaps it might
be more exactly true and natural to say, that the king, the aristocracy,
and the people, as soon as ever they felt themselves secure in
the possession of their power, would begin to abuse it. --John
Adams
Remember,
a government corrupt enough to tell you only what you want to
hear is also corrupt enough to tell you only what it wants you
to know.
--Davy
Crockett (paraphrased)
Cruelty
Some
of the same M.P.'s took a particular interest in an emotionally
disturbed Afghan detainee who was known to eat his feces and
mutilate himself with concertina wire. The soldiers kneed the
man repeatedly in the legs and, at one point, chained him with
his arms straight up in the air, Specialist Callaway told investigators.
They also nicknamed him "Timmy," after a disabled child
in the animated television series "South Park." One
of the guards who beat the prisoner also taught him to screech
like the cartoon character, Specialist Callaway said. Eventually, the man was sent home. --from NY Times report
on Afghan prisoner brutalization
To my mind,
there’s no moral or practical distinction. If cruelty is
no longer declared unlawful, but instead is applied as a matter
of policy, it alters the fundamental relationship of man to government.
It destroys the whole notion of individual rights. The Constitution
recognizes that man has an inherent right, not bestowed by the
state or laws, to personal dignity, including the right to be
free of cruelty. It applies to all human beings, not just in
America—even those designated as ‘unlawful enemy combatants'.
If you make this exception, the whole Constitution crumbles.
It’s a transformative issue.
--Alberto
J. Mora, general counsel of the United States Navy
Doubt
Doubt
is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd. -- Voltaire
Deception
All war is based upon
deception. --Sun
Tzu
Remember,
a government corrupt enough to tell you only what you want to
hear is also corrupt enough to tell you only what it wants you
to know.
--Davy
Crockett (paraphrased)
Democracy
In 1814, John Adams wrote:
'There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.'
Ask yourself if you have the will to help keep our form of government
from devouring itself, a task that could easily be completed
with four more years.--Raff
Ellis
Call me shrill, ideological,
or whatever you like, but I think we’re losing our Constitution,
our civil liberties, and in many significant respects, our country.
When future historians look back on this period, they will wonder,
most of all, I think, how we let it go without a fight. --Eric
Alterman, Journalist and Author
Evil
I make
peace and create evil; I the Lord do all these things. --Isaiah XLV, 7
The evil
best known is the most tolerable. --Livy: History of Rome, XXIII
Evolution
All biological processes
are ultimately obedient to the laws of physics and chemistry,and
arose through evolution of these physico-chemical systems through
natural selection." --Edward O. Wilson, Intelligent
Evolution
Fanaticism
Fanaticism
consists of redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your
aim.” --George
Santayana
Force
Force is as pitiless
to the man who possess it, or thinks he does, as it is to his
victim. The second it crushes; the first it intoxicates. --Simon Weil
Holiness
One day
a man came upon the Buddha. In natural curiosity the man asked:
"What are you, a saint?" "No," said the Buddha;
"I am no saint." The man kept staring and wondering
and once again spoke to the Buddha: "Well, if you are not
a saint then surely you must be a holy man." Again the Buddha
replied, "No. I am no holy man." At this the man became
even more curious. He asked: "Well then, if you are not
a saint and you are not a holy man, what are you?" The Buddha
looked in his eyes and said, "I'm awake."
Homosexuality
The Bible
contains six admonishments to homosexuals and 362 admonishments
to heterosexuals. That doesn't mean that God doesn't love heterosexuals.
It's just that they
need more supervision. --Lynn Lavner
Humility
But even
the president of the United States sometimes must have to stand
naked --B.Dylan;
It's
Alright, Ma
Globalization
Globalization
isn’t an issue of skilled vs. unskilled workers—it’s
the world’s investors and CEOs vs. the world’s workers,
no matter what the skill level. --Chuck Kelly;
Kellysite
Ignorance
Ignorance
is preferable to error, and he is less remote from the truth
who believes nothing than he who believes what is wrong."-Thomas
Jefferson (Notes on Virginia, 1782)
Things fall not because
they are acted upon by some gravitational force, but because
a higher intelligence, 'God' if you will, is pushing them down.
--Gabriel
Burdett, who holds degrees in education, applied Scripture, and
physics from Oral Roberts University.
People never give up their liberties
but under some delusion."
--Eighteenth
Century British Statesman, Edmund Burke
Idiot
wind, blowing like a circle around my skull,
From the Grand Coulee Dam to the Capitol."
--Bob Dylan
Knowledge
Our understanding of
the world and our support of the quest for knowledge for knowledge's
sake is a core measure of our success as a civilization. Our
grasp, however tentative, of what we are and where we fit in
the cosmos should be a source of pride to all of us. Our scientific
achievements are a measure of ourselves that our children can
honor and build upon."
--Rick
Weiss; Washington Post
Language
Anything that we are
able to speak, to say or formulate, is something which is already
dead in our hearts. --Nietzche
Jedes Wort ist ein Vorurteil --Every word is a misjudgement.
--Nietzche
Liberty
Call me shrill, ideological,
or whatever you like, but I think we’re losing our Constitution,
our civil liberties, and in many significant respects, our country.
When future historians look back on this period, they will wonder,
most of all, I think, how we let it go without a fight. --Eric
Alterman, Journalist and Author
The modern military's
disjunction from American society is even more disturbing. Since
the time of the ancient Greeks through the American Revolutionary
War and well into the 20th century, the obligation to bear arms
and the privileges of citizenship have been intimately linked.
It was for the sake of that link between service and a full place
in society that the founders were so invested in militias and
so worried about standing armies, which Samuel Adams warned were
"always dangerous to the liberties of the people."
--David
Kennedy, NYT 7/25/05
People never give up
their liberties but under some delusion."
--Eighteenth
Century British Statesman, Edmund Burke
Living
Live as if you were to
die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.
--Mahatma Gandhi
Lobbyists
A rose
by any other name would smell as sweet unless it be sniffed by
right-wing think-tank scholars jotting copy for lobbiests of
the tulip industry. --NoUtopia
(via Shakespeare), 12/17/05
Oil
It took us 125 years
to use the first trillion barrels of oil. We'll use the next
trillion in 30.
--AP; Chevron
Chairman & CEO, David J. O'Reilly
Petulence
If you're
not getting your way by staying, you might as well not get your
way by leaving.
--Roshi
Bob
Patriotism
"Let us take a patriot,
where we can meet him; and, that we may not flatter ourselves
by false appearances, distinguish those marks which are certain,
from those which may deceive; for a man may have the external
appearance of a patriot, without the constituent qualities; as
false coins have often lustre, though they want weight."
--Samuel
Johnson / The
Patriot
To
announce that there must be no criticism of the president,or
that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not
only unpatriotic and servile,but it is morally treasonable to
the American public."-- Theodore Roosevelt, 1918
There's
a pattern here. As with Peak Oil, global warming, the real estate
bubble, and the various US deficits, there's a general awareness
of Trouble Coming and yet no sense of urgency or battle plan."
---James
Wolcott
Politics &
Government
'Tis by introducing order
into our finances --by restoring public credit-- not by gaining
battles that we are finally to gain our object." --Alexander
Hamilton
A little
patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their
spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight,
restore their government to its true principles. It is true that
in the meantime we are suffering deeply in spirit, and incurring
the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public
debt...If the game runs sometimes against us at home we must
have patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity
of winning back the principles we have lost, for this is a game
where principles are at stake." --Thomas
Jefferson, 1798, after the passage of the Sedition Act.
Suppose you were a heartless
bastard, and suppose you were a Republican, but, .....I repeat
myself." --Mark
Twain
Globalization
isn’t an issue of skilled vs. unskilled workers—it’s
the world’s investors and CEOs vs. the world’s workers,
no matter what the skill level. --Chuck Kelly;
Kellysite
The military part of
[the defense secretary's office] has been politicized. If [officers]
disagree, they are ostracized and their reputations are ruined."
--retired
Army Lt. Gen. Jay M. Garner, a one-time Pentagon adviser who
ran reconstruction efforts in Iraq in the spring of 2003
The West is in decline, no
longer can [the West] dictate the course of world events as in
days of yore. --Conservative
journalist Robert Merry; Wall Street Journal
It's
like they're just making it up as they go along. The reality
is that we're losing in Iraq.
--Senator
Chuck Hagel (R)
Prayer
The (constitutional)
convention, except three or four persons, thought prayers unnecessary. --Benjamin
Franklin
The president (Bush)
is a man of principle. When he decides something on Monday, he
still believes it on Wednesday - no matter what happened Tuesday."
--Stephen
Colbert at the White House Correspondent Dinner Saturday 4/29/06
Presidency
(American)
The President
is merely the most important among a large number of public servants.
He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which
is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency
or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service
to the Nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary
that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his
acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him
when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other
attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To
announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or
that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not
only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the
American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about
him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the
truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else."
--Theodore
Roosevelt
Religion
The folkish-minded
man ... has the sacred duty ...of making people stop just talking
superficially of God's will, and actually fulfill God's will,
and not let God's word be desecrated. --Unknown
Things fall not because they
are acted upon by some gravitational force, but because a higher
intelligence, 'God' if you will, is pushing them down. --Gabriel
Burdett, who holds degrees in education, applied Scripture, and
physics from Oral Roberts University.
For God's will gave men their form, their essence, and their
abilities. Anyone who destroys His work is declaring war on the
Lord's creation, the divine will.
-- Adolf
Hitler, from Mein Kampf, translation by Ralph Mannheim.
"We've
been attacked by the intelligent, educated segment of the culture,"
he said, adding that the school board's declaration is just a
first step." --Pastor,
Ray Mummert
For the deluded mind
a thousand books of scripture are not enough. For the awakened
mind, even a single word is too much." -- Zen Saying.
...for ye are like unto whited
sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within
full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. -- Jesus, in Matthew
23:25
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Science
Our understanding of
the world and our support of the quest for knowledge for knowledge's
sake is a core measure of our success as a civilization. Our
grasp, however tentative, of what we are and where we fit in
the cosmos should be a source of pride to all of us. Our scientific
achievements are a measure of ourselves that our children can
honor and build upon." --Rick
Weiss; Washington Post
Social
Security
Should
any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment
insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would
not hear of that party again in our political history.
"There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes
you can do these things. Among them are [a] few other Texas oil
millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from
other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."
- President
Dwight D. Eisenhower, 11/8/54
Taoism
The Tao
that can be spoken is not the real Tao. --The Tao te Ching
The
Press
The theory of a free
press is that truth will emerge from free discussion, not that
it will be presented perfectly and instantly in any one account.
–
Walter
Lippman
Torture
Some
of the same M.P.'s took a particular interest in an emotionally
disturbed Afghan detainee who was known to eat his feces and
mutilate himself with concertina wire. The soldiers kneed the
man repeatedly in the legs and, at one point, chained him with
his arms straight up in the air, Specialist Callaway told investigators.
They also nicknamed him "Timmy," after a disabled child
in the animated television series "South Park." One
of the guards who beat the prisoner also taught him to screech
like the cartoon character, Specialist Callaway said.
Eventually, the
man was sent home. --from
NY Times report on Afghan prisoner brutalization
Totalitarianism
The theory of a free
press is that truth will emerge from free discussion, not that
it will be presented perfectly and instantly in any one account.
–
Walter
Lippman
The success or failure of
any kind of totalitarianism always comes down to the symbiotic
relationship between them, that is, how skilled the would-be
leaders are at gathering and maintaining a flock of True Believers.
This depends not only on the leaders' skills, but on how many
people are willing to become followers, and the conditions that
affect their willingness. --David
Neiwert, @ Orcinus
Call me shrill, ideological,
or whatever you like, but I think we’re losing our Constitution,
our civil liberties, and in many significant respects, our country.
When future historians look back on this period, they will wonder,
most of all, I think, how we let it go without a fight. --Eric
Alterman, Journalist and Author
Governments
burn incense too, and they have their special scents --liberty,
democracy, war-on-terror. Sometimes these are used to cover
the smell of totalitarianism. --Roshi Bob; Analect
170 with Commentary
Truth
Ignorance
is preferable to error, and he is less remote from the truth
who believes nothing than he who believes what is wrong."-Thomas
Jefferson (Notes on Virginia, 1782)
Propaganda all is phoney. --Bob Dylan; It's
Alright Ma
What
is the truth really, but a lie told by God.
--Lucifer
D. Satan; Counsel to the President
Unintentional
Irony
"We've
been attacked by the intelligent, educated segment of the culture,"
he said, adding that the school board's declaration is just a
first step." --Pastor,
Ray Mummert
The administration should clarify
its intent in Viet Nam. People lack confidence in the credibility
of our government. Even our allies are beginning to suspect what
we say. It’s a difficult thing today to be informed about
our government even without all the secrecy. With the secrecy,
it’s impossible. The American people will do what’s
right when they have the information they need. --Donald Rumsfeld, Chicago
Tribune, 4/13/66
The National
Government will regard it as its first and foremost duty to revive
in the nation the spirit of unity and cooperation. It will preserve
and defend those basic principles on which our nation has been
built. It regards Christianity as the foundation of our national
morality, and the family as the basis of national life."--Adolph Hitler
Violence
Violence is the last
refuge of the incompetent." ---Isaac Asimov
War
War makes the victor stupid and
the vanquished vengeful. -- Nietsche
All war is based upon deception."--Sun Tzu
Wisdom
Wisdom is in learning
what to overlook. --William
James
Zen
For the deluded mind
a thousand books of scripture are not enough. For the awakened
mind, even a single word is too much." -- Zen Saying. |
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