"The genius of our ruling class is that it has kept a majority of the people from ever questioning the inequity of a system where most people drudge along, paying heavy taxes for which they get nothing in return."
- Gore Vidal -
"For in reason, all government without the consent of the governed is the very definition of slavery.
- Jonathan Swift -
"I was a coward not for leaving the war, but for having been a part of it in the first place."
"I've seen the horror that we were causing every day in Iraq. I have been part of it. We are all just murderers. We kill innocent Iraqi civilians all the time. That's the way it is. I believe they need to withdraw all foreign military troops in Iraq right away. And I say this about other soldiers: to avoid punishment or reprisals by the military, they don't want to talk and admit that killing terrorists is not our mission. It's to kill innocent civilians."
"Be not intimidated... nor suffer yourselves to be wheedled out of your liberties by any pretense of politeness, delicacy, or decency. These, as they are often used, are but three different names for hypocrisy, chicanery and cowardice."
- John Adams -
"Do not fear the enemy, for your enemy can only take your life. It is far better that you fear the media, for they will steal your Honor. That awful power, the public opinion of a nation, is created in America by a horde of ignorant, self-complacent simpletons who failed at ditching and shoemaking and fetched up in journalism on their way to the poorhouse."
- Mark Twain -
"Hillary Clinton is keeping unusual company these days. She was in Iraq with John McCain. She co-sponsors legislation with South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who was one of the House managers pressing for her husband's impeachment. And this week, she stood shoulder to shoulder with two of the Senates most right-wing members, Rick Santorum and Sam Brownback, to introduce a bill to examine the impact of the dreaded evil media on children, the kind of legislation that normally sends shivers down every liberal spine.
What's Hillary up to? She's laying the groundwork for a presidential run in 08, and she's paying attention to the voters. Post-election focus groups revealed that what concerns parents is not the Jerry Falwell agenda of opposing gay marriage but how to raise children in a sex-and-violence-soaked culture. Hillary is not a newcomer to the issue. As First Lady, she sponsored a children's television summit at the White House, and she was a big proponent of the V-chip to screen out unwelcome programming. In her book, It Takes a Village, she has a chapter called, Seeing Is Believing, where she blames the deadening effect of television for contributing to the alienation of young people."
"We don't understand the importance of our attitude. My attitude at any point is like the sunken part of the iceberg. I start out from the conscious affirmative part which is like the tip. I'm quite surprised - and unprepared - to meet resistance from this unconscious part. Yet my attitude is largely governed by this resistance. You have to see the resistance. You have to be more aware of the wish to not work - at the same time as you are holding the wish to work."
- John Pentland -
"Our situation is not outside, where a man is moved by surface events, nor is it inside, where a man is taken by emotion and tyrannized by his functions. It is a precise balance, an equidistant position that allows me to appreciate and understand that I am these two lives."
- Michel Conge -
"We all manage to gather a certain number of pearls of insight as we stumble along, but to find a string to lace them on is extravagant good luck."
- William Welch -
"Our task must be to free ourselves from the prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."
- Albert Einstein -
"Man does not cease to play because he grows old, he grows old because he ceases to play."
- Drew Lachey -
"No one can earn a million dollars honestly."
- William Jennings Bryan -
"In great affairs men show themselves as they wish to be seen; in small things they show themselves as they are."
- Nicholas Chamfort -
"Irrationally held truths may be more harmful than reasoned errors."
- Thomas H. Huxley -
"There are two strands of conservative politics warring here. There is the evangelical Christian side that wants to impose its will to keep you alive at all costs, and then there's the side that wants to make every policy decision based on the concept of freedom. The first wants to tell you whom you can marry, what you can watch on television, what you can put in your pipe. The latter wants to free the whole world from tyranny, of which government control over the bodies and medical choices of its citizens is one example.
"If the right to die is consistently denied, if doctors feel they cannot help patients and their families make this decision, if spouses and children feel that they will face publicity and perhaps even prosecution, then our hospitals will fill with people hanging on to the merest semblance of life, people who, if they could, would beg for release."
"I once got irritated by a fellow reporter who was writing stories about a "cancer-causing pesticide," as she inevitably described it. I called the Environmental Protection Agency and got the real skinny on the pesticide. Yes, if you drank water with a certain amount of this pesticide in it every day of your life for 72 consecutive years, the EPA's computer model said it was likely to increase your chance of developing cancer by a small fraction of 1 percent. Of course, the natural background rate of cancer is about 20 percent. And the EPA fellow said the computer model might not be true at all, because all the test data were based on mice, not people.
"There does seem to be a consensus that the Earth has warmed a small fraction in the past few decades. The unanswered question is, Is this part of a natural process, or is it caused by man's activity? Many environmentalists and most governments in the world have said the answer is that man is pumping too much greenhouse gas into the atmosphere. That's what the Kyoto treaty is all about.
"Unfortunately, the evidence for this is thin. In the past, the Earth has cooled and warmed entirely on its own, long before there were enough humans to make a spit's worth of difference. It is ridiculous to suppose that something as complex and as incompletely understood as the atmosphere could be translated into an accurate computer model. It also ridiculous to predict what the Earth's temperature will be even 10 years in the future, much less 50 or 100 years."
"In my opinion the trouble with you, in the present instance, is perhaps chiefly due to the fact that while still in childhood, there was implanted in you and has now become ideally well harmonized with your general psyche, an excellently working automatism for perceiving all kinds of new impressions, thanks to which 'blessing' you have now, during your responsible life, no need of making any individual effort whatsoever."
"The composition of a coherent historical narrative is no easy task. Fortunately, the aspiring historian of the current U.S. war in Iraq can draw upon earlier narratives to ease the burden, merely substituting a word here and there in order to make the text accord with the specific names and places that are now pertinent. As the following illustrative statements show, however, basic patterns tend to persist, so one need not suffer through a protracted new search for how a particular war has come to be fought. My textual changes to apply the model to the present war appear in brackets...
"By inciting hatred of [Saddam], by crying up interventionist pretexts, by encouraging the rebels to prolong their struggle, by entangling America officially in [Iraq's] affairs, the interventionists bent themselves to the task of turning passive, if promising, sympathy [for oppressed Iraqis] into active, fighting support...
"Of the mendacious warmongering journalism of the American press, suffice to say that everything that would inflame public sentiment against [Iraq's regime] was prominently reported, exaggerated, or fabricated...
"There was nothing subtle about [Bush's] dealings with [Iraq]. From the start he claimed the right to dictate [Iraq's] conduct . . . and to intervene by force should that conduct fail to meet the American government's approval...
"Although the [9/11 attacks] produced no clamor for war [against Iraq], it had made the great majority of Americans impatient for the first time to see matters settled in [Iraq], by American intervention if necessary. The American ultimatum [to the Iraqi government] was harsh. Had [Bush] been seeking a peaceful solution, the [Iraqi] concessions certainly provided the basis for one."
"People who work sitting down get paid more than people who work standing up."
- Ogden Nash -
"I used to wake up at 4 A.M. and start sneezing, sometimes for five hours. I tried to find out what sort of allergy I had but finally came to the conclusion that it must be an allergy to consciousness."
- James Thurber -
"President Bush certainly does not believe one should be able to 'own' one's body, certainly the most essential of all forms of ownership. He's sent federal agents into California to arrest a woman trying to reduce chronic pain by using a plant (marijuana) grown in her own backyard, an act the good citizens of California had declared legal by direct vote.
"President Bush believes people can and perhaps should lose their jobs because of what they do in the privacy of their bedrooms. He has moved aggressively to overturn state laws allowing the aged to die with dignity under their own control.
"Ownership of personal information? President Bush opposes policies that require companies to gain permission before they use my personal information for private gain.
"Ownership of public information? The Bush administration has restricted access to public information - information the public has paid to gather to an unprecedented degree. In his first two years in office, for example, he classified more than 4 times the number of documents as Bill Clinton did in his first two years...
"He firmly believes that we don't own those things that most of us would indisputably believe we do own - our bodies, our privacy, our dignity, our bedrooms. And to add insult to injury, he just as firmly believes that we can own those things that most of us would argue are not ours to own - air, words, folklore."
"For some odd reason, Newsweek assistant managing editor/designer Lynn Staley thought it would be a good idea to create an image that combined a photo of Stewart's face with another photo of someone else's body.
"Go figure... According to Staley, the idea was to portray Stewart as she 'may appear' upon her release from prison. 'The piece that we commissioned was intended to show Martha as she would be, not necessarily as she is,' Staley explained."
"California's attorney general sued the Bush administration Thursday over its management plan for the Giant Sequoia National Monument, home to two-thirds of the world's largest trees. The federal plan adopted in December would illegally allow commercial logging in the 327,769-acre central California preserve, the suit alleges."
"When Israelis heard for the first time about Bush citing Sharansky as his guide and mentor, they gasped in disbelief. Sharansky? Our Sharansky?...
"For years now, he has peddled the idea that peace with the Arabs is impossible until they become democratic. In Israel, this was dismissed as just another propaganda gimmick serving the Israeli government's opposition to any peace that would mean an end to the occupation. Since Sharansky is totally ignorant of Arab affairs and has probably never had a serious conversation with an Arab, it is hard for Israelis to take him seriously. As far as I know, nobody does, not even among Rightists.
"His highly unoriginal contention that 'democracies do not make war against other democracies' is a perfect alibi for the United States to attack Iraq, Syria and Iran, which are, after all, no democracies (while dictatorships like Pakistan and Turkmenistan remain good friends). The idea that the teachings of this particular political philosopher are the guiding star of the mightiest leader in the world, the commander of the biggest military machine in history, is rather frightening."
"When they took control of the House after the 1994 elections, Republicans vowed they would be different than previous Congresses. They promised they would manage the House in a way that fostered what they called 'deliberative democracy,' which they defined as 'the full and free airing of conflicting opinions through hearings, debates, and amendments for the purpose of developing and improving legislation deserving of the respect and support of the people.'
"[T]en years after their 'revolution,' House Republicans have completely abandoned this standard of deliberative democracy they set for themselves. Furthermore, they have abandoned any other principle of procedural fairness or democratic accountability. In the opinion of many non-partisan observers of Congress, the 108th Congress not only matched the worst abuses of earlier Congresses; it set a whole new benchmark.
"This report examines in detail how, over the past two years, the Republican leadership ignored the House Rules and the basic standards of legislative fairness and regular order with an impunity that is unprecedented in the history of the House of Representatives."
"If you listen to the presidential debates, you can't figure out what they're saying, and that's on purpose. The last debate was supposed to be about domestic issues. The New York Times commented that Kerry didn't make any hint about possible government involvement in health care programs because that position has, in their words, 'no political support.' Well, according to the most recent polls, 80% of the population thinks that the government ought to guarantee health care for everyone, and furthermore regard it as a moral obligation. That tells you something about people's values. But there's 'no political support.'
"Why? Because the pharmaceutical industry is opposed, the financial institutions are opposed, the insurance industry is opposed, so there's 'no political support.' It doesn't matter if 80% of the population regard it as a moral obligation: That doesn't count as political support. It tells you something about the elite conception. You're supposed to vote for the image they're projecting. That's not surprising really. Just ask yourself, 'Who runs the elections?'
"The elections are run by the same guys who sell toothpaste. They show you an image of a sports hero, or a sexy model, or a car going up a sheer cliff or something, which has nothing to do with the commodity, but it's intended to delude you into picking this one rather than another one. Same when they run elections. But they're assigned that task in order to marginalize the public, and furthermore, people are pretty well aware of it.
"For many years, election campaigns here have been run by the public relations industry and each time it's with increasing sophistication. Quite naturally, the industry uses the same technique to sell candidates that it uses to sell toothpaste or lifestyle drugs. The point is to undermine markets by projecting imagery to delude and suppressing information - and similarly, to undermine democracy by the same method."
"The BBC has bowed to an Israeli demand for a written apology from its deputy bureau chief in Jerusalem, Simon Wilson, who was barred from the country for failing to submit for censorship an interview with the nuclear whistleblower, Mordechai Vanunu. Mr. Wilson was allowed to return to Israel on Thursday after signing a letter to the government acknowledging that he defied the law by ignoring demands from the security service and military censors to view tapes of an interview with Rm. Vanunu after he was released from 19 years in prison last year.
"The climbdown has angered some BBC journalists, who say it will compromise their work in Israel."
"Cuts in food programs for the poor are getting support in Congress as an alternative to President Bush's idea of cutting billions of dollars from the payments that go to large farm operations...
"Republican committee chairmen are looking for savings in nutrition and land-conservation programs that are also run by the Agriculture Department. The government is projected to spend $52 billion this year on nutrition programs such as food stamps, school lunches and special aid to low-income pregnant women, and children...
"Bush is proposing to withdraw food stamps for certain families already receiving other government assistance. The administration estimates that plan would remove more than 300,000 people from the rolls and save $113 million a year."
"1) AEGIS
"In June, the Pentagon's Program Management Office in Iraq awarded a $293 million contract to coordinate security operations among thousands of private contractors to Aegis, a UK firm whose founder was once investigated for illegal arms smuggling.
"An inquiry by the British parliament into Sandline, Aegis head Tim Spicer's former firm, determined that the company had shipped guns to Sierra Leone in 1998 in violation of a UN arms embargo. Sandline's position was that it had approval from the British government, although British ministers were cleared by the inquiry. Spicer resigned from Sandline in 2000 and incorporated Aegis in 2002.
"The Aegis contract has stirred up considerable controversy, even in the shadowy world of private military contractors. A protest by rival bidder Dyncorp - whose bid was deemed unacceptable by the Army - was dismissed by the General Accountability Office, which concluded that Dyncorp 'lacked standing to challenge the integrity of the awardee (Aegis).' Spicer's defendants point out that there is no provision in contract law to deny a contract based on a bidder's 'colorful' past.
"Critics say that's just the problem. U.S. and international law have failed to address the role of PMCs in Iraq, resulting in a near-total lack of accountability that epitomizes what's wrong with the corporate takeover of Iraq.
"'Who gives the orders? Where do contractors fit in the chain of command? Who is responsible if things go wrong?' Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) asks.
"Not only do PMCs fall outside the Military Code of Justice but, thanks to another order passed by Paul Bremer (CPA order #17), it's not clear that they could be prosecuted under Iraq's own laws. That's because the order grants foreign contractors, including private security firms, full immunity from Iraq's laws, even if they injure or kill an innocent party."
"Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events."
- Sir Winston Churchill -
"[I]t does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg."
- Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia, 1782 -
"The older we get the younger old is."
- Meg Ivan -
"Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule."
- Friedrich Nietzsche -
"Always get married early in the morning. That way, if it doesn't work out, you haven't wasted a whole day."
- Mickey Rooney -
"If you want to raise a man from mud and filth, do not think it is enough to keep standing on top and reaching down to him a helping hand. You must go all the way down yourself, down into mud and filth. Then take hold of him with strong hands and pull him and yourself into the light."
- Solomon ben Meir ha-Levi of Karlin -
"You know when it's bedtime at Michael Jackson's house? When the big hand's on the little hand."
- Carrot Top -
"In its original meaning, pornography was literally 'writing about prostitutes,' from the classical roots ????? and ???????. It was, however, a made-up word coined in England about 1850 that had a spurious air of age and scholarship about it. There is no evidence that anyone at that time, or earlier, was writing about prostitutes per se except as they figured as characters in written erotica of that epoch. It quickly came to mean writing about anything sexual, especially in a base manner, when the creation, presentation, or consumption of the material was for sexual stimulation. The term now refers to sexually related material of all kinds, both written and graphical. The term 'pornography' often has negative connotations of low artistic merit, as compared to the more esteemed erotica. Euphemisms such as adult film, adult video and adult bookstore are generally preferred within the industry producing these works (namely the adult industry). Pornography can also be contrasted with ribaldry, which uses sexual titillation in the service of comedy. "
"The more learned and witty you bee, the more fit to act for Satan will you bee."
- John Cotton: 1642 -
"You'll need two helpers (...call them Julie and Mina). Sit in a chair, blindfolded, and ask Julie to sit on another chair in front of you, facing the same direction as you are. Have Mina stand on your right side and give her the following instructions: 'Take my right hand and guide my index finger to Julia's nose. Move my hand in a rhythmic manner so that my index finger repeatedly strokes and taps her nose in a random sequence like a Morse code. At the same time, use your left hand to stroke my nose with the same rhythm and timing. The stroking and tapping of my nose and Julia's nose should be in perfect synchrony.'
"After thirty or forty seconds, if you're lucky, you will develop the uncanny illusion that you are touching your nose out there or that your nose has been dislocated and stretched out about three feet in front of your face. The more random and unpredictable the stroking sequence, the more striking the illusion will be."
"Fifty-one percent of a nation can establish a totalitarian regime, suppress minorities and still remain democratic."
- Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn -
"Every day it's-a gettin' closer. Goin' faster than a roller coaster."
- Buddy Holly -
