• Number one worst head of state since Ivan the Terrible.
• Racked up more debt than any other person in history. The United States is set up to be the first nation to go bankrupt.
• Aided and abetted Rove, Cheney, Gonzales, Rumsfeld, Rice, and Libby in terrorism, fraud, treason, war-profiteering, and murder. High crimes? You betcha!
• Corruption of each and every department and bureau and agency in the federal government – even the judiciary.
• Gave Texas a bad name.
• Shoved millions of middle-class Americans across the line into official poverty, from which there is no exit. More millions of Americans were uprooted in the Katrina Diaspora, from which there is no return. Millions more Americans are being swept aside by the Banking Cartel, who gladly foreclose on mortgages written under false pretenses.
• The once-almighty dollar has lost one-third of its value during Bush's term in office.
• The true unemployment rate in America is 12%.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
January News Factoids
THE ECONOMY: U.S. home prices fell in October for the tenth consecutive month, posting their largest monthly drop to date. The record 6.7 percent drop in the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index also marked the 23rd consecutive month prices either grew more slowly or declined. The previous record decline was 6.3 percent, recorded in April 1991. — Associated Press
U.S. housing construction dropped by 25% in 2007, the largest drop in 27 years.
U.S. inflation is at a 17-year high. — AP Radio News January 2008
* * * * * * * *
Faux News: Oil did NOT go to $100 a barrel as reported on 1/2/2008. There was one (1) trade at that price, by a lone day-trader for a thousand barrels (the minimum). Period. He/she lost about $600 on the resale, but it may have been worth it, given how the Media Cartel ran with the factoid.
* * * * * * * *
STOCKS: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 306 points Thursday January 17, cancelling all gains of 2007 (down to the level of a year ago), then fell another 129 points on Friday January 18 to $12,030.29. The S&P 500 index fell $16.06 (1.20%) to $1,317.19, while the Nasdaq composite index dropped $17.07 (0.73%) to $2,329.83.
Stock markets worldwide plummeted Monday January 21 (while the US stock exchanges were closed for the M.L.K. holiday), and again the next day.
The Federal Reserve Bank reduced interest rates by three-quarters of a base point early on January 22. The stock market opened with the Dow down another 400 points (below the highs of 2000). Although the Dow rebounded, the close was below 12,000 points – the lowest in 16 months.
Copyright 2008 by G.E. Nordell, all rights reserved
U.S. housing construction dropped by 25% in 2007, the largest drop in 27 years.
U.S. inflation is at a 17-year high. — AP Radio News January 2008
Faux News: Oil did NOT go to $100 a barrel as reported on 1/2/2008. There was one (1) trade at that price, by a lone day-trader for a thousand barrels (the minimum). Period. He/she lost about $600 on the resale, but it may have been worth it, given how the Media Cartel ran with the factoid.
STOCKS: The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 306 points Thursday January 17, cancelling all gains of 2007 (down to the level of a year ago), then fell another 129 points on Friday January 18 to $12,030.29. The S&P 500 index fell $16.06 (1.20%) to $1,317.19, while the Nasdaq composite index dropped $17.07 (0.73%) to $2,329.83.
Stock markets worldwide plummeted Monday January 21 (while the US stock exchanges were closed for the M.L.K. holiday), and again the next day.
The Federal Reserve Bank reduced interest rates by three-quarters of a base point early on January 22. The stock market opened with the Dow down another 400 points (below the highs of 2000). Although the Dow rebounded, the close was below 12,000 points – the lowest in 16 months.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
January Quotations
"Genius is the ability to avoid work by doing it right the first time."
~~ old saying
"The real question is not whether machines think but whether men do."
~~ B.F. Skinner
"Improvement makes straight roads; but the crooked roads without improvement are roads of genius."
~~ William Blake [1757–1827]
"If the brain were so simple we could understand it, [then] we would be so simple [that] we couldn't."
~~ Lyall Watson
"Most people would sooner die than think. In fact, they do."
~~ Bertrand Russell [1872-1970]
"Geniuses are like thunderstorms. They go against the wind, terrify people, cleanse the air."
~~ Søren Kierkegaard [1813-55]
"When a true genius appears in this world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."
~~ Jonathan Swift [1667–1745]
"The first and last thing required of genius is the love of truth."
~~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe [1749-1832]
“Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn.”
~~ Gore Vidal
"Some superior minds are unrecognized because there is no standard by which to weigh them."
~~ Joseph Joubert
"A genius is one who can do anything except make a living."
~~ Joey Adams
"There's nothing as stupid as an educated man, if you get him off the thing that he is educated in."
~~ Will Rogers [1879-1935]
"Talent, lying in the understanding, is often inherited; genius, being the action of reason or imagination, rarely or never."
~~ Samuel T. Coleridge [1772-1834]
"The only thing that makes a man able to get along in this world is his brain. A man doesn't have the claws of a bear, nor the strength of a bull. He doesn't have the nose of a wolf, nor the wings of a hawk, but he has a brain. You're going to get along in this world as long as you use it."
~~ Louis L'Amour [1908-88] [in 'Down The Long Hills']
"People often say that, in a democracy, decisions are made by a majority of the people. Of course, that is not true. Decisions are made by a majority of those who make themselves heard and who vote – a very different thing."
~~ Walter H. Judd
"Life is hard, but it's wonderful."
~~ François Truffaut [1932-84] (in "Small Change", 1976)
"In general, one is only right when either wish or fear coincides with reality ... sooner or later a false belief bumps up against the solid reality, usually on a battlefield."
~~ George Orwell
"People on a jet have only been on a trip; people on a train have been on a journey."
~~ Ray Bradbury
"I guess I should warn you, if I turn out to be particularly clear, you've probably misunderstood what I've said."
~~ former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan
"Every animal knows more than you do."
~~ Nez Perce proverb
"Give Light and the people will find their own way."
~~ masthead motto of the Rocky Mountain News [est. 1859] of Denver, Colorado
"[Marijuana] is safer than aspirin, which kills thousands every year."
~~ William S. Eidelman, MD
"Tragedy arises when you are in the presence of a man who has missed accomplishing his joy."
~~ Arthur Miller [1915-2005] (in 1950)
"Man must shape his tools lest they shape him."
~~ Arthur Miller [1915-2005]
{previous quotations are posted
at the Working Minds website}
~~ old saying
"The real question is not whether machines think but whether men do."
~~ B.F. Skinner
"Improvement makes straight roads; but the crooked roads without improvement are roads of genius."
~~ William Blake [1757–1827]
"If the brain were so simple we could understand it, [then] we would be so simple [that] we couldn't."
~~ Lyall Watson
"Most people would sooner die than think. In fact, they do."
~~ Bertrand Russell [1872-1970]
"Geniuses are like thunderstorms. They go against the wind, terrify people, cleanse the air."
~~ Søren Kierkegaard [1813-55]
"When a true genius appears in this world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."
~~ Jonathan Swift [1667–1745]
"The first and last thing required of genius is the love of truth."
~~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe [1749-1832]
“Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn.”
~~ Gore Vidal
"Some superior minds are unrecognized because there is no standard by which to weigh them."
~~ Joseph Joubert
"A genius is one who can do anything except make a living."
~~ Joey Adams
"There's nothing as stupid as an educated man, if you get him off the thing that he is educated in."
~~ Will Rogers [1879-1935]
"Talent, lying in the understanding, is often inherited; genius, being the action of reason or imagination, rarely or never."
~~ Samuel T. Coleridge [1772-1834]
"The only thing that makes a man able to get along in this world is his brain. A man doesn't have the claws of a bear, nor the strength of a bull. He doesn't have the nose of a wolf, nor the wings of a hawk, but he has a brain. You're going to get along in this world as long as you use it."
~~ Louis L'Amour [1908-88] [in 'Down The Long Hills']
"People often say that, in a democracy, decisions are made by a majority of the people. Of course, that is not true. Decisions are made by a majority of those who make themselves heard and who vote – a very different thing."
~~ Walter H. Judd
"Life is hard, but it's wonderful."
~~ François Truffaut [1932-84] (in "Small Change", 1976)
"In general, one is only right when either wish or fear coincides with reality ... sooner or later a false belief bumps up against the solid reality, usually on a battlefield."
~~ George Orwell
"People on a jet have only been on a trip; people on a train have been on a journey."
~~ Ray Bradbury
"I guess I should warn you, if I turn out to be particularly clear, you've probably misunderstood what I've said."
~~ former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan
"Every animal knows more than you do."
~~ Nez Perce proverb
"Give Light and the people will find their own way."
~~ masthead motto of the Rocky Mountain News [est. 1859] of Denver, Colorado
"[Marijuana] is safer than aspirin, which kills thousands every year."
~~ William S. Eidelman, MD
"Tragedy arises when you are in the presence of a man who has missed accomplishing his joy."
~~ Arthur Miller [1915-2005] (in 1950)
"Man must shape his tools lest they shape him."
~~ Arthur Miller [1915-2005]
{previous quotations are posted
at the Working Minds website}
Monday, January 21, 2008
WM ESSAY #74 "FINE TUNING"
Years ago I went to a couple seasons of the L.A. Philharmonic Symphony in Los Angeles. I liked Mozart and Mahler, and being in such a metropolitan location provided the chance to see and hear oddities like Morton Subotnik conducting his own work. Venues that I went to most often were the outdoor Hollywood Bowl and Downtown's Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. I also bought a season's seats at the Ahmanson Theatre, and attended stage plays there, which I remember included Lillian Hellman's "Little Foxes" with Liz Taylor, who was then still an actress.
What never made sense to me was the concert facade, women dressing up in their minks and other pirate swag, males in tuxedos with brocade cummerbunds, standing along the lobby walls sipping white wine and snubbing the proletariat.
(One of the reasons that I feel very much at home in New Mexico is that still-dark jeans are okay just about everywhere, with or without cowboy boots & hat. The arty Taos & Santa Fe folk do have pretensions, but even Gov. Richardson is mostly seen in Dockers-type pants.)
This essay was triggered when I was reminded recently of watching the orchestra setting themselves up for concerts as the patrons found their seats. The orchestra members mostly carried their instruments on-stage with them, except for the drums, pianos & tubas – the larger hardware. One of the last to appear was the Concert Master, who by tradition is the First Violin. At some point a handful of minutes before concert time, the Concert Master gets the musicians' attention and sometimes with the piano people but always with the string section, the other musicians set their instruments to perfectly match the Concert Master's pre-tuned violin A-string.
Now this does not matter to a hairs-breadth, some hundredth of a tone. The principle is that the entire orchestra is aligned with X, who happens to be the Concert Master.
* * * * * * * * And what has this to do with philosophy?
Easy. The question arises about what each member of Mankind is tuned to, as individual and also as small and large groups, and even as societies.
First off, we are not all tuned to the same X, and not all are even tuned to the same realm (such as the music analogy); some are tuned to analogous color settings or height or width or time or power measurements. Thus, all the mad conflicts in the world.
And then so many are basically fighting over what is right to be tuned to. "I decide." "No, we decide." "No way, we have always ..." The result is madness.
* * * * * * * * Here is how to straighten the mess and make things work: The Universe is existential. In its entirety. The Universe exists, and that is all that need be said.
The best access to the existential Universe is by objective Reason, which itself is existential. Subjectivity does not give existential, only objectivity gives existential access. If it exists, then it *IS* true. The description generated by some people may be kinda-sorta close, might be off just a mite, but the Power from accessing the existential Universe thru Reason is greater in accordance with the accuracy of the description. Sorta close gives medium Power, pretty close gives plenty of Power to Make A Difference, and very, very close gives major Power. (How you know your existential description is accurate is by the amount of Power that it delivers.)
Religionists who describe the Universe (and how to deal with it) thru 5000-year-out-of-date or thousand-year worn-out barbarian paradigms or hundred-year-old Marxist theories derive less Power than they need to survive, so they revert to Force. The Taliban & Wasabi factions of Islam, the Baptist Taliban, the Red Chinese, military dictatorships in Second- and Third-World countries – all want to take over everybody else, to make their Belief the Supreme Belief, and would take over Antarctica and Space too, if they could live there.
Any belief system that offers a Way to follow to some Someday Good Life (not in this Life) for the uneducated, terrorized and exploited masses is only as good as the extent to which the given rules match the existential Universe.
Death and destruction as a career field? Hypocrisy as one's Gross National Product? Disinformation as one's Purpose In Life? Despoliation of the Planet, bequeathing poison and sickness to the next generation, and the next? Ignorance and superstition as a Value? All such activity is counter to what the existential Universe requires. All such destructive systems also destroy Power.
Wolves catch rabbits for food, not for pleasure. Seasonal floods bring nutrients to the soil. Rain and snow bring life-giving moisture to members of the biosphere. Vermin and bacteria do their job cleaning up the mess. Rocks bounce off a cliff and gather below to form a dam where beaver and trout can thrive. Bees pollinate the plants, unaware of their central importance in The Scheme of Things.
Nature works just fine without Belief. The mechanism that is earth's Holy Biosphere chugs along in diurnal and seasonal cycles, and cycles too vast for Man to measure.
Belief is unnecessary for living in the World. Tuning one's concerns to the cycles of Nature, tuning into the existential What's So of the local Universe removes the pull to conflict, the artificial war of My Belief versus all other beliefs.
The What's So is merely What's So – without Belief.
* * * * * * * * If Mankind is an orchestra, or a series of orchestral organizations, then most of them are tuned to worlds and concepts that do not exist. No country has ever operated inside a Capitalist {see Essay #40 on Paleo-Capitalism} Economy and yet billions of dollars are stolen and re-stolen in the name of Capitalism. The cry for War justifies acts of terror and genocide. Big business colludes to capture slaves to replace paid labor – and the slaves see no option but to agree to their own subjugation. Propaganda hammers into the culture the belief that profits trump Human Rights, the profits supersede the niceties of ecological integrity, and the masses nod their heads and wonder why their lives suck. War-profiteers and slave owners stack their treasure in secret vaults and live inside armored limos and community walls strung with concertina wire.
Belief gives them this.
Mankind is out of tune, out of rhythm, they cannot read the score on the (metaphorical) music stand, and instead fight to the death over sitting in the most prestigious chair. The conductor is wholly absent, or drunk with False Power and scheming for more. The (metaphorical) symphony hall is a dangerous place to be for everyone. Not much music gets produced.
But outside that Symphony Hall of Belief, where the existential Universe is available to be tuned into, there may be only a low din from inside the edifice of Belief. And as one moves away from the cacophony that is Belief and Superstition, the Working Mind can be present to the song of the bird, to the chitter of long-eared rodents, to the buzz of the industrious bee, to the burble of water across river rocks, to the plop of a trout who leapt for (and caught) the fly.
In tune with the existential Universe, one can see the white flash of the tail of a deer, one can stare into the open face of the fox or wolf, one can smell the jasmine and the rose, one can smell far-off newly-cut alfalfa, one can see the entire neighborhood by the light of the moon.
* * * * * * * * Your Life is given by what you are tuned into, by what you aspire to, by where your attention is directed, by the actions given by your Commitments.
What exactly are you, The Reader, tuned to? What are you in step with, who and what do you follow?
And why do all the choices given by Belief lead to dis-harmony and fear and pain?
Shake your Beliefs off and see the world without the false protection that they provide. Tune in to the existential Universe, hear the Music, and learn to Dance.
Harmony and serenity and peace are available by tuning in to Harmony and Serenity and Peace.
Copyright 2008 by G.E. Nordell, all rights reserved
What never made sense to me was the concert facade, women dressing up in their minks and other pirate swag, males in tuxedos with brocade cummerbunds, standing along the lobby walls sipping white wine and snubbing the proletariat.
(One of the reasons that I feel very much at home in New Mexico is that still-dark jeans are okay just about everywhere, with or without cowboy boots & hat. The arty Taos & Santa Fe folk do have pretensions, but even Gov. Richardson is mostly seen in Dockers-type pants.)
This essay was triggered when I was reminded recently of watching the orchestra setting themselves up for concerts as the patrons found their seats. The orchestra members mostly carried their instruments on-stage with them, except for the drums, pianos & tubas – the larger hardware. One of the last to appear was the Concert Master, who by tradition is the First Violin. At some point a handful of minutes before concert time, the Concert Master gets the musicians' attention and sometimes with the piano people but always with the string section, the other musicians set their instruments to perfectly match the Concert Master's pre-tuned violin A-string.
Now this does not matter to a hairs-breadth, some hundredth of a tone. The principle is that the entire orchestra is aligned with X, who happens to be the Concert Master.
Easy. The question arises about what each member of Mankind is tuned to, as individual and also as small and large groups, and even as societies.
First off, we are not all tuned to the same X, and not all are even tuned to the same realm (such as the music analogy); some are tuned to analogous color settings or height or width or time or power measurements. Thus, all the mad conflicts in the world.
And then so many are basically fighting over what is right to be tuned to. "I decide." "No, we decide." "No way, we have always ..." The result is madness.
The best access to the existential Universe is by objective Reason, which itself is existential. Subjectivity does not give existential, only objectivity gives existential access. If it exists, then it *IS* true. The description generated by some people may be kinda-sorta close, might be off just a mite, but the Power from accessing the existential Universe thru Reason is greater in accordance with the accuracy of the description. Sorta close gives medium Power, pretty close gives plenty of Power to Make A Difference, and very, very close gives major Power. (How you know your existential description is accurate is by the amount of Power that it delivers.)
Religionists who describe the Universe (and how to deal with it) thru 5000-year-out-of-date or thousand-year worn-out barbarian paradigms or hundred-year-old Marxist theories derive less Power than they need to survive, so they revert to Force. The Taliban & Wasabi factions of Islam, the Baptist Taliban, the Red Chinese, military dictatorships in Second- and Third-World countries – all want to take over everybody else, to make their Belief the Supreme Belief, and would take over Antarctica and Space too, if they could live there.
Any belief system that offers a Way to follow to some Someday Good Life (not in this Life) for the uneducated, terrorized and exploited masses is only as good as the extent to which the given rules match the existential Universe.
Death and destruction as a career field? Hypocrisy as one's Gross National Product? Disinformation as one's Purpose In Life? Despoliation of the Planet, bequeathing poison and sickness to the next generation, and the next? Ignorance and superstition as a Value? All such activity is counter to what the existential Universe requires. All such destructive systems also destroy Power.
Wolves catch rabbits for food, not for pleasure. Seasonal floods bring nutrients to the soil. Rain and snow bring life-giving moisture to members of the biosphere. Vermin and bacteria do their job cleaning up the mess. Rocks bounce off a cliff and gather below to form a dam where beaver and trout can thrive. Bees pollinate the plants, unaware of their central importance in The Scheme of Things.
Nature works just fine without Belief. The mechanism that is earth's Holy Biosphere chugs along in diurnal and seasonal cycles, and cycles too vast for Man to measure.
Belief is unnecessary for living in the World. Tuning one's concerns to the cycles of Nature, tuning into the existential What's So of the local Universe removes the pull to conflict, the artificial war of My Belief versus all other beliefs.
The What's So is merely What's So – without Belief.
Belief gives them this.
Mankind is out of tune, out of rhythm, they cannot read the score on the (metaphorical) music stand, and instead fight to the death over sitting in the most prestigious chair. The conductor is wholly absent, or drunk with False Power and scheming for more. The (metaphorical) symphony hall is a dangerous place to be for everyone. Not much music gets produced.
But outside that Symphony Hall of Belief, where the existential Universe is available to be tuned into, there may be only a low din from inside the edifice of Belief. And as one moves away from the cacophony that is Belief and Superstition, the Working Mind can be present to the song of the bird, to the chitter of long-eared rodents, to the buzz of the industrious bee, to the burble of water across river rocks, to the plop of a trout who leapt for (and caught) the fly.
In tune with the existential Universe, one can see the white flash of the tail of a deer, one can stare into the open face of the fox or wolf, one can smell the jasmine and the rose, one can smell far-off newly-cut alfalfa, one can see the entire neighborhood by the light of the moon.
What exactly are you, The Reader, tuned to? What are you in step with, who and what do you follow?
And why do all the choices given by Belief lead to dis-harmony and fear and pain?
Shake your Beliefs off and see the world without the false protection that they provide. Tune in to the existential Universe, hear the Music, and learn to Dance.
Harmony and serenity and peace are available by tuning in to Harmony and Serenity and Peace.
Thursday, January 03, 2008
2007 Year-End Website Statistics
because of difficulties with the blogspot editor software
(and HTML tables) this data was moved to
an Annual Website Statistics Page
(and HTML tables) this data was moved to
an Annual Website Statistics Page
Monday, December 31, 2007
Year-End Quotations
"When humor can be made to alternate with melancholy, one has a success, but when the same things are funny and melancholic at the same time, it's just wonderful."
~~ François Truffaut [1932-84]
"Also, there is no R in team."
~~ G.E.Nordell
"Great as the provocation has been in dealing with the foes who habitually resort to treachery, murder and torture against our men, nothing can justify ... the use of torture or inhumane conduct ... on the part of the American Army."
~~ Theodore Roosevelt, 1902
"There can be no higher law in journalism than to tell the truth and shame the devil."
~~ Walter Lippmann [1889-1974]
"The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn – and [to] change."
~~ Carl Rogers [1902-1987]
"The planet is in distress and all of the attention is on Paris Hilton. We have to ask ourselves 'What is going on here?'."
~~ Al Gore, Jr.
"George W. Bush isn't the President, he just plays one on television."
~~ G.E.Nordell
"The health of society depends upon the quality of the information [that] it receives."
~~ Walter Lippmann [1889-1974]
"Reality is not negotiable."
~~ G.E.Nordell
"Iran aggressively pursues these weapons and exports terror ... States like these and their terrorist allies constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world."
~~ George W. Bush ("State of The Union", 29 January 2002)
"Religious beliefs, no matter the culture, seldom depend on logic and rationality and often bring out the worst in people."
~~ mystery author team Aimee & David Thurlo
"The emperor has no clue."
~~ radio talk show host Randi Rhodes
"When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it."
~~ Eleanor Roosevelt [1884-1962]
"[Art] only exists as an exercise of individual taste and freedom."
~~ Jane Smiley
"John Edwards is the candidate that corporate America is most afraid of."
~~ radio talk show host Thom Hartmann
"Happiness is not a destination. It is a method of life."
~~ Burton Hills
"The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments."
~~ George Washington [1732-1799]
"Love is a gross exaggeration of the difference between one person and everybody else."
~~ George Bernard Shaw [1856-1950]
"And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."
~~ Abraham Lincoln [1809-1865]
"Thousands have lived without love, not one without water."
~~ W.H. Auden [1907-1973]
"Corrupt political thought creates and is furthered by sloppy language."
~~ Peter C. Baker
“Politics has always been a mud fight – better that citizens jump in the trough than lose interest.”
~~ James Ponlewozik, in Time Magazine
DUCUNT VOLENTUM FATA, NOLENTUM TRAHUNT: "Fate leads those who are willing; the unwilling it drags."
~~ Seneca the Younger [4 BCE-65 CE]
"The thing is to be madly, madly in love all the time."
~~ Ray Bradbury
"Liberty and democracy become unholy when their hands are dyed red with innocent blood."
~~ Mahatma Gandhi [1869-1948]
"Right is right, even if everyone is against it, and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it."
~~ William Penn [1644-1718]
"I'm an idealist. I don't know where I'm going but I'm on my way."
~~ Carl Sandburg [1878-1967]
"The only real hell is on earth, and usually undeserved."
~~ Dick Francis (in "To The Hilt")
"Behind every successful woman ... is a substantial amount of coffee."
~~ Stephanie Pero
"[The theater] should challenge us with questions. Not answers, but questions."
~~ Gordon Davidson
"Every man is as Heaven made him, and sometimes a great deal worse."
~~ Miguel de Cervantes [1547-1616]
"All truth passes thru three stages: first it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third it is accepted as self-evident."
~~ Schopenhauer [1788-1860]
"Happiness serves hardly any other purpose than to make unhappiness possible."
~~ Marcel Proust [1871-1922]
"There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy. By being happy, we sow anonymous benefits upon the world."
~~ Robert Louis Stevenson [1850-1894]
"Everything in this world is an opportunity for pain and failure."
~~ Jackie Hoffman
"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."
~~ Helen Keller [1880-1968]
"Duty is the sublimest word in our language. Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more. You should never do less."
~~ Robert E. Lee [1807-1870]
"Nothing gives life more zest than running for your life."
~~ Robert A. Heinlein [1907-1988]
{many other such quotations are posted
on the Working Minds website}
~~ François Truffaut [1932-84]
"Also, there is no R in team."
~~ G.E.Nordell
"Great as the provocation has been in dealing with the foes who habitually resort to treachery, murder and torture against our men, nothing can justify ... the use of torture or inhumane conduct ... on the part of the American Army."
~~ Theodore Roosevelt, 1902
"There can be no higher law in journalism than to tell the truth and shame the devil."
~~ Walter Lippmann [1889-1974]
"The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn – and [to] change."
~~ Carl Rogers [1902-1987]
"The planet is in distress and all of the attention is on Paris Hilton. We have to ask ourselves 'What is going on here?'."
~~ Al Gore, Jr.
"George W. Bush isn't the President, he just plays one on television."
~~ G.E.Nordell
"The health of society depends upon the quality of the information [that] it receives."
~~ Walter Lippmann [1889-1974]
"Reality is not negotiable."
~~ G.E.Nordell
"Iran aggressively pursues these weapons and exports terror ... States like these and their terrorist allies constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world."
~~ George W. Bush ("State of The Union", 29 January 2002)
"Religious beliefs, no matter the culture, seldom depend on logic and rationality and often bring out the worst in people."
~~ mystery author team Aimee & David Thurlo
"The emperor has no clue."
~~ radio talk show host Randi Rhodes
"When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it."
~~ Eleanor Roosevelt [1884-1962]
"[Art] only exists as an exercise of individual taste and freedom."
~~ Jane Smiley
"John Edwards is the candidate that corporate America is most afraid of."
~~ radio talk show host Thom Hartmann
"Happiness is not a destination. It is a method of life."
~~ Burton Hills
"The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments."
~~ George Washington [1732-1799]
"Love is a gross exaggeration of the difference between one person and everybody else."
~~ George Bernard Shaw [1856-1950]
"And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."
~~ Abraham Lincoln [1809-1865]
"Thousands have lived without love, not one without water."
~~ W.H. Auden [1907-1973]
"Corrupt political thought creates and is furthered by sloppy language."
~~ Peter C. Baker
“Politics has always been a mud fight – better that citizens jump in the trough than lose interest.”
~~ James Ponlewozik, in Time Magazine
DUCUNT VOLENTUM FATA, NOLENTUM TRAHUNT: "Fate leads those who are willing; the unwilling it drags."
~~ Seneca the Younger [4 BCE-65 CE]
"The thing is to be madly, madly in love all the time."
~~ Ray Bradbury
"Liberty and democracy become unholy when their hands are dyed red with innocent blood."
~~ Mahatma Gandhi [1869-1948]
"Right is right, even if everyone is against it, and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it."
~~ William Penn [1644-1718]
"I'm an idealist. I don't know where I'm going but I'm on my way."
~~ Carl Sandburg [1878-1967]
"The only real hell is on earth, and usually undeserved."
~~ Dick Francis (in "To The Hilt")
"Behind every successful woman ... is a substantial amount of coffee."
~~ Stephanie Pero
"[The theater] should challenge us with questions. Not answers, but questions."
~~ Gordon Davidson
"Every man is as Heaven made him, and sometimes a great deal worse."
~~ Miguel de Cervantes [1547-1616]
"All truth passes thru three stages: first it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third it is accepted as self-evident."
~~ Schopenhauer [1788-1860]
"Happiness serves hardly any other purpose than to make unhappiness possible."
~~ Marcel Proust [1871-1922]
"There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy. By being happy, we sow anonymous benefits upon the world."
~~ Robert Louis Stevenson [1850-1894]
"Everything in this world is an opportunity for pain and failure."
~~ Jackie Hoffman
"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."
~~ Helen Keller [1880-1968]
"Duty is the sublimest word in our language. Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more. You should never do less."
~~ Robert E. Lee [1807-1870]
"Nothing gives life more zest than running for your life."
~~ Robert A. Heinlein [1907-1988]
on the Working Minds website}
Year-End News Factoids
China's environmental damage subtracts from their Gross Domestic Product an amount equal to China's over-hyped economic growth.
— Mother Jones Magazine, Jan-Feb 2008
"Deforestation accounts for 18 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, a rate higher than the global transportation sector's [emissions], pegged at 14 percent."
— Jacques Leslie (Mother Jones Magazine, Jan-Feb 2008)
In April 2001, a gigantic dust storm formed in Mongolia that left 50,000 metric tons of yellow dust across the U.S.A., and dropped even more from Kamchatka to Japan to the Canary islands off the African coast.
—Mother Jones Magazine, Jan-Feb 2008
Particulates from Asia now make up half of California's annual average pollution limit.
— Mother Jones Magazine, Jan-Feb 2008
"China burns more coal than virtually all the world's developed nations combined."
— Mother Jones Magazine, Jan-Feb 2008
"Taxation above 19% shrinks government and taxation below 19% makes government grow."
— Jonathan Rauch (Atlantic Monthly, June 2006)
— Mother Jones Magazine, Jan-Feb 2008
"Deforestation accounts for 18 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, a rate higher than the global transportation sector's [emissions], pegged at 14 percent."
— Jacques Leslie (Mother Jones Magazine, Jan-Feb 2008)
In April 2001, a gigantic dust storm formed in Mongolia that left 50,000 metric tons of yellow dust across the U.S.A., and dropped even more from Kamchatka to Japan to the Canary islands off the African coast.
—Mother Jones Magazine, Jan-Feb 2008
Particulates from Asia now make up half of California's annual average pollution limit.
— Mother Jones Magazine, Jan-Feb 2008
"China burns more coal than virtually all the world's developed nations combined."
— Mother Jones Magazine, Jan-Feb 2008
"Taxation above 19% shrinks government and taxation below 19% makes government grow."
— Jonathan Rauch (Atlantic Monthly, June 2006)
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Connect The Pakistani Dots
Benazir Bhutto stated on 6 November 2007 in an interview with David Frost on Al Jazeera English that Omar Saeed Sheikh is 'the man who killed Osama bin Laden'.
Pakistan's current dictator Musharraf released Bhutto & other political detainees just hours prior to the arrival of a U.S. diplomatic team headed by John Negroponte.
John Negroponte (fomenter of 'death squads' around the world) visited with civilian & military leaders in Islamabad, Pakistan on 16-18 November 2007.
Bhutto filed nomination papers on 24 November 2007 for the parliamentary election that is scheduled for January 2008.
Three 'unidentified gunmen' attacked Pakistan People's Party offices in Baluchistan Province, killing three workers.
Benazir Bhutto was killed in a hail of bullets on 27 December 2007 in Rawalpindi; the assassin then set off explosives that killed him and 21 others.
Pakistan's current dictator Musharraf released Bhutto & other political detainees just hours prior to the arrival of a U.S. diplomatic team headed by John Negroponte.
John Negroponte (fomenter of 'death squads' around the world) visited with civilian & military leaders in Islamabad, Pakistan on 16-18 November 2007.
Bhutto filed nomination papers on 24 November 2007 for the parliamentary election that is scheduled for January 2008.
Three 'unidentified gunmen' attacked Pakistan People's Party offices in Baluchistan Province, killing three workers.
Benazir Bhutto was killed in a hail of bullets on 27 December 2007 in Rawalpindi; the assassin then set off explosives that killed him and 21 others.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
December News Factoids
The U.S. National Debt increases at a million dollars a minute.
— AP Radio News
Permafrost in Mongolia has thinned to 3-6 feet during the past seven years and will be entirely melted in 20 years if global warming is not curbed.
— AP Radio News
"If you count the cost of healthcare as a tax, Americans are the highest-taxed country in the world."
— caller Brian on the Bill Press radio show
68% more homes are going into foreclosure than last year.
— AP Radio News
Single-family home construction is the lowest in 16 years.
— AP Radio News
"In the US, annual trash from gift wrap and shopping bags is four million tons."
— AP Radio News
The Palo Verde Nuclear Plant in Arizona has just been given a Category 4 safety rating, the last level before being shut down.
— KPHX Radio News 20 December 2007
The Lakota Nation indigenous people have unilaterally withdrawn from all 33 treaties with the U.S. government.
— AP Radio News
"There are 63 lobbyists for every Congressman."
— U.S. Senate candidate Ned Lamont (2006)
New Mexico has the fourth highest hunger rate in the U.S.
"95% of Fortune 500 companies pay less than 5% in taxes."
— David Sirota (2006)
"Estimated average credit-card debt per U.S. card-holding household is $9,312."
— Time Magazine
"The amount by which America's total spending exceeded their earnings was $41.6 billion."
— Harper's Index, April 2006
— AP Radio News
Permafrost in Mongolia has thinned to 3-6 feet during the past seven years and will be entirely melted in 20 years if global warming is not curbed.
— AP Radio News
"If you count the cost of healthcare as a tax, Americans are the highest-taxed country in the world."
— caller Brian on the Bill Press radio show
68% more homes are going into foreclosure than last year.
— AP Radio News
Single-family home construction is the lowest in 16 years.
— AP Radio News
"In the US, annual trash from gift wrap and shopping bags is four million tons."
— AP Radio News
The Palo Verde Nuclear Plant in Arizona has just been given a Category 4 safety rating, the last level before being shut down.
— KPHX Radio News 20 December 2007
The Lakota Nation indigenous people have unilaterally withdrawn from all 33 treaties with the U.S. government.
— AP Radio News
"There are 63 lobbyists for every Congressman."
— U.S. Senate candidate Ned Lamont (2006)
New Mexico has the fourth highest hunger rate in the U.S.
"95% of Fortune 500 companies pay less than 5% in taxes."
— David Sirota (2006)
"Estimated average credit-card debt per U.S. card-holding household is $9,312."
— Time Magazine
"The amount by which America's total spending exceeded their earnings was $41.6 billion."
— Harper's Index, April 2006
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
"Lions For Lambs" Movie Review
"Lions For Lambs" [M.G.M./U.A. Nov 2007]
Co-produced by Paula Wagner, Matthew Michael Carnahan, Tom Cruise & Robert Redford; directed by and starring Robert Redford; script by Matthew Michael Carnahan; also starring Meryl Streep, Tom Cruise, Peter Berg, Michael Peña, Derek Luke & Andrew Garfield
An interesting project, intended as a political statement rather than a box-office smash. The three intercut storylines begin with a college professor (Redford) confronting an exceptional student who is coasting thru college (and thru his life); two of his former students who enlisted in the U.S. Army are gung-ho members of a botched helicopter assault in the freezing mountains of Afghanistan; and a veteran TV journalist (Streep) is spoon-fed a news story about that same assault operation by an ex-Army U.S. Senator (Cruise).
The film has made little money, and the showing I went to had only four people in the audience; the old gentleman behind me stated when it was over that "I'm more worried now than when I came in here" – precisely the movie's purpose.
video/DVD not yet available
Co-produced by Paula Wagner, Matthew Michael Carnahan, Tom Cruise & Robert Redford; directed by and starring Robert Redford; script by Matthew Michael Carnahan; also starring Meryl Streep, Tom Cruise, Peter Berg, Michael Peña, Derek Luke & Andrew Garfield
An interesting project, intended as a political statement rather than a box-office smash. The three intercut storylines begin with a college professor (Redford) confronting an exceptional student who is coasting thru college (and thru his life); two of his former students who enlisted in the U.S. Army are gung-ho members of a botched helicopter assault in the freezing mountains of Afghanistan; and a veteran TV journalist (Streep) is spoon-fed a news story about that same assault operation by an ex-Army U.S. Senator (Cruise).
The film has made little money, and the showing I went to had only four people in the audience; the old gentleman behind me stated when it was over that "I'm more worried now than when I came in here" – precisely the movie's purpose.
video/DVD not yet available
Monday, December 17, 2007
Choosing A President
Not Hillary. She is a bully, recently trying to bully Obama. We need her to bully the Senate instead. Also, she is the Democrat making the most mistakes during the campaigning.
Gore already has the perfect job, he loves what he is doing, and we need him to do it.
Edwards has been quietly endorsed by Pat Robertson: How's that for a broad coalition?
Kucinich is great, but not for President.
So my favorite team for the Democratic ticket is EDWARDS - KUCINICH.
But then Chris Dodd is setting up an Official Filibuster, and that just might alter matters greatly.
So a bumper sticker for EDWARDS - DODD sounds worthy too.
Two weeks till actual voting! Can't wait!
Gore already has the perfect job, he loves what he is doing, and we need him to do it.
Edwards has been quietly endorsed by Pat Robertson: How's that for a broad coalition?
Kucinich is great, but not for President.
So my favorite team for the Democratic ticket is EDWARDS - KUCINICH.
But then Chris Dodd is setting up an Official Filibuster, and that just might alter matters greatly.
So a bumper sticker for EDWARDS - DODD sounds worthy too.
Two weeks till actual voting! Can't wait!
Friday, December 07, 2007
Take A Look At Net Jobs Added
The New York Times is reporting (based on government data) that "Employers Added 94,000 Jobs in November".
So, of course the Republican propaganda machine is bragging about this supposed marvelous accomplishment.
The best estimate I can find of the number of undocumented immigrants is around 50,000 crossing the border each month.
THEREFORE: The increase in jobs of 94,000 minus the illegal immigrants (and not counting legal immigrants) gives NET job openings of 44,000 for the month of November.
ADDED December 31st: Found out on Air America Radio that the U.S. of A. needs 150,000 jobs per month just to keep up with growth in the population (new workers plus immigration). So the falsity of the 'government report' about November is that the NET-NET of new jobs is thus 100,000 fewer jobs than needed – which keeps employment low and the work force scrambling for a living.
So, of course the Republican propaganda machine is bragging about this supposed marvelous accomplishment.
The best estimate I can find of the number of undocumented immigrants is around 50,000 crossing the border each month.
THEREFORE: The increase in jobs of 94,000 minus the illegal immigrants (and not counting legal immigrants) gives NET job openings of 44,000 for the month of November.
ADDED December 31st: Found out on Air America Radio that the U.S. of A. needs 150,000 jobs per month just to keep up with growth in the population (new workers plus immigration). So the falsity of the 'government report' about November is that the NET-NET of new jobs is thus 100,000 fewer jobs than needed – which keeps employment low and the work force scrambling for a living.
Saturday, December 01, 2007
December Quotations
"Progress might have been all right once, but it has gone on too long."
~~ Ogden Nash [1902-71]
"Church is a place where gentlemen who have never been to heaven brag about it to persons who will never get there."
~~ H.L. Mencken [1880-1956]
"I don't believe people are looking for the meaning of life as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive."
~~ Joseph Campbell [1904-87]
"Many forms of government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."
~~ Winston Churchill [1874-1965]
"I would rather belong to a poor nation that was free than to a rich nation that had ceased to be in love with liberty."
~~ Woodrow Wilson [1856-1924]
(inscribed on a plaque inside the base of the Statue of Liberty)
"If the only prayer you say in your life is 'thank you' that would suffice."
~~ Meister Eckhart [c. 1260-c. 1328]
"Democracy is not something [that] you believe in or a place to hang your hat, but it's something [that] you do. You participate. If you stop doing it, democracy crumbles."
~~ Abbie Hoffman [1936-89]
"Long ago I became convinced that the seeing see little."
~~ Helen Keller [1880-1968]
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, it doesn't go away."
~~ Philip K. Dick [1941-82]
"A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won't cross the street to vote in a national election."
~~ Bill Vaughn
"Politics ought to be the part-time profession of every citizen who would protect the rights and privileges of free people and who would preserve what is good and fruitful in our national heritage."
~~ Dwight D. Eisenhower [1890-1969]
"The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy!"
~~ H.L. Mencken [1880-1956]
"I think, therefore I am annoyed."
~~ Darby Conley (draws the "Get Fuzzy" comic strip)
"Lobbying is the world's second-oldest profession."
~~ radio talk show host Bill Press
"The worst thing that can happen to a good cause is, not to be skillfully attacked, but to be ineptly defended."
~~ Fredrick Bastiat [1801-50]
"Congress, after years of stalling, finally got around to clearing the way for informal discussions that might lead to possible formal talks that could potentially produce some kind of tentative agreements..."
~~ Dave Barry
"The government consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taken one with another, no special talent for the business of government; they have only a talent for getting and holding office."
~~ H.L. Mencken [1880-1956]
"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice; in practice, there is."
~~ Chuck Reid
"Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory."
~~ Albert Schweitzer [1875-1965]
"Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten."
~~ American psychologist B.F. Skinner [1904-90]
"Nothing is worth doing unless it has the potential to f*** up your whole life."
~~ Richard Ford
"Murder is always a mistake – one should never do anything one cannot talk about after dinner."
~~ Oscar Wilde [1854-1900] (in "The Picture of Dorian Gray")
"A company is known by the people it keeps."
~~ Will Rogers [1879-1935]
"The United States seems destined to plague us with all manner of evil in the name of liberty."
~~ Simón Bolívar [1783-1830]
"Give the public something better and the public will buy."
~~ Walter P. Chrysler [1875-1940]
“Our doubts are traitors
And make us lose the good we oft might win
By fearing to attempt.”
~~ William Shakespeare [1564-1616]
"In California, the subdivider, like the poor, is always with us."
~~ Earl Derr Biggers [1884-1933]
"Whatever you do, you'll regret it."
~~ Allan Mcleod Gray [1905-75]
{many other such quotations are posted
on the Working Minds website}
~~ Ogden Nash [1902-71]
"Church is a place where gentlemen who have never been to heaven brag about it to persons who will never get there."
~~ H.L. Mencken [1880-1956]
"I don't believe people are looking for the meaning of life as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive."
~~ Joseph Campbell [1904-87]
"Many forms of government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."
~~ Winston Churchill [1874-1965]
"I would rather belong to a poor nation that was free than to a rich nation that had ceased to be in love with liberty."
~~ Woodrow Wilson [1856-1924]
(inscribed on a plaque inside the base of the Statue of Liberty)
"If the only prayer you say in your life is 'thank you' that would suffice."
~~ Meister Eckhart [c. 1260-c. 1328]
"Democracy is not something [that] you believe in or a place to hang your hat, but it's something [that] you do. You participate. If you stop doing it, democracy crumbles."
~~ Abbie Hoffman [1936-89]
"Long ago I became convinced that the seeing see little."
~~ Helen Keller [1880-1968]
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, it doesn't go away."
~~ Philip K. Dick [1941-82]
"A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won't cross the street to vote in a national election."
~~ Bill Vaughn
"Politics ought to be the part-time profession of every citizen who would protect the rights and privileges of free people and who would preserve what is good and fruitful in our national heritage."
~~ Dwight D. Eisenhower [1890-1969]
"The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy!"
~~ H.L. Mencken [1880-1956]
"I think, therefore I am annoyed."
~~ Darby Conley (draws the "Get Fuzzy" comic strip)
"Lobbying is the world's second-oldest profession."
~~ radio talk show host Bill Press
"The worst thing that can happen to a good cause is, not to be skillfully attacked, but to be ineptly defended."
~~ Fredrick Bastiat [1801-50]
"Congress, after years of stalling, finally got around to clearing the way for informal discussions that might lead to possible formal talks that could potentially produce some kind of tentative agreements..."
~~ Dave Barry
"The government consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taken one with another, no special talent for the business of government; they have only a talent for getting and holding office."
~~ H.L. Mencken [1880-1956]
"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice; in practice, there is."
~~ Chuck Reid
"Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory."
~~ Albert Schweitzer [1875-1965]
"Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten."
~~ American psychologist B.F. Skinner [1904-90]
"Nothing is worth doing unless it has the potential to f*** up your whole life."
~~ Richard Ford
"Murder is always a mistake – one should never do anything one cannot talk about after dinner."
~~ Oscar Wilde [1854-1900] (in "The Picture of Dorian Gray")
"A company is known by the people it keeps."
~~ Will Rogers [1879-1935]
"The United States seems destined to plague us with all manner of evil in the name of liberty."
~~ Simón Bolívar [1783-1830]
"Give the public something better and the public will buy."
~~ Walter P. Chrysler [1875-1940]
“Our doubts are traitors
And make us lose the good we oft might win
By fearing to attempt.”
~~ William Shakespeare [1564-1616]
"In California, the subdivider, like the poor, is always with us."
~~ Earl Derr Biggers [1884-1933]
"Whatever you do, you'll regret it."
~~ Allan Mcleod Gray [1905-75]
on the Working Minds website}
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
November News Factoids
Air America Radio Network outlets in Phoenix, Arizona (shut-down) & Madison, Wisconsin (threatened) were rescued this year by listeners & local business people.
Back in October 2006, radio station K.X.E.B. 910-AM in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas market was bought by Catholic Global Radio Network, who replaced the Air America format. In August 2006, the Air America outlet in Sacramento, California was suddenly 'flipped' to ESPN Sports format. In October 2007, Clear Channel's Air America outlet K.O.K.E. 1600-AM in Austin, Texas was suddenly 'flipped' to sports talk "to avoid a San Diego situation". Despite weeks of massive protests in San Diego, Clear Channel's lucrative K.L.S.D. 1360-AM Air America outlet was 'flipped' to sports talk in November.
As-of November 2007, there are NO progressive/Air America outlets in all of Texas, no outlets in Georgia, Montana & Utah, Ohio & Indiana & Iowa, and in Hawaii despite the fact that Air America programming beats right-wing propoganda programming in every market where they compete – or maybe their success is the reason for getting shut down.
* * * * * * * *
WORLD POPULATION: It took from pre-history to 1800 for the planetary population to reach 1 billion; the planetary population reached 2 billion in 1930, 3 billion in 1960, 4 billion in 1974, 5 billion in 1987, and 6 billion in 1999. Projections suggest that Earth's population will reach 7 billion around 2012.
* * * * * * * *
There have been just under 300 Taser deaths in the last six years.
"Corporate America contributes 7 percent of the nation's total tax burden, compared with 50 percent after World War II."
— Mother Jones Magazine, Nov-Dec 2007
"Bob Novak is a compulsive liar."
— former Ambassador Joe Wilson (November 2007)
"Al Gore and Michael Moore are engaged."
— West Texas right-wing radio idiot (22 November 2007)
In 1998, a Federal Reserve study found that the richest 20% in America owned 96% of all stocks.
Before Bush 43 (October 2000) one U.S. dollar equaled 1.21 euros; today, one U.S. dollar equals 0.67 euros – a loss of 45 percent.
Back in October 2006, radio station K.X.E.B. 910-AM in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas market was bought by Catholic Global Radio Network, who replaced the Air America format. In August 2006, the Air America outlet in Sacramento, California was suddenly 'flipped' to ESPN Sports format. In October 2007, Clear Channel's Air America outlet K.O.K.E. 1600-AM in Austin, Texas was suddenly 'flipped' to sports talk "to avoid a San Diego situation". Despite weeks of massive protests in San Diego, Clear Channel's lucrative K.L.S.D. 1360-AM Air America outlet was 'flipped' to sports talk in November.
As-of November 2007, there are NO progressive/Air America outlets in all of Texas, no outlets in Georgia, Montana & Utah, Ohio & Indiana & Iowa, and in Hawaii despite the fact that Air America programming beats right-wing propoganda programming in every market where they compete – or maybe their success is the reason for getting shut down.
WORLD POPULATION: It took from pre-history to 1800 for the planetary population to reach 1 billion; the planetary population reached 2 billion in 1930, 3 billion in 1960, 4 billion in 1974, 5 billion in 1987, and 6 billion in 1999. Projections suggest that Earth's population will reach 7 billion around 2012.
There have been just under 300 Taser deaths in the last six years.
"Corporate America contributes 7 percent of the nation's total tax burden, compared with 50 percent after World War II."
— Mother Jones Magazine, Nov-Dec 2007
"Bob Novak is a compulsive liar."
— former Ambassador Joe Wilson (November 2007)
"Al Gore and Michael Moore are engaged."
— West Texas right-wing radio idiot (22 November 2007)
In 1998, a Federal Reserve study found that the richest 20% in America owned 96% of all stocks.
Before Bush 43 (October 2000) one U.S. dollar equaled 1.21 euros; today, one U.S. dollar equals 0.67 euros – a loss of 45 percent.
The Outdoor Advertising Cartel
U.S. outdoor advertising gross revenue for 2006 {per OAAA} was $6.81 billion
The top three companies control 54.2 percent of the U.S. market.
FIRST PLACE: Clear Channel Communications of Phoenix, Arizona
$1.341 billion in revenue for 2006 = 19.7% of the U.S. market (also #1 worldwide)
SECOND: C.B.S. Outdoor of Phoenix, Arizona
$1.23 billion in revenue for 2006 = 18% of the U.S. market
THIRD: Lamar Advertising Company of Baton Rouge, Louisiana
$1.120 billion in revenue for 2006 = 16.5% of the U.S. market
FOURTH: Van Wagner Communications of New York City [re-formed 1997]
FIFTH: JCDecaux Group [est. 1964] of Paris, France
also second place worldwide (after Clear Channel)
The top three companies control 54.2 percent of the U.S. market.
FIRST PLACE: Clear Channel Communications of Phoenix, Arizona
$1.341 billion in revenue for 2006 = 19.7% of the U.S. market (also #1 worldwide)
SECOND: C.B.S. Outdoor of Phoenix, Arizona
$1.23 billion in revenue for 2006 = 18% of the U.S. market
THIRD: Lamar Advertising Company of Baton Rouge, Louisiana
$1.120 billion in revenue for 2006 = 16.5% of the U.S. market
FOURTH: Van Wagner Communications of New York City [re-formed 1997]
FIFTH: JCDecaux Group [est. 1964] of Paris, France
also second place worldwide (after Clear Channel)
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Essay #73: Unemployment In America
Most statistics released by the U.S. government of late are bald-faced lies. The unemployment statistics released each month and at the end of each year are lies at bottom, worsened by fakery by official of the current administration.
Fascism is when corporations and the government and the military collude to prevent the government services and freedoms desired by The People.
The Bush administration works very hard to replace legitimate government operations with privatized entities, operated inefficiently and at high profitability – less or no results for as much as two and three times the cost of civil service workers.
* * * * * * * *
Go to the Labor Department website and you will not find statistics on ‘workers’; what they report on is ‘consumers’, i.e. if you are not employed and spending your paycheck, then you do not count.
The employment numbers for each recent month have no basis in reality. For years now, how these numbers are created is that folks at the Labor Dept. make a thousand phone calls during the month and ask questions like “Are you employed?” and “Are you getting unemployment payments?” and “Are you looking for work?”
The fakery is this: The callers simply do not call Detroit or Louisiana and other hard-hit areas. If the numbers still look bad, then Labor Dept. management simply revises the numbers before release to the public.
That way they have some data to support the bogus reports, just in case. Recent national figures are being reported around 4.5%, while the real national unemployment number is 10%, and the number is as high as 12% in many areas.
* * * * * * * *
The reported number of illegal workers is highly variable, but usually given as 12 million. Note that they have probably displaced legal workers from 6 million jobs, or roughly 4% of the workforce. Enforce existing laws against the illegal employers, and the economically-enslaved illegal workers will have to return home, and the real unemployment rate will drop that 4% – or pretty much the official, tolerable employment rate.
Nothing is done about illegal entry thru our porous borders because the fascist corporatocracy likes it that way. Enforce existing labor law and the workplace flips from a corporatist market to a worker-shortage, labor-has-power situation.
* * * * * * * *
The long-term, official employment statistics are skewed because they count only JOBS (still avoiding the existence of workers, per se). There is no consideration of the many, many households with two and three jobs. Why are multiple jobs so popular? Because downsized pay scales force workers to seek and manage multiple jobs, very often part-time, in order to keep their heads above water. (And, of course, with the 6-fold increase in the price of oil, treading water is more and more difficult.)
Employers refuse to hire people full-time – no benefits under 32 hours per week in most states – and each such job is counted as one by the officials.
True figures can be constructed in several ways, such as counting the taxpayers (not jobs) and then subtracting that number from able-bodied members of the workforce (those seeking work), and computing UN-employment from there.
Different number, real different.
* * * * * * * *
The Middle Class is disappearing in America, and similar changes are following this pattern around the world.
The euro has grown to US$1.50 now, and the British pound is worth US$2.06, but the six-fold increase of the barrel-price of oil in seven years cancels much of that seeming benefit.
Combine the shrinking job market and the shrinking of the dollar, and any American worker who is paid the exact same pay now as in 2000 is receiving HALF that 2000 salary. Same for pensioners, such as people on Social Security.
And the millions who have gotten pay cuts and-or lost their jobs and careers, towns with closed factories, entire industries moved offshore – all getting screwed. Their chances of a decent livelihood are torn to shreds, and their children have a dire future.
Meanwhile, salaries of corporate officers have increased hundreds-fold, and they pay less tax than you do. Complain and you are out on the street, blackballed, and any ailments become ‘prior conditions’ to the healthcare cartel.
When I was growing up, a job was real, you kept it if you showed up on time and did the work. Now, a job is merely an opportunity to compete for survival, in the faint hope that the next downsizing or closure or off-shoring won’t eliminate your livelihood.
And freshly-minted college graduates leave the podium with their hard-won paper degree and $100,000 in debt, and soon find that they qualify only for 60-hour work weeks in some corporate hive or part-time work with no future.
* * * * * * * *
The Economic Class War has begun. We are in a fight for our country against ‘enemies foreign & domestic’. The situation can and will get worse.
The Oligarchy tells the Bush administration what they want done, and Congress obeys the corporatists who pay for their campaigns (even the Democrats).
The energy industry is a cartel, transportation is a cartel, the media is a cartel, agriculture is a monopoly. The infrastructure is crumbling, U.S. healthcare is a joke, education in America is a disgrace.
The United States is a Third World country, a fomenter of state terrorism, and a bankrupt nation.
America died when George W. Bush was sworn into office, and there is no chance for recovery until and unless Dubya and his gang are all impeached and imprisoned.
If Americans do not have the moral character, the political will, the responsibility for keeping Freedom alive in the world, then The Great American Experiment will end. Forever.
The U.S. Constitution begins with the phrase ‘We the People’, and the future of this country depends precisely on that same concept – We the People are and have always been the source of everything good about this country.
We the People need to do our job, which is to “establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity”.
The choice is between Freedom and slavery. Again, and perhaps always.
Copyright 2007 by G.E. Nordell, all rights reserved
Fascism is when corporations and the government and the military collude to prevent the government services and freedoms desired by The People.
The Bush administration works very hard to replace legitimate government operations with privatized entities, operated inefficiently and at high profitability – less or no results for as much as two and three times the cost of civil service workers.
Go to the Labor Department website and you will not find statistics on ‘workers’; what they report on is ‘consumers’, i.e. if you are not employed and spending your paycheck, then you do not count.
The employment numbers for each recent month have no basis in reality. For years now, how these numbers are created is that folks at the Labor Dept. make a thousand phone calls during the month and ask questions like “Are you employed?” and “Are you getting unemployment payments?” and “Are you looking for work?”
The fakery is this: The callers simply do not call Detroit or Louisiana and other hard-hit areas. If the numbers still look bad, then Labor Dept. management simply revises the numbers before release to the public.
That way they have some data to support the bogus reports, just in case. Recent national figures are being reported around 4.5%, while the real national unemployment number is 10%, and the number is as high as 12% in many areas.
The reported number of illegal workers is highly variable, but usually given as 12 million. Note that they have probably displaced legal workers from 6 million jobs, or roughly 4% of the workforce. Enforce existing laws against the illegal employers, and the economically-enslaved illegal workers will have to return home, and the real unemployment rate will drop that 4% – or pretty much the official, tolerable employment rate.
Nothing is done about illegal entry thru our porous borders because the fascist corporatocracy likes it that way. Enforce existing labor law and the workplace flips from a corporatist market to a worker-shortage, labor-has-power situation.
The long-term, official employment statistics are skewed because they count only JOBS (still avoiding the existence of workers, per se). There is no consideration of the many, many households with two and three jobs. Why are multiple jobs so popular? Because downsized pay scales force workers to seek and manage multiple jobs, very often part-time, in order to keep their heads above water. (And, of course, with the 6-fold increase in the price of oil, treading water is more and more difficult.)
Employers refuse to hire people full-time – no benefits under 32 hours per week in most states – and each such job is counted as one by the officials.
True figures can be constructed in several ways, such as counting the taxpayers (not jobs) and then subtracting that number from able-bodied members of the workforce (those seeking work), and computing UN-employment from there.
Different number, real different.
The Middle Class is disappearing in America, and similar changes are following this pattern around the world.
The euro has grown to US$1.50 now, and the British pound is worth US$2.06, but the six-fold increase of the barrel-price of oil in seven years cancels much of that seeming benefit.
Combine the shrinking job market and the shrinking of the dollar, and any American worker who is paid the exact same pay now as in 2000 is receiving HALF that 2000 salary. Same for pensioners, such as people on Social Security.
And the millions who have gotten pay cuts and-or lost their jobs and careers, towns with closed factories, entire industries moved offshore – all getting screwed. Their chances of a decent livelihood are torn to shreds, and their children have a dire future.
Meanwhile, salaries of corporate officers have increased hundreds-fold, and they pay less tax than you do. Complain and you are out on the street, blackballed, and any ailments become ‘prior conditions’ to the healthcare cartel.
When I was growing up, a job was real, you kept it if you showed up on time and did the work. Now, a job is merely an opportunity to compete for survival, in the faint hope that the next downsizing or closure or off-shoring won’t eliminate your livelihood.
And freshly-minted college graduates leave the podium with their hard-won paper degree and $100,000 in debt, and soon find that they qualify only for 60-hour work weeks in some corporate hive or part-time work with no future.
The Economic Class War has begun. We are in a fight for our country against ‘enemies foreign & domestic’. The situation can and will get worse.
The Oligarchy tells the Bush administration what they want done, and Congress obeys the corporatists who pay for their campaigns (even the Democrats).
The energy industry is a cartel, transportation is a cartel, the media is a cartel, agriculture is a monopoly. The infrastructure is crumbling, U.S. healthcare is a joke, education in America is a disgrace.
The United States is a Third World country, a fomenter of state terrorism, and a bankrupt nation.
America died when George W. Bush was sworn into office, and there is no chance for recovery until and unless Dubya and his gang are all impeached and imprisoned.
If Americans do not have the moral character, the political will, the responsibility for keeping Freedom alive in the world, then The Great American Experiment will end. Forever.
The U.S. Constitution begins with the phrase ‘We the People’, and the future of this country depends precisely on that same concept – We the People are and have always been the source of everything good about this country.
We the People need to do our job, which is to “establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity”.
The choice is between Freedom and slavery. Again, and perhaps always.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
WMail ezine #72 "Farewell Issue"
newsletter #72 [November 2007]
>+< G.E. Nordell, editor >+<
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==> HOLIDAY GIFTING TIPS: Do not set foot inside Wal-Mart. Do not purchase anything on credit. Do not purchase toys from China. Coal is still a proper gift. Shop Amazon and B&N thru the Working Minds Stores Page.
==> FREE HOLIDAY GIFT: Download & print copies of the "Working Minds Source Document" .doc file (58 pages) and wrap’em up & give one to everybody on your list, for Xmas, Channakuh or Kwanzaah:
http://www.working-minds.com/ebooks/index.htm
==> LAST INVITATION: Check out the new online Introduction To The Landmark Forum [click here] and-or the main Landmark Education website.
==> Naomi Wolf’s book "The End of America: Letter of Warning To A Young Patriot" is very scary, because her points are very true. Read the write-up on my blog and then buy & read the book.
==> What will I do next? Looks like it is time to get the “Working Minds” book manuscript box and re-key it onto the hard-drive – Don’t ask! – and then publish it, probably via iUniverse, like I did with the “Backlot Requiem” detective novel. I will save this email address book and let everyone hereon know when the new book is available.
==> JOIN THE BOYCOTT: No taxation without representation!! Since Dubya’s administration does the bidding of the corporations (the definition of fascism), there is no legitimate reason to deliver taxes to his government. Visit the www.BoycottW9.org website for instructions on witholding tax monies until Bush & Cheney are impeached & imprisoned.
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F a r e w e l l I s s u e
------------------------------
The WMail ezine (philosophy and activism newsletter) is shutting down, as-of this issue. The mission of the Working Minds Philosophy of Empowerment website will continue, by moving to other venues.
The seventy-two issues produced over the last eight years are archived on the WM website in three forms:
• The essays are posted as individual pages and are listed in numerical order at http://www.working-minds.com/WMessays.htm and also listed by topic at http://www.working-minds.com/WMtopics.htm
• The full issues – essay, quotes & news factoids – are posted by year and also listed in reverse order at http://www.working-minds.com/WMailindex.htm
• The quotations are posted alphabetically by author at
http://www.working-minds.com/WMquotes.htm
Further essays that I decide to communicate to the world will be posted to my blog – http://www.DatelineChamesa.com [est. November 2005] – and-or to mass-distribution sites such as OpEdNews.
The quotations were an extremely popular feature of the ezine. I will be posting occasional handfuls of quotations on the blog, and then adding them to the WMquotes pages.
You can set up a free subscription to OpEdNews [click here] for a wide range of non-mainstream news and commentary.
You can also subscribe to notices of all updates to my blog by keying your email address in the form/box provided there by FeedBlitz. (What will happen is subscribers receive an email within roughly 24 hours after I post new content.)
The long hiatus since WMail Issue #71 came about due to several technical problems that may or may not be resolved. My website host in New York and my I.S.P. in Vermont each took no responsibility for the problem; eventually I figured out that the email server in Virginia was involved, the owners of which referred me back to the host & ISP! Then I had to clear up records in Australia and France – round and round we went.
The other key factor in ending publication of the WMail ezine, as such, is that when I asked in the February & March issues for tales of actions taken by readers based on content of the ezine (for a planned Eighth Anniversary Issue) NOT ONE READER RESPONDED.
The hours that it took to send out 1500 or so emails per ezine issue was not producing (any known) results, so the move to other forms of mass distribution has the potential of reaching many more individuals (and with less effort).
The plan is to post updates on my blog over each month, with the essay and a handful of quotations and more-timely bunches of news factoids posted on different days, in whatever order they occur to me.
I am quite proud of the content of WMail, and am glad for the many interactions with friend and foe alike. I have had readers of many, many stripes, and from too many countries to count, including Nepal; there were also readers with U.S. military and State Department and Halliburton email addresses.
I am pleased that my readership increased over time. In fact, during the research on Joe Hill and the I.W.W. labor history page at Spirit of America, I found that the hundred-year-old I.W.W. union has only 1250 members world wide: the WMail readership was larger than the famous ‘Wobblies’ labor union!
So. The end of the ezine is a good time to re-specify the many Serious Issues of Our Time, which have become bigger and scarier over the last eight years.
• The fascist takeover of the U.S. government. (I expect that Presidential Directive 51 and the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act and the existence of Blackwater Worldwide are preparation for suspension of Con¬stitutional government here and replacement with martial law and a totalitarian dictatorship.)
• The pending unprovoked attack on Iran.
• Actual elections in 2008 (unless canceled).
• The U.S. National Debt (the United States is bankrupt) and the imminent economic meltdown desired by the Bush-P.N.A.C. crime family.
• Global warming, which is escalating beyond even Al Gore’s prognosis in “An Inconvenient Truth”.
• The absence of open political dialogue in America. (Monopo¬lies own most of the television and radio and newspaper indus¬tries; Air America Radio has been shut down in San Diego, Sacramento, Texas, Ohio, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, and Indiana.)
• Your children are unsafe on the streets, in the schools and in their homes. Their education is ludicrous. They are bombarded with propaganda and injunctions to consume. And they cannot expect or imagine a better life than their parents.
• The country is flooded with illegal immigrants, who work as slaves for illegal employers, the corporatist rulers of America who worship the Bottom Line and are exempt from the Rule of Law.
• N.A.F.T.A. & C.A.F.T.A. and the end of U.S. sovereignty.
The only action that might possibly prevent the intentions of the P.N.A.C.-Federalist-fascist conspiracy and the globalized war-profiteer slave-labor cartel is removal by impeachment of their puppets in the White House – as required in the Constitution, as designed by the Founding Fathers. The scared-rabbit Democratic Party jumps when our war-monger President says to, and the American People are tired and disgusted and desperate. Every member in Congress is subject to replacement in November 2008 – IF elections do indeed take place.
We are all in this together, including the closed-minded and the oblivious sheeple and the wise and the ‘off-grid’ pioneers. The Greens and the Commies and the Quakers, and the gung-ho military serving their various countries. The lame and the halt and the blind. The active and the passive and the connected and the loners and the lonesome.
No one will escape Dubya’s apocalyptic intentions.
“Reason is the only frontier left.” — G.E. Nordell
[copyright 2007 by Gary Edward Nordell, all rights reserved]
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Saturday, November 24, 2007
Thanks, George!
A few things that we can thank President Bush for providing America:
A barrel of crude oil was $15 in 1998 (Clinton administration), rose to $60 per barrel in 2005 (due to IraqNam), and at the end of 2007 is just under $100 per barrel.
The Canadian dollar reached a 47-year high against the falling U.S. dollar in October.
Yesterday, the dollar reached the lowest rate ever against the British pound ($2.061) and the euro ($1.4750).
The U.S. National Debt is now $9.130 trillion – plus expenses for IraqNam not yet booked.
A barrel of crude oil was $15 in 1998 (Clinton administration), rose to $60 per barrel in 2005 (due to IraqNam), and at the end of 2007 is just under $100 per barrel.
The Canadian dollar reached a 47-year high against the falling U.S. dollar in October.
Yesterday, the dollar reached the lowest rate ever against the British pound ($2.061) and the euro ($1.4750).
The U.S. National Debt is now $9.130 trillion – plus expenses for IraqNam not yet booked.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Barry Bonds Didn't Kill Anybody
Baseball home-run star Barry Bonds was indicted yesterday in San Francisco by the U.S. Attorney & a federal grand jury for lying in sworn testimony to Congress, and if convicted, he could get 30 years in prison.
No opinion on that sports & legal matter, but note that IF Barry Bonds took steroids, nobody got killed.
So that leaves us wondering why the U.S. Attorney & a federal grand jury in Washington, DC have NOT indicted the following for their perjured testimony, which mostly involved the deaths of large numbers of people in America and elsewhere.
George W. Bush
Dick Cheney
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
former Secretary of State Colin Powell
Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff
Michael D. Brown, disgraced former head of F.E.M.A.
new Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey
Alberto Gonzales, disgraced former Attorney General
Karl Rove
Erik Prince, the head of Blackwater Worldwide
Gen. David Petraeus
... and so-o-o many others in the Bush administration
No opinion on that sports & legal matter, but note that IF Barry Bonds took steroids, nobody got killed.
So that leaves us wondering why the U.S. Attorney & a federal grand jury in Washington, DC have NOT indicted the following for their perjured testimony, which mostly involved the deaths of large numbers of people in America and elsewhere.
... and so-o-o many others in the Bush administration
Thursday, November 15, 2007
November Quotations
"Sir, he who would earn his bread writing books must have the assurance of a duke, the wit of a courtier, and the guts of a burglar."
~~ Dr. Samuel Johnson [1709-84]
"The situation is fluid."
~~ radio talk show host Stacy Taylor
"Make no little plans, they have no magic to stir men’s blood; think big.”
~~ Chicago architect Daniel H. Burnham [1846-1912]
"What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others."
~~ Analects of Confucius
"Do not seek to have events happen as you want them to, but instead want them to happen as they do happen, and your life will go well."
~~ Epictetus [55?–135? C.E.]
"Who sees all beings in his own Self, and his own Self in all beings, loses all fear."
~~ Upanishads
"America's mainstream media have died. They were infected and killed by corporatism."
~~ Rob Kall, founder of OpEdNews
"The real leader has no need to lead, he is content to point the way."
~~ Henry Miller [1891-1980]
"I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just."
~~ Thomas Jefferson [1743-1826]
"The dark night of fascism is descending upon America."
~~ Tom Wolfe (2007)
"Growing old is mandatory / Growing up is optional"
~~ t-shirt
"Lead, follow, or get out of the way."
~~ Thomas Paine [1737-1809]
"Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending."
~~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow [1807-82]
"When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world."
~~ John Muir [1838-1914]
"Voluntary simplicity is a high value."
~~ radio talk show host Thom Hartmann
"Why shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense."
~~ Mark Twain [1835-1910]
"In a democracy, the individual enjoys not only the ultimate power but carries the ultimate responsibility."
~~ Norman Cousins
"Those believing [that] they have not voted are mistaken, for their indifference affects all our futures."
~~ M.A. Denck
"Freedom is when the people speak. Democracy is when the govern- ment listens."
~~ Alistair Farrugia
"The only title in our democracy that is superior to that of President is that of citizen."
~~ Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis [1856-1941]
"An intellectual is someone who can find something more interesting
than sex."
~~ Anonymous
"Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government."
~~ Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black [1886-1971]
"The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous."
~~ Frederick Douglass [1818-95]
"Every nation has its war party. It is not the party of democracy. It is the party of autocracy. It seeks to dominate absolutely."
~~ Sen. Robert M. 'Fighting Bob' La Follette [1855-1925]
"Man does not live on enchiladas alone."
~~ New Mexico author Rudolfo Anaya (in "Zia Summer")
"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it."
~~ Edward R. Murrow [1908-65]
"The opinion of 10,000 men is of no value if none of them know anything about the subject."
~~ Marcus Aurelius [121-180 C.E.]
"I can't name a writer who's had a more perfect life. My books are all in print, I'm in all the school libraries, and when I go places I get the applause at the start of my speech."
~~ Ray Bradbury
"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just as long as I'm the dictator. Heh, heh, heh."
~~ George W. Bush (speech on 18 December 2000)
"All's fair in love and business."
~~ Archie Goodwin character, written by Rex Stout [1886-85]
"A newspaper that is true to its purpose concerns itself not only with the way things are but with the way [that] they ought to be."
~~ Joseph Pulitzer [1847-1911]
"There are times when you just have to p*ss off everybody in order to get something constructive done."
~~ Alj Mary of Phoenix, AZ
{many other such quotations are posted
on the Working Minds website}
~~ Dr. Samuel Johnson [1709-84]
"The situation is fluid."
~~ radio talk show host Stacy Taylor
"Make no little plans, they have no magic to stir men’s blood; think big.”
~~ Chicago architect Daniel H. Burnham [1846-1912]
"What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others."
~~ Analects of Confucius
"Do not seek to have events happen as you want them to, but instead want them to happen as they do happen, and your life will go well."
~~ Epictetus [55?–135? C.E.]
"Who sees all beings in his own Self, and his own Self in all beings, loses all fear."
~~ Upanishads
"America's mainstream media have died. They were infected and killed by corporatism."
~~ Rob Kall, founder of OpEdNews
"The real leader has no need to lead, he is content to point the way."
~~ Henry Miller [1891-1980]
"I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just."
~~ Thomas Jefferson [1743-1826]
"The dark night of fascism is descending upon America."
~~ Tom Wolfe (2007)
"Growing old is mandatory / Growing up is optional"
~~ t-shirt
"Lead, follow, or get out of the way."
~~ Thomas Paine [1737-1809]
"Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending."
~~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow [1807-82]
"When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world."
~~ John Muir [1838-1914]
"Voluntary simplicity is a high value."
~~ radio talk show host Thom Hartmann
"Why shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense."
~~ Mark Twain [1835-1910]
"In a democracy, the individual enjoys not only the ultimate power but carries the ultimate responsibility."
~~ Norman Cousins
"Those believing [that] they have not voted are mistaken, for their indifference affects all our futures."
~~ M.A. Denck
"Freedom is when the people speak. Democracy is when the govern- ment listens."
~~ Alistair Farrugia
"The only title in our democracy that is superior to that of President is that of citizen."
~~ Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis [1856-1941]
"An intellectual is someone who can find something more interesting
than sex."
~~ Anonymous
"Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government."
~~ Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black [1886-1971]
"The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous."
~~ Frederick Douglass [1818-95]
"Every nation has its war party. It is not the party of democracy. It is the party of autocracy. It seeks to dominate absolutely."
~~ Sen. Robert M. 'Fighting Bob' La Follette [1855-1925]
"Man does not live on enchiladas alone."
~~ New Mexico author Rudolfo Anaya (in "Zia Summer")
"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it."
~~ Edward R. Murrow [1908-65]
"The opinion of 10,000 men is of no value if none of them know anything about the subject."
~~ Marcus Aurelius [121-180 C.E.]
"I can't name a writer who's had a more perfect life. My books are all in print, I'm in all the school libraries, and when I go places I get the applause at the start of my speech."
~~ Ray Bradbury
"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just as long as I'm the dictator. Heh, heh, heh."
~~ George W. Bush (speech on 18 December 2000)
"All's fair in love and business."
~~ Archie Goodwin character, written by Rex Stout [1886-85]
"A newspaper that is true to its purpose concerns itself not only with the way things are but with the way [that] they ought to be."
~~ Joseph Pulitzer [1847-1911]
"There are times when you just have to p*ss off everybody in order to get something constructive done."
~~ Alj Mary of Phoenix, AZ
on the Working Minds website}
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