"I don't believe that laughter is the best medicine. Actually, medicine is the best medicine. But I think that having a good sense of humor about Life is really important."
~~ comedian Ken Jeong, MD
"Sometimes . . . my greatest accomplishment is keeping my mouth shut."
~~ Winnie The Pooh
"The most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it is hostile but that it is indifferent . . . However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light."
~~ cinema master Stanley Kubrick [1928-99]
"Every move [that] Mitch McConnell, the President, and the Republicans make is cruel."
~~ author Charlie Steel
"Until one has loved an animal a part of one’s soul remains unawakened."
~~ Anatole France [1844-1924]
"If you want to succeed, strike out on new paths – rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success."
~~ oil baron John D. Rockefeller [1839-1937]
"Some of the most important battles aren’t necessarily the ones that will be won in your lifetime."
~~ Stewart Udall [1920-2010]
"Art is not supposed to be easier! There are a lot of things in life that are supposed to be easier . . . but not Art. Art should always be tough. Art should demand something of you. Art should involve foot-pounds of energy being expended."
~~ Harlan Ellison [1934-2018]
"One result of [today's] programming pandemic is that we are losing the ability to discern fact from fiction. Another result is that large segments of our societies are subjects of mass hypnosis."
~~ T-Bone Burnett, in keynote speech at SXSW 2019
Power generation from wind turbines is thriving in New Mexico because Arizona blows and Texas sucks.
"Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents - choice, not chance, determines your destiny."
~~ Greek philosopher Aristotle [384-322 B.C.E.]
"We'll free every slave in every town and region. Can anybody get a bigger army than that?"
~~ line in the movie "Spartacus" [1960]
"The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions."
~~ Leonardo da Vinci [1452-1519]
"Yesterday I was clever so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise so I am changing myself."
~~ Persian poet & mystic Rumi [1207-73]
"A cold beer at the end of the day is the best thing life has to offer."
~~ Haruki Murakami, in "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" [1994-95]
"There’s nothing I want people to learn from me. It’s what you discover for yourself that makes it powerful."
~~ philosopher Werner Erhard
"Desire is the starting point of all achievement, not a hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating desire which transcends everything."
~~ Napoleon Hill [1883-1970]
"It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things."
~~ Leonardo da Vinci [1452-1519]
"Only two things certain under this administration: death (for the little people) and tax cuts (for the rich)."
~~ Paul Krugman
"I fought for a radical cinema, and I continued all my life."
~~ Agnès Varda [1928-2019]
"Never retreat. Never explain. Get it done and let them howl."
~~ Benjamin Jowett [1817-93]
"We are drowning in information, but starved for knowledge."
~~ John Naisbitt
"Capitalism is more important than democracy."
~~ Stephen Moore, senior economic adviser to the Trump campaign, 2018
"Machines, though helpless by themselves, may be used by a human being or [by] a block of human beings to increase their control over the rest of the human race."
~~ Norbert Wiener [1894-1964]
"Men have become the tools of their tools."
~~ Henry David Thoreau [1817-62] in 1854
"Mass incarceration is a form of voter suppression."
~~ Georgia Parke
"Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is enlightenment."
~~ Chinese philosopher Lao-Tzu [IVth Century B.C.E.]
"There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure."
~~ Colin Powell
"To be a champ, you have to believe in yourself when no one else will."
~~ boxing champion Sugar Ray Robinson [1921-89]
"Donald Trump and William Barr have set America on the road to tyranny.”
~~ Hillary Rodham Clinton
"The most heroic word in all languages is 'revolution'."
~~ Eugene V. Debs [1855-1926]
"Put your heart, mind and soul into even your smallest acts. This is the secret of success."
~~ Swami Sivananda [1887-1963]
"Let the improvement of yourself keep you so busy that you have no time to criticize others."
~~ Roy T. Bennett
"I believe in the idea of the rainbow, and I've spent my entire life trying to get over it."
~~ entertainer Judy Garland [1922-69]
"It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones."
~~ Nelson Mandela [1918-2013]
"The criminal ineptitude [after Hurricane Katrina] makes you furious."
~~ rock music legend Bruce Springsteen
"We will never have peace in the world until women take power."
~~ Coretta Scott King [1927-2006]
"Wisdom is everything! It makes one a slave to the truth."
~~ Clifford Wallace Thornton, Jr.
"You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams."
~~ Dr. Seuss {Theodor Geisel 1904-91}
"Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans."
~~ John Lennon [1940-80]
"A friend is one that knows you as you are, understands where you have been, accepts what you have become, and still, gently allows you to grow."
~~ William Shakespeare [1564-1616]
"Nature is painting for us, day after day, pictures of infinite beauty."
~~ art critic John Ruskin [1819-1900]
another 'found text' for back of T-shirt: HARMFUL IF SWALLOWED
"The decision whether or not to bear a child is central to a woman's life, to her well-being and dignity. It is a decision she must make for herself. When Government controls that decision for her, she is being treated as less than a fully adult human responsible for her own choices."
~~ Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
"What matters above all in a work of art is the vital depth of which it may have sprung."
~~ author James Joyce [1882-1941]
"I think of a hero as someone who understands the degree of responsibility that comes with his freedom."
~~ music legend Bob Dylan
"If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so."
~~ Thomas Jefferson [1743-1826]
"People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use."
~~ Søren Kierkegaard [1813-55]
"The world tells you to follow your dreams.
But Buddhism will tell you to wake up."
~~ Chamtrul Rinpoche of Tibet
"When you have a situation where the wealthiest family in America ... has $174 billion in wealth, it is really absurd and unacceptable that they are paying their workers starvation wages."
~~ Sen. Bernie Sanders about Wal-Mart 6/2019
"Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter."
~~ Thomas Jefferson [1743-1826]
{each set of posted quotations are then posted at the Working Minds website, alphabetical by author}
Friday, June 28, 2019
Thursday, June 20, 2019
Another Letter Printed in the Local Newspaper
HEADLINE: The pro-life movement is based on lies
I am male, so the storm surrounding abortion, women’s rights, safe health care procedures, and pseudo-Xian pro-life people has not required me to have an opinion or speak to any of the issues.
There are plenty of issues that I am adamant about. That said, I am very pro-choice and demand equal rights for all, and, in fact, repeat my own philosophical statements whenever they seem to apply.
“I have the same rights that you do, the same rights that I afford you. We each have only the collective rights given to all,” and, “Rights only exist when they apply to everyone. When only some people are accorded a so-called ‘right’, then it is privilege and subjugation.”
But I decided that I need to speak up on the issue because I stumbled upon the so-called truth of the matter.
I am opposed to all religions, and the larger disease of magical thinking. But it turns out that the fundamentalist Xian claim that their non-existent godhead defines the life of a fetus from conception, or more recently, at the first heartbeat, is categorically not true.
The Judeo-Xian Bible clearly states that life begins when you take your first breath of air.
Genesis 2:7: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and [the] man became a living soul.”
Job 33:4: “The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.”
Ezekiel 37:5-6: “Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live.”
I don’t have to believe any of this, nor do you. But when pseudo-Xians make claims based on the word of God, they had better be accurate when they do so. It is quite telling that after all these years of back-and-forth, I would stumble upon actual facts in the matter at this late date.
Other cited verses found in my research are just plain off the mark, and only a propagandist could twist the texts cited by the pro-life leaders, and re-quoted by their teeming mob of followers, into actually specifying the magic moment when life occurs.
So I am posting this factual ammunition for use by any pro-choice readers to fling in the face of these false pro-lifer misogynist hate-mongers – they won’t listen, of course, but the battle must be fought.
Another of my sayings that applies here is, “The use of force is proof of the absence of reason.”
G.E. Nordell
Rio Communities
Copyright 2019 by G.E. Nordell, all rights reserved
I am male, so the storm surrounding abortion, women’s rights, safe health care procedures, and pseudo-Xian pro-life people has not required me to have an opinion or speak to any of the issues.
There are plenty of issues that I am adamant about. That said, I am very pro-choice and demand equal rights for all, and, in fact, repeat my own philosophical statements whenever they seem to apply.
“I have the same rights that you do, the same rights that I afford you. We each have only the collective rights given to all,” and, “Rights only exist when they apply to everyone. When only some people are accorded a so-called ‘right’, then it is privilege and subjugation.”
But I decided that I need to speak up on the issue because I stumbled upon the so-called truth of the matter.
I am opposed to all religions, and the larger disease of magical thinking. But it turns out that the fundamentalist Xian claim that their non-existent godhead defines the life of a fetus from conception, or more recently, at the first heartbeat, is categorically not true.
The Judeo-Xian Bible clearly states that life begins when you take your first breath of air.
Genesis 2:7: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and [the] man became a living soul.”
Job 33:4: “The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.”
Ezekiel 37:5-6: “Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live.”
I don’t have to believe any of this, nor do you. But when pseudo-Xians make claims based on the word of God, they had better be accurate when they do so. It is quite telling that after all these years of back-and-forth, I would stumble upon actual facts in the matter at this late date.
Other cited verses found in my research are just plain off the mark, and only a propagandist could twist the texts cited by the pro-life leaders, and re-quoted by their teeming mob of followers, into actually specifying the magic moment when life occurs.
So I am posting this factual ammunition for use by any pro-choice readers to fling in the face of these false pro-lifer misogynist hate-mongers – they won’t listen, of course, but the battle must be fought.
Another of my sayings that applies here is, “The use of force is proof of the absence of reason.”
G.E. Nordell
Rio Communities
Monday, June 03, 2019
Reasoned Comment on Mexico Tariffs
Folks here in Albuquerque, New Mexico are in a panic about the idiot (and unconstitutional) tariffs levied by Emperor Trump on imported goods from Mexico. The most common comment is 'OMG what will Chipotle Restaurants do? they'll have to shut down!'.
ROFL: While these tariffs will have an adverse effect on consumer prices, the impact is not likely to change anybody's lifestyle. However much Chipotle - and all the other Southwest or Italian dining establishments here - use imported avocado and tomato as ingredients, the Trump Tax on them is on the *wholesale price*, which even at the final 25% tariff in five months, will barely amount to TEN CENTS per whole avocado and even less per whole tomato. The tariffs on Mexico and China are really not money-makers, not for the U.S. Treasury, not for anybody.
If Chipotle or the other restaurants feel the need to raise prices, they don't even have to reprint all their menus for this temporary insanity: get stickers printed and put one on each menu that says 'Prices on some food items may be temporarily increased a few pennies during the Trump Tax tariffs". Then change the computer to show which menu items get the teeny increase, and print a new summary line on the bill for the meal that reads "Trump Tax Tariff is only 12¢' (or whatever).
Trump and his obedient servants want you to panic so that you will not notice that they are manipulating the international situation to start World War III or Armageddon with Iran or China or even Turkey. War profiteering is the money-maker, guys.
Copyright 2019 by G.E. Nordell, all rights reserved
ROFL: While these tariffs will have an adverse effect on consumer prices, the impact is not likely to change anybody's lifestyle. However much Chipotle - and all the other Southwest or Italian dining establishments here - use imported avocado and tomato as ingredients, the Trump Tax on them is on the *wholesale price*, which even at the final 25% tariff in five months, will barely amount to TEN CENTS per whole avocado and even less per whole tomato. The tariffs on Mexico and China are really not money-makers, not for the U.S. Treasury, not for anybody.
If Chipotle or the other restaurants feel the need to raise prices, they don't even have to reprint all their menus for this temporary insanity: get stickers printed and put one on each menu that says 'Prices on some food items may be temporarily increased a few pennies during the Trump Tax tariffs". Then change the computer to show which menu items get the teeny increase, and print a new summary line on the bill for the meal that reads "Trump Tax Tariff is only 12¢' (or whatever).
Trump and his obedient servants want you to panic so that you will not notice that they are manipulating the international situation to start World War III or Armageddon with Iran or China or even Turkey. War profiteering is the money-maker, guys.
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