August 19, 2004 - "Quoted" (revised)

This a an entry just of quotes, plus a few other things. Before I start the Bush administration's handling of the world is best summoned this way. Instead of Patrick Henry's infamous "Give Me Liberty Of Give Me Death!" their policy is "Give me YOUR Liberty or We will Give YOU Death". Hmmm, sounds like the policy of a fanatical terrorist orginization. Wait a connection .. extremist violent political Muslims say things like that and extremist violent Christians do too!! That's all the comparative religious education I need for today...

Now the quotes!:

'First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist, so I said nothing. Then they came for the Social Democrats, but I was not a Social Democrat, so I did nothing. Then came the trade unionists, but I was not a trade unionist. And then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew, so I did little. Then when they came for me, there was no one left to stand up for me.'--Pastor Martin Niemoller

"We all have the extraordinary coded within us, waiting to be released."--Jean Houston

The truth shall make you free.--The Bible, John 8:32

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."--Martin Luther king, Jr.

"I don't know whether I'm going to win or not. I think I am. I do know I'm ready for the job. And, if not, that's just the way it goes."--President George W. Bush

"Truth indeed rather alleviates than hurts, and will always bear up against falsehood, as oil does above water."--Miguel de Cervantes

"After one look at this planet any visitor from outer space would say "I want to see the manager."--William S. Burroughs

"To put the world right in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right."--Confucius

"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws."--Plato

"I do believe that this is the most important election in my lifetime; I don't know about yours. But we have an extremist administration which has waged an illegal and preemptive war, and which is also waging a war at home -- assaulting the rights of women and minorities and relentlessly rolling back protections for workers, consumers and the environment."--Katrina vanden Heuvel, Editor of The Nation, and co-editor of Taking Back America And Taking Down the Radical Right

"An optimist is a person who sees a green light everywhere. The pessimist sees only the red light. But the truly wise person is color blind."--Dr. Albert Schweitzer

"The government consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taking one with another, no special talent for the business of government; they have only a talent for getting and holding office."--H. L. Mencken

"You fucking son of a bitch. I saw what you wrote. We're not going to forget this."--of course President George W. Bush (1988)

"I know but one freedom and that is the freedom of the mind."--Antoine De Saint-Exupery

"Never cut what you can untie."--Joseph Joubert

"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me."--Hunter S. Thompson

"It is curious, however, that the administration is only now getting ambitious about rounding up terrorists, when it has seemed lukewarm to the idea ever since the September 11 attacks. During the war in Afghanistan, the United States concentrated less on neutralizing al Qaeda fighters than on removing the unfriendly Taliban regime from a country perceived to be strategic and installing a more compliant, hand-picked government. On two important occasions in the war, the administration refused to risk U.S. casualties by committing U.S. forces to fight al Qaeda in the Afghan mountains�relying instead on Afghan allies that were ultimately paid off to let the terrorists escape."--Ivan Eland

"All difficult things have their origin in that which is easy, and great things in that which is small."--Lao-Tzu

"The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it."--General Norman Schwarzkopf

"In all history, there is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare. Only one who knows the disastrous effects of a long war can realize the supreme importance of rapidity in bringing it to a close. It is only one who is thoroughly acquainted with the evils of war who can thoroughly understand the profitable way of carrying it on."--Sun Tzu

"In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved."--President Franklin D. Roosevelt

"Truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it and ignorance may deride it, but, in the end, there it is."--Sir Winston Churchill

"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages. Nobody but a beggar chooses to depend chiefly upon the benevolence of his fellow citizens."--Adam Smith

"The free market punishes irresponsibility. Government rewards it."--Libertarian Harry Browne

"If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind."--John Stuart Mill

"Feminists, ethnic minorities, sodomites and other 'victims' of majority culture are demanding special recognition and privileged status."--Southern Partisan Magazine (Second Quarter/1992)

"They should be worried. They hate us? We hate them. Americans don't want to make Islamic fanatics love us. We want to make them die. There's nothing like horrendous physical pain to quell angry fanatics. So sorry they're angry - wait until they see American anger. Japanese kamikaze pilots hated us once too. A couple of well-aimed nuclear weapons, and now they are gentle little lambs. That got their attention."--Ann Coulter

"It's a pattern of deep and disturbing disconnect with reality that has characterized every moment of this presidency. It's part of the arrogance and the cavalier contempt for the very liberties which make this country strong. Their brazenness does make one speechless. But Bush has never been noted for any deep introspection or curiosity. The compassionate conservatism was a lie from the beginning. It is now crystal clear that this crew will do whatever it takes. Paul Krugman, who has been a superb chronicler of this selected administration, I think said it well a month or so ago in a column, where he described how they will not be bound by checks and balances. Their attitude is close to one of an elected dictatorship. I would simply qualify that and say selected dictatorship."--Katrina vanden Heuvel, Editor of The Nation

"No matter what anyone says, George can read a Teleprompter. Thus, he showed that he has all of the capabilities necessary to be an American President in the Information Age."--President George W. Bush

"As people do better, they start voting like Republicans....unless they have too much education and vote Democratic, which proves there can be too much of a good thing."--Karl Rove

"I think this issue of accountability and how a country is led into war is the at that heart of a democracy. As I said, I think this is a bipartisan issue, it is not whether one is a Democrat or a Republican. And there are many Republicans who are deeply concerned about America's engagement with the world. I believe in the intelligent use of American power. But the preemptive doctrine which I believe has now turned out to be an abysmal failure based on the fact that it is predicated on having 100 percent reliable intelligence -- and we've seen an administration which clearly manipulated intelligence to take us into war. We need a wide-ranging investigation. And I would say to Joel, the situation in Iraq is deteriorating daily. I do not have a MTV mentality, I have a mentality where I see a soldier, a man, woman killed every day. And until the process, the occupation of Iraq is internationalized,America will be perceived as occupiers, not liberators. And I do not want to my country to be perceived as an occupier. I believe America is a greater country than that."--Katrina vanden Heuvel, Editor of The Nation

"I do remain confident in Linda. She'll make a fine labor secretary. From what I've read in the press accounts, she's perfectly qualified."--President George W. Bush

"Your magazine also helps set the record straight. You've got a heritage of doing that, of defending Southern patriots like [Robert E.] Lee, [Stonewall] Jackson and [Confederate President Jefferson] Davis. Traditionalists must do more. I've got to do more. We've all got to stand up and speak in this respect, or else we'll be taught that these people were giving their lives, subscribing their sacred fortunes and their honor to some perverted agenda."--Attorney General John Ashcroft in an interview to the racist Southern Partisan Magazine

"Listening to both sides does not necessarily bring about a correct judgment."--Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsefeld

"If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn't part of ourselves doesn't disturb us."--Hermann Hesse

"It's always so comforting when Muslims cite the precise verse from the Quran that tells them killing is wrong. Don't all empathetic human beings understand that instinctively? What if they lost their Quran that day and couldn't remember?"--Ann Coulter

"Hate is all a lie, there is no truth in hate."--Kathleen Norris

"The Israelis know that the use of heavy firepower in populated areas to target a few activists will kill or injure substantial numbers of innocents. The Israelis are especially culpable when other more �surgical� methods are available�for example, the use of raids by special forces to apprehend Palestinian activists. Even targeted assassinations of militants�a questionable tactic�would kill fewer civilians than the blunt method Israel is using. Thus, Israel�s policy seems to be only a slightly more subtle retaliation for the Palestinian killing of innocents. Instead of blatantly targeting civilians, a military target is found in a densely populated area and then excessive force is applied. Amnesty International has also criticized the Israeli military for destroying vast tracts of cultivated land, water and electricity infrastructure and thousands of Palestinian homes. The organization also notes that the Israelis have quarantined entire Palestinian towns and cities for long periods of time, employed Palestinians as human shields during military operations, targeted medical personnel and blocked medical assistance, used torture on Palestinian detainees, seized Palestinian land to expand infrastructure for Jewish settlements and failed to protect Palestinians under attack from Jewish settlers. To mollify influential domestic pressure groups in the United States, those unacceptable Israeli tactics are routinely ignored by President Bush, the Congress and the American media."--Ivan Eland

"Each of us inevitable; Each of us limitless - each of us with his or her right upon the earth; Each of us allowed the eternal purports of the earth; Each of us here as divinely as any is here."-Walt Whitman.

"Hatred is self-punishment."--Hosea Ballou

"The only way to win a war is to prevent it."--General George Marshall

"We are all equal before death."--Maltese Proverb

"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool."--Richard Feynman

"I hate quotations. Tell me what you know."--Ralph Waldo Emerson

"I started writing songs and then I moved from folk you know, to some jazz and then new wave, and then punk, and a lot of my friends moved away, bust I still wanted to make music so I got the machines and just tried pretended that I was the drummer and the bass player and everybody and I made music that way."--Peaches