Courage

"Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once."
--William Shakespeare, "Julius Caesar, Act II, Sc. 2, line 32."

"Facts"

"Aerodynamically, the bumble bee shouldn't be able to fly, but the bumble bee doesn't know it so it goes on flying anyway."
--Mary Kay Ash

Action II

"We accept the verdict of the past until the need for change cries out loudly enough to force upon us a choice between the comforts of further inertia and the irksomeness of action."
--Judge Learned Hand

Effort

"Don’t waste your effort on a thing that results in a petty triumph unless you are satisfied with a life of petty issues."
--John D. Rockefeller

Justice III

"Justice and freedom do not depend so much on our willingness to stand up and fight for ourselves as it does on our willingness to stand up and fight for the rights of others."
--Author Unknown

Reach

"Reach for the stars, If you fall short, You will still be on top of the world!"
--Author Unknown

George Carlin, R.I.P.

George Carlin, Splenetic Comedian, Dies at 71


For over a week, MSNBC gave almost nonstop coverage to the passing of Tim Russert, who while perhaps a nice person to his friends and family, sought to teach the American people to swallow the propaganda, to accept with little or no question the lies of politicians and the myths that have little to do with reality.

Do you think they will provide such coverage to the passing of George Carlin, who helped teach us to think, to question authority, to ponder the usage of language to create and perpetuate lies and fables?

Go in peace, George. *You* were larger than life and *you* we genuinely *will* miss.

TLC

Painting

"A man walks through life painting a portrait, not of what he would have done, could have done, or should have done, but of what he did."
--Author Unknown

Living V

"If you can spend a perfectly useless afternoon in a perfectly useless manner, you have learned how to live."
--Lin Yutang (1895-1976) Chinese writer

Change II

"Change is created by those whose imaginations are bigger than their circumstances"
--Author Unknown

John McCain: You Can't Have Alex

The ad...devestating...what it's all about.

TLC

Greatness

"Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends and fads and popular opinion."
--Jack Kerouac (1922-1969) American Writer

Save The Ponies; $crew The Iraqis

From CSpan, on Hearings to take place on June 19, 2008:

Health Risks for Thoroughbreds

After the recent deaths of several racehorses, the House Energy & Commerce Subcmte. holds a hearing on the horseracing industry. The Cmte. examines the health risks involved in raising thoroughbreds and the lack of regulatory authority over the sport.

_____________________________________

Now I'm all for ending animal cruelty, as you can see by the Links section of this blog. But somehow, don'tcha think that the deaths of over 1.2 million Iraqi, the homelessness of 4 million more, not to mention Rep. Dennis Kucinich's 35 Articles Of Impeachment are a wee bit more important right now?

TLC

Mistakes III

"Only those who are asleep make no mistakes."
--Ingvar Kamprad - IKEA

Advanced Medicine

A Japanese doctor says, "Medicine in my country is so advanced that we can take a kidney out of one person and put it in another, and have them out looking for work in six weeks".

A German doctor says, "That is nothing. We can take a lung out of one person, put it in another, and have them out looking for work in four weeks".

A British doctor says, "In my country medicine is so advanced that we can take half a heart out of one person, put it in another, and have both of them out looking for work in just two weeks".

The American doctor interjected, "You guys are way behind. We took a man with no brains, put him in the White House, and have half of our country out looking for work.

If

"If you do not specify and confront real issues,
what you will do will surely obscure them.
If you do not alarm anyone morally,
you will yourself remain morally asleep.
If you do not embody controversy,
what you say will be an acceptance
of the drift to the coming human hell."
-- C. Wright Mills (1916-1962)

Be A Good Ancestor

Samantha Powers' commencement address at Pitzer-Claremont College on May 17, 2008. Samantha was a high-level campaign advisor to Barack Obama until she slipped and accurately described HELLary Clinton as a "Monster".

You can watch the speech HERE.

You can read the speech HERE.

TLC

Excellence II

"Excellence can be achieved if you . . . risk more than others think is safe, love more than others think is wise, dream more than others think is practical, and expect more than others think is possible."
--Anon

Difference III

"Remember there's a big difference between kneeling down and bending over."
--Frank Zappa

Let

"Let the people do what they want, you get Woodstock. Let the government do what it wants, you get WACO!"
--Mary

Balance

Optimism is for those people who cannot face the world.

Pessimism is for those people who refuse to give the world a chance.

--Anonymous

45 Years Ago Today: Why JFK Died--The Final Straw

Commencement Address at American University
President John F. Kennedy
Washington, D.C.
June 10, 1963

Highly recommended you download the audio, burn it onto a CD, and listen to it. Listen not just today, but when you get too cynical and need a boost.

TLC

Cautious III

Parable of the Cautious Man

There was a very cautious man,
who never laughed or cried.
He never risked, he never lost,
he never won nor tried.
And when he one day passed away,
his insurance was denied,
For since he never really lived,
they claimed he never died.

-Anonymous

(Thanks to Che for forwarding this)

1968

In the middle of the night I was shaken awake by David Gartner, a personal aide to the vice president. And Dave said, "Humphrey says get up, Robert Kennedy's been shot." And I said, "David, that's a sick joke." He said, "No, no, Robert Kennedy's been shot."

So I got up and Humphrey was absolutely distraught, he was just absolutely beside himself with anxiety and concern. And we then received a phone call from Steve Smith and Pierre Salinger in California. They said, "There's a brain surgeon we trust in Boston. Could you arrange for a private plane to fly him to Los Angeles? Because Robert Kennedy's still alive and there's a possibility of saving him."

Humphrey called up the commanding general of the air force, who happened to be there at the academy. And Humphrey said, "Will you please dispatch this plane?" The general said, "I surely will."

Ten minutes later we received a call from an aide in the White House: President Johnson had canceled the plane because Humphrey had no authority to send it. The fact was, Johnson preferred Robert Kennedy dead.

It was one of the most heinous acts I've ever experienced in my life, and it all but broke Humphrey's heart.

--Ted Van Dyk
Aide to then Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey
From RFK: A Candid Biography Of Robert F. Kennedy by C. David Heymann, page 505.


Ted Van Dyk has been active in national policy and politics for more than 30 years. He began active military duty in 1957 as a U.S. Army intelligence analyst. His subsequent jobs have included Soviet specialist and intelligence analyst at the Pentagon; senior assistant to Vice President Hubert Humphrey and coordinator of foreign assistance programs in the Carter Administration, to name just a few. He also served as a senior political and policy advisor to seven Democratic presidential candidates. Since early 2001, he has been an editorial-page columnist for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and has continued writing periodically for national publications. http://www.com.washington.edu/program/alumni/notesoz.html

RFK

Robert Francis Kennedy, November 20, 1925 - June 6, 1968

His "Day Of Affirmation" speech, June 6, 1966, still reaches out across the ages, especially if you substitute "Muslim" for "Communist". While there is a transcript, the best way to appreciate the speech is to download the audio and burn it onto a CD.

Democracy Now devoted most of their June 5th broadcast to RFK. You can watch the show, listen to the audio, or read the transcript, at their website.

TLC

Two Slaves' Short Taste Of Freedom

Several tornadoes dropped from strong storms moving across Kansas on Thursday, destroying at least one home and spooking a pair of circus elephants that had escaped their enclosure.

The elephants, part of a traveling circus, were apparently frightened by the storm and rampaged through the town after breaking loose, said Trego County Sheriff Richard Schneider. One elephant wandered into a resident's backyard less than a mile from the Trego County Fairgrounds and was blocked off by fire trucks until its trainers could coax it onto a truck, Schneider said.

Source, and full story: KSAL Radio, June 5, 2008

Everywhere

"Look at you, you madman,
Screaming you are thirsty
And are dying in a desert
When all around you there is nothing but water!"
--Kabir

Australia's Crackdown On Animal Rights Supporters

Vienna, 31th May 2008

Police impeding legal animal rights activities
Day 11 of the animal rights prisoners hunger strike

The suspicion that the current large scale police intervention against animal protectionists has a political background is gaining ground. The Austrian police have now prohibited a completely legal animal rights rally in Linz, which was applied for within the legal timeframe. The reason: Kleiderbauer (a textile retailer) wants to hold a promotional event at the same time. However the Kleiderbauer promotional event was announced much later than the animal rights rally.

The animal protectionist B., who registered this rally, was contacted by the police and informed that she must come to the police station that same day, because her rally could not be held.
At the police station, she was presented with a prepared text in which she was to declare that she forgoes the rally of her own “free will”. B refused to sign the text. The rally was banned.

Full Article, Association Against Animal Factories

_______________________________

My email to various government officials:


To Whom, If Any, It May Concern:

I am not just saddened, but disgusted, by the actions of the Austrian authoritarians in attacking those who seek to protect the lives of animals.

It has long been well documented that serial killers usually start with animals. Given the actions of the Austrian government that promote the murder of innocent animals because the victims taste good,or because the bodies of the dead make for attractive apparel, I can only conclude that the Austrian government plans to extend its homicidal inclinations to human masses.

Now is your chance to prove me and others wrong. For the whole world is watching.

Terry L. Clark
Arcata, California, United States Of America
The Country That Helped Defeat Fascism Once
And That Will Rise Up And Do So Again If Need Be

Hearts & Minds

"If somebody tries to stop the march to democracy, we will seek them out and kill them!"
--George W. Bush

Grow

"If you play it safe in life you've decided that you don't want to grow any more."
--Shirley Hufstedler

Pursuit

"The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives."
--Albert Einstein

Cults

"A cult is a religion with no political power."
--Tom Wolfe