Sunday, November 30, 2008

Scales

"In fact, if one person is unkind to an animal it is considered to be cruelty, but where a lot of people are unkind to animals, especially in the name of commerce, the cruelty is condoned and, once large sums of money are at stake, will be defended to the last by otherwise intelligent people." --Ruth Harrison, author of Animal Machines

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Determination

"The fixed determination to have acquired the warrior soul, to either conquer or perish with honor, is the secret of victory."
--George Patton, General

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Thanksgiving II

"Happy We-Stole-Your-Land-and-Killed-Your-People Day!"
--Thanksgiving toast, from the movie Sweet November

"I love Thanksgiving turkey. It's the only time in Los Angeles that you see natural breasts."
--Arnold Schwarzenegger

"Coexistence: what the farmer does with the turkey - until Thanksgiving."
--Mike Connolly

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Opportunity

"If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door."
--Milton Berle (1908 - 2002, American Actor, Entertainer)

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Freedom III

"Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation,
are people who want crops without ploughing the ground;
they want rain without thunder and lightning;
they want the ocean without the roar of its many waters.
The struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one,
or it may be both. But it must be a struggle.
Power concedes nothing without a demand;
it never has and it never will."
-- Frederick Douglass [Frederick Baily] (1818-1895), escaped slave, Abolitionist, author, editor of the North Star and later the New National Era

Monday, November 24, 2008

Success

"The secret of sucess is to get up early, work late and strike oil."
--J. D. Rockefeller

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Happiness V

Be happy. Talk happiness. Happiness calls out responsive gladness in others. There is enough sadness in the world without yours.... never doubt the excellence and permanence of what is yet to be. Join the great company of those who make the barren places of life fruitful with kindness.... Your success and happiness lie in you.... The great enduring realities are love and service.... Resolve to keep happy and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.
--Helen Keller

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Aim II

"A person who aims at nothing is sure to hit it."
--Author Unknown

Friday, November 21, 2008

Happiness IV

"Happiness does not depend on outward things, but on the way we see them." --Count Leo Tolstoy

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Quiet

"You can do one of two things; just shut up, which is something I don't find easy, or learn an awful lot very fast, which is what I tried to do."
--Jane Fonda

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

All

"All beings tremble before violence. All fear death. All love life. See yourself in others. Then whom can you hurt? What harm can you do?"
--Buddha

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Rights

"Freedom of the press, freedom of association, the inviolability of domicile, and all the rest of the rights of man are respected so long as no one tries to use them against the privileged class. On the day they are launched against the privileged they are overthrown." --Prince Peter Kropotkin (1842-1921) Russian prince, author, called "The Anarchist Prince"

Monday, November 17, 2008

Vigilance


Sunday, November 16, 2008

Rescued

Her eyes met mine as she walked down the corridor peering apprehensively into the kennels. I felt her need instantly and knew I had to help her. I wagged my tail, not too exuberantly, so she wouldn't be afraid.

As she stopped at my kennel I blocked her view from a little accident I had in the back of my cage. I didn't want her to know that I hadn't been walked today. Sometimes the shelter keepers get too busy and I didn't want her to think poorly of them.

As she read my kennel card I hoped that she wouldn't feel sad about my past. I only have the future to look forward to and want to make a difference in someone's life.

She got down on her knees and made little kissy sounds at me. I shoved my shoulder and side of my head up against the bars to comfort her. Gentle fingertips caressed my neck; she was desperate for companionship.

A tear fell down her cheek and I raised my paw to assure her that all would be well. Soon my kennel door opened and her smile was so bright that I instantly jumped into her arms. I would promise to keep her safe. I would promise to always be by her side. I would promise to do everything I could to see that radiant smile and sparkle in her eyes. I was so fortunate that she came down my corridor. So many more are out there who haven't walked the corridors. So many more to be saved. At least I could save one.

I rescued a human today.

--Author Unknown

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Patriots

"In the beginning of change, the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for it then costs nothing to be a patriot."
--Mark Twain

Friday, November 14, 2008

Manifestations

"In my own face-to-face and online therapy practice, I do not treat clients as manifestations of mental illnesses in need of medical fixing. No one is merely a case of bipolar disorder, an obsessive-compulsive, or a paranoid schizophrenic. In my view, formal diagnostic categories hold some value in terms of contextual information, but they play a much less important role than the specific personal circumstances of a given client. If you are a client, you are -- first and foremost -- a specific, unique individual.
Source: Originally at http://www.Counsellingresource.com, quote no longer there. Current article at the site where the above quote was found indicates that clients are again statistics and charts, not individuals...

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Thanks...

On

"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life:
It goes on."
--Robert Frost (1875-1963, American Poet)

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

What

"It is not what we read, but what we remember that makes us learned. It is not what we intend but what we do that makes us useful. And, it is not a few faint wishes but a lifelong struggle that makes us valiant."
--Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887, American Preacher, Orator, Writer)

Monday, November 10, 2008

Expect

"Expect problems and eat them for breakfast."
Alfred A. Montapert American Author)

Sunday, November 09, 2008

Ahead

"Your lost friends are not dead, but gone before, advanced a stage or two upon that road which you must travel in the steps they trod."
--Aristophanes (BC 448-380, Greek Comic Poet, Satirist)

Saturday, November 08, 2008

Change IV

"It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change."
--Charles Darwin (1809-1882, British Naturalist)

Thursday, November 06, 2008

Habits

"Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all time thing. You don't win once in a while, you don't do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time. Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing."
--Vince Lombardi (1913-1970) American Football Coach

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Ideas IV

"To die for an idea: it is unquestionably noble.
But how much nobler it would be
if men died for ideas that were true."
-- H. L. Mencken (1880-1956) American Journalist, Editor, Essayist, Linguist, Lexicographer, and Critic

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

(S)elections

"Those who count the votes decide nothing.Those who count the votes decide everything"
--Josef Stalin (attributed)

"As long as I count the votes, what are you going to do about it?"
--Boss Tweed

Sunday, November 02, 2008

Manners

"The great secret, Eliza, is not having bad manners or good manners or any other particular sort of manners, but having the same manner for all human souls: In short, behaving as if you were in Heaven, where there are no third-class carriages, and one soul is as good as another."
--George Bernard Shaw

Remember

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent
To blow up King and Parli'ment.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England's overthrow;
By God's providence he was catch'd
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!


See also http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chqi8m4CEEY

TLC

Saturday, November 01, 2008

Studs Terkel, May 16, 1912 - October 31, 2008

You happen to be talking to an agnostic. You know what an agnostic is? A cowardly atheist.

Take it easy, but take it

That's what we're missing. We're missing argument. We're missing debate. We're missing colloquy. We're missing all sorts of things. Instead, we're accepting.

Having been blacklisted from working in television during the McCarthy era, I know the harm of government using private corporations to intrude into the lives of innocent Americans. When government uses the telephone companies to create massive databases of all our phone calls it has gone too far.

Most of us have jobs that are too small for our spirits.


Studs' Official Website

The Grand Immoderation of Studs Terkel