Obstacles

 "It seems as if the Department [of Justice] sees the value of the Bill of Rights as no more than obstacles to be overcome."
--Prof. Sanford H. Kadish

Conformist

"A man must consider what a rich realm he abdicates when he becomes a conformist."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American Poet, Essayist

Abstaining

Can you really ask what reason Pythagoras had for abstaining from flesh? For my part I rather wonder both by what accident and in what state of soul or mind the first man did so, touched his mouth to gore and brought his lips to the flesh of a dead creature, he who set forth tables of dead, stale bodies and ventured to call food and nourishment the parts that had a little before bellowed and cried, moved and lived. How could his eyes endure the slaughter when throats were slit and hides flayed and limbs torn from limb? How could his nose endure the stench? How was it that the pollution did not turn away his taste, which made contact with the sores of others and sucked juices and serums from mortal wounds?
--Plutarch

Maya Angelou, RIP

Maya Angelou, RIP
April 4, 1928 - May 28, 2014


"Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating
that all people cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can
introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other,
we may even become friends."

"Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him."

"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you."

"I've learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you'll miss them when they're gone from your life."

"A Woman in harmony with her spirit
is like a river flowing.
She goes where she will without pretense and arrives at her destination
prepared to be herself
and only herself "



"When Great Trees Fall"

When great trees fall,
rocks on distant hills shudder,
lions hunker down
in tall grasses,
and even elephants
lumber after safety.

When great trees fall
in forests,
small things recoil into silence,
their senses
eroded beyond fear.

When great souls die,
the air around us becomes
light, rare, sterile.
We breathe, briefly.
Our eyes, briefly,
see with
a hurtful clarity.
Our memory, suddenly sharpened,
examines,
gnaws on kind words
unsaid,
promised walks
never taken.

Great souls die and
our reality, bound to
them, takes leave of us.
Our souls,
dependent upon their
nurture,
now shrink, wizened.
Our minds, formed
and informed by their
radiance,
fall away.
We are not so much maddened
as reduced to the unutterable ignorance
of dark, cold
caves.

And when great souls die,
after a period peace blooms,
slowly and always
irregularly. Spaces fill
with a kind of
soothing electric vibration.
Our senses, restored, never
to be the same, whisper to us.
They existed. They existed.
We can be. Be and be
better. For they existed.

Disempowerment

"One of the intentions of corporate-controlled media is to instill in people a sense of disempowerment, of immobilization and paralysis. Its outcome is to turn you into good consumers. It is to keep people isolated, to feel that there is no possibility for social change."
- David Barsamian, journalist 

Rulers II

"Not only do . . . rulers keep many millions of men whose only trade is war, but these must be supported in worse than useless idleness by the labor of the poor. Still other millions are trained to war and are ever ready to answer to their master's call, to desert their homes and trades and offer up their lives to satisfy the vain ambitions of the ruler of the state. Millions more must give their strength and lives to build forts and ships, make guns and cannon and all the modern implements of war. Apart from any moral question of the right of man to slay his fellow man, all this great burden rests upon the poor. The vast expense of war comes from the production of the land and must serve to weaken and impair its industrial strength."
--Clarence Darrow, Resist Not Evil

Cowardice

"COWARDICE, n. A charge often levelled by all-American types against those who stand up for their beliefs by refusing to fight in wars they find unconscionable, and who willingly go to prison or into exile in order to avoid violating their own consciences. These 'cowards' are to be contrasted with red-blooded, 'patriotic' youths who literally bend over, grab their ankles, submit to the government, fight in wars they do not understand (or disapprove of), and blindly obey orders to maim and to kill simply because they are ordered to do so--all to the howling approval of the all-American mob. This type of behavior is commonly termed 'courageous.'"

--Chaz Bufe, The Devil's Dictionaries ("American Heretic's Dictionary" section)

Glory III

"GLORY, n. An exalted state achieved through participation in military operations, often by having one's guts blown out and dying in agony amidst the stench of one's own entrails.
--Chaz Bufe, The Devil's Dictionaries ("American Heretic's Dictionary" section)

Duty VI

DUTY, n. A concept of slaves, a tool of tyrants. Doing what other people want you to do because they want you to do it. (to paraphrase Oscar Wilde)
--Chaz Bufe, The Devil's Dictionaries ("American Heretic's Dictionary" section)

Image

"The white people who are trying to make us over into their image, they want us to be what they call assimilated, bringing the Indians into the mainstream and destroying our own way of life and our own cultural patterns. They believe we should be contented like those whose concept of happiness is materialistic and greedy, which is very different from our way. We want freedom from the white man rather than to be integrated. We don't want any part of the establishment, we want to be free to raise our children in our religion, in our ways, to be able to hunt and fish and to live in peace. We don't want power, we don't want to be congressmen, bankers, we want to be ourselves. We want to have our heritage, because we are the owners of this land and because we belong here. The white man says there is freedom and justice for all. We have had "freedom and justice," and that is why we have been almost exterminated. We shall not forget this."
--1927 Grand Council of American Indians

Breakdown

"I listen to people talking about this universal breakdown we are in and I marvel at their stupid cowardice. It is so obvious that they deliberately cheat themselves because their fear of change won't let them face the truth. They don't want to understand what has happened to them. All they want is to start the merry-go-round of blind greed all over again. They no longer know what they want this country to be, what they want it to become, where they want it to go. It has lost all meaning for them except as pig-wallow. And so their lives as citizens have no beginnings, no ends. They have lost the ideal of the Land of the Free. Freedom demands initiative, courage, the need to decide what life must mean to oneself. To them, that is terror. They explain away their spiritual cowardice by whining that the time for individualism is past, when it is their courage to possess their own souls which is dead — and stinking! No, they don't want to be free. Slavery means security — of a kind, the only kind they have courage for. It means they need not to think. They have only to obey orders from owners who are, in turn, their slaves!"
--Eugene O Neill :

Triumphal

"Do not blame Caesar, blame the people of Rome who have so enthusiastically acclaimed and adored him and rejoiced in their loss of freedom and danced in his path and given him triumphal processions. Blame the people who hail him when he speaks in the Forum of the new wonderful good society which shall now be Rome's, interpreted to mean more money, more ease, more security, and more living fatly at the expense of the industrious."
--Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC)
Roman philosopher and statesman

Construction

"On every question of construction carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed."
--Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Johnson, 1823

Justified II

He felt justified to kill birds for a museum where they would be preserved forever, as some feel justified to eat fish, chicken, or other meat that is digested in hours. Which is more justified? And even if necessary, how do you justify? Those who are familiar with ancient folklore, or are up above the rest of us a moral notch or two, kill "respectfully" by offering prayers or apologies, in the hope that animals will "offer themselves" up to be voluntarily killed. However, it is a sad fact that no animal cares if those who might eat them invent reasons to justify their acts (to make themselves feel good).
--Bernd Heinrich, Winter World: the Ingenuity of Animal Survival

Boisterous

"Against us are... all timid men who prefer the calm of despotism to the boisterous sea of liberty... We are likely to preserve the liberty we have obtained only by unremitting labors and perils."
--Thomas Jefferson to Philip Mazzei, 1796. ME 9:336

Normal V

Vicki Vale: Some people think you're as dangerous as the Joker.
Batman: He's psychotic.
Vicki Vale: Some people say the same about you.
Batman: What people?
Vicki Vale: Well, face it. You're not exactly normal, are you?
Batman: This isn't exactly a normal world, is it?

--"Batman", 1989

Mythology

"The United States is a society in which people not only can get by without knowing much about the wider world but are systematically encouraged not to think independently or critically and instead to accept the mythology of the United States as a benevolent, misunderstood giant as it lumbers around the world trying to do good."
--Robert Jensen, Citizens of Empire

Instinct II

"There is only one way in the world to be distinguished. Follow your instinct! Be yourself, and you'll be somebody. Be one more blind follower of the blind, and you will have the oblivion you desire."
--Bliss Carman
1861-1929, Poet

Turned

"He's turned his life around. He used to be depressed and miserable. Now he's miserable and depressed."
--David Frost

Incurable

"What chiefly distinguishes the daily press is its incurable fear of ideas, its constant effort to evade the discussion of fundamentals by translating all issues into a few elemental fears, its incessant reduction of all reflection to mere emotion."
--H. L. Mencken (1880-1956)
American Journalist, Editor, Essayist, Linguist, Lexicographer, and Critic

Rescuer

A LETTER TO MY RESCUER
(written by Julile Chadwick )

My body is old my body is weak
I've spent my life in a backyard alone
The kids are playing in the house
Why can't I come inside

My body is frail my spirit is pale
I've spent my time wandering around alone
Why don't they love me
They did when I was a puppy

My love is strong but what did I do wrong
I would still defend you but you still pretend
You love me and I wonder is this really love

Then the day comes and I'm so happy
We are going for a ride in the car now
Finally you love me - Maybe not so much.
Where are we?

I can smell other dogs I can smell fear
I am scared I am afraid You walk away
Where are you going
I hear what you tell someone
"he got too old, I don't want him anymore"

I am in a cage with other dogs barking
We are all scared we can smell death
We know what lies ahead
When will it be our turn next?

Then a miracle happens
Someone walks past my cage
She stops to give me kisses and love
I think they call her a rescuer
We are all in awe of this person

She says "I'll take this baby out now"
Wow , yay, yipppee I'm getting out
She puts me in her car and takes lots of
What they call "freedom pics"
I'm so happy now - getting love, getting hugs
For the very first time someone loves me

Ahh but I see my rescuer crying now
I ask What's wrong with my eyes
She says to me "I'm so sorry someone failed you"
You see I am very sick and dying
And soon will be going to a place called
The Rainbow Bridge!

Cry not brave rescuer
For you gave me love
You gave me life for the first time
You gave me dignity and a soft bed of my own
You let me come inside and sleep on your bed
I got to eat soft food, and lie my head on your lap!
I even got to watch something called "Animal Planet"

All the love you gave to me
I will take with me where ever I go
All the hugs and belly rubs I will never forget
Just make me one promise dear rescuer
Never give up!
Please continue to save my brothers and Sisters
In a scary place they call the animal shelter
Don't ever doubt yourself that you didn't make a difference
You saved me from the worst fate - dying alone in the shelter
I will forever love you and watch over you like an angel!

Love from the little old dog  you rescued!!


Source: The Pepper Foundation
https://www.facebook.com/ThePepperFoundation

Ideal III

"The ideal weapons system is built in 435 congressional districts and it doesn't matter whether it works or not."
--Alain C. Enthoven (economist and former Pentagon official)

Define

"The secret to David McTaggart's (early officer in Greenpeace) success is the secret to Greenpeace's success: It doesn't matter what is true . . . . it only matters what people believe is true . . .. You are what the media define you to be. [Greenpeace] became a myth, and a myth-generating machine."
--Paul Watson, co-founder of Greenpeace

Legs

The government is good at one thing. It knows how to break your legs, and then hand you a crutch and say, ‘See if it weren’t for the government, you wouldn’t be able to walk.’
--Harry Browne
(1933-2006) American libertarian writer, politician, and free-market investment analyst. Libertarian candidate for US President 1996 & 2000

Correctly

"More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total  extinction.  Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly."
--Woody Allen

Exercise II

"[J]ust because you have an individual right does not mean that the state or local government can't constrain the exercise of that right..."
--Barack Hussein Obama
(1961-) 44th President of the United States
Source: 2008 Philadelphia primary debate

Gradually

"[W]hen the resolution of enslaving America was formed in Great Britain, the British Parliament was advised by an artful man, - who was governor of Pennsylvania, to disarm the people; that it was the best and most effectual way to enslave them; but that they should not do it openly, but weaken them, and let them sink gradually, by totally disusing and neglecting the militia."
--George Mason, speech in the Virginia Ratifying Convention, 14 June 1778

Indefensible

"In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible. Things like the continuance of British rule in India, the Russian purges and deportations, the dropping of the atom bombs on Japan, can indeed be defended, but only by arguments which are too brutal for most people to face, and which do not square with the professed aims of the political parties. Thus political language has to consist largely of euphemism, question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness. Defenseless villages are bombarded from the air, the inhabitants driven out into the countryside, the cattle machine-gunned, the huts set on fire with incendiary bullets: this is called pacification."
--George Orwell
[Eric Arthur Blair] (1903-1950) British author
Source: Politics and the English Language, 1946

Interweave

"A weaver who has to direct and to interweave a great many little threads has no time to philosophise about it, rather, he is so absorbed in his work that he doesn't think, he acts: and it's nothing he can explain, he just feels how things should go. Even though neither you nor I would arrive at any definite plans, etc., by talking together perhaps we could mutually strengthen the feeling that something is ripening within us. And that is what I should like."
--Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) Dutch-born French painter

Number

"Nay, number itself in armies importeth not much, where the people is of weak courage; for, as Virgil saith, 'It never troubles the wolf how many the sheep be.' "
--Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
Philosopher, British Lord Chancellor
Source: "Of the True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates," The Essays or Counsels Civil & Moral of Francis Bacon, p. 129 (1905).

Already II

"When you sit down to negotiate on what you already have, you lose."
--Marie J. Parente
Massachusetts House of Representatives