Saturday, April 23, 2005

the meta post.

ok... this one's going to be a doozy. just a collection of stuff I had laying around the computer. forgive it's haphazard appearance, this is just how I have it. sorry.

mind you, I'm posting these en masse, without proof reading... so on with the show. I'll also be posting another post after this, as there's quite a bit, and I'd rather split it up a tad to ease commenting in the off chance that someone cares to comment. seems I have a way of scaring people away from speaking up. :P


"You see, they [conservatives] love America the way a four-year-old loves her mommy. Liberals love America like grown-ups. To a four-year-old, everything Mommy does is wonderful and anyone who criticizes Mommy is bad. Grown-up love means actually undestanding what you love, taking the good with the bad, and helping your loved one grow. Love takes attention and work and is the best thing in the world."
- Al Franken

"Too powerful to be stopped, too stupid to quit!"

"See, free nations are peaceful nations. Free nations don't attack each other. Free nations don't develop weapons of mass destruction."
—George W. Bush, Milwaukee, Wis., Oct. 3, 2003

"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of state and corporate power."
- Benito Mussolini

"So numerous indeed and so powerful are the causes which serve to give a false bias to the judgment, that we, upon many occasions, see wise and good men on the wrong as well as on the right side of questions of the first magnitude to society. This circumstance, if duly attended to, would furnish a lesson of moderation to those who are ever so much persuaded of their being in the right in any controversy. And a further reason for caution, in this respect, might be drawn from the reflection that we are not always sure that those who advocate the truth are influenced by purer principles than their antagonists. Ambition, avarice, personal animosity, party opposition, and many other motives not more laudable than these, are apt to operate as well upon those who support as those who oppose the right side of a question. Were there not even these inducements to moderation, nothing could be more ill-judged than that intolerant spirit which has, at all times, characterized political parties. For in politics, as in religion, it is equally absurd to aim at making proselytes by fire and sword. Heresies in either can rarely be cured by persecution."
- Alexander Hamilton - federalist papers no.1

If you see a blind man, kick him. Why be kinder than God?
- Old Iranian Proverb

The world is populated in the main by people who should not exist.
- George Bernard Shaw

CYNIC n. A blackguard whose faulty vision causes him to see things as they are, not as they ought to be
- Ambrose Bierce

I don't mean to sound cold or cruel or vicious, but I am, so that's the way it comes out
- Bill Hicks


(sing to the tune of "I am the Very Model of a Modern Major General", from The Pirates of Penzance)

Bush:

I am the very model of a Neo-Con Conservative.
No income tax in Crawford Texas! That's why I choose there to live.
I've met the Queen of England. All her people think "What a moron!"
The PM's in my pocket. So, the people they close the door on!
Ten million people protest me. I call them just a "focus group".
Made Uncle Dick Vice President. He say's he'll keep me in the loop.
I campaigned as a moderate and quickly shifted to the Right.
As long as Diebold's counting votes, the next election's locked up tight!

Chorus:
As long as Diebold's counting votes, the next election's locked up tight!
As long as Diebold's counting votes, the next election's locked up tight!
As long as Diebold's counting votes, the next election's locked up tight!

Bush:
Not very good pronouncing names of folks from former Soviet Blocs
That's why I love the President of Mexico, Vin-cen-te Fox
Uncurious 'bout world affairs? It's just my my brain is like a sieve.
I am the very model of a Neo-Con Conservative.

Chorus:
Uncurious 'bout world affairs? It's just his brain is like a sieve.
He is the very model of a Neo-Con Conservative.

Bush:
Not very well acquainted with the cultures of the Middle East.
So long as oil is flowing about them I couldn't care the least!
Osama and Saddam I will convince you are one and the same.
And out in North Korea I refuse to talk to "What's his name"!

I go out golfing with my dad, while others I send off to war.
Minorities from inner cities? Cannon fodder's what they're for!
The Texas oil cartels have funded my campaigns quite well, and so...
The Halliburton contracts were all promised very long ago.

Chorus:
The Halliburton contracts were all promised very long ago.
The Halliburton contracts were all promised very long ago.
The Halliburton contracts were all promised very long ago.

Bush:
By signing an abortion ban I take a woman's rights away.
I think that God's behind me so I really don't care what you say.
Reporters who dare criticize? To me? Major league (expletive)!
I am the very model of a Neo-Con Conservative.

Chorus:
Reporters who dare criticize? To him? Major league (expletive)!
He is the very model of a Neo-Con Conservative.

Bush:
From my father I inherit not just office, but an attitude.
My mother's ugly temper's veiled with kind New England platitudes.
My daughters, twins, they got from me desire to get liquored up.
And Barney, on the runway... My wife Laura's blamed. SHE dropped that pup.
My brother down in Florida - he promised I'd win at the polls.
He made it happen dropping names of Blacks off the election rolls.
My drug use in my reckless youth - effects profound and seminal.
In short, my whole dang family's dysfunctional and criminal.

Chorus:
In short, my whole dang family's dysfunctional and criminal.
In short, my whole dang family's dysfunctional and criminal.
In short, my whole dang family's dysfunctional and criminal.

Bush:
My military service is as sketchy as you know it's brief.
Though I went AWOL I am now America's Command'r in Chief
Mission Accomplished! Many died protecting how the privileged live.
I am the very model of a Neo-Con Conservative.

Chorus:
Mission Accomplished! Many died protecting how the privileged live.
I am the very model of a Neo-Con Conservative.


"The national budget must be balanced. The public debt must be reduced; the arrogance of the authorities must be moderated and controlled. Payments to foreign governments must be reduced, if the nation doesn't want to go bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance."
--Marcus Tullius Cicero, 55 B.C.

"There is no such country...Palestine is a term the zionists invented..Our country was for centuries part of Syria."
--Auni BeyAbdul-Hati to the Peel commission in 1937.

"The enormous gap between what US leaders do in the world and what Americans think their leaders are doing is one of the great propaganda accomplishments of the dominant political mythology."
— Michael Parenti
political scientist

"The United States spends more on arms annually, $275 billion presently, than the rest of the Security Council combined. U.S. arms expenditures are approximately 25 times the gross national product of Iraq. The U.S. has in its stockpiles more nuclear bombs, chemical and biological weapons, more aircraft, rockets and delivery systems in number and sophistication than the rest of the world combined. Included are twenty commissioned Trident II nuclear submarines any one of which could destroy Europe."
— Ramsey Clark
former U.S. Attorney General
Letter to the U.N., November 1998


In 1983, President Reagan sent an envoy to Baghdad to make nice with Saddam Hussein. That envoy was Donald Rumsfeld. All this was happening at the same time reports were reaching the West that Iraq had started using mustard gas on the battlefield. The United Nations confirmed Iraq's use of prohibited weapons. The State Department condemned Baghdad but took no punitive action. And later the same year, 1984, President Reagan quietly restored diplomatic ties with Iraq for the first time in nearly two decades. After this, the United States only increased its support for Iraq.

Most crucially, the US and UK blocked condemnation of Iraq's known chemical weapons attacks at the UN Security Council. No resolution was passed during the war that specifically criticised Iraq's use of chemical weapons, despite the wishes of the majority. The only reproach from the Security Council was in the form of non-binding Presidential statements (over which no country has a veto). A statement in March 1986 recognised that "chemical weapons on many occasions have been used by Iraqi forces against Iranian forces". This statement was opposed by the US, the only country to vote against it in the Security Council. The UK abstained.

Donald H. Rumsfeld went to Baghdad in March 1984 with instructions to deliver a private message about weapons of mass destruction: that the United States' public criticism of Iraq for using chemical weapons would not derail Washington's attempts to forge a better relationship, according to newly declassified documents.


The Reagan Legacy that Bush follows

epitaph of the Reagan presidency will be: 'When Ronald Reagan became President, the United States was the largest creditor nation. When he left the presidency, we were the world's largest debtor nation.'"
--Lester Thurow, MIT professor of economics

"[A] lapse into fiscal indiscipline on a scale never before experienced in peacetime."
--David Stockman (Reagan's budget director) describing the 1980's, The Triumph of Politics: Why the Reagan Revolution Failed

"In the Reagan years, more federal debt was added than in the entire prior history of the United States."
--Richard Darman (Reagan advisor), Who's in Control? Polar Politics and the Sensible Center

This is not about the left wing or the right wing. It's about how to stop these wing-nuts from turning the world into a military playground for the Fortune 500. It's not about ideology. It's about human decency and common sense.
-- .John Perry Barlow

"Secrecy is the keystone of all tyranny. Not force, but secrecy . . . censorship. When any government...undertakes to say to its subjects, "This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know," the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motives. Mighty little force is needed to control a man whose mind has been hoodwinked, contrariwise, no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free."
-Robert Anson Heinlein, "If This Goes On-"


"WHY ARE YOU PROTESTING"

"Because ever since I was a baby crawling around the TV set I've been suckered, lied to and propagandized. The kind of psychological abuse I've been subjected to may not be as bad as sexual abusebut, believe me, it leaves lifelong scars nonetheless. I feel empty, soulless, mindfucked....and now it's payback time."

it's a matter of prescience but not the science fiction kind
it's all about ignorance, and greed, and miracles for the blind
The media parading, disjointed politics
founded on petro-chemical plunder and we're it's hostages

if you stand to reason, you're in the game
the rules may be elusive but our pieces are the same
and you know if one goes down we all go down as well
the balance is precarious as anyone can tell
this world's going to hell

KYOTO NOW
don't allow this mythologic hopeful monster to exact it's price
KYOTO NOW
we can't do nothing and think someone else will make it right

you might not think it matters now but what if you are wrong
you might not think theres any wisdom in a fucked-up punk rock song
but the way it is cannot persist for long
a brutal sun is rising on our sick horizon
it's in the way we live our lives
exactly like the double-edge of a cold familiar knife
and supremacy weighs heavy on the day
it's never really what you own but what you threw away
and how much did you pay?

IN YOUR DREAMS
you saw a steady state a bounty for eternity
SILENT SCREAMS
but now the wisdom that sustains us is in full retreat
KYOTO NOW
don't allow this mythological hopeful monster isn't worth the risk
KYOTO NOW
we can't have vision for the future if it can't be fixed
ALIEN
we need a fresh and new religion to run our lives
HAND IN HAND
the arid torpor of inaction will be our demise

--Bad Religion--


Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you're a conservative radio host. Then it's an illness and you need our prayers for your recovery.

The United States should get out of the United Nations, and our highest national priority is enforcing U.N. resolutions against Iraq.

Government should relax regulation of Big Business and Big Money but crack down on individuals who use marijuana to relieve the pain of illness.

Standing Tall for America means firing your workers and moving their jobs to India.

A woman can?t be trusted with decisions about her own body, but multi-national corporations can make decisions affecting all mankind without regulation.

Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of homosexuals and Hillary Clinton.

The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches while slashing veterans benefits and combat pay.

Group sex and drug use are degenerate sins unless you someday run for governor of California as a Republican.

If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won't have sex.

A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our long-time allies, then demand their cooperation and money.

HMOs and insurance companies have the interest of the public at heart.

Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy. Providing health care to all Americans is socialism.

Global warming and tobacco's link to cancer are junk science, but creationism should be taught in schools.

Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad guy when Bush's daddy made war on him, a good guy when Cheney did business with him and a bad guy when Bush needed a "we can't find Bin Laden" diversion.

A president lying about an extramarital affair is an impeachable offense. A president lying to enlist support for a war in which thousands die is solid defense policy.

Government should limit itself to the powers named in the Constitution, which include banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet.

The public has a right to know about Hillary's cattle trades, but George Bush's driving record is none of our business.

You support states rights, which means Attorney General John Ashcroft can tell states what local voter initiatives they have a right to adopt.

What Bill Clinton did in the 1960s is of vital national interest, but what Bush did in the 80s is irrelevant.

Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is communist, but trade with China and Vietnam is vital to a spirit of international harmony.

--- followed by ---

Things you have to believe to be a Demonrat today.

Liberals have a great deal of sympathy for a drug addict. They feel he is a victim, unless you're a conservative radio host. Then he is an evil son of a bitch that should die a slow death.

The United States should relinquish our sovereignty & all power to the United Nations. They think the UN will defend everyone from every thing.

Government should regulate Big Business because they are evil and corrupt. All while legalizing hallucinating drugs so people have more opportunity to expand their minds and live a healthy life.

Standing Tall for America means joining a union, demanding higher wages and more benefits and then wondering why your job was moved off shore.

Believing that a woman's right to choose murdering a child is justified and individuals should have the freedom to murder innocent unborn babies but feel sorry for convicted murderers and declare it immoral to allow capital punishment.

Jesus is actually a woman who goes by the name of Hillary Clinton and wrote the gospel It Takes a Village.

"The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches while slashing veterans benefits and combat pay."
(No editing done on this one since it is a total lie. However, it does fit what liberals believe.)

Keeping foreign dignitaries waiting while having oral sex performed in the oval office by working subordinates is good. Lying about it is inconsequential and the fact that the man with the potential for allowing nuclear warheads to launch, was a coke-head, was not cause for alarm.

If condoms are passed out in schools, adolescents will always use them and the only sex will be safe sex. The word abstinence should be banned because it is vulgar.

A good way to fight terrorism is to listen to your allies that only fight after they have been invaded and taken over by Hitler.

Government has the interest of the public at heart and can run health care more efficiently than the private sector.

Providing health care to all Iraqis is terrible policy because Iraq is a rich country that does not need any help. Providing health care to all Americans is needed because America is poor and people cannot cope without the governments help.

Global warming and evolution are proven facts. Never mind that they call it "The theory of evolution" and the earth has been naturally warming and cooling for thousands of years. They both should be taught with the fervor of a religious conviction.

Saddam was a bad guy from 1993 to 2000 when the UN, France & Slick Willie told us he was but he suddenly became a good guy when Bush became president.

One should be proud when lying to a Grand Jury. But following the oath of office and doing what you believe is right is an impeachable offense.

Government should not concern itself with the constitution. Nor should it consider the morals of the society it represents. Government should not be concerned with morals at all and allow individuals to determine their own morals.

Purchasing $12,000 worth of cattle trades while only putting up $1,000 is normal. Making a profit of $100,000 on this is a common occurrence and no one should question it. But when someone is running for office and voluntarily reveals a DUI that occurred 30 years ago, we should hold an inquisition and claim that person is unfit to serve.

"What Bill Clinton did in the 1960s is of vital national interest, but what Bush did in the 80s is irrelevant."
Who gives a shit what either of them did in the 60's or 80's?

When a demonratic president is in office, trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is communist, but trade with China and Vietnam is vital to a spirit of international harmony. This belief becomes taboo when the administration changes to Republican.


Neither the Jeffersonians nor their Federalist opponents admitted to being a political party. To them the term party meant the same as faction. It also meant the victory of selfishness and contention over the selfless unanimity they felt a republic needed.


"Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people."
-- Eleanor Roosevelt


"Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:--'I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.' " [U.S. Constitution, Article II, Section 1] This is the only oath given in the Constitution, and it is entirely secular.


"Science is an eternal struggle against our desire to have the universe be ordered in some emotionally satisfying way."


Once there lived a village of creatures along the bottom of a great crystal river. Each creature in its own manner clung tightly to the twigs and rocks of the river bottom, for clinging was their way of life, and resisting the current what each had learned from birth. But one creature said at last, "I trust that the current knows where it is going. I shall let go, and let it take me where it will. Clinging, I shall die of boredom."

The other creatures laughed and said, "Fool! Let go, and that current you worship will throw you tumbled and smashed across the rocks, and you will die quicker than boredom!"

But the one heeded them not, and taking a breath did let go, and at once was tumbled and smashed by the current across the rocks. Yet, in time, as the creature refused to cling again, the current lifted him free from the bottom, and he was bruised and hurt no more.

And the creatures downstream, to whom he was a stranger, cried, "See a miracle! A creature like ourselves, yet he flies! See the Messiah, come to save us all!" And the one carried in the current said, "I am no more Messiah than you. The river delight to lift us free, if only we dare let go. Our true work is this voyage, this adventure.

But they cried the more, "Saviour!" all the while clinging to the rocks, making legends of a Saviour.
-- Richard Bach


Men of lofty genius when they are doing the least work are most active.
-- Leonardo da Vinci


Formerly,We Suffered From Crimes.
Now,We Suffer From Laws.
--Tacitus

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