Never try to reason the prejudice out of a man. It was not reasoned into him, and cannot be reasoned out.
-Sydney Smith (1771 - 1845)
As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.
-H.L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)
The big thieves hang the little ones.
-Czech proverb
A man must swallow a toad every morning if he wishes to be sure of finding nothing still more disgusting before the day is over.
-Nicolas Chamfort
Inside prisons, hospitals, and schools, a society’s vision and morality are on vivid display against the backdrop of its ideals.
-David K. Shipler
There is something rather unusual about our national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner“. We only sing part of it, and the last words of the part we commonly sing are a question:
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
It makes sense in the context of why it was written by Francis Scott Key, but most national anthems are solely about literally singing the praises of the country.
Think about the question asked, though, especially through the lens of experience of the last seven years.
Think about it in light of the massive surveillence that the federal government is undertaking in the name of “fighting the terrorists.”
Think about it in light of interpretation of the Constitution by some on the Supreme Court as only granting the rights listed explicitly, despite the numerous writings of the founders that the Bill of Rights was to explicitly protect rights, not limit them.
Think about it in light of all the actions taken by our government in the last seven years, including indefinite imprisonment of both citizens and non-citizens, torture, warrantless wiretapping, national securitly letters, and other offenses against the guiding principles of the founders of our country.
Many say they love their country. Once I said it, too. Now I say I love the principles upon which our nation was founded, but my country no longer follows them.
Does that star-spangled banner yet wave over the land of the free and the home of the brave?
Freedom requires courage, yet we have allowed fear to govern us.
We need to consider that question when we sing our national anthem today.
But thus do I counsel you, my friends: distrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful!
-Friedrich Nietzsche
Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule - and both commonly succeed, and are right.
-H. L. Mencken
Here are some solar panels that are designed to be easy to install using materials that are familiar to non-specialists:
Lumeta’s “peel & stick” solar panels can blanket a roof in under 35 minutes
…to those who invoke the “ticking bomb” scenario when trying to justify torture approved and perpitrated by our government:
No man is justified in doing evil on the ground of expediency.
-Theodore Roosevelt
I’m trying to take an online defensive driving course because I got a speeding ticket a while back. Unfortunately, I’m having problems with the streaming video, and I’ve had to watch the majority of a ridiculous teaching movie four times now. They used “teenagers”‘ and “with it” music video stylizing that is annoying as hell to my 43 year old personality.
Sigh…
Now I really have an incentive to never get another speeding ticket.
A relatively brief but compelling prediction of the predilections of the current generation of members of our armed forces by Ray Kimball can be found at The Huffington Post.
Some of the things I’ve been reading lately:
This one is disturbing - UK photographer chased down and detained for taking pix at fun fair
60 essayists analyze future problems and prospects in 50-year forecast
More disturbing reading
Things have changed in the past 7 years, and not for the better…
