Greed

Politicians never accuse you of "greed" for wanting other people's money -- only for wanting to keep your own money.

-- Joseph Sobran (1946-). American journalist and writer

Graffito

Seen November 5 On a Handmade Sign in West Philly

Rosa had to sit so Martin could walk,
Martin had to walk so Barack could run,
Barack had to run so our children can fly.

-- Scott Paul, in The Washington Note blog

Obama Victorious

This victory alone is not the change we seek; it is only the chance for us to make that change.

-- President-elect Barack Obama, in his victory speech, 4 November 2008


Whatever our differences, we are fellow Americans. And please believe me when I say no association has ever meant more to me than that.

-- Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain, concession speech, 4 November 2008


No matter how they cast their ballot, all Americans can be proud of the history that was made yesterday,

-- Out-going president George W. Bush, regarding Obama's victory, 5 November 2008

--

In Piatt County, IL where I live, McCain won with 4988 votes (55%) to Obama's 3856 votes (43%).

In Champaign County, IL where I work, Obama won with 48,351 votes (58%) to McCain's 33,748 votes (40%).

Of the 8 times that I have voted in a presidential election, this marks just the second time that the candidate I voted for has won. No wonder I'm a cynic about national politics.

Rock The Vote

Rock the vote, people!

Informed Voters

I don't think anything will change until Americans revolt and get it into their heads that they need to be informed voters instead of just listening to the paid political ads.

-- Deborah Pryce, a United States representative from Ohio who is retiring, New York Times, 30 October 2007

Lack

I'm glad I didn't have to fight in any war. I'm glad I didn't have to pick up a gun. I'm glad I didn't get killed or kill somebody. I hope my kids enjoy the same lack of manhood.

-- Tom Hanks

T-Shirts

When considering what a police state might look like, I never imagined it would include commemorative t-shirts.

-- Commentor "izz" at RawStory.com, regarding a story on T-shirts produced by Denver's police union -- "We get up early, to beat the crowds," the shirt reads, followed by "2008 DNC." The words flank a grinning police officer holding a baton and wearing a hat with a crossed-out number "68," presumably making reference to activist organization Recreate 68, which staged several anti-war demonstrations during the convention.

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Denver_cops_get_Tshirts_that_mock_0928.html

Review NOT

Sec. 8. Review.

Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.

-- From the draft bill authorizing Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to spend ~$700,000,000,000 in tax money to purchase toxic debt from ailing financial institutions

Constitution Day

The disdain and uncooperative nature that this administration has shown toward Congress is so egregious that I can no longer assume that it is simply bureaucratic incompetence or isolated mistakes. Rather, I have come to the sad conclusion that this administration has intentionally obstructed Congress' rightful and constitutional duties.

This administration is setting a terrible precedent. What people have to understand is when there is a liberal Democrat in the White House, the President will have set [the precedent] that Members of Congress can simply be dismissed, and that when they are trying to do a congressional investigation need not be cooperated with, in fact, can be obstructed. Is that the type of President that we want? Is that acceptable? It shouldn't be acceptable to Democrats and it shouldn't be acceptable to Republicans.

It is truly with a heavy heart, Madam Speaker, that I stand here reciting example after example of the maliciousness and condescending attitude exhibited by this administration. It is a problem that's flowing from the top. When I hear my friends on the other side of the aisle accusing this administration of stonewalling, of coverups, or thwarting investigations, I sadly must concur with them.

-- Representative Dana Rohrbacher (R-CA), 26 February 2008


Happy Constitution Day, September 17, the day the U.S. Constitutional Convention signed the Constitution in 1787.

Procedure Is Everything

You will never understand bureaucracies until you understand that for bureaucrats, procedure is everything and outcomes are nothing.

-- Thomas Sowell (30 June 1930-), American economist, political writer, and commentator

Corporations

Corporations have been enthroned. An era of corruption in high places will follow and the money power will endeavor to prolong its reign by working on the prejudices of the people ... until wealth is aggregated in a few hands ... and the Republic is destroyed.

-- Abraham Lincoln

Rivet Their Chains

If we run into such debts, as that we must be taxed in our meat and in our drink, in our necessaries and our comforts, in our labors and our amusements, for our callings and our creeds, as the people of England are, our people, like them, must come to labor sixteen hours in the twenty-four, give the earnings of fifteen of these to the government for their debts and daily expenses; and the sixteenth being insufficient to afford us bread, we must live, as they now do, on oatmeal and potatoes; have no time to think, no means of calling the mismanagers to account; but be glad to obtain subsistence by hiring ourselves to rivet their chains on the necks of our fellow-sufferers.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Relevant?

If art doesn't seem dangerous for the artist, it probably isn't relevant.

-- Scott Adams, The Dilbert Blog, 15 August 2008

Too Depressing

The Current State of Copyright Law is too depressing

I regard myself as a centrist. I believe very much that in proper doses copyright is essential for certain classes of works, especially commercial movies, commercial sound recordings, and commercial books, the core copyright industries. I accept that the level of proper doses will vary from person to person and that my recommended dose may be lower (or higher) than others. But in my view, and that of my cherished brother Sir Hugh Laddie, we are well past the healthy dose stage and into the serious illness stage. Much like the U.S. economy, things are getting worse, not better. Copyright law has abandoned its reason for being: to encourage learning and the creation of new works. Instead, its principal functions now are to preserve existing failed business models, to suppress new business models and technologies, and to obtain, if possible, enormous windfall profits from activity that not only causes no harm, but which is beneficial to copyright owners. Like Humpty-Dumpty, the copyright law we used to know can never be put back together again: multilateral and trade agreements have ensured that, and quite deliberately.

-- Google's copyright man, William Patry, on ending his blog on copyright

Hamdan Sentencing

Mr. Hamdan, I hope the day comes that you are able to return to your wife and daughters and your country.

-- Military Judge Keith J. Allred, after the sentencing of Salim Ahmed Hamdan at Guantanamo Bay, New York Times, 8 August 2008.

RIP Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

It is not the level of prosperity that makes for happiness but the kinship of heart to heart and the way we look at the world. Both attitudes are within the power, so that a man is happy so long as he chooses to be happy, and no one can stop him.

-- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (11 December 1918 - 3 August 2008), Russian novelist, dramatist and historian

Real ID

Do you want our government to have the ability to track where you went, how you went, how you got there and when you got home? It would be naive for someone to think this information will not be abused in the future. Virtually every decade these kinds of files have been used to violate people's privacy.

-- Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer, in a letter to DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff, explaining why Montana will not participate in Real ID, reported in Canada Free Press, 31 July 2008

--

More from the article: After Chertoff called the governor and told Schweitzer that Montana residents would be banned from airplanes, or subjected to severe, time-consuming inspections at airports, Schweitzer replied, "How about we both go on 60 Minutes a few days after the DHS starts patting down Montana driver's license-holders who are trying to get on the planes and both of us can tell our side of the story." Chertoff backed down. As of the May 11 deadline for implementation, no state is in compliance with the Real ID Act.

Bill Of Rights - Amendment X

Amendment X

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Bill Of Rights - Amendment IX

Amendment IX

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Bill Of Rights - Amendment VIII

Amendment VIII

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Bill Of Rights - Amendment VII

Amendment VII

In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Bill Of Rights - Amendment VI

Amendment VI

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

Bill Of Rights - Amendment V

Amendment V

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Bill Of Rights - Amendment IV

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Bill Of Rights - Amendment III

Amendment III

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Bill Of Rights - Amendment II

Amendment II

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Bill Of Rights - Amendment I

The Conventions of a number of the States having, at the time of adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added, and as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government will best insure the beneficent ends of its institution; Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, two-thirds of both Houses concurring, that the following articles be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States, as amendments to the Constitution of the United States; all or any of which articles, when ratified by three-fourths of the said Legislatures, to be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the said Constitution, namely:

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Fascism

Fascism: Philosophy of government that stresses the primacy and glory of the state, unquestioning obedience to its leader, subordination of the individual will to the state's authority, and harsh suppression of dissent. Martial virtues are celebrated, while liberal and democratic values are disparaged.

-- Britannica Concise Encyclopedia, via answers.com

Long Walk

I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom comes responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not yet ended.

-- Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (18 July 1918-), South African political activist, co-winner of Nobel Peace Prize with F.W. de Klerk in 1993; in 1994, first President of South Africa elected in fully representative democratic elections, Long Walk to Freedom (1995)

Knock Yourself On The Head

Do not think of knocking out another person's brains because he differs in opinion from you. It would be as rational to knock yourself on the head because you differ from yourself ten years ago.

-- Horace Mann, educational reformer (1796-1859)

Lost Our Collective Minds

Back before we lost our collective minds and began shrieking with horror at the thought of kids having fun on their own (as in not part of an official league or otherwise organized activity), they used to do things like find a vacant field, turn it into a makeshift diamond and spend glorious hours in the summer sun.

-- The Greenwich Time newspaper, in an editorial in support of youths who built a wiffle ball field on an empty, city-owned lot in Greenwich, CT, 9 July 2008

More Wisdom

In no part of the Constitution is more wisdom to be found, than in the clause which confides the question of war or peace to the legislature, and not to the executive department.

-- James Madison (16 March 1751 - 28 June 1836), fourth US president (1809-1817), co-author of the Federalist Papers, traditionally regarded as the Father of the US Constitution, 1793

Where Have All The Leaders Gone?

You can't call yourself a patriot if you're not outraged. This is a fight I'm ready and willing to have.

I'm going to speak up because it's my patriotic duty -- I'm hoping to strike a nerve in those young folks who say they don't vote because they don't trust politicians to represent their interests. Hey, America, wake up. These guys work for us.

Why are we in this mess? How did we end up with this crowd in Washington? Well, we voted for them -- or at least some of us did. But I'll tell you what we didn't do. We didn't agree to suspend the Constitution. We didn't agree to stop asking questions or demanding answers. Some of us are sick and tired of people who call free speech treason. Where I come from that's a dictatorship, not a democracy.

And don't tell me it's all the fault of right-wing Republicans or liberal Democrats. That's an intellectually lazy argument, and it's part of the reason we're in this stew. We're not just a nation of factions. We're a people. We share common principles and ideals. And we rise and fall together.

There was a time in this country when the voices of great leaders lifted us up and made us want to do better. Where have all the leaders gone?

-- Lee Iacocca, in his book "Where Have All The Leaders Gone?"

Habeas

The test for determining the scope of this provision must not be subject to manipulation by those whose power it is designed to restrain.

-- From the Supreme Court's decision restoring the writ of habeas corpus to prisoners at Gitmo

Worst?

The United States Supreme Court yesterday rendered a decision which I think is one of the worst decisions in the history of this country.

-- John McCain, NBC 13 June 2008, regarding the recent "Habeas" ruling by SCOTUS

Burden Of Proof

Any curtailment of freedom has a burden of proof.

-- Noam Chomsky, Media Matters, 6 June 2008

Extent To Which You Resist

The state can't give you freedom, and the state can't take it away. Freedom is something you're born with, and then one day someone tries to deny it. The extent to which you resist is the extent to which you are free.

-- Bruce "Utah" Phillips (1935 - 2008), labor organizer, folk singer, storyteller, poet; "Golden Voice of the Great Southwest"

Fat Chance

But if it's true that the only true life I had was the life of my brain, what sense does it make to hand that brain to somebody for eight hours a day for their particular use on the presumption that, at the end of the day, they will give it back in an unmutilated condition? Fat chance!

-- Bruce "Utah" Phillips (1935 - 2008), labor organizer, folk singer, storyteller, poet; "Golden Voice of the Great Southwest"

Tax Freedom Day

Congratulations, you're now working for yourself. The Tax Foundation declares that today is Tax Freedom Day. From January 1 to today you were working for the government. From today through the end of the year, you'll be working for yourself.

-- Downsizer Dispatch, 23 April 2008, http://www.downsizedc.org