Political language -- and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists -- is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.
In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever.
But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.
Sometimes the first duty of intelligent men is the restatement of the obvious.
Whatever is funny is subversive, every joke is ultimately a custard pie... a dirty joke is a sort of mental rebellion.
In our age there is no such thing as 'keeping out of politics.' All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia.
All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome.
At fifty everyone has the face he deserves.
Most people get a fair amount of fun out of their lives, but on balance life is suffering, and only the very young or the very foolish imagine otherwise.
John Stuart Mill
Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives.
The amount of eccentricity in a society has generally been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigor, and moral courage it contained. That so few now dare to be eccentric marks the chief danger of the time.
The general tendency of things throughout the world is to render mediocrity the ascendant power among mankind.
Whatever crushes individuality is despotism, by whatever name it may be called and whether it professes to be enforcing the will of God or the injunctions of men.
A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
Mark Twain
Don't let schooling interfere with your education.
All generalizations are false, including this one.
A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read.
Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.
Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.
The Public is merely a multiplied "me."
Only kings, presidents, editors, and people with tapeworms have the right to use the editorial "we."
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
Only one thing is impossible for God: To find any sense in any copyright law on the planet.
Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.
Winston Churchill
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.
I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.
Don't talk to me about naval tradition. It's nothing but rum, sodomy and the lash.
Never hold discussions with the monkey when the organ grinder is in the room.
Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.
However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.
In war as in life, it is often necessary when some cherished scheme has failed, to take up the best alternative open, and if so, it is folly not to work for it with all your might.
Otto Von Bismarck
When you want to fool the world, tell the truth.
I have seen three emperors in their nakedness, and the sight was not inspiring.
Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied.
Be polite; write diplomatically ;even in a declaration of war one observes the rules of politeness.
Voltaire
A witty saying proves nothing.
If God created us in his own image, we have more than reciprocated.
When he to whom one speaks does not understand, and he who speaks himself does not understand, that is metaphysics.
I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: "O Lord make my enemies ridiculous." And God granted it.
To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered.
Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.
It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.
The best way to be boring is to leave nothing out.
Karl Marx
Philosophy stands in the same relation to the study of the actual world as masturbation to sexual love.
All I know is I'm not a Marxist.
The writer may very well serve a movement of history as its mouthpiece, but he cannot of course create it.
Monday, November 01, 2004
Ten reasons to vote (in case you're still not sure)
We’ve lost 1.6 million private-sector jobs under President George W. Bush, whose solution has been to give tax cuts to the wealthy. One of Sen. John Kerry’s (D-Mass.) first priorities as president will be to restore the jobs—including manufacturing jobs—that have disappeared during the Bush administration. Kerry will work for a new tax credit to encourage manufacturers to create family-supporting jobs here in America. He will invest in new energy industries and in critical job-creating infrastructure projects: building roads and bridges, improving water and sewer systems, repairing and rebuilding crumbling schools and upgrading the nation’s transportation systems.
2. Overtime Pay
President Bush pushed through new rules predicted to take overtime pay rights away from some 6 million workers. On Sept. 14, Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) pledged: “On the day that John Kerry is sworn in as your next president, we will reverse this overtime rule that this administration put into place.”
3. Trade
In his Economic Report of the President, 2004, President Bush advocated exporting American jobs. He backs tax breaks for U.S. job exporters and is trying to expand the job-killing North American Free Trade Agreement to 34 more countries. Sen. Kerry will order an immediate 120-day review of all existing trade agreements to ensure they are fair and balanced for America’s workers. He will insist that enforceable worker and environmental standards are included in any new trade agreements. He will save jobs by ending tax incentives for corporations to move jobs overseas and will work to stop such countries as China and Japan from manipulating currency and undermining the value of U.S. products abroad.
4. Health Care
Five million more people are uninsured since President Bush took office. Retirees stand to lose existing drug coverage and the government is barred from negotiating lower drug costs under Bush’s flawed Medicare drug benefit. Sen. Kerry will reduce family health care premiums by up to $1,000, lower costs for businesses and expand insurance coverage to 95 percent of Americans. He’ll do this by shifting a share of catastrophic case costs to the government, covering uninsured children under the existing State Children’s Health Insurance Program and Medicaid and allowing all of us access to the same insurance plan now enjoyed by members of Congress. Kerry also will overhaul Bush’s Medicare drug benefit so it protects seniors and allows the government to negotiate lower drug costs.
5. Retirement Security
President Bush wants to siphon off Social Security funds into risky, private Wall Street accounts—a plan that would cost so much it would require raising the retirement age, cutting benefits or both. Sen. Kerry will strengthen Social Security—he will not privatize it or raise the retirement age. He supports stronger protections for workers’ 401(k) plans and other employer-provided retirement benefits.
6. Iraq
“America is fighting—and must win—two wars,” Sen. Kerry says. “The war in Iraq. And the war on terror.” He can give us a fresh start with greater international support for Iraqi freedom and for our troops. His plans for Iraq include urgently expanding efforts to train Iraqi security forces, moving forward with reconstruction efforts to bring real benefits to the Iraqi people and taking essential steps to guarantee the promised elections are held next year. Unlike the current president, he will level with the American people about this war.
7. Homeland Security
To fight the war on terror, Sen. Kerry will transform our military to better address terrorist threats, strengthen our intelligence services by implementing the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States’ (also known as the 9-11 Commission) recommendations and work to secure nuclear materials worldwide. At the same time, he will provide funds to hire and equip up to 100,000 firefighters, restore funding for the federal COPS program that supports state and local law enforcement agencies and improve port, rail and transit system security. President Bush has not only failed to secure our port, rail and transit systems, he also has cut grant funding for first responders.
8. Education
President Bush has shortchanged our children’s education, failing to fully fund the No Child Left Behind Act and to repair crumbling schools. Sen. Kerry will provide full funding for the No Child Left Behind Act so students and teachers can meet high standards. He will invest in repairing and modernizing substandard school buildings. He also will help make college affordable with a new College Opportunity Tax Credit.
9. Workers’ Freedom to Form Unions
President Bush has destroyed collective bargaining rights of more than 230,000 federal workers in the Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration and other federal agencies. In doing so, he has treated union members as threats to national security. Sen. Kerry strongly supports workers’ freedom to form unions. He and running mate Sen. Edwards are co-sponsors of the Employee Free Choice Act (S. 1925), which would crack down on employer intimidation and harassment of workers trying to form unions and/or reach a first contract. Kerry has directly supported workers struggling to form unions, including Boston janitors, Massachusetts grocery workers and employees of Quebecor World and Comcast.
10. Leadership
“There are born leaders—and he is one of them.” That’s what Gene Thorson, who served on a swift boat in South Vietnam with Sen. Kerry, says about the presidential candidate today. John Kerry is a leader whose commitments match America’s values. His leadership will enable him to make America strong at home and respected in the world. John Kerry has pledged to build a growing economy based on good jobs, a health care plan that reduces costs, an energy plan that frees us from Middle East oil, an able and well-equipped military, strong international alliances to keep America safe and secure. President Bush has led America—but in the wrong direction.
"Netpolitik is a new style of diplomacy that seeks to exploit the powerful capabilities of the Internet to shape politics, culture, values, and personal identity. But unlike Realpolitik — which seeks to advance a nation’s political interests through amoral coercion — Netpolitik traffics in “softer” issues such as moral legitimacy, culturalidentity, societal values, and public perception." - The Rise of Netpolitik
PUN-DIT (n) : A learned man; a teacher; a source of opinion; a critic: a political pundit.
