Today's the day to remember Eugene Debs, Guy Fawkes, Roy Rogers, Susan Anthony - and my Alabama Cuzzin, Hazel. HB!
[An excerpt from A J Jacob’s <The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible>]: "Day 62. It’s time to tackle an item on my list of Most Perplexing Laws: capital punishment. The Hebrew scriptures prescribe a tremendous amount of capital punishment. Think Saudi Arabia, multiply by Texas, then triple that. It wasn’t just for murder. You could also be executed for adultery, blasphemy, breaking the Sabbath, perjury, incest, bestiality and witchcraft, among other offenses. A rebellious son could be sentenced to death. As could a son who is a persistent drunkard and glutton." [Which brings up one of my very most favorite peeves. Literalists who love to "pig out" on pork-chops!]
"All I can tell you is when the governor calls, I answer his phone." - George W Bush, on Arnold Schwarzenegger
"There is a natural division of labor in politics: The Republicans fuss about the sanctity of marriage and getting God back in the schools and the Democrats about health care and the $8 billion that vanished in Iraq, and so far the Republicans are doing a better job. God is in the schools, the same as He is in Nebraska or even in Dallas, and marriage looks to be doing okay, since the White House is not in charge of it. Meanwhile, the Pentagon and the Justice Department are investigating fraud in Iraq, one grain of sand at a time, and we are likely to have answers in a decade or two." - Garrison Keillor’s Old Scout
"Luther thought it was a fundamental principle of the spiritual life that saints and not sinners were the real authorities on sin. If any inquiring mend wants to know what makes sin sinful, it should ask St Francis or St Clare and not a roomful of hormonally charged late adolescents at a college frat party." - David Steinmetz, Christian Century
"Rivers, ponds, lakes and streams – they all have different names, but they all contain water. Just as religions do – they all contain truths." - Muhammed Ali, The Nation
"You can’t be pro-war and pro-life at the same time." - Bumper-sticker wisdom
"Disillusionment is not a bad thing. Disillusionment is, literally, the loss of an illusion – about ourselves, about the world, about God – and while it is almost always a painful thing, it is never a bad thing to lose the lies we have mistaken for the truth." - Barbara Brown Taylor, Faith at Work [Speaking of whom, Irene and I are reading her <Leaving Church> and enjoying it immensely!]
"All presidents lie for the simple reason that if they didn’t, we wouldn’t elect them. So the problem is not them, it’s us. We should look in the mirror." - Steve Brodner, Atlantic Monthly
"We need an energy bill that encourages consumption." – George W Bush, Trenton, Sep 23 02
Jim Nov 5 07
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It's All Souls Day when we remember all the faithful departed - not quite good enough to be considered saints, but a heck of a lot better than those people down there! Of course, I jest! RIP, all you souls.
"Blogs have certainly seen faster growth than books. Where there may be about 32 million books available (that’s the approximate number listed in a database of 25,000 libraries from around the world), there are already more than 100 million blogs out there. By some accounts, there is a new book published about every 5 minutes, but there is a new blog launched every 1.4 seconds. In terms of numbers, blogs are eclipsing books at an amazing rate. But I doubt there will ever be a National Blog Festival." - Bill Robertson, CEO of Adventist HealthCare in Rockville [He writes a thoughtful and spiritual meditation every week – in English and in Spanish!]
"We’ve got to pause and ask ourselves: how much clean air do we need?" - Lee Iacocca
"It would be a much better country if women did not vote. That is simply a fact." "My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times building." "We need to execute people like John Walker in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed, too. Otherwise, they will turn out to be outright traitors." - Ann Coulter, with thanks to my good friend, Dick Wright
"If you want a nation ruled by religion, move to Iran." - Bumper-sticker
"There are two competing belief systems in the Republican Party – libertarianism and Catholic social teaching. The difference between these visions is considerable. Various forms of libertarianism and anti-government conservatism share a belief that justice is defined by the imposition of impartial rules - free markets and the rule of law. If everyone is treated fairly and equally, the state has done its job. But Catholic social thought takes a large step beyond that view. While it affirms the principle of limited government - asserting the existence of a world of families, congregations and community institutions where government should rarely tread - it also asserts that the justice of society is measured by its treatment of the helpless and poor. And this creates a positive obligation to order society in a way that protects and benefits the powerless and suffering." - Michael Gerson, Sojourners
"An ambassador is an honest man sent to lie abroad for his country." - English Diplomat Henry Wotten, The Week
"The Nobel committee gives its Peace Prize not only to recognize outstanding achievement but also to encourage bold action. Upon hearing of the award, Al Gore said ‘This is just the beginning.’ Let’s hope so. And the next phase must focus on solutions. Gore has been great at outlining the problem, but the feel-good eco-consciousness he prescribes is meek. Since we are facing a ‘planetary emergency,’ as Gore has described it, then surely we must do more than recycle cans and bottles, switch to energy-saving light bulbs and throw a few concerts. At last the world’s attention is focused on the fate of our planet. All of us, people and governments everywhere, must get down to work." - The Nation
"Don’t worry about avoiding temptation. As you grow older, it avoids you." - Winston Churchill
"This administration is doing everything we can to end the stalemate in an efficient way. We’re making the right decisions to bring the solution to an end." - George W Bush, Apr 10 01
Jim Nov 2 07
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"For all the saints, who from their labors rest..." We can see farther because we sit on the shoulders of those giants. May they rest in peace!
"At some point in the future, soldiers will pack up their rucks, equipment will be loaded into huge shipping containers, C-130s will rise wheels-up off the tarmac, and Navy transport ships will cross the high seas to return home once again. At some point — the timing of which I don’t have the slightest guess at — the war in Iraq will end. And I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately — I’ve been thinking about the last American soldier to die in Iraq." - Brian Turner, NY Times [This is a terrible thing to ponder. But how can the point be made that that death was wasted. In a war that was phony, that should never have been waged. Indeed, food for thought!]
"They hold elections in November because that’s the best time of the year for picking a turkey." - Maxine, with thanks to Carl Roemer
"Seven biblical verses seem to condemn same-sex contact, out of 31,000 biblical verses. Among these seven, the context often suggests idolatry, violent rape, lust, exploitation, or promiscuity - which says nothing about a loving relationship between homosexuals. Anyone who does an online search of a main biblical translation such as the NRSV will see that the word 'homosexual' does not appear in the Bible - as one would expect, since sexual orientation is a modern concept." - David Myers, Martin Marty’s Context
"We sing to feel a world we can only imagine." - from Mary Gordon’s <Circling My Mother>, Christian Century
"High fashion or not, Wal-Mart remains the biggest buyer of sweatshop products in the world. Look at two major exposes last year. First Wal-Mart was caught charging $30 for slacks which Nicaraguan sweatshop workers had been paid 12 cents to make. Workers endured unprotected exposure to toxic chemicals, 24-hour ‘shifts’ with no overtime pay, and deductions of $1.50 from their $2-a-day wages for lunch and the bus ride to the factory. Meanwhile, in Bangladesh, Wal-Mart was buying clothing from a child-labor factory that employed 200 children. Aged 11 to 14 years old, they worked grueling shifts of up to 20 hours a day, were paid 6 cents an hour, and were routinely beaten if they took too long in the bathroom." - Jim Hightower’s Lowdown
"Rudy Giuliani – there’s only three things he mentions in a sentence: a noun and a verb and 9/11." - Democratic presidential hopeful, Joe Biden
"Only in America do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put our useless junk in the garage." - Unknown
"Amburger: my realization about myself as I’m kidnapped by cannibals." Brendan Beary, Washington Post’s Style Invitational [the challenge was to drop the first letter of a word and proclaim wisdom...]
"Neither in French nor in English nor in Mexican." - George W Bush declining to take reporters’ questions during a photo op with Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, Apr 21 01
Jim Nov 1 07
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