quote of the day/300th post

This is the 300th post on this blog, and I really wish I had something more interesting to post that this, but hey, I thought it was funny.


"if you don't mind me saying so, you're badly in need of an expensive course of psychiatric treatment. Now, I'm not going to say that a trip to our dairy will cure you, but it will give hundreds of lower-paid workers a good laugh."
----Monty Python

two quotes of the day/some religion

"One good schoolmaster is of more use than a hundred priests."
---One of my heroes, Thomas Paine

I think that many of you might misinterpret this quote as being anti-religion, but I don't think it is so much anti-religion as pro-education. Also, Thomas Paine wasn't anti-religion, he was a fairly religious man but he was against organized religion. He wrote at the beginning of the Age of Reason(one of his books) a quote that it is very very close to my own religious beliefs.

I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life.
I believe in the equality of man; and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavouring to make our fellow-creatures happy.
But, lest it should be supposed that I believe many other things in addition to these, I shall, in the progress of this work, declare the things I do not believe, and my reasons for not believing them.
I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish Church, by the Roman Church, by the Greek Church, by the Turkish Church, by the Protestant Church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church.
All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.
I do not mean by this declaration to condemn those who believe otherwise; they have the same right to their belief as I have to mine. But it is necessary to the happiness of man that he be mentally faithful to himself. Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe what he does not believe

----Thomas Paine, The Age Of Reason

quote of the day

"If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear."

----George Orwell

quote of the day

"In my opinion, nothing has contributed so much to the corruption of the original idea of socialism as the belief that Russia is a socialist country and that every act of its rulers must be excused, if not imitated."

----George Orwell

You might be able to tell, I like George Orwell

quote of the day

"Either we all live in a decent world, or nobody does."
---George Orwell

quote of the day

"We have now sunk to a depth at which the restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men"
---George Orwell

quote of the day

"Have you learned nothing from fox? You pick your narrative and stick with it. And if the news doesn't fit your narrative, change your bleeping news!"
--Jon Stewart on Msnbc's coverage of Obama's speech

quote of the day

The Presidential Debate West Wing Style

RITCHIE
[on TV] Let the states decide. Let the communities decide on health care, on education,
on lower taxes, not higher taxes. Now, he's going to throw a big word at you-- "unfunded
mandate." If Washington lets the states do it, it's an unfunded mandate. But what he
doesn't like is the federal government losing power. But I call it the ingenuity of the
American people.

MODERATOR
[on TV] President Bartlet, you have 60 seconds for a question and an answer.

BARTLET
[on TV] Well, first of all, let's clear up a couple of things. "Unfunded mandate" is two
words, not one "big word."

They cheer backstage.

BARTLET
[on TV] There are times when we're fifty states and there are times when we're one
country, and have national needs. And the way I know this is that Florida didn't fight
Germany in World War II or establish civil rights. You think states should do the
governing wall-to-wall. That's a perfectly valid opinion. But your state of Florida got
$12.6 billion in federal money last year-- from Nebraskans, and Virginians, and New
Yorkers, and Alaskans, with their Eskimo poetry. 12.6 out of a state budget of $50
billion, and I'm supposed to be using this time for a question, so here it is: Can we
have it back, please?

quote of the day

This is dialogue from the West Wing Episode the Midterms written by Aaron Sorkin. In this scene President Bartlet addresses conservative talk-show host Dr. Jenna Jacobs(I wonder who she is based on?)


BARTLET
I'm sorry, um... you're Dr. Jenna Jacobs, right?

JENNA JACOBS
Yes, sir.

BARTLET
It's good to have you here.

JENNA JACOBS
Thank you.

BARTLET
The awesome impact of the airwaves and how that translates into the furthering of our national
discussions but obviously also how it can... how it can...

He sighs, and addresses Jenna Jacobs again.

BARTLET
Forgive me, Dr. Jacobs. Are you an M.D.?

JENNA JACOBS
Ph.D.

BARTLET
A Ph.D.?

JENNA JACOBS
Yes, sir.

BARTLET
In Psychology?

JENNA JACOBS
No sir.

BARTLET
Theology?

JENNA JACOBS
No.

BARTLET
Social work?

JENNA JACOBS
I have a Ph.D. in English Literature.

BARTLET
I'm asking, 'cause on your show, people call in for advice and you go by the name of
Dr. Jacobs on your show. And I didn't know if maybe your listeners were confused by that,
and assumed you had advanced training in Psychology, Theology, or health care.

JENNA JACOBS
I don't believe they are confused, no sir.

BARTLET
Good. I like your show. I like how you call homosexuality an abomination.

JENNA JACOBS
I don't say homosexuality is an abomination, Mr. President. The Bible does.

BARTLET
Yes, it does. Leviticus.

JENNA JACOBS
18:22

BARTLET
Chapter and verse. I wanted to ask you a couple of questions while I had you here.
I'm interested in selling my youngest daughter into slavery as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7.
(small chuckles from the guests) She's a Georgetown sophomore, speaks fluent Italian, and
always clears the table when it was her turn. What would a good price for her be? While
thinking about that, can I ask another? My Chief of Staff, LeoO McGarry, insists on working
on the Sabbath, Exodus 35:2, clearly says he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated
to kill him myself or is it okay to call the police? Here's one that's really important,
'cause we've got a lot of sports fans in this town. Touching the skin of a dead pig makes
us unclean, Leviticus 11:7. If they promise to wear gloves, can the Washington Redskins
still play football? Can Notre Dame? Can West Point? Does the whole town really have to be
together to stone my brother, John, for planting different crops side by side? Can I burn
my mother in a small family gathering for wearing garments made from two different threads?

Think about those questions, would you? One last thing, while you may be mistaking this
for your monthly meeting of the Ignorant Club, in this building, when the President
stands, nobody sits.

quote of the day

"Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."
---Jesus Christ

quote of the day

"My Vote is not for sale, but it can be rented"
---John Grisham Runaway Jury

quote of the day

"So you're above Liberal Elitism, Alex?"
"Yes."

----- My memory of a conversation between Alex and Ben(my co-writers for this blog for those of you who do not know. In Alex's defensive he went on to say that he was actually far below liberal elitism, but I think the point stands.)

quote of the day

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times, I'll hire you as my lawyer."
---Brandon Sanderson

quote of the day

"We need fathers to realize that responsibility does not end at conception. ...Too many fathers are MIA, too many fathers are AWOL, missing from too many lives and too many homes. They have abandoned their responsibilities, acting like boys instead of men."
-----President Obama

quote of the day

"A Dalek fleet. Minimum 12 thousand battleships, armed to the teeth. Ahhhhhhh! But we've got surprise on our side. They will never expect 3 people to attack 12 thousand Dalek battleships...because we'd be killed instantly. So it would be a very short surprise."
--The Doctor in the Pandorica Opens

quote of the day

You know, you remind me of the man that lived by the river. He heard a radio report that the river was going to rush up and flood the town. And that all the residents should evacuate their homes. But the man said, “I’m religious. I pray. God loves me. God will save me.”The waters rose up. A guy in a row boat came along and he shouted, “Hey, hey you! You in there. The town is flooding. Let me take you to safety.” But the man shouted back, “I’m religious. I pray. God loves me. God will save me.”A helicopter was hovering overhead. And a guy with a megaphone shouted, “Hey you, you down there. The town is flooding. Let me drop this ladder and I’ll take you to safety.” But the man shouted back that he was religious, that he prayed, that God loved him and that God will take him to safety.Well... the man drowned. And standing at the gates of St. Peter, he demanded an audience with God. “Lord,” he said, “I’m a religious man, I pray. I thought you loved me. Why did this happen?” God said, “I sent you a radio report, a helicopter, and a guy in a rowboat. What the devil are you doing here?”
--Aaron Sorkin The West Wingq

quote of the day

"This song is Copyrighted in U.S., under Seal of Copyright #154085, for a period of 28 years, and anybody caught singin' it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ours, cause we don't give a darn. Publish it. Write it. Sing it. Swing to it. Yodel it. We wrote it, that's all we wanted to do."
---Message on mimeographed copies of Woody Guthrie lyrics distributed to fans in the 1930s as quoted by Pete Seeger in an NPR interview "Pete Seeger remembers Woody" (1996)

quote of the day

"To punish me for my contempt of authority, Fate has made me an authority myself."
----Albert Einstein

quote of the day

"I have second thoughts. Maybe God is malicious."
--Albert Einstein

quote of the day

"Subtle is the Lord, but malicious He is not."
----Albert Einstein