Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others,
are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.
Douglas Adams

The decade's top 10 quotations - Salon

Before our country can move forward, we need to know how we got here in the first place. Here are a few clues .

read on ...

FTC reminds us that storing data in the cloud has drawbacks - ArsTechnica

The Federal Trade Commission worries that consumers don't really understand the privacy implications to storing some of their most crucial data in the cloud, and it wants the FCC to think about such issues when finalizing its national broadband plan.

read on ...

Kendall-Jackson to drastically cut water usage - CNet

Jackson Family Wines, known for its Kendall-Jackson label, has developed a process to reduce winery water usage by 70 percent.

A new system developed by Jackson Family Wines recycles and filters the hot water used for rinsing, losing only about 10 percent of that water in the process, the company said Tuesday. The system also retains 75 percent of the water's heat. As a result, the process also saves energy.

read on ...

Came across these and liked them, so I am passing them along.

"Of all the passions of mankind, the love of novelty most rules the mind. In search of this, from realm to realm we roam. Our fleets come loaded with every folly home."
- Shelby Foote

"Home is a place not only of strong affections, but of entire unreserve; it is life's undress rehearsal, its backroom, its dressing room."
- Harriet Beecher Stowe

"Where we love is home. Home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts."
- Oliver Wendell Holmes

"The dreams which accompany all human actions should be nurtured by the places in which people live."
- Charles W. Moore

"There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort."
- Jane Austen

"We shape our dwellings, and afterwards our dwellings shape us."
- Winston Churchill

"In the South, perhaps more than any other region, we go back to our home in dreams and memories, hoping it remains what it was on a lazy, still summer's day twenty years ago."
- Willie Morris

© Cam Cardow - Ottawa Citizen - 05.26.2006

The quote above was written in 1914 and is the fourth stanza of "For The Fallen" by Laurence Binyon.

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

~~~~~~

From KnowledgeNews:

Today, America's Memorial Day tends to be more beach-and-barbecue than reflection-and-remembrance. But Memorial Day still exists to commemorate the sacrifice of the more than 1.1 million American service members who have died in battle - and to remember why they gave up their lives.

No one has ever done that better than Abraham Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address. Even before Americans began decorating Civil War graves to give Memorial Day its start, Lincoln's short speech pointed the way to the greatest memorial of all.

On November 19, 1863, President Lincoln visited Gettysburg to help dedicate a new national cemetery. The president was not the event's main speaker. That honor belonged to Edward Everett, a Massachusetts statesman and perhaps the best-known orator of the time. As was customary, Everett delivered a lengthy oration, speaking for two hours straight. Lincoln spoke for just two minutes

The day after the ceremony, Edward Everett wrote to Lincoln, "I wish that I could flatter myself that I had come as near to the central idea of the occasion in two hours as you did in two minutes." Today, the central idea of the occasion remains the same. As Lincoln points out, we honor the sacrifice of soldiers for freedom and self-government best by carrying forward the work of democracy. We dedicate memorials by dedicating ourselves.

- Steve Sampson

The Gettysburg Address:

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that this nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow, this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

- Abraham Lincoln

I believe in justice and truth, without which there would be no basis for human hope.

- His Holiness the Dalai Lama

My fellow citizens:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land — a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many.

They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America -- they will be met. On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted -- for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things -- some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn. Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions -- that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act -- not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions -- who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them -- that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works -- whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account -- to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day — because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control -- and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart -- not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we accept as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort — even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.

To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West -- know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages.

We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment -- a moment that will define a generation -- it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends -- hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility -- a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence -- the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed -- why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive... that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."

America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

Thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.

President Barack Obama's Inaugural Address

"You know" he says as he gazes across the landscape, "people say, 'Sam, why don't you just move into town?' I can walk out any door of my house, step off the porch and pee any damn place I want to. I couldn't do that in town."

I found this on a piece of paper buried in my room with Sammy Baugh as the quoted. I haven't been able to confirm he actually said this, but it's still a great quote.

FYI: Sammy Baugh is the only surviving member of the 17-member charter class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Additionally he has been honored by the Redskins with the retirement of his jersey number, #33, the only number the team has officially retired.

I'll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office.

- George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., May 12, 2008

The development of our cerebral cortex has been the greatest achievement of the evolutionary processes. Big deal. While allowing us the thrills of intellect and the pangs of self-consciousness, it is all too often overruled by our inner, instinctive brain, the one that tells us to react, not reflect, to run rather than ruminate.

Maybe we have gone as far as we can go, and the next advance, whatever that may be, will be made by beings we create ourselves using our own technology, lifeforms we can design and program not to be ultimately governed and constricted by the rules of survival.

Or perhaps that step forward has already been achieved on another planet by organisms that had a billion years head start on us. If these beings ever visited us, would we recognize what we were seeing? And upon catching sight of us, would they react in anything but horror at seeing such mindless, primitive, hideous creatures?

- Fox Mulder

Even in the case of individuals, there is no possibility to feel happiness through anger. If in a difficult situation one becomes disturbed internally, overwhelmed by mental discomfort, then external things will not help at all. However, if despite external difficulties or problems, internally one's attitude is of love, warmth, and kindheartedness, then problems can be faced and accepted.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from mediocrities.

- Albert Einstein

We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force.

Ayn Rand, The Nature of Government

2007 is the centenial of Robert A. Heinleins birth.

On Wikipedia:

• Robert A. Heinlein
• Bibliography
• His Characters

Quotes:

Political tags - such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth - are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.

When a place gets crowded enough to require ID's, social collapse is not far away. It is time to go elsewhere. The best thing about space travel is that it made it possible to go elsewhere.

When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know, the end result is tyranny and oppression no matter how holy the motives.

Anyone who considers protocol unimportant has never dealt with a cat.

Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors... and miss.

The difference between science and the fuzzy subjects is that science requires reasoning while those other subjects merely require scholarship.

~ Life, Liberty and the Pursute on Happiness ~

Schoolhouse Rock! - 'There are going to be fireworks' on YouTube

~ Quotes ~

Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it - Mark Twain

... how little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy! - Thomas Jefferson

We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it. - Edward R. Murrow

"My country, right or wrong" is a thing no patriot would ever think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying "My mother, drunk or sober." - G. K. Chesterton

The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naive and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who likes his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair. - H. L. Mencken

Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. - John F. Kennedy

The government is merely a servant - merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn't. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them. - Mark Twain

To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. - Theodore Roosevelt

Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us. - William O. Douglas

~ Almost Nation Anthem ~

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet,
Whose stern, impassion'd stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine ev'ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine,
Till all success be nobleness,
And ev'ry gain divine!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam,
Undimm'd by human tears!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

- Katharine Lee Bates

~ The Written Word ~

Unfree Speech - By Robert J. Samuelson - The Washington Post

The Fourth of July is an apt moment to reflect on one of the great underreported stories of our time: the rise of speech regulation. Glance at the First Amendment, but do not think it still applies. Large bodies of political speech are now governed by laws, agency regulations, court decisions and lawyerly interpretations. Speech has become unfree.

This does not mean that we don't have vigorous debate or that most points of view aren't represented. But in and around elections, what can be said, by whom and under what circumstances, is now a tangled web of legal qualifications -- all justified as campaign finance "reform."

Read on ...

~ Editorial Cartoons ~

Cagle Cartoons collection for Independence Day

At a time when people are so conscious of maintaining their physical health by controlling their diets, exercising and so forth, it makes sense to try to cultivate the corresponding positive mental attitudes too.

- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, 1963

Even more so now that I think about it.

... I'm sure if there is something out there, looking down on us from somewhere else in the universe, they're wise enough to stay away from us.

- Gil Grissom - CSI

On the basis of the belief that all human beings share the same divine nature, we have a very strong ground, a very powerful reason, to believe that it is possible for each of us to develop a genuine sense of equanimity toward all beings.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama

From MotherJones - How the poor get dinged at every turn:

Bush's tax cuts (extended until 2010) save those earning between $20,000 and $30,000 an average of $10 a year, while those earning $1 million are saved $42,700.

In 2002, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) compared those who point out statistics such as the one above to Adolf Hitler.

Wondering where this info is true, read Paul Krugmans NYT editorial available on Truthout.

Which brings me to the last line of Krugman's editorial - "You see, some folks must be under the impression that as long as something is repeated often enough, it will become true. That was how George W. Bush got to the top." - guess that is why Bush thinks Iraq was a good idea, in his mind "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."

Because we all share this planet earth, we have to learn to live in harmony and peace with each other and with nature. This is not just a dream, but a necessity.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Stuart Carlson - 01.2005

Trust has nothing to do with moral courage. It occurs when we have nowhere else to turn, when we reach the end of our need to control.

-Rodney Smith, "Lessons from the Dying"

You can't trust the government; you can't believe what they say, and you can't rely on their judgment. . . . People do things the president wants to do even though it's wrong, and the president can be wrong.

- H.R. Haldeman, White House chief of staff, in the early 70's paraphrasing the thinking of presidential advisor Donald Rumsfeld

Bill Clinton was in town just the other day for on stumping for a fellow Democrat. He spoke for 20 minutes and here are a couple of quotes:

This is not your grandfather's Republican Party. It is the narrowest, most extreme, most ideological strip of the Republican Party that has run both the White House and the Congress for six years. And they basically favor the concentration of wealth and power as opposed to equal opportunity and empowerment. They favor special interest politics over the common good. And they favor ideological division over evidence and argument.

We have five years of statistical growth, five years of productivity increase, a 40-year high in corporate profits, but wages are stagnant, poverty is up among working families and the percentage of working families with health insurance for their kids has dropped 4 percent. And that's what you get if you have special-interest, status quo-oriented politics and an ideologically oriented economic theory.

Talking about how Independents and Republicans are fed up with the Bush administration's hard right ideology and the chaos in Iraq and are ready to cast the "diving board vote" Democrats hope will carry them to victory Tuesday:

That's where the country is now, that's where the undecided voters are. They're standing on the diving board, looking for somebody to grab 'em by the hand so they can jump off and do what they know they ought to do for their children and their grandchildren's future . . .

The least we can do is spend a few more days looking for people on the diving board and help 'em jump off.

"Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent"
- Salvor Hardin in "Foundation"

A quote which the Mountain Gazette says should "be nailed to the foreheads of warmongers from here to kingdom come and to goddamned eternity and back"

The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.
One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise.

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Sex is good, but not as good as fresh sweet corn - Garrison Keillor

© Bill Watterson - 08.18.1995

Matt McClain - Rocky Mountain News

Olathe Sweet Corn Festival - Eating a total of 19 ears of corn in a seven-minute period, Dan "Tiny" Parker won the men's corn eating contest at the 15th annual Olathe Sweet Corn Festival in Olathe, Colo. "I had lost the last two years (in the corn eating contest) but, they still treat me like a champion", he said.

"I should have planned ahead for a ride."
Pete Coors, head of Coors Brewing Co. and a former GOP Senate candidate, cited for drunk driving.

While listening to the Talking Heads "Stop Making Sense" I wandering the internet and came across this quote from David Byrne about the song "Psycho Killer"

When I started writing this (I got help later), I imagined Alice Cooper doing a Randy Newman-type ballad. Both the Joker and Hannibal Lecter were much more fascinating than the good guys. Everybody sort of roots for the bad guys in movies.

Alice Cooper doing a Randy Newman ballad - now that is some imagination!

In my own experience, the period of greatest gain in knowledge and experience is the most difficult period in one's life. ...Through a difficult period, you can learn, you can develop inner strength, determination, and courage to face the problem. Who gives you this chance? Your enemy.

-His Holiness the Dalai Lama

"Here's how it works. The president makes decisions. He's the decider. The press secretary announces those decisions, and you people of the press type those decisions down. Make, announce, type. Just put 'em through a spell check and go home. Get to know your family again. Make love to your wife. Write that novel you got kicking around in your head. You know, the one about the intrepid Washington reporter with the courage to stand up to the administration? You know, fiction!"
- Stephen Colbert

Read the whole Colbert mock "tribute" to President Bush at the 2006 White House Correspondents' Dinner, of which has been written:
"At times hilarious, at times painfully uncomfortable, Colbert's brazen send-up of President Bush -- delivered with Bush sitting a mere 10 feet away -- ranks as one of the ballsiest comic stunts ever pulled in Washington."

Watch it on C-SPAN (RealMedia)

As long as there is a lack of the inner discipline that brings calmness of mind, no matter what external facilities or conditions you have, they will never give you the feeling of joy and happiness that you are seeking. On the other hand, if you possess this inner quality of calmness of mind, a degree of stability within, then even if you lack various external facilities that you would normally consider necessary for happiness, it is still possible to live a happy and joyful life.

-His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Stubled upon this while checking referrers to my web site. I couldn't figure out who to credit it to, but whomever you are, thanks.

The realm of reality is as vast as cosmic space; it is the knowing mind of sentient beings that is small. Just as long as you do not become egotistic and selfish, you will be ever sated with the spiritual food of nirvana.

-Pao-chih

Yesterday the House of Representatives GOP leaders spent the better part of an hour debating the "attack" on Christmas. A resolution was brought forth from Virginia Rep. Jo Ann Davis to protect the symbols and traditions of Christmas for those who celebrate it. Rep. John D. Dingell, D-Mich., and dean of the House, joined with a parody of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" that mocked the resolution's priorities at a time of GOP-led tax cuts for the wealthy, war in Iraq and rising fuel prices.

'Twas the week before Christmas and all through the House,
no bills were passed `bout which Fox News could grouse.
Tax cuts for the wealthy were passed with great cheer,
so vacations in St. Barts soon should be near.

Katrina kids were all nestled snug in motel beds,
while visions of school and home danced in their heads.
In Iraq, our soldiers need supplies and a plan,
and nuclear weapons are being built in Iran.

Gas prices shot up, consumer confidence fell.
Americans feared we were in a fast track to ..... well.
Wait, we need a distraction, something divisive and wily,
a fabrication straight from the mouth of O'Reilly.

We will pretend Christmas is under attack,
hold a vote to save it, then pat ourselves on the back.
Silent Night, First Noel, Away in the Manger,
Wake up Congress, they're in no danger.

This time of year, we see Christmas everywhere we go,
From churches to homes to schools and, yes, even Costco.
What we have is an attempt to divide and destroy
when this is the season to unite us with joy.

At Christmastime, we're taught to unite.
We don't need a made-up reason to fight.
So on O'Reilly, on Hannity, on Coulter and those right-wing blogs.
You should sit back and relax, have a few egg nogs.

'Tis the holiday season; enjoy it a pinch.
With all our real problems, do we really need another Grinch?
So to my friends and my colleagues, I say with delight,
a Merry Christmas to all, and to Bill O'Reilly, happy holidays.
Ho, ho, ho. Merry Christmas.

Oh, and Rep. Gary L. Ackerman, a New York Democrat who is Jewish, criticized Davis' unwillingness to add the traditions of Kwanzaa, Ramadan and Hanukkah to her resolution and asked whether it might elevate one set of religious symbols over another or make them "more official." I quess only Christian holidays need to be protected.

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

- Robert Frost

I was watching the evening news on CBS tonight and caught this line:

"The pigs get fatter and the hogs get slaughtered. And Tom is a hog"

This was said by the Republican Chairwoman of Tom Delays home county or district, I didn't catch which.

Ouch, that has got to hurt!

** Update **

The quote is by Beverly Carter, a Republican precinct chairwoman in DeLay's home district.

For both sides listen to NPR's DeLay's Constituents React to Ethics Woes
and read NewsBusters CBS Highlights Republican Critic of DeLay Who Calls Him a Hog

"I think I may need a bathroom break? Is this possible?"

President Bush, in a note while at the United Nations

The man with 9 fingers would have been 63 today. He could play more with those 9 fingers than most people could with 20!

Some things he said:

• I like someone who embraces life; who wants to be on a long journey but has no particular plan or destination in mind. An adventurous man, open to the concept of living life in the moment.
• For me, the lame part of the Sixties was the political part, the social part. The real part was the spiritual part.
• Nobody stopped thinking about those psychedelic experiences. Once you've been to some of those places, you think, ''How can I get back there again but make it a little easier on myself?''
• Somebody has to do something, and it's just incredibly pathetic that it has to be us.
• Constantly choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil.
• Playing live for a good cause is something I like to do. I like the response of the Indian people, I like their depth and the way they look beyond the surface of things.
• You do not merely want to be considered just the best of the best. You want to be considered the only ones who do what you do

We miss you Jerry.

** Update **

Keefer on KBCO played a good 35 minutes of commercial free Jerry and the boys tonight at 6:00 PM. Now that's pretty cool

Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.

- William Morris

Thanks Eric

** Update **

William Morris - Craftsman and Designer, 1834-1896

I thought I would start out this new year with some quotes. Some nice prolific thoughts to inspire you to make the most of the year. Yeh, right!

Deep Thoughts of Supermodels

ON COURAGE
"They were doing a full back shot of me in a swimsuit and I thought, Oh my God, I have to be so brave. See, every woman hates herself from behind."
--Cindy Crawford

ON SELF-KNOWLEDGE
"Everywhere I went, my cleavage followed. But I learned I am not my cleavage."
--Carole Mallory

ON POVERTY
"Everyone should have enough money to get plastic surgery."
-- Beverly Johnson

ON FATE
"I wish my butt did not go sideways, but I guess I have to face that."
--Christie Brinkley

ON PSYCHOLOGY
"I loved making 'Rising Sun'. I got into the psychology of why she liked to get strangled and tied up in plastic bags. It has to do with low self-worth."
--Tatjana Patitz

ON ARRIVING
"Because modeling is lucrative, I'm able to save up and be more particular about the acting roles I take."
--Kathy Ireland, star of 'Alien From L.A.' and 'Danger Island'

ON CAREER CHOICES
"My boyfriend thinks I lost my true calling to be a librarian."
--Paulina Porizkova

ON PRIORITIES
"I would rather exercise than read a newspaper."
--Kim Alexis

ON GEOPOLITICS
"Mick Jagger and I just really liked each other a lot. We talked all night. We had the same views on nuclear disarmament."
--Jerry Hall

ON INNER STRENGTH
"I love the confidence that makeup gives me."
--Tyra Banks

ON DEATH
"Richard doesn't really like me to kill bugs, but sometimes I can't help it."
--Cindy Crawford

ON TRAVEL
"I haven't seen the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, the Louvre. I haven't seen anything. I don't really care."
--Tyra Banks

ON BREAKTHROUGHS
"Once I got past my anger toward my mother, I began to excel in volleyball and modeling."
--Gabrielle Reece

ON EPIPHANY
"I just found out that I'm one inch taller than I thought."
-- Christie Brinkley

ON HEREDITY
"My husband was just OK looking. I was in labor and I said to him, 'What if she's ugly? You're ugly.'"
--Beverly Johnson

ON THE BASICS
"It's very important to have the right clothing to exercise in. If you throw on an old T-shirt or sweats, it's not inspiring for your workout."
--Cheryl Tiegs

ON INTRODUCTIONS
"I think most people are curious about what it would be like to be able to meet yourself --it's eerie."
-- Christy Turlington

ON COURTSHIP
"The soundtrack to 'Indecent Exposure' is a romantic mix of music that I know most women love to hear, so I never keep it far from me when women are nearby."
--Fabio

ON PARADOX
"Sometimes I get lonely, but it's nice to be alone."
--Tatjana Patitz

ON THE CONSERVATION OF MATTER
"I've looked in the mirror every day for 20 years. It's the same face."
--Claudia Schiffer

ON TRAGEDY
"The worst was when my skirt fell down to my ankles
--but I had on thick tights underneath."
--Naomi Campbell

ON INSTINCT
"If I'm making a movie and get hungry, I call time-out and eat some crackers."
--Carol Alt

ON THE CASTE SYSTEM
"We're not Prince Charles and Princess Di. We don't think of ourselves as royalty. We happen to be working people."
--Christie Brinkley

ON OCCUPATIONAL HAZARDS
"I tried on 250 bathing suits in one afternoon and ended up having little scabs up and down my thighs, probably from some of those with sequins all over them."
--Cindy Crawford

ON ECONOMICS
"I don't wake up for less than $10,000 a day."
--Linda Evangelista

ON ZEN
"When I model I'm pretty blank. You can't think too much or it doesn't work."
--Paulina Porizkova

ON LOGIC
"I think, If my butt's not too big for them to be photographing it, then it shouldn't be too big for me."
--Christy Turlington

ON BODY PARTS
"I don't know what to do with my arms. It just makes me feel weird and I feel like people are looking at me and that makes me nervous."
--Tyra Banks

ON BODY LANGUAGE
"You can usually tell when I'm happy by the fact that I've gained weight."
--Christy Turlington

ON DEPRIVATION
"If they had Nautilus on the Concorde, I would work out all the time."
--Linda Evangelista

ON MOTIVATION
"It was kind of boring for me to have to eat. I would know that I had to, and I would."
--Kate Moss

ON VERSATILITY
"I can do anything you want me to do so long as I don't have to speak."
--Linda Evangelista

ON THE GRIEF PROCESS
"When my Azzedine jacket from 1987 died, I wrapped it up in a box, attached a note saying where it came from and took it to the Salvation Army. It was a big loss."
--Veronica Webb

ON VENGEANCE
"Girls are always getting mad at each other and they tell their hairdresser to purposely mess up another girl's hair."
--Tasha

ON BATTING .667
"I'm a pretty girl who's a model who doesn't suck as an actress."
--Cameron Diaz

We plant merit with our minds, and we commit crimes with our minds. With our minds, we imprint images. This one mind is like an artist. It can draw anything, and what it draws is realized. If you surrender your impressions, ideas, thoughts, and so on at the moment they arise without imprinting them on your mind, your minds will not be tainted, just as the lotus flower is not tainted by the muddy water whence it grows.

-Jae Woong Kim, "Polishing The Diamond"

Because we all share this planet earth, we have to learn to live in harmony and peace with each other and with nature. This is not just a dream, but a necessity.

- His Holiness the Dalai Lama

As free human beings we can use our unique intelligence to try to understand ourselves and our world. But if we are prevented from using our creative potential, we are deprived of one of the basic characteristics of a human being.

- His Holiness the Dalai Lama

I believe there is an important distinction to be made between religion and spirituality. Religion I take to be concerned with belief in the claims to salvation of one faith tradition or another--an aspect of which is acceptance of some form of meta-physical or philosophical reality, including perhaps an idea of heaven or hell. Connected with this are religious teachings or dogma, ritual, prayers and so on. Spirituality I take to be concerned with those qualities of the human spirit--such as love and compassion, patience, tolerance, forgiveness, contentment, a sense of responsibility, a sense of harmony, which bring happiness to both self and others.

- His Holiness the Dalai Lama

As a Buddhist monk my concern extends to all members of the human family and, indeed, to all sentient beings who suffer. I believe all suffering is caused by ignorance. People inflict pain on others in the selfish pursuit of their own happiness or satisfaction.

- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech, Oslo, December 1989

Speak harshly to no one,
or the words will be thrown
right back at you.
Contentious talk is painful,
for you get struck by rods in return.

- Dhammapada, 10, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.

Now if only I could do this, I would not keep getting hit with those darn rods.
And them rods can be painful!

Stressed is desserts spelled backwards.

Coincidence?

I think not!

- Author Unknown

Never give up
No matter what is going on
Never give up
Develop the heart
Too much energy in your country is spent
Developing the mind instead of the heart.
Be compassionate not just to your friends but to everyone
Be compassionate.
Work for peace in your heart and in the world.
Work for peace and I say again
Never give up.
No matter what is happening,
No matter what is going on around you,
Never give up.

- His Holiness the Dalai Lama

I saw this one in Washington Whispers today. Makes you want to laugh and wonder at the same time.

"Shouldn't we be more concerned about voting in November?"
-Tom Joyner, national radio host, on claims of voting problems with Fox's American Idol

According to Buddhist psychology, most of our troubles are due to our passionate desire for, attachment to things that we misapprehend as enduring entities. The pursuit of the objects of our desire and attachment involves the use of aggression and competitiveness. These mental processes easily translate into actions, breeding belligerence. Such processes have been going on in the human mind since time immemorial, but their execution has become more effective under modern conditions. What can we do to control and regulate these 'poisons' - delusion, greed and aggression? For it is these poisons that are behind almost every trouble in the world.

- His Holiness the Dalai Lama

I read this in the Rocky Mountain News today:

"I'm not going to pull a Janet Jackson. I'd probably kill about four people in the front row."
- Dolly Parton

They are saying this is quoted in The Star, at her Dollywood theme park's 19th opening day.

Whether this is true or not, I leave up to you. I searched the web and came up empty, but I do have the newspaper in front of me.

But, man, what a great quote !!

It is said that there are only two tragedies in life:
not getting what one wants,
and getting it.

- Bhanta Henepola Gunaratana,
"Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness"

I am certainly not an advocate for frequent and untried changes in laws and constitutions. I think moderate imperfections had better be borne with; because, when once known, we accomodate ourselves to them and find practical means of correcting their ill effects. But I know also that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also and keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.

- Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Kercheval, 1816.

"That's all I'm going to say for now. Quack, quack."
Antonin Scalia, Supreme Court justice, dismissing the controversy over his duck-hunting trip with Vice President Cheney while considering a Cheney court case

Well, I have not been keeping up with my blogabilties as evident by the total lack of postings recently. So let's see if we can do a quick catchup.

I did a kind of new ride last Sunday. We hit Deer Creek Canyon (map)for an early afternoon pedal. After starting up the trail I remembered being there a couple of years ago and not being able to make it up the climb to the loops. Hence, it was erased from my memory. Well, I still needed to get out of the clips twice for some ugly rocky terrain, but I made it up to the loops and road both of them. There are some killer overlooks up on these trails and it is definitely worth the climbing to see them.

A week ago last Sunday I hit Green Mountain (map, doesn't show all the trails) for a good ride. I just looped around the place a few times doing different climbs and descents to get a decent two hour ride without really going in the same direction on any one trail any of the time.

Denver received a nice snow storm this past Monday. A good few inches hit in the afternoon. After a tricky ride home in the snow I broke down and bought some Studded Cyclo-Cross Tires from bike nashbar. They arrived today and I get to try them out tomorrow morning for what could be a chilly ride into work. Hey, at least I won't slip and slide!

I received this quote from a friend the other day:

What you do when others are not looking is what defines character.

So, what do you do when others are not looking?

I finished re-copying all my CD's to a hard drive the other day and now I am having fun creating new disks for my listening pleasure. The first ones are taken from the Miles Davis collection The Complete Columbia Studio Sessions, 1965-68. There are four complete albums (E.S.P., Miles Smiles, Nefertiti and Miles In The Sky) and one partial (Filles De Kilimanjaro) plus alternates and other takes on this set. The group of musicians playing with Miles at the time makes up one of the greatest jazz quintets of all time.

Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams

I also have The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions and thus made the Bitches Brew CD's. I guess I am just in a jazz state of mind these days.

Yo to all of you out there in cyberland. Have you recovered from Thanksgiving yet? A quick diet before the Christmas holidays hit? Well, I hope all your Thanksgiving dreams came true.

I am finally reading a book that a friend of mine lent to me, oh, easily a couple months ago. The book is "Wild at Heart" and has this great quote of Teddy Roosevelts (why does the pronunciation of the beginning of their last name rhyme with hose as opposed to moose?):

It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly ... who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who have never known neither victory or defeat.
- Teddy Roosevelt

In case you are wonder, I ain't the guy in the arena! I'm just a little chicken shit. ;)

Remember this: Your brain is not a museum for the past, or a lumber room for the present; it is a laboratory for the future, even if the future is only five minutes ahead of you..

John Frederick Charles Fuller (1878-1966)
British Army Major General