THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art.... It has no survival value; rather is one of those things that give value to survival."
~~C. S. Lewis

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY (sort of...)

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY, ADAM!

The Heart of the Matter: How it Looks to the Terrorists

The Heart of the Matter: How it Looks to the Terrorists

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"When for too long I don't go deep enough into the woods to see them, they begin to enter my dreams. Yes, there they are, in the pinewoods of my inner life. I want to live a life full of modesty and praise. Each hoof of each animal makes the sign of a heart as it touches and lifts away from the ground. Unless you believe that heaven is very near, how will you find it? Their eyes are pools in which one would be content, on any summer afternoon, to swim away through the door of the world. Then, love and its blessings. Then: heaven."

~~Mary Oliver, "The Faces of Deer"

FRIDAY'S LITTLE DOSE OF CUTE

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"I do not believe we can repair the basic fabric of society until people who are willing to work have work. Work organizes life. It gives structure and discipline to life."
~~Bill Clinton

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"The Taliban tried to blow up Dick Cheney. ... He was never in danger -- at the time of the attack, he was safely asleep in his coffin. ... I just hope that this attempt on his life doesn't turn him bitter, vicious, and paranoid."

~~Bill Maher

FIRST HUMMINGBIRD OF THE SEASON IN OUR BACKYARD YESTERDAY

Photo by AnnPatt

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"I don't have a dime left. I am dependent on my friends for food and a small old-age pension."
~~Bela Lugosi

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL

Photo by KO&KA

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

“I went to a conference on bisexuality about 15 years ago. A woman there said to me, 'I wish you gay men would stop putting your energy into fighting homophobia and instead put your energy into eradicating misogyny. Because the problem society has with gay men isn't that they're with other men - it's that they're men who are 'acting like women.' If it were ok to be a woman in this culture, homophobia would just disappear.' I think she's right.”
~~Jess Thompson-Adams, commenting on Judith Warner's Domestic Disturbances blog entry, Dude, You've Got Problems

BANNED BOOKS

Zztopdog's note: It is difficult to believe that there are still areas in this country where banning books is an accepted practice. The following article is from About.com. To find more articles and banned-book archives, please visit their Contemporary Literature site.

"A banned book is one that has been removed from the shelves of a library, bookstore, or classroom because of its controversial content. In some cases, banned books of the past have been burned and/or refused publication. Possession of banned books has at times been regarded as an act of treason or heresy, which was punishable by death, torture, prison time, or other acts of retribution. A book may be challenged or banned on political, religious, sexual, or social grounds. We take the acts of banning or challenging a book as a serious matter, because these are forms of censorship--striking at the very core of our freedom to read.
"A book may be considered a banned book if the work has been banned in the past. We still discuss these books and the censorship surrounding them not only because it gives us insight into the time in which the book was banned, but it also gives us some perspective on books that are banned and challenged today. Many of the books that we consider rather 'tame' today were once hotly debated works of literature. Then, of course, books that were once popular bestsellers are sometimes challenged or banned in classrooms or libraries because the cultural view point and/or language that was accepted at the time of the books publication is no longer deemed appropriate to read. Time has a way of changing our perspective on literature.
"Why Discuss Banned Books? Just because a book has been banned or challenged in some parts of the United States doesn't mean it has happened where you live. You may be one of the fortunate few who has never experienced banning. That's why it's so important for us to discuss the reality of banned books. It's important to know about the cases that are happening in other parts of the United States, and it's important to be aware of the cases of book banning and censorship that are taking place around the world. Amnesty International directs attention to just a few writers from China, Eritrea, Iran, Myanmar, and Saudi Arabia, who have been persecuted for their writings."

About.com's reading list of banned books: http://contemporarylit.about.com/od/readinglists/tp/bannedBooks.htm

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"When we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives
but are grateful for the abundance that's present - love, health,
family, friends, work, the joys of nature, and personal pursuits
that bring us pleasure - the wasteland of illusion falls away,
and we experience heaven on earth."
~~Sara Ban Breathmach, American Writer

THOUGHT FOR A MONDAY

"The past does not define you, the present does."
~~Jillian Michaels

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"There is no point dwelling on what might have been or could have been. You just have to go forward."
~~Jack Nicholson, American Actor

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"Love the earth and sun and animals,
Despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks,
Stand up for the stupid and crazy,
Devote your income and labor to others...
And your very flesh shall be a great poem."
~~Walt Whitman

FRIDAY'S LITTLE DOSE OF CUTE

Photo from LOL Dogs: I Has a Hotdog