SPENDING THE DAY READING

I stayed up too late reading "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest." I'm sitting down to read some more before I go to work, but I'm afraid that a nap will overtake me before I finish....

THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNETS' NEST

The final book of Stieg Larsson's trilogy comes out today! I can't wait to get my hands on it! I know I'll start reading it as soon as I get home from work; so it's good that I'm just about finished with "In the Woods."

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race."


~~H. G. Wells

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends -- honesty and hard work, 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."

~~Barack Obama, January 20, 2009, Inaugural Address

SARAH PALIN KEEPS ON LYING

From Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog:

"She tweeted today that the Obama administration wants a "soldier pay decrease."

The more elegant word choice would be 'pay reduction,' but whatever. This is a complete lie regardless of her remedial writing skills.
"FACT: The Pentagon proposed a 1.4 percent pay increase, while Congress proposed a 1.9 percent increase.
"No one's decreasing anything. Except for Sarah Palin whose limited intelligence seems to be decreasing by the day."

HAPPY MOTHERS' DAY

"Mothers are a biological necessity; fathers are a social invention."

~~Margaret Mead

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"What I've realized is that life doesn't count for much unless you're willing to do your small part to leave our children -- all of our children -- a better world. Even if it's difficult. Even if the work seems great. Even if we don't get very far in our lifetime. That is our ultimate responsibility as fathers and parents. We try."

~~Barack Obama, June 15, 2008

AND SHE WAS ALMOST VICE PRESIDENT...

From Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog! Go!:

"The level of stupid in the following remark by Sarah Palin on last night's O'Reilly Factor is immeasurable.

'[O]ur Constitution, of course, essentially acknowledging that our unalienable rights don't come from man; they come from God. So this document is set up to protect us from a government that would ever infringe upon our rights to have freedom of religion and to be able to express our faith freely.'

"Steve Benen points out the obvious problem here: the line 'that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights' comes from the Declaration of Independence. Not the Constitution, which contains no mention whatsoever of any variety of 'God' or 'Creator.'

"And while we're here, I should point out that the Declaration didn't just declare that all American men are created equal and 'are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.' The Declaration stated that these human rights were endowed to all people -- regardless of religion, race, nationality or ethnicity. The Palins of this world tend to conveniently forget these details when it comes to topics like immigration and war.

"Back to Palin. So not only was she incapable of accurately describing the role of the vice president -- the job for which she was running -- but she's also incapable to telling the difference between two very different and distinct founding documents. Holy crap -- imagine the smoke billowing from her ears if someone were to ask her about the Articles of Confederation. My guess is her answer would involve Jefferson Davis and secession."

And finally, if any wingnut can show me a document written by either James Madison or any other participant in the Constitutional Convention that indicates the borrowing of Christian dogma for use in the Constitution, I will retract all of this and, I don't know, follow Sarah Palin on Twitter.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"Just by being out you`re doing your part. It`s like recycling. You`re doing your part for the environment if you recycle; you`re doing your part for the gay movement if you`re out."

~~Martina Navratilova

IF YOU ARE AN ANTI-HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVIST...

From Badtux, the Snarky Penquin:

New rule: If you're an anti-homosexual activist...


"... you're gayer than the gay mayor of gaytown. Bwahahaha! I love it. George Alan Rekers, a Baptist minister who wrote a book about how to raise your boy to be a manly boy instead of a gay boy (some sample advice: Force your child to excel in athletics, and forbid him from arts and crafts, because otherwise he'll grow up to be gay), was caught with a boy toy on a cruise ship. Just an innocent encounter, right? Right?!"

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"To read a great novel is to lay yourself open for a conversion experience."


~~Katherine Paterson

WELCOME TO ARIZONA

Via Cynical-C, from Dangerous Minds

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"Growth takes place whenever a challenge evokes a successful response that, in turn, evokes a further and different challenge. We have not found any intrinsic reason why this process should not repeat itself indefinitely, even though a majority of civilizations have failed, as a matter or historical fact."

~~Arnold B. Toynbee, A Study of History

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"This is the moment to begin the work of seeking the peace of a world without nuclear weapons."

~~Barack Obama, July 24, 2008

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"The world has changed, and we must change along with it."

~~Barack Obama, January 21, 2009

TEA PARTY ACTIVISTS - DO THEY HATE LIBERALS MORE THAN THEY LOVE LIBERTY?

A recent ‘Tea Party’ rally showed lots of anger toward President Obama, but little consistent support for liberty in America...

An Opinion piece from the Christian Science Monitor:

"Many 'tea party' activists staunchly oppose big government, except when it is warring, wiretapping, or waterboarding. A movement that started out denouncing government power apparently has no beef with some of the worst abuses of modern times.

"Unfortunately, there is scant evidence that most tea partyers have studied the copies of the Constitution they generously hand out to bystanders.


"At a Tax Day tea party in Rockville, Md., the speaking venue was draped with a huge banner: 'Tired of Big Government?' Members of the 'Tyranny Response Team' stood near the front of the rally with their official blue T-shirts. Giant American flags and ones with 'Don’t Tread on Me' (with a coiled rattlesnake) were carried around by men with tri-corn hats. Political campaigns busily sold '9/11 Remembrance' bracelets.

"And yet, the crowd of 300 seemed most outraged that the US government is not being sufficiently aggressive in using its power."

Click here for the rest of the article.

WHAT IF THE TEA PARTY WERE BLACK?

From Cynical-C:

Tim Wise:  And this, my friends, is what white privilege is all about. The ability to threaten others, to engage in violent and incendiary rhetoric without consequence, to be viewed as patriotic and normal no matter what you do, and never to be feared and despised as people of color would be, if they tried to get away with half the shit we do, on a daily basis.

Zztopdog notes: Amen!

DOGS & DEVOTION

That is the name of a wonderful book about the celebration of our relationship and bond with dogs. By the Monks of New Skete, the book celebrates our dogs and the better person that they help us to become.

"Dogs & Devotion" is $16.99, at a bookstore near you.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"If we are to make progress, we must not repeat history, but make a new history. We must add to the inheritance left by our ancestors."

~~Mahatma Gandhi

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"Don't ever let anyone tell you that change isn't possible. Don't let them tell you that speaking out and standing up against injustice is too risky. What's too risky is keeping quiet. What's too risky is looking the other way."

~~Barack Obama, 9/28/2007