What is True Patriotism? Famous quotes on this subject for the 4th of July

"True patriotism hates injustice in its own land as much as anywhere else." -- Clarence Darrow

"When a whole nation is roaring Patriotism at the top of its voice, I am fain to explore the cleanness of its hands and purity of its heart." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"One of the great attractions of patriotism -- if fulfills our worst wishes. In the person of our nation we are able, vicariously, to bully and cheat. Bully and cheat, what's more, with a feeling that we are profoundly virtuous." -- Aldous Huxley

"Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism -- how passionately I hate them!" -- Albert Einstein

"My kind of loyalty was loyalty to one's country, not to its institutions or its office holders."
-- Mark Twain

"We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearth-stone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."
-- Abraham Lincoln

"Do not... regard the critics as questionable patriots. What were Washington and Jefferson and Adams but profound critics of the colonial status quo?"
-- Adlai Stevenson

"Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons."
-- Bertrand Russell

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Oh me, oh my -- what else could we do with him?

I have a few suggestions -- Impeachment being at the top of my list.

US News and World Report printed a short piece about GOP fears that the President's relevance is shrinking beyond already dismal levels.

Allies Worry About President's Schedule

Some of President Bush's allies tell the Political Bulletin they are embarrassed and angry that the White House seems to be wasting Bush's time on frivolous events when much of the country is suffering through economic hard times. "Look at the schedule for Monday," says an outside Bush adviser. "A highlight of his day was witnessing a tee ball game. ... He is being reduced to child's play." The adviser says Bush also signed a supplemental appropriations bill for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on Monday, but he adds that it didn't get much coverage and that the tee ball game set the wrong tone. There is growing concern among Bush allies that the Democrats will effectively portray the President and GOP candidate John McCain as out of touch. Some GOP insiders now predict that the Republicans will lose at least five seats in the Senate and 15 to 20 in the House, and it could get worse if gasoline prices continue to soar and the public remains in a disgruntled mood.

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Rove’s Third Term - Paul Krugman- NYTimes

Al Gore never claimed that he invented the Internet. Howard Dean didn’t scream. Hillary Clinton didn’t say she was staying in the race because Barack Obama might be assassinated. And Wesley Clark didn’t impugn John McCain’s military service.

Paul Krugman

Scott McClellan, the former White House press secretary, titled his tell-all memoir “What Happened.” But a true account of modern American politics should be titled “What Didn’t Happen.” Again and again we’ve had media firestorms over supposedly revealing incidents that never actually took place.

The latest fake scandal fit the usual pattern as an awkwardly phrased remark, lifted out of context and willfully misinterpreted, exploded across the airwaves.

What General Clark actually said was that Mr. McCain’s war service, though heroic, didn’t necessarily constitute a qualification for the presidency. It was a blunt but truthful remark, and not at all outrageous — especially given the fact that General Clark is himself a bona fide war hero.

Yet the Clark affair did reveal something important — not about General Clark, but about Mr. McCain. Now we know what a McCain administration would represent: namely, a third term for Karl Rove.

It was predictable that the McCain campaign would go wild over the Clark remarks. Mr. McCain’s run for the White House has always been based on persona rather than policy: he doesn’t have ideas that voters agree with, but he does have an inspiring life story — which, contrary to the myth of the modest maverick, he talks about all the time. The suggestion that this life story isn’t relevant to his quest for office was bound to provoke a violent reaction.

But the McCain campaign went beyond condemning General Clark’s remarks; it went out of its way to distort them. “This backhanded slap against John as not being a worthy warrior because he just got shot down is one of the more surprising insults in my military history,” said retired Col. Bud Day, who participated in a conference call organized by the campaign. In fact, General Clark had said no such thing.

The irony, not lost on Democrats, is that Col. Day himself has done what he falsely accused Wesley Clark of doing: he appeared in the 2004 Swift boat ads that impugned John Kerry’s wartime service.

The willingness of the McCain campaign to engage in these tactics, employing such tainted spokesmen, tells us that the campaign has decided to go negative — specifically, to apply the strategy Karl Rove used so effectively in 2002 and 2004 (but not so effectively in 2006), that of portraying Democrats as unpatriotic.

And sure enough, Adam Nagourney of The New York Times reports signs of the “increasing influence of veterans of Mr. Rove’s shop in the McCain operation.”

Will Rovian tactics work this year?

In 2002 and 2004, Republicans were so successful at playing the patriotism card thanks to a combination of compliant media and cowering Democrats. At first, the Clark affair suggested that nothing has changed. News organizations reported as fact the false assertion that General Clark criticized Mr. McCain’s military service, and the Obama campaign rushed to “reject” his remarks.

“Two days into the Wesley Clark fallout,” wrote the Columbia Journalism Review on Tuesday morning, “the press, the G.O.P., and the Obama campaign all seem to have agreed that Clark’s recent remarks on John McCain’s service record were at best impolitic and at worst despicable.”

Since then, however, both the press and the Obama campaign seem to have recovered some of their balance. Opinion pieces have started to appear pointing out that General Clark didn’t say what he’s accused of saying. Mr. Obama has also declared that General Clark doesn’t owe Mr. McCain an apology for his “inartful” remarks and denies that his own condemnation, in a speech given on Monday, of those who “devalue” military service was aimed at the general.

In the end, the Clark affair may have strengthened the Obama campaign. Last week, with his cave-in on wiretapping, Mr. Obama was showing disturbing signs of falling into the usual Democratic cringe on national security. This may have been the week he rediscovered the virtues of standing tall.

Furthermore, my sense, though it’s hard to prove, is that the press is feeling a bit ashamed about the way it piled on General Clark. If so, news organizations may think twice before buying into the next fake scandal.

If so, the campaign has just taken a major turn in Mr. Obama’s favor. After all, if this campaign isn’t dominated by faux outrage over fake scandals, it will have to be about things that really did happen, like a failed economic policy and a disastrous war — both of which Mr. McCain promises will continue if he wins.

Op-Ed Columnist - Rove’s Third Term - Op-Ed - NYTimes.com

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Bill Moyers speaks with Barbara Boxer re. Global Warming

Congress has finally been contemplating global warming — in the form of the "Climate Security Act."  Unfortunately, they are just "contemplating"--not acting. It's all very reminiscent of Nero fiddling while Rome burned....only this time it's our entire planet.

Senator Boxer talks about the Climate Security Act and "cap and trade"
See the video at:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/06272008/watch.html

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Wisdom from the mouth of a child--but who is listening?

A 12-year-old Canadian girl, Severn Suzuki, gave this speech in 1992 to world leaders at the UN Earth Summit meeting.  Please watch this short video (about 7 minutes long) to hear her words. They touch the heart, the soul, the spirit -- and will bring tears to your eyes.  This was in 1992, 16 years ago.  Look around you. Look around the world today.  No more needs to be said. I can only hope and pray that Obama will be the one world leader who hears the pleas of our children -- and leads the world in a different direction.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g8cmWZOX8Q&feature=related

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McCain talks about "trusting people's word"

You've really got to have a sense of humor when you hear John McCain
claiming that the 2008 election "is about trust and trusting people's
word … Senator Obama's word cannot be trusted."

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black (neat unintended pun there).
The number of times McCain has flip-flopped are almost uncountable...but
Keith Olbermann has attempted to list many of them, including GI
educational funding, lobbying reform, campaign reform, immigration, gay
marriage, abortion, nuclear waste … torture of detainees, the Iraq War …
and a long, long list of other issues on which McCain has shifted
positions. To hear them all, go to:

http://rawstory.com/rawreplay/?p=1392 and watch the video.

Oh, the delicious satire that can be made about a guy like McCain!
Actually, he satirizes himself constantly--it's hard to keep up with him.

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Kids comment on the ocean (~.~)

Aren't kids wonderful? Read these and have a good laugh for the day!

Kids Writing About the Ocean

1) - This is a picture of an octopus. It has eight testicles. (Kelly, age 6)

2) - Oysters' balls are called pearls. (Jerry, age 6)

3) - If you are surrounded by ocean you are an island. If you don't have ocean all round you, you are incontinent. (Wayne, age 7)

4) - Sharks are ugly and mean, and have big teeth, just like Emily Richardson. She's not my friend any more. (Kylie, age 6)

5) - A dolphin breathes through an ass hole on the top of its head. (Billy, age 8)

6) - My uncle goes out in his boat with 2 other men and a woman and pots and comes back with crabs. (Millie, age 6)

7) - When ships had sails, they used to use the trade winds to cross the ocean. Sometimes when the wind didn't blow the sailors would whistle to make the wind come. My brother said they would have been better off eating beans. (William, age 7)

8) - Mermaids live in the ocean. I like mermaids. They are beautiful and I like their shiny tails, but how on earth do mermaids get pregnant? Like, really? (Helen, age 6)

9) - I'm not going to write about the ocean. My baby brother is always crying, my Dad keeps yelling at my Mom, and my big sister has just got pregnant, so I can't think what to write. (Amy, age 6)

10) - Some fish are dangerous. Jellyfish can sting. Electric eels can give you a shock. They have to live in caves under the sea where I think they have to plug themselves into chargers. (Christopher, age 7)

11) - When you go swimming in the ocean, it is very cold, and it makes my willy small. (Kevin, age 6)

12) - Divers have to be safe when they go under the water. Divers can't go down alone, so they have to go down on each other. (Becky, age 8)

13) - On vacation my Mom went water skiing. She fell off when she was going very fast. She says she won't do it again because water fired right up her big fat ass. (Julie, age 7)

14) - The ocean is made up of water and fish. Why the fish don't drown I don't know. (Bobby, age 6)

15) - My dad was a sailor on the ocean. He knows all about the ocean. What he doesn't know is why he quit being a sailor and married my mom. (James, age 7)

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GREAT VIDEO! Dancing Around the World

Watch it at: http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/?fbid=BuwUo2 and get your laughs for the day...what a wonderful idea!!! Dancing is something everyone around the world enjoys!!!

I don't know who this guy is, but he is certainly having fun on his travels and is spreading laughter and brotherhood at the same time! Any of you travelers out there -- want to try this on your vacation??? (~.~)

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George Carlin -- a genius -- he will be missed

When pushed to explain the pessimism and overt spleen that had crept
into his act, he quickly reaffirmed the zeal that inspired his lists of
complaints and grievances. "I don't have pet peeves," he said,
correcting the interviewer. And with a mischievous glint in his eyes, he
added, "I have major, psychotic hatreds." (~.~)

I got more laughs from this man than anyone else on the planet. God
bless you, George -- I hope one day I can catch your act on the other
side (~.~)....

NY Times obit:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/24/arts/24carlin.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&hp&adxnnlx=1214229759-TneQANx3nivY%20e6h6ddkZg

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Why Brain Surgeons Are Avoiding Cell Phones

Why Brain Surgeons Are Avoiding Cell Phones

Important information!  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/06/19/why-brain-surgeons-are-avoiding-cell-phones.aspx?source=nl  

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**MOST IMPORTANT VIDEO** - CHEMTRAILS and THEIR DANGERS

**MOST IMPORTANT VIDEO** -- CHEMTRAILS and THEIR DANGERS

Following is one of the most important videos anyone could watch these days -- it's very short, but contains information vital to everyone. I am hoping Obama will address this once he is in office as president -- and inform us what is being done to us -- and why?!!! Please watch this video -- and observe the skies above you. No matter where you live, you will see chemtrails being spread in your skies at one time or another -- they are visible here in Santa Cruz almost on a weekly basis. Seeing clear blue skies here is the exception, rather than the rule.

We are all being used as guinea pigs by our governments around the world -- and our questions about this are being ignored and ridiculed by those governments. Does this sound familiar? The same thing has been done regarding UFOs. We are a captive population, under the rulership of our governments who apparently think they can do just about anything to us without ever having to give reasons or explanations. The self-appointed "elite" believe they can treat the "ignorant masses" (that's us) any way they choose -- and keep us ignorant of their intentions.

As residents on planet Earth, I believe we are owed the truth when military planes above our head are laying down a mysterious vapor to cover our skies, without notice and without explanation. What is this vapor composed of? Why is this being done? And why haven't we been informed and given a chance to vote on it?

Please watch the following video and pass it along to your e-mail list if you find it important. If your curiosity is not piqued enough by the chemtrail phenomenon to give you concern for your own health, please consider the health and welfare of your children and grandchildren. We need to have an answer! More and more people are writing about this to their local newspapers and their Congressional representatives. I have written letters of this nature (and had one published in the San Jose Mercury News) and also called my representatives. So far, their aides who answer the phones claim not to be aware of chemtrails. I've told them to just go outside and look up in the sky. I will now be sending this video link to my representatives and see if I get an answer. Those of you who share my concern might want to do the same. Thanks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdtLTyNOB0A&eurl=http://prisonplanet.com/articles/june2008/170608_b_chemtrail.htm

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McCain's youtube problem just became a nightmare

See this short video of McCain in his own words -- even if you're a Democrat, it makes you actually wince with pity for him. He is way out of his league running for president -- but then, we've had another one just like this, and he's still in the White House. Just shows that some people will vote for a proven liar/loser as long as he is labeled a Republican. God help us if we have to endure four more years of a Bush/McCain presidency!

http://bravenewfilms.org/blog/39179-mccain-s-youtube-problem-just-became-a-nightmare

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John McCain debates with himself -- great short truth video

The candidates have to be extremely careful these days in making new
statements, when videos of their previous statements are available on
the Internet. Here is an example of McCain versus McCain:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnb2IrsU1Cg

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Good article in New Yorker on Keith Olbermann

Very descriptive, full-bodied comment on the man who is making MSNBC the
go-to news network (~.~) Yay, Keith!!!
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/06/23/080623fa_fact_boyer?currentPage=1

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Latest Maureen Dowd column about Bush

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/15/opinion/15dowd.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

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Important for those who want the truth

This article reports the latest smear by the right wing against Obama and his wife:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080612/ap_on_el_pr/obama_smears

Snopes.com has a huge listing (getting longer by the day!) of the right-wing rants/lies against Obama. Get prepared for the onslaught of this type of stuff on the Internet. The Republican Smear Machine operates without conscience. It will unload all of its venom on Obama. I know this. You know this. And Barack Obama knows this. Instead of just enduring it without comment as Kerry did in the 2004 election, the Obama campaign has established a web page to combat the Swiftboating lies that will be created and spun against him by the right wing in this election. Those interested in truth can see it at: http://www.fightthesmears.com. I would advise any McCain/Bush supporters to check this site or www.snopes.com before they forward e-mail smears on Obama that have been sent to them.

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EXACTLY WHAT I HAVE BEEN SAYING

Yesterday, Michelle Obama's fist bump with her husband was all the news on every network! Yet we hear nothing about the major story of the Bush/Cheney lies that took us into Iraq in an unnecessary war--and certainly we hear nothing from our mainstream press about holding them accountable! SHAME on our media!!! It is a media we can no longer trust to give us truth.

Jon Stewart Slams Media for Blacking Out Iraq War Lies Report

From www.crooksandliars.com

The Daily Show reports on the media’s failure to report on the Senate report that proves the Bush administration knowingly lied to us about the reasons for war. Surely the “Big Three” have more important things to cover.

Download Play Download Play (h/t Heather)

Stewart: “Let’s go back to the Big Three, that’s where real Americans get their news. Charlie Gibson, cover it!”

Gibson: “Something that doesnt happen every day, and certainly doesn’t happen twice..a well-know French daredevil named ‘Spiderman’…”

Stewart: “Yes, he was climbing the New York Times building. Perhaps looking to read the story about the administration leading us into a war that you didnt cover at all! At all!

For a “fake news” anchor, Jon Stewart sure does a better job reporting actual news than the entire mainstream media combined. I’m sure Stewart wouldn’t take offense when I say that that’s pretty sad.

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Love is...(from the mouths of children) A MUST READ

This one is a KEEPER! (Have a handkerchief handy.) My special favorites are the replies of Billy-age 4, Bobby-age 7, and Karen-age 7 (~.~) And, of course, the very last one....

Slow down for three minutes to read this. It is so worth it.
Touching words from the mouth of babes.

What does Love mean?

A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds, "What does love mean?"

The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined. See what you think:

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"When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore.
So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love."
Rebecca- age 8

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"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different.
You just know that your name is safe in their mouth."
Billy - age 4

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"Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other."
Karl - age 5

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"Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs."
Chrissy - age 6

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"Love is what makes you smile when you're tired."
Terri - age 4

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"Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK."
Danny - age 7

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"Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more.
My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss"
Emily - age 8

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"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen."
Bobby - age 7 (Wow!)

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"If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,"
Nikka - age 6
(we need a few million more Nikka's on this planet)

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"Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday."
Noelle - age 7

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"Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well."
Tommy - age 6

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"During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling.
He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore."
Cindy - age 8

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"My mommy loves me more than anybody .
You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night."
Clare - age 6

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"Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken."
Elaine-age 5

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"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford."
Chris - age 7

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"Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day."
Mary Ann - age 4

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"I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones."
Lauren - age 4

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"When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you." (she has the cartoon image down pat! :-) )
Karen - age 7

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"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn't think it's gross."
Mark - age 6

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"You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget."
Jessica - age 8

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And the final one -- Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge.
The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child.

The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.
Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.
When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said,
"Nothing, I just helped him cry."

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Scientists can't explain it: The universe is expanding at an ever-increasing rate

See: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/03/science/03dark.html?_r=1&8dpc&oref=slogin

EXCERPT: “Before the discovery of the dark energy, quantum physicists tended to assume that the ‘vacuum’ we live in has some deep meaning that reflects nature’s deepest secrets,” Dr. Witten said. But if ours is only one of a zillion in a haystack, there is nothing special about it, no secret to be found.

I think there is a secret to be found -- but it can't be done with the mind. It's an "AHA!" discovery that comes like a lightning bolt, outside of the mind and any mental process. It's an individual experience that opens all the doors. The secret is closer to the brain scientist Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor's experience/discovery. See her being interviewed by Oprah in a video you can find at www.oprah.com.

For me, the site that explains this experience best is at www.thenaturalstate.org The "Pointers" on that site are exactly that: pointers, like a finger pointing to something that one can only discover for oneself. It's inexplicable by the mind, so you have to follow the pointers...kind of like a child's puzzle (~.~) or one of those Mystic Eye puzzles filled with colors but no discernible shapes--and you stare at it until something clicks and your eyes go into a different mode of seeing--and there is a 3-D picture!

The secret to the universe is found within oneself. What a miracle! And yet, so absolutely natural. Of course. (~.~)

Quantum physics and its searches for "dark energy" can take scientists only so far, because they are external searches--and never ending, because the mind keeps producing more and more questions...and more and more searches. Quantum physics has uncovered some pointers that direct the scientists to look within, but they keep shoving those pointers away; the mind always wants an external absolute answer. For instance, it blew their minds when the scientists discovered that they themselves were part of their own experiments--that when they put themselves in as observers in an experiment with electrons, the electrons acted differently! See the fascinating little cartoon video explaining this: http://www.videosift.com/video/Quantum-Physics-Double-Slit-Experiment-amazing-results
This raised the all-important question: What does the observer (us) have to do with it all? Is everything actually connected in such a way that we cannot observe and understand the mystery from an objective distance, but are actually part of a great whole?

Nothing can be as important or exciting as this journey of discovery--with the answer being found within. I highly recommend an inner search! (~.~) You never know WHAT you might discover! The above suggested links provide an amazing start.

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Cult of Deception -- a good description!

Scott McClellan discovered he was in a cult and that it was misusing him for its own ends...isn't that what all cults do?  Maureen Dowd tells it quite well in today's column:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/opinion/01dowd.html?em&ex=1212552000&en=fcf58ecff7b665d8&ei=5087%0A

Only one wrong-sounding note in McClellan's book--he still seems unwilling to detach himself completely from Bush, about whom he says, "I feel affection and admiration for him."  I have seen this same kind of dissonance in others who have left cults that injured them and their fellow members. It may be a way of convincing yourself that your judgment wasn't too bad. When I was in a cult, my judgment was bad and I feel no admiration or affection for the cult leaders who led me and others down the wrong path. Their agenda, like Bush's, was a strictly selfish one, motivated by greed and lust for power.  There is nothing to admire in that. Just my own opinion.

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