A Long Way From Anything

Following in my usual irregular style, I'll now present more quotes to torture you with. Enjoy!

"Yes Saddam was an evil fuck who ate babies. That doesn't make a realpolitik invasion fuelled by hysterical paranoia masquerading as a war of liberation any less fucked up in comparison."-Mark Blaxland

"Every miserable fool who has nothing at all of which he can be proud, adopts as a last resource pride in the nation to which he belongs; he is ready and happy to defend all its faults and follies tooth and nail, thus reimbursing himself for his own inferiority."-Schopenhauer

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote."-Benjamin Franklin, 1759

"Government at its best is a necessary evil, and at its worst, an intolerant one."–Thomas Paine

"[T]he people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."-- Herman Goering as related to Gustave Gilbert at the Nuremberg trials, from the book Nuremberg Diary

"The constitution gives every American the inalienable right to make a damn fool of himself." -John Ciardi

"Fight Club was a great movie. I own it on fuck-you-authority DVD, and on kiss-this-Bill-Gates paperback. And I'm sure some people got charmed into thinking they should live the life of a violent transient destroying people's property and secretly peeing in their food. Like you, for example. But the movie's anti-The-Man message is the Special Olympics of philosophy. You should hate The Man for oppressing your freedom or legislating stupidity. You shouldn't hate the Establishment for offering delicious gourmet coffee or building you safe reliable automobiles. " --Sean Riley (Seanbaby.com)

"They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."-Benjamin Franklin, 1759

"History I believe furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance, of which their political as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purpose."-Thomas Jefferson

"Unless we put medical freedom into the Constitution, the time will come when medicine will organize into an undercover dictatorship to restrict the art of healing"-Dr. Benjamin Rush, signer of the Declaration of Independence

The last one was a last-minute addition in light of the Schiavo case. I hope you all enjoyed them as much as I do; I pull all of these from a word file where I keep all of my favorites. Whenever I stumble across a great new quote it gets added. So if you have a favorite, please feel free to send it on over!

Bacardi 151 Congratulations! You're 151 proof, with specific scores in beer (80) , wine (83), and liquor (130).

All right. No more messing around. Your knowledge of alcohol is so high that you have drinking and getting plastered down to a science. Sure, you could get wasted drinking beer, but who needs all those trips to the bathroom? You head straight for the bar and pick up that which is most efficient.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 89% on proof You scored higher than 90% on beer index You scored higher than 93% on wine index You scored higher than 99% on liquor index

Link: The Alcohol Knowledge Test written by hoppersplit on Ok Cupid

Sitting in my HIST 4381 (History of the Third Reich) class the other day, I got bored. As I sat there I recalled something that someone had said to me earlier that day, namely, that Bush is equivalent to Hitler. While I don't agree with this on a prima facie basis, I decided I should use my knowledge of the Third Reich and my knowledge of the Bush administration to draw some parallels. So here goes:

Both Bush and Hitler were strongly Anti-intellectual. Bush was a "C" student in University, and Hitler couldn't even get accepted to Art school. However, this is exactly what their supporters like about them. The modern comments of "He's like us" or "He's a normal guy" that are so often heard about President Bush were heard a little over half a century ago as well. Hitler (in a recurring way) was more extreme than the modern-day Republicans, however, the theme was still present. Hitler rejected intellectualism and education in general. He praised physical fitness, outdoor activities, and denial of the "Jewish" intelligensia. One of Bush's main criticisms of Kerry in the past election was the implication that he was a Northern elitist intellectual (Bush being the normal, hometown, regular guy). I remember a photo montage that was passed around via email before the election. On one hand: Bush throwing a football. On the other: Kerry fumbling a catch.

Another interesting insight, while not dealing directly with Hitler or Bush, does deal with their respective groups. Both the National Socialists and the Republican Party have contradictions inherent in their basic ideologies. For the National Socialists, there are numerous, and I'm not going to start presenting my term paper here. However, for the Republicans, the most obvious contradiction is their emphasis on both faith and war. Many Neo-cons love to emphasize the Old Testament (which is just as facetious as it appears), however, they tend to neglect the parts they don't like. Sure, let's bring in Leviticus to justify our hatred of homosexuals, but when we're ordered to give sacrifices to God, or to stone adulterers, we tend to flake out. Jesus was a hippy: "Whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also"(Matthew 5:39). Make love, not war, all of that. When concerned with war, I really don't think Jesus would ever justify it (and yes, I've read all of the Christian justifications of war such as Johnson, Aquinas, Augustine, etc...). But the Republican Party is strongly in favor or war at almost any time (see as examples the current war and Vietnam). I'm now decrying the need for a strong military (I think everyone knows I'm very pro-military), however, hypocrisy simply will not do.

Another parallel is the ideological call for a return to "old-fashioned ideals." One of the main issues that got the Nazis elected was their strong "traditional" standpoint. People looked back on earlier times through rose glasses and wanted to return to that. Bush and his supporters are making the same mistake. We often hear talk of returning to "the way things were." Sometimes I think the Republicans would like to build a time machine to transport all of us back to the 1950s. One of the main components of "traditionalism" is the role of woman. Hitler made laws restricting women from the workplace and strongly advocated the role of woman as mother, wife, and housekeeper. The Republican party also largely believes in these ideals. A woman should stay at home and take care of the children.

I'll take a break from this now...expect more.

Well, I found out what award I'm getting. I like to call it the James Brown award seeing as they have named me the "Hardest Working Philosophy Student" (no...not the actual title...but somehow more honest). I'm not the Best Philosophy student, merely the hardest working. hrrrmmph. So I give you the following:

"A university education is one of the greatest things one can possess. It’s the universities themselves that are often useless." - Anonymous

How true.

Yes, this is an exerpt from an actual letter I got today. I couldn't stop laughing for quite some time. I think I will write a letter in response that begins "Dear [Sir/Madam], [Thank you/My deepest condolences/Congratulations are in order] for [the award/you and your loved ones]. I expect that we will thoroughly [enjoy/bereave] the occasion, as is fitting. Once again, you can definitely expect [my attendence/a funeral wreath/a wedding present]. I look forward to [the date/what I am sure will be a wonderful ceremony/your wedded bliss]. Sincerely, Brian."

Something from one of my school's computer labs. Yes, it's sad.