...

"Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them.' ~ Dalai Lama

"Christmas is a time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell the government what they want - and their kids pay for it." ~ Richard Lamm

"Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. 
But without it we go nowhere." ~ Carl Sagan

"The food that enters the mind must be watched as closely as the food that enters the body." 
~ Pat Buchanan

...reflections...

"You must be the change you want to see in the world."
~ Mahatma Gandhi
The Words of Gandhi (Hardcover)

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." 
~ Bertrand Russell

Politics 101?

"Donald Trump is redundant evidence that if your net worth is high enough, your IQ can be very low and you can still intrude into American politics."
~ George Will

"Faith becomes an ideology when some collective fear or hatred turns political."
~Peter Rimar

Maybe it's a sign?

"The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think."
~ Horace Walpole

Sports Rule #1:

Never BLAME the FANS for your professional shortcomings?

"All the people that were rooting on me to fail, at the end of the day they have to wake up tomorrow and have the same life that they had before they woke up today. They have the same personal problems they had today."
~ LeBron James

Lebron James: The Making of an MVP (Paperback)

‎...yesterday, today & tomorrow...

"We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people."
~ John F. Kennedy



Photo by Peter Rimar. Las Vegas, Nevada (December 2003).

Power is CRACK? Money buys CRACK?

"Liberal friends think I'm a Fascist; Conservative friends think I'm a Communist." 
~ John Gorelski

We are the 99%?
Elizabeth Warren vs. Libertarianism

‎"There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. You built a factory out there—good for you. But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. … You built a factory and it turned into something terrific or a great idea—God bless, keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is [that] you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along." ~ Elizabeth Warren

...perspective...

Photo by Peter Rimar taken at Fenghuang, PRC (April 2009).
Click on image to open in a new window.

Arnold Schwarzenegger sent John Edwards a 'thank you note' for taking the term 'pond scum' to a whole new level?

‎


"A public man must never forget that he loses his usefulness when he as an individual, rather than his policy, becomes the issue."
~ President Richard M. Nixon
Leaders (Hardcover)

Introduction to Political Science 101?

"You can roll manure in powdered sugar but it still ain't a jelly doughnut."
~ Berta




In other news, Exxon-Mobil announced that it plans to lay off 25 Congressmen? Shell and BP are considering similar cutbacks? Ron Paul Flunks History? Read More...

Our Digital Age?

Remember when a hard drive was used to describe a long trip, having a virus meant coming down with the flu and a keyboard was connected to a musical instrument?

"Music can change the world because it can change people." ~ Bono

The 19th Amendment?

IF this blogger hears another political pundit or radio talk show host mention the US Constitution without adding the line "AND the Bill of Rights", I'm going to start singing the theme song from the film Network.


The Bill of Rights were established as a checks and balances to protect an individual against government abuse and corruption.

In its original form, it was NOT a perfect document (see Article 1, Section 2, Paragraph 3 of the United States Constitution). Read More...

It's rather aggravating hearing political pundits ranting about the Founding Fathers Fantasy Island era in U.S. History. In 1789, Senators were appointed, blacks were only considered 3/5 human and a woman's place was barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. The original BILL of RIGHTS gave our Constitution meaning and purpose. The roots of ALL real Democratic change and progress begins and ends with this document:

‎"A Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to against every government, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference." ~ Thomas Jefferson

Suggested Reading:
Griswold v. Connecticut
Eisenstadt v. Baird

Here Comes the Sun?

‎"If it weren't for the coffee, I'd have no identifiable personality whatsoever."
~ David Letterman
Late Show Fun Facts (Hardcover)

Under the terms of their collective bargaining agreement, 72 Virgins "locked out" Osama Bin Laden?

‎"People say Intelligent Design, we must teach Intelligent Design. Look at the human body, is that intelligent? You have a waste processing plant next to a recreation area." ~ Robin Williams



Weapons of Self Destruction (DVD)

"Words can be deleted, but the facts won't be deleted with them."
~ Ai Weiei



On June 13th, 2009, my wife and I were still living in the Chinese city of Changsha. After lunch, I turned on CCTV to catch up on the latest news. There on my TV screen were the CCTV news anchors discussing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election victory with a visiting Iranian Professor and a representative from the Iranian Embassy. A graphic crawl indicated that CCTV had scheduled ALL DAY extended coverage of the Iranian Election.

After about 20 minutes, the TV went black. Roughly two minutes later, a travel documentary started airing. No mention was made about why the station went dark or the sudden, unannounced change in programming. Curious, this blogger logged onto the internet and discovered that Iranians in Tehran were taking to the streets to protest the election results.

Economic sanctions against Iran? What sanctions? One member of the security council will continue doing business with the current Iranian Government (as well as the DPRK).

"Life is like a ten speed bicycle. Most of us have gears we never use." 
~ Charles M. Schulz