...

"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

...Today's Twittering Tweet...

"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

Letter of Resignation Sent By Bush to Rifle Association

Following is the letter of resignation was sent by former President George Bush to the National Rifle Association on May 3, 1995: 

Dear Mr. Washington,

I was outraged when, even in the wake of the Oklahoma City tragedy, Mr. Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of N.R.A., defended his attack on federal agents as "jack-booted thugs." To attack Secret Service agents or A.T.F. people or any government law enforcement people as "wearing Nazi bucket helmets and black storm trooper uniforms" wanting to "attack law abiding citizens" is a vicious slander on good people. 

Al Whicher, who served on my [ United States Secret Service ] detail when I was Vice President and President, was killed in Oklahoma City. He was no Nazi. He was a kind man, a loving parent, a man dedicated to serving his country -- and serve it well he did.

In 1993, I attended the wake for A.T.F. agent Steve Willis, another dedicated officer who did his duty. I can assure you that this honorable man, killed by weird cultists, was no Nazi. 

John Magaw, who used to head the U.S.S.S. and now heads A.T.F., is one of the most principled, decent men I have ever known. He would be the last to condone the kind of illegal behavior your ugly letter charges. The same is true for the F.B.I.'s able Director Louis Freeh. I appointed Mr. Freeh to the Federal Bench. His integrity and honor are beyond question.

Both John Magaw and Judge Freeh were in office when I was President. They both now serve in the current administration. They both have badges. Neither of them would ever give the government's "go ahead to harass, intimidate, even murder law abiding citizens." (Your words)

I am a gun owner and an avid hunter. Over the years I have agreed with most of N.R.A.'s objectives, particularly your educational and training efforts, and your fundamental stance in favor of owning guns. 

However, your broadside against Federal agents deeply offends my own sense of decency and honor; and it offends my concept of service to country. It indirectly slanders a wide array of government law enforcement officials, who are out there, day and night, laying their lives on the line for all of us. 

You have not repudiated Mr. LaPierre's unwarranted attack. Therefore, I resign as a Life Member of N.R.A., said resignation to be effective upon your receipt of this letter. Please remove my name from your membership list. 

Sincerely, [ signed ] George Bush

The Death of the Twinkie?

Now what will we eat after the zombie apocalypse?

Rachel Maddow offers Republican Voters 3 Minutes of Political Sanity

Mitt Romney holds retirement party in Switzerland?

Before the 2016 election season, Mr. Karl "Kingmaker" Rove and Rush Limbaugh might want to read Nate Silver's best selling book: 
The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail-but Some Don't [Hardcover]

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

Example of Media Wars?

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

...wisdom...

...reflections...

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

Street Scene, Changsha, P.R.C. (February 2009)

"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

Watching Faux News Lowers Student Math Scores?

What you know depends on what you watch?
Read More...

59 + 35 + 26 = 100%

Confirmed: Fox News makes people dumb
Read More...

Fenghuang, P.R.C. (April 2009)

Photo by Peter Rimar.

Joke of the Day?

GE introduces the Mitt Romney limited edition light bulb. Old ideas made new again. Burns out quick. 95% inefficient. Wastes all it's energy making hot air.

Photos by Peter Rimar

Obama spending binge never happened?
Read More...

Hatred only breeds more hatred.

North Carolina pastor calls for death of gays, lesbians by trapping them inside electric fence? Read More...



First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

~ Pastor Martin Niemöller

“When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” ~ Sinclair Lewis

Facebook? Facebook. Facebook!

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

[id·i·ot all o gee]

Maybe it's a sign?

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

When all else fails...

24 Hours in a day.

24 Beers in a case.

Coincidence?

Sometimes 'FAIR' and 'BALANCED'?

People filter information based on their own belief system. For example, people who watch Faux News on a regular basis tend to be more conservative in their political beliefs. No problem (it is what it is).

However, despite it's political flavor (along with the countless number of daily editorial decisions supporting a specific agenda), should a media corporation (radio, television or print) be allowed to make direct campaign contributions? Could this sea of corporate money interfere with the political process? Do unlimited 527 campaign donations to a specific candidate endanger the foundations of a Free Society? Do you ever ask yourself, "why do I believe what I believe?" And yes, Karl Rove is on the payroll of Faux News.

"My choice early in life was either to be a piano-player in a whorehouse or a politician. And to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference."
~ Harry S. Truman
Fox News Reporting: The Right, All Along. The Rise, Fall & Future of Conservatism (DVD)

Definition of Vasectomy?

[vuh-SEK-tuh-mee]
noun: a 30 minutes of less surgical procedure intended to provide a permanent method of male birth control (see contraceptive)

Original photo by Peter Rimar.

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)

...life in contrast...

Beijing, P.R.C. (May 2008)

Photo by Peter Rimar

‎...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).

Mitt Romney ~ Serial Flip Flopper?

YouTube has changed forever how a campaign manages the theme and messages of a candidate. Love it or hate it, in 2012, every recorded word a politician utters in front of voters becomes part of the digital public record. In an exclusive news release to Reuters in January, Google reported roughly '60 hours of video is now uploaded to YouTube every minute'. The theory that a candidate can use an 'etch-a-sketch' to change political direction in the middle of a campaign is dead. Campaigns are no longer a debate over ideas but about the actual use of words. And yes, this blogger believes a politician's use of words reveals something about the person. Read More...

Betty White endorses Obama for re-election?
Read More...

Wife hits husband with SUV after fight over Wisconsin recall election?

Is Faux News inserting the quote 'crazy liberal nuts' into a story loosely related to Governor Scott Walker's recall election an example of 'mainstream media bias'? Read More...

In 2012, a Republican husband attempting to stop his Democratic wife from voting is normal? Is physically blocking a wife from exercising her rights under the 19th Amendment a 'conservative value'? Maybe it's just me, but in the view of this blogger, a husband attempting to restrain the movement of a wife is a 'big red flag' indicating a possible pattern of domestic abuse. 

Faux News now asking: Is the drop in gas prices a 'Bad Thing'?
Read More...

"Get a haircut and get a new job"?

A tax subsidy is an entitlement? Who knew?

Lord Voldemort's "Minister for Magic" arrested? Scotland Yard posts bobbies outside 221B Baker Street? President Obama considers pardoning Hugh Grant? Faux News denies the existence of England?

Parliament's criticism of Murdoch may spell the end of his UK business, but in his News Corp stronghold he remains secure
Read More...

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.