Interesting Quotes...

[Firecat]

Not sure if there was a thread like this before....just a place to put some random, interesting quotes etc...

"You're not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong no matter who does it or who says it."

~Malcolm X

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—
because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me—
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

~Pastor Martin Niemöller

The early bird catches the worm, but it's the second mouse who gets the cheese

~?

"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"

~Patrick Henry

All men having power ought to be mistrusted.

~James Madison

The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.

~George Orwell

"If you stick a knife nine inches into my back and pull it out three inches, that is not progress. Even if you pull it all the way out, that is not progress. Progress is healing the wound, and America hasn't even begun to pull out the knife."

~Malcolm X

The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home.
~James Madison

Those are just some of my favorites.

This is something from an op/ed piece written by larry david (creator of Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm)...it just made me laugh

He was talking about Karl Rove I believe...

I like how if you criticize the war you don’t support the troops. You’re the ones sending them over to die, so how is it I don’t support them? If the army was made up of child molesters, then I’d support them. If we went to an all child molester army, I would be their biggest supporter. “Please don’t bring the troops home. Stay the course. Keep them there a long time.” But they’re not child molesters.

[justin syder]

What's also funny is those same ppl that want to look out for the troops, "support the troops", will tell you its okay to kill a fetus. Hilarious! Its perfectly fine, an unborn baby, just some cells right?

As for Malcom X, well I think he was a bigot that really accomplished nothing. Some of what he said needs to be preached today by REAL black leaders and not bigots out to label ppl racists. Lets get some black leaders encouraging their ppl not to blame everything on someone else and to take some responsibility for high out of wedlock babies being born, the high single parent homes in the black community, the gang violence and high black on black crime. Then we will see some real change and progress within the black community. Until then they will continue to think limited, hurt each other along with others and aspire to be the next rapper or basketball/sports star.

My 2cents.

[Firecat]

Wasn't planning on having this thread become an area for discussion, but....

Malcolm X, when he started out, was a separatist. He changed quite a bit though after travelling to Egpyt and Saudi Arabia. I wouldn't call him a bigot because, well, think about the times he lived in. I agree that the world in general lacks any REAL leaders, not just the Black community.

Regarding the support the troops/fetus thing. Well, i don't support the troops...so....
Um, I see what you're getting at though. I'd say one could argue the same about wanting to "support the troops" and then send them off to die....or being against abortion except in the case of incest or rape, as if a child conceived under those conditions is any less human.

But i digress. This is for quotes, feel free to post some from GW or Reagan

[///M]

Malcolm X was as important for the civil rights movement as Martin Luther King Jr. was. As mentioned, look at the time he lived in. Forget all of that, look at his past. Read his autobiography, it's really easy to see were he got his animosity towards white people from. This is what set him apart from other leaders, he spoke what was on his mind, and what was on every other black person's mind at that time.

With any movement for equality, you're going to have two extremes. One side is going to demand justice, by any means necessary, and one is going to look for means of reconsiliation.

I can sit and quote Malcolm X all day, the man was a brilliant speaker. He said what needed to be said.

Justin, you really don't like people attacking whites, eh? Let's be realistic here, SOMEONE is to blame for where blacks are today. I wonder who held them back for 200 years?

Back to the quotes...

"You, sorrowing mother, you, widowed wife, you, the son who lost a brother or a father, all the victims of wars, fill the air and space with recitals of peace, fill bosoms and hearts with the aspirations of peace. Make a reality that blossoms and lives. Make hope a code of conduct and endeavor...." Anwar El-Sadat

Read his whole speech at the Knesset. If you understand Arabic, go find the original version. The man was the greatest leader the middle east has seen.

"The genius of you Americans is that you never make clear-cut stupid moves, only complicated stupid moves which make the rest of us wonder at the possibility that we might be missing something." Gamal Abdel Nasser

"We're a sentimental people. We like a few kind words better than millions of dollars given in a humiliating way. " Gamal Abdel Nasser

"Let them kill Nasser. What is Nasser but one among many? My fellow countrymen, stay where you are. I am not dead, I am alive, and even if I die all of you are Gamal Abd al-Nasser." Gamal Abdel Nasser

"The whole world is in revolt. Soon there will be only five Kings left - the King of England, the King of Spades, the King of Clubs, the King of Hearts and the King of Diamonds." King Farouk

"I'll get rid of my Italians, when you get rid of yours." After the Italians bombed Alexandria, the Ambassador of Britain demanded Farouk get rid of his Italian servants. That was Farouk's reply. The Ambassador had an Italian wife.

Throw some Egyptian flavour into the mix.

[CanadianLoonie]

"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron." -H.L. Mencken

[Firecat]

That 2nd Nasser quote was brilliant.

This isn't political, it's a latin phrase(?) I guess. I believe Angelina Jolie has it tattooed like between her navel and her...yeah, you know
http://www.dfltattoos.com/aj123.jpg

"Quod me nutrit me destruit"
or
"what nourishes me, destroys me"

[Z Draci]

"Respect the gods and Buddha but never depend on them."
"Consider yourself lightly, consider the world deeply."
"Understand what cannot be seen by the eye."
"In Emptiness exists Good, but no Evil."

They're all from Miyamoto Musashi.

[Ultra_Kool_Dude]

Here are some I like:

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul, can always count on the support of Paul.
– George Bernard Shaw

America needs fewer laws, not more prisons. – James Bovard

War is just one more big government program. – Joseph Sobran

One of the greatest delusions in the world is the hope that the evils in this world are to be cured by legislation. – Thomas B. Reed (1886)

And my favorite:

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until a majority of voters discover that they can vote themselves largess out of the public treasury. – Alexander Tytler

[mmap]

Well there's the obvious ones...

"power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely"
Lord Acton

"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."
Albert Einstein

And something for us car lovers (maybe?):

"There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper."
John Ruskin 1819–1900

[Firecat]

"since when does a militarily occupied people have a responsibility for a peace movement?"

~Edward Said

[zenkidori]

Originally Posted by Thomas Jefferson

“A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.”

Originally Posted by Thomas Jefferson

“The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.”

Originally Posted by James Madison

“Democracy is the most vile form of government... dem-ocracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention... incompat-ible with personal security or the rights of property.”

Originally Posted by John Adams

"Democracy...wastes, ex-hausts, and murders itself. There is never a democracy that did not commit suicide.”

Originally Posted by Adolf Hitler

"The broad masses of a population are more amenable to the appeal of rhetoric than to any other force."

Originally Posted by Che Guevara

The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall.

Originally Posted by Jeremy Clarkson

"One day, when everyone stops watching, F1 will wither and die. Not that this matters to the rich old men who run it today because they'll all be dead by then"

[justin syder]

I would rather have a German division in front of me than a French one behind me.

-General George S. Patton

Republicans believe everyday is the 4th of July,
Democrats believe everyday is April 15th.

-Ronald Reagan

And I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder: One of the four beasts saying: "Come and see." And I saw. And behold, a white horse.

There's a man goin' 'round takin' names. An' he decides who to free and who to blame. Everybody won't be treated all the same. There'll be a golden ladder reaching down. When the man comes around.

And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts, And I looked and behold: a pale horse. And his name, that sat on him, was Death. And Hell followed with him.

- "The Man Comes Around", Johnny Cash

[///M]

Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.

-Karl Marx

The first requisite for the happiness of the people is the abolition of religion.

-Karl Marx

With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.

-Steven Weinberg

[cvrefugee]

Karl Marx was a retard.

-cvg

[zenkidori]

Originally Posted by Che Guevara

"Each time a country is freed, we say, it is a defeat for the world imperialist system, but we must agree that real liberation or breaking away from the imperialist system is not achieved by the mere act of proclaiming independence or winning an armed victory in a revolution. Freedom is achieved when imperialist economic domination over a people is brought to an end."

Originally Posted by Che Guevara

"Arms cannot be regarded as merchandise in our world. They should be delivered to the peoples asking for them for use against the common enemy without any charge at all, and in quantities determined by the need and their availability"

Originally Posted by Che Guevara

"We must bear in mind that imperialism is a world system, the last stage of capitalism-and it must be defeated in a world confrontation. The strategic end of this struggle should be the destruction of imperialism. Our share, the responsibility of the exploited and underdeveloped of the world, is to eliminate the foundations of imperialism: our oppressed nations, from where they extract capital, raw materials, technicians, and cheap labor, and to which they export new capital-instruments of domination-arms and all kinds of articles, thus submerging us in an absolute dependence."

Originally Posted by Che Guevara

"While envisaging the destruction of imperialism, it is necessary to identify its head, which is no other than the United States of America."

Originally Posted by Albert Einstein

"I am against any nationalism, even in the guise of mere patriotism."

Originally Posted by Albert Einstein

"Nationalism is an infantile sickness. It is the measles of the human race."

Originally Posted by Albert Einstein

"It is horrifying to realize that the poison of militarism and imperialism threatens to bring undesirable changes in the political attitude of the United States….What we see at work is not an expression of the sentiments of the American people; rather, it reflects the will of a powerful minority which uses its economic power to control the organs of political life."

Originally Posted by Albert Einstein

"Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding."

Originally Posted by Albert Einstein

"I came to America because of the great, great freedom which I heard existed in this country. I made a mistake in selecting America as a land of freedom, a mistake I cannot repair in the balance of my lifetime."

Originally Posted by Albert Einstein

"He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would fully suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, senseless brutality, deplorable loce-of-country stance, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so base an action! It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder. "

Originally Posted by General Dwight D. Eisenhower

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."

Originally Posted by General Dwight D. Eisenhower

"If the United Nations once admits that international disputes can be settled by using force, then we will have destroyed the foundation of the organization and our best hope of establishing a world order."

Originally Posted by Samuel Adams

"The Constitution shall never be construed... to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms. "

[Firecat]

^Very nice quotes there

"It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong."
~Voltaire

"No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare."
~James Madison

This quote is very fitting for recent events...

Göring: "Why, of course, the people don't want war. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece. Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship."
Gilbert: "There is one difference. In a democracy, the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars."
Göring: "Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the 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."
~Interview (around the time of the nuremburg trials) with Goering, founder of the gestapo and head of the luftwaffe

[Firecat]

"Saddam Hussein has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors."
~Colin Powell, Feb. 24, 2001

"We are able to keep his arms from him. His military forces have not been rebuilt."
~Condoleezza Rice, July 29, 2001

[Firecat]

If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.
~James Madison

You never need an argument against the use of violence, you need an argument for it.
~Noam Chomsky

Everybody's worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there's a really easy way: stop participating in it.
~Noam Chomsky

[justin syder]

Originally Posted by Firecat

And we can say the same about N.Korea and just ignore the problem until a mushroom cloud appears in Seoul.

Just like they waited until Hitler advanced into France and was bombinb London. Building up his army wasnt a sign of anything revelant, invading Poland wasnt a sign...etc etc

[CanadianLoonie]

Originally Posted by justin syder

And we can say the same about N.Korea and just ignore the problem until a mushroom cloud appears in Seoul.

North Korea is well known to have WMD, and the US lost the initiative when they invaded Iraq instead. What forces can the US deploy next when North Korea or Iran stir shit up?

Originally Posted by justin syder

[Just like they waited until Hitler advanced into France and was bombinb London. Building up his army wasnt a sign of anything revelant, invading Poland wasnt a sign...etc etc

And that was the price they paid for appeasement.
But did appeasement took place with Iraq?
Did Iraq threatened anyone and needed to be paid off?