A Dumb Post

“There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly vanish and be replaced by something even more bizarre and incomprehensible. There is another theory which states that this has already happened...”
- Douglas Adams, "The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe"

“They ask me why I'm laughin', I laugh just to keep from cryin'.”
- Doc Watson

“No man really becomes a fool until he stops asking questions.”
- Charles P. Steinmetz

“I have always been impressed by the fact that there are a surprising number of individuals who never use their minds if they can avoid it, and an equal number who do use their minds, but in an amazingly stupid way.”
- Carl Gustav Jung, Swiss psychologist and theorist (July 26, 1875 – 1961)

“Human beings, almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.”
- Douglas Adams, "Last Chance to See"

“If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.”
- John Kenneth Galbraith

“Knowledge is the knowing that we cannot know.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist, poet and philosopher (1803-1882)

“He who knows, does not speak. He who speaks, does not know.”
- Lao-Tzu, philosopher (6th century BCE)

Confusion say: “Those that know don't have to show... Those that don't know are a side-show.”

“If your mind goes blank, don't forget to turn off the sound.”
- Red Green (Canadian humorist)

“Before you speak, ask yourself, is it kind, is it necessary, is it true, does it improve on the silence?”
- Sai Baba

“Only two things are infinite,
the universe and human stupidity,
and I'm not sure about the former.”
- Albert Einstein (1879-1955, German-born American Physicist, Person of the 20th Century)

“Some Scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe.”
- Frank Zappa

Politics of Stupidity

“The world is governed by people far different from those imagined by the public.”
- Benjamin Disraeli, Victorian-era Prime Minister of Britain

“Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it.”
- Mark Twain, author and humorist (1835-1910)

“The trade of governing has always been monopolized by the most ignorant and the most rascally individuals of mankind.”
- Thomas Paine, philosopher and writer (1737-1809)

“Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives.”
- John Stuart Mill

“Get all the fools on your side and you can be elected to anything.”
- Frank Dane

“In politics, absurdity (var. --stupidity) is not a handicap...”
- Napoleon Bonaparte, general and politician (1769-1821)

“It is difficult to get someone to understand something when their salary depends on their not understanding it.”
- Upton Sinclair

“Suppose you were an idiot...And suppose you were a member of Congress...But I repeat myself.”
- Mark Twain, author and humorist (1835-1910)

“Mama says, "Stupid is as stupid does." ”

- Michael Conner Humphreys
as Young Forrest Gump
in "Forrest Gump"
Paramount, 1994

The Human Cost of the War in Iraq is Incaluable!
However, the Monetary Cost is a Staggering

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To visit "Cost of War Dot Com", click here.

“Bush is the perfect leader for folks
who are willing to base their decisions
on their own ignorance.”
- Suzanne

George Bush is a Miserable Failure, for true (Googlebomb).

“Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession, It bears a very close resemblance to the first.”

“The shepherd always tries to persuade the sheep that their interests and his own are the same.”
- Stendal (Marie Henri Beyle), novelist (1783-1842)

“Politicians are interested in people. Not that this is always a virtue. Fleas are interested in dogs.”

“A Politician shakes your hand before elections and your confidence after, because for politicians to succeed in politics, they often find it necessary to rise above any principles they might have held and when all else fails, they frequently lower their standards.

“The nice thing about standards is that there are so many of them to choose from.”
- Andrew S. Tanenbaum, computer science professor (1944- )

“Democracy was once a word of the people, a critical word, a revolutionary word. It has been stolen by those who would rule over the people, to add legitimacy to their rule.” (p. 15)
“The basic idea of democracy is simple.....Democracy is a word that joins demos --the people--with krakia -- power....It describes an ideal, not a method for achieving it. It is not a kind of government, but an end of government; not a historically existing institution, but a historical project.....if people take it up as such and struggle for it.” (p. 22)
- C. Douglas Lummis, "Radical Democracy"; Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1996.

“My definition of a redundancy is an air-bag in a politician's car.”
- Larry Hagman

“A politician is a (wo)man who will double cross that bridge when (s)he comes to it.”
- Oscar Levant

“That dirty, double-crossin' rat!”
- James Cagney as Bert Harris in "Blonde Crazy" Warner Bros., 1931

“All political parties die at last of swallowing their own lies.”
- John Arbuthnot, writer and physician (1667-1735)

“The rapprochement of peoples is only possible when
differences of culture and outlook are respected and
appreciated rather than feared and condemned, when the
common bond of human dignity is recognized as the essential
bond for a peaceful world.”
- Senator J. William Fulbright, Democrat (1905-1995)

“Never apologize and never explain, it's a sign of weakness.”
- John Wayne as Captain Nathan Brittles in "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" RKO, 1949

“The attitude above all others which I feel sure is no longer valid is the arrogance of power, the tendency of great nations to equate power with virtue and major responsibilities with a universal mission. The dilemmas involved are preeminently American dilemmas, not because America has weaknesses that others do not have but because America is powerful as no nation has ever been before and the discrepancy between its power and the power of others appears to be increasing....”

“We are now engaged in a war to "defend freedom" in South Vietnam. Unlike the Republic of Korea, South Vietnam has an army which [is] without notable success and a weak, dictatorial government which does not command the loyalty of the South Vietnamese people. The official war aims of the United States Government, as I understand them, are to defeat what is regarded as North Vietnamese aggression, to demonstrate the futility of what the communists call "wars of national liberation," and to create conditions under which the South Vietnamese people will be able freely to determine their own future. I have not the slightest doubt of the sincerity of the President and the Vice President and the Secretaries of State and Defense in propounding these aims. What I do doubt_and doubt very much_is the ability of the United States to achieve these aims by the means being used. I do not question the power of our weapons and the efficiency of our logistics; I cannot say these things delight me as they seem to delight some of our officials, but they are certainly impressive. What I do question is the ability of the United States, or France or any other Western nation, to go into a small, alien, undeveloped Asian nation and create stability where there is chaos, the will to fight where there is defeatism, democracy racy where there is no tradition of it and honest government where corruption is almost a way of life. Our handicap is well expressed in the pungent Chinese proverb: "In shallow waters dragons become the sport of shrimps."”

“Early last month demonstrators in Saigon burned American jeeps, tried to assault American soldiers, and marched through the streets shouting "Down with the American imperialists," while one of the Buddhist leaders made a speech equating the Unit ed States with the communists as a threat to South Vietnamese independence. Most Americans are understandably shocked ant angered to encounter such hostility from people who by now would be under the rule of the Viet Cong but for the sacrifice of American lives and money. Why, we may ask, are they so shockingly ungrateful? Surely they must know that their very right to parade and protest and demonstrate depends on the Americans who are defending them.”

“The answer, I think, is that "fatal impact" of the rich and strong on the poor and weak. Dependent on it though the Vietnamese are, our very strength is a reproach to their weakness, our wealth a mockery of their poverty, our success a reminder of their failures. What they resent is the disruptive effect of our strong culture upon their fragile one, an effect which we can no more avoid than a man can help being bigger than a child. What they fear, I think rightly, is that traditional Vietnamese society cannot survive the American economic and cultural impact....”

“The cause of our difficulties in southeast Asia is not a deficiency of power but an excess of the wrong kind of power which results in a feeling of impotence when it fails to achieve its desired ends. We are still acting like boy scouts dragging reluctant old ladies across the streets they do not want to cross. We are trying to remake Vietnamese society, a task which certainly cannot be accomplished by force and which probably cannot be accomplished by any means available to outsiders. The objective may b e desirable, but it is not feasible....”

“If America has a service to perform in the world_and I believe it has_it is in large part the service of its own example. In our excessive involvement in the affairs of other countries, we are not only living off our assets and denying our own people the proper enjoyment of their resources; we are also denying the world the example of a free society enjoying its freedom to the fullest. This is regrettable indeed for a nation that aspires to teach democracy to other nations, because, as Burke said! "Example is the school of mankind, and they will learn at no other." . . .”

“There are many respects in which America, if it can bring itself to act with the magnanimity and the empathy appropriate to its size and power, can be an intelligent example to the world. We have the opportunity to set an example of generous understanding in our relations with China, of practical cooperation for Peace in our relations with Russia, of reliable and respectful partnership in our relations with Western Europe, of material helpfulness without moral presumption in our relations with the develop ing nations, of abstention from the temptations of hegemony in our relations with Latin America, and of the all- around advantages of minding one's own business in our relations with everybody. Most of all, we have the opportunity to serve as an example of democracy to the world by the way in which we run our own society; America, in the words of John Quincy Adams, should be "the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all" but "the champion and vindicator only of her own." . . .”

“If we can bring ourselves so to act, we will have overcome the dangers of the arrogance of power. It will involve, no doubt, the loss of certain glories, but that seems a price worth paying for the probable rewards, which are the happiness of America and the Peace of the world.”

“To criticize one's country is to do it a service and pay it a compliment. It is a service because it may spur the country to do better than it is doing; it is a compliment because it evidences a belief that a country can do better than it is doing.”

“In a democracy dissent is an act of faith. Like medicine, the test of its value is not in its taste but its effect, not how it makes people feel in the moment but how it makes them feel in the long run. Criticism, in short, is more than a right; it is an act of patriotism, a higher form of patriotism, I believe, than the familiar rituals of national adulation.”
(The Arrogance of Power, 1966)
- Senator J. William Fulbright, Democrat (1905-1995)

“The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.”
- George Orwell, writer (1903-1950)

“Patriotism is proud of a country's virtues and eager to correct its deficiencies; it also acknowledges the legitimate patriotism of other countries, with their own specific virtues. The pride of nationalism, however, trumpets its country's virtues and denies its deficiencies, while it is contemptuous toward the virtues of other countries. It wants to be, and proclaims itself to be, "the greatest", but greatness is not required of a country; only goodness is.”
- Sydney J. Harris, journalist and author (1917-1986)

“It's no exaggeration to say that the undecideds could go one way or another.”
- George H. W. Bush, as US President

“I have opinions of my own -strong opinions- but I don't always agree with them.”
- George H. W. Bush, as US President

“When G.W. Bush bombs Baghdad and kills thousands of Iraqis, that's good bombing. But when Iraqis or others bomb Baghdad killing our people, that's called terrorism?”
- q2112.com

“Bombing a sovereign nation (Clinton's Kosovo campaign) for ill-defined reasons with vague objectives undermines the American stature in the world. The international respect and trust for America has diminished every time we casually let the bombs fly.”
- Representative Tom Delay (R-TX)

“President [Clinton] is once again releasing American military might on a foreign country (Kosovo) with an ill-defined objective and no exit strategy. He has yet to tell the Congress how much this operation will cost. And he has not informed our nation's armed forces about how long they will be away from home. These strikes do not make for a sound foreign policy.”
- Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA)

“I've read about foreign policy and studied -- I know the number of continents.”
- George Wallace, 1968 presidential campaign

“Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the president (Clinton) to explain to us what the exit strategy is.”
- Governor George W. Bush (R-TX)

“Will Rogers was once asked, "Are you a member of an organized political party?" He replied quickly, "No, I'm a Democrat." ”

“George Bush and Donald Rumsfeld care about the troops in the same way that Tyson Foods cares about chickens.”
- Retired Army master sergeant Stan Goff whose son was recently deployed to Iraq.

“A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls...”
- George W. Bush

“Border relations between Canada and Mexico have never been better.”
- George W. Bush

“This is the worst pResident [sic] ever. He is the worst pResident [sic] in all of American history.”
- Veteran Journalist, Helen Thomas, describing George War Bush

“What makes equality such a difficult business is that we only want it with our superiors....”
- Henry Becque

“It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.”
- Dan Quayle, as US Vice President

“The loss of life will be irreplaceable.”
- Dan Quayle, as US Vice President

“If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.”
- Dan Quayle, as US Vice President

“We are ready for an unforeseen event that may or may not occur.”
- Dan Quayle, as US Vice President

“It is wonderful to be here in the great state of Chicago...”
- Dan Quayle, as US Vice President

“I love California. I practically grew up in Phoenix.”
- Dan Quayle, as US Vice President

“I was recently on a tour of Latin America, and the only regret I have is that I didn't study my Latin harder in school so I could converse with those people.”
- Dan Quayle, as US Vice President

“What a waste it is to lose one's mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is.”
- Dan Quayle, as US Vice President

“I stand by all the misstatements that I've made.”
- Dan Quayle, as US Vice President

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”
- Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird Universal, 1962

“Before you criticize a man walk a mile in his shoes. That way when you do criticize him you'll be a mile away and have his shoes.”
- stevoooo

“Too bad that all the people who know how to run this country are busy driving taxis and cutting hair.”
- George Burns

“The tone and tendency of liberalism...is to attack the institutions of the country under the name of reform and to make war on the manners and customs of the people under the pretext of progress.”
- Benjamin Disraeli (Speech in London, June 24, 1872)

“Liberals feel unworthy of their possessions. Conservatives feel they deserve everything they've stolen.”
- Mort Sahl

“The President has kept all the promises he intended to keep.”
- George Stephanopolous.

“Those who insist on the dignity of their office show they have not deserved it.”
- Baltasar Gracian, philosopher and writer (1601-1658)

“My aim is to agitate and disturb people. I'm not selling bread, I'm selling yeast.”
- Miguel de Unamuno, writer and philosopher (1864-1936)

“Just as a World Trade Center built over the course of five years was destroyed in under two hours, a presidential impostor has used a phony "war on terror" to systematically unravel two centuries of basic jurisprudence in less than a year...There are few more sickening sights than George W. Bush wearing a lapel pin bearing an image of the American flag. Bush and his creepy henchmen can wrap themselves in nationalistic symbolism all they want, but these right-wing thugs aren't patriots. They may pledge allegiance to the flag, but they despise the republic for which it stands.”
g to Philippines' dictator, Ferdinand Marcos, June 1981)

“The Democratic Party is DEAD.”
- Robert Reich, former Labor Secretary under elected President Clinton

“If feces were valuable, the poor would not own their own rectums.”
- seen on a homemade bumper-sticker in San Francisco.

[Commedian, Lea DeLaria, was asked the following question by a right-wing, pro-birth woman at a pro-birth rally in DC. Ms. DeLaria was in DC for the National Gay & Lesbian March on Washington. She unfortunately booked her stay at the same hotel as a crowd of big-haired, right-wing, pro-birth women]: The woman asked Ms. DeLaria: “Don't you believe that life begins at conception?” Ms. DeLaria responded: “No, I don't. I believe that life begins when you open your damn mind.”

“Republicans are spit from the mouth of the baby Jesus. Democrats are expelled from the anus of satan.”
- RadioLeft

“Everyone knows the man has no clue, but no one there has the courage to say it. I mean, good gawd, the man is as he always has been: barely adequate.”
- Molly Ivins

“It certainly is scary out here in "compassionate conservative" country.”
- a listener to RadioLeft.com.

“Apathy and Denial are the cancers which destroy a democracy from within. We as a nation should look in the mirror if we're looking for enemies. Apathy, Denial and the Bush regime are our own worst enemies.”
- q2112.com

“Social activism tends to preoccupy itself with the external. Like the secular intellectuals, activists tend to see all malevolence as being caused by "them"--the "system"--without understanding how these negative factors also operate within ourselves. They approach global problems with the mentality of social engineering, assuming that personal virtue will result from a radical restructuring of society. ... [But] those who want to change society must understand the inner dimensions of change.”
- Sivarska; p 60-61

“I am not an idealist, nor a cynic, but merely unafraid of contradictions. I have seen men face each other when both were right, yet each was determined to kill the other, which was wrong. What each man saw was an image of the other, made by someone else. That is what we are prisoners of.”
- Donald Hogan, "Crucifixions", quoted in "Her Blue Body Everything We Know" by Alice Walker; Harper's Magazine, January 1972

“A mass movement attracts and holds a following not because it can satisfy the desire for self-advancement, but because it can satisfy the passion for self-renunciation.”
- Eric Hoffer, "The True Believer"; New York: New American Library, 1951. p 21.

“It is a strange thing that both the injurer and the injured, the sinner and he who is sinned against, should find in the mass movement an escape from a blemished life.”
- Eric Hoffer, "The True Believer"; New York: New American Library, 1951. p 55.

“This is the story of all tyrants, General. They have but one enemy. And this is the one they never recognize, until too late.”
- Father Tomas to General Clemente, on "The Twilight Zone," aired on the Sci-Fi Channel, January 10, 2003

“They would not listen, they're not listening still...perhaps they never will.”
- Don McLean

“Power corrupts. Absolute power is kind of neat.”
- John Lehman (US secretary of the Navy)

“Mankind's history has proved from one era to another
that the true criterion of leadership is spiritual.
[People] are attracted by spirit.
By power, [people] are forced.
Love is engendered by spirit.
By power, anxieties are created.”
-Malcolm X, "The Autobiography of Malcolm X," 1965, Chap. 19/ p. 424.

“The constitutions of most of our states assert that all power is inherent in the people.”
- Thomas Jefferson

“We live now in this world of Bush where every day we are confronted with the myriad ways in which this administration and its hellish minions attempt to strip rights, dignity, and humanity in favor of a world of unchecked corporate greed-seeking and governmental repression in the guise of parental protectiveness.”
- Rude Pundit ("Proudly lowering the level of political discourse") 03MAR2K5

“I don't know that Atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God.”
- George H. W. Bush 27AUG1987

“See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.”
- George W. Bush 23MAY2K5

“I was provided with additional input that was radically different from the truth. I assisted in furthering that version.”
- Colonel Oliver North, from his Iran-Contra testimony

“Let us never tolerate outrageous conspiracy theories concerning the attacks of September the 11th; malicious lies that attempt to shift the blame away from the terrorists, themselves, away from the guilty.”
- George W. Bush

“They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.”
- George W. Bush 5AUG2K4

“Those who put out the people's eyes, reproach them for their blindness.”
- John Milton, poet (1608-1674)

“When someone demands blind obedience, you'd be a fool not to peek.”
- Jim Fiebig

“I would like to say to you: obedience is the greatest sin. Listen to your intelligence, and if anything feels right, do it? but you are not obeying, you are going with your intelligence. If your intelligence finds something is wrong, then whatsoever the risk, and whatsoever the consequence, go against the order. No order is higher than your intelligence.”
- Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

“It is not the function of our Government to keep the citizen from falling into error: it is the function of the citizen to keep the Government from falling into error.”
- Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954), U.S. Judge

“Wherever you have an efficient government you have a dictatorship.”
- Harry S. Truman, 33rd US president (1884-1972)

“Secrecy, being an instrument of conspiracy, ought never to be the system of a regular government.”
- Jeremy Bentham, jurist and philosopher (1748-1832)

“The history of every country begins in the heart of a man or a woman.”
-Willa Sibert Cather

“Real revolutionaries adorn themselves on the inside, not at the surface.”
- Ché Guevara

“Take spiritual principles and pour them into political actions, as did Gandhi. It's about freedom, not control. --- We can't sustain a democracy without courage. What are we doing to diminish fear and increase courage in our lives? Courage is the power of the human heart to create new possibilities, to change the world, and to open paths where previously there were none. -- Something of spirit informs everything that is of matter.”
- Dennis Kucinich

“Too many of us panic in the dark. We don't understand that it's a holy dark and that the idea is to surrender to it and journey through to real light.”
- Sue Monk Kidd, "Little Pieces of Light" by Joyce Rupp

“When I despair, I remember that all through history, the way of truth and love has always won. There have been murderers and tyrants, and for a time they can seem invincible. But in the end they always fall. Think of it, always.”
- (Mahatma) Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948, Hindu Indian nationalist leader)

Previous Paradigm Perpa-traitor Performance Evaluation. . .

“There's Nothing Compassionate About Forcing Americans To Support Religion.”
- Reverend Barry Lynn, Americans United for Separation of Church & State

“I do not find in orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature.”
- Thomas Jefferson ()

“The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus by the Supreme Being as his father, in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter.”
- Thomas Jefferson, 1823

“In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own.”
- Thomas Jefferson, 1814

“I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever, in religion, in philosophy, in politics or in anything else, where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. If I could not go to Heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all.”
- Thomas Jefferson

“The whole history of these books [the Gospels] is so defective and doubtful that it seems vain to attempt minute enquiry into it: and such tricks have been played with their text, and with the texts of other books relating to them, that we have a right, from that cause, to entertain much doubt what parts of them are genuine. In the New Testament there is internal evidence that parts of it have proceeded from an extraordinary man; and that other parts are of the fabric of very inferior minds. It is as easy to separate those parts, as to pick out diamonds from dunghills.”
- Thomas Jefferson (letter to John Adams, January 24, 1814)

“But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.”
- Thomas Jefferson

“The United States is in no way founded upon the Christian religion.”
- George Washington (1732-1799) The first President of the United States (1789-1797) & John Adams (in a diplomatic message to Malta)

“This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it.”
- John Adams (in a letter to Thomas Jefferson)

“The Bible is not my book, and Christianity is not my religion. I could never give assent to the long, complicated statements of Christian dogma.”
- Abraham Lincoln (first Republican)

“If I could conceive that the general government might ever be so administered as to render the liberty of conscience insecure, I beg you will be persuaded, that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny, and every species of religious persecution.”
- George Washington (1732-1799) The first President of the United States (1789-1797), (letter to the United Baptist Chamber of Virginia, May 1789, in Anson Phelps Stokes, "Church and State in the United States, Vol 1." p. 495, quoted from Albert J. Menendez and Edd Doerr, "The Great Quotations on Religious Freedom")

“Every man, conducting himself as a good citizen, and being accountable to God alone for his religious opinions, ought to be protected in worshipping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience.”
- George Washington (1732-1799) The first President of the United States (1789-1797), (letter to the United Baptist Chamber of Virginia, May 1789, in Anson Phelps Stokes, "Church and State in the United States, Vol 1." p. 495, quoted from Albert J. Menendez and Edd Doerr, "The Great Quotations on Religious Freedom")

“I am persuaded, you will permit me to observe that the path of true piety is so plain as to require but little political direction. To this consideration we ought to ascribe the absence of any regulation, respecting religion, from the Magna-Charta of our country.”
- George Washington (1732-1799) The first President of the United States (1789-1797), (responding to a group of clergymen who complained that the Constitution lacked mention of Jesus Christ, in 1789, Papers, Presidential Series, 4:274, the "Magna-Charta" here refers to the proposed United States Constitution)

“The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.”
- George Washington (1732-1799) The first President of the United States (1789-1797), (letter to the congregation of Touro Synagogue, Newport, Rhode Island, August, 1790, in Anson Phelps Stokes, "Church and State in the United States, Vol 1." p. 862)

“Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by a difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought to be deprecated. I was in hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present age, would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so far that we should never again see the religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society.”
- George Washington (1732-1799) The first President of the United States (1789-1797), (letter to Edward Newenham, October 20, 1792, quoted from Albert J. Menendez and Edd Doerr, "The Great Quotations on Religious Freedom," also James A. Haught, 2K, "Years of Disbelief")

“We have abundant reason to rejoice that in this Land the light of truth and reason has triumphed over the power of bigotry and superstition ... In this enlightened Age and in this Land of equal liberty it is our boast, that a man's religious tenets will not forfeit the protection of the Laws, nor deprive him of the right of attaining and holding the highest Offices that are known in the United States.”
- George Washington (1732-1799) The first President of the United States (1789-1797), (letter to the members of the New Church in Baltimore, January 27, 1793, in Anson Phelps Stokes, "Church and State in the United States, Vol 1." p. 497, quoted from Albert J. Menendez and Edd Doerr, "The Great Quotations on Religious Freedom")

“If they are good workmen, they may be of Asia, Africa, or Europe. They may be Mohometans, Jews or Christians of any Sect, or they may be Atheists.”
- George Washington (1732-1799) The first President of the United States (1789-1797), (letter to Tench Tilghman asking him to secure a carpenter and a bricklayer for his Mount Vernon estate, March 24, 1784, in Paul F. Boller, "George Washington & Religion," 1963, p. 118, quoted from Ed and Michael Buckner, "Quotations that Support the Separation of State and Church")

“Among many other weighty objections to the Measure, it has been suggested, that it has a tendency to introduce religious disputes into the Army, which above all things should be avoided, and in many instances would compel men to a mode of Worship which they do not profess.”
- George Washington (1732-1799) The first President of the United States (1789-1797), (to John Hancock, then president of Congress, expressing opposition to a congressional plan to appoint brigade chaplains in the Continental Army (1777), quoted from a letter to Cliff Walker from Doug Harper, 2002)

“I had always hoped that this land might become a safe and agreeable Asylum to the virtuous and persecuted part of mankind, to whatever nation they might belong.”
- George Washington (1732-1799) The first President of the United States (1789-1797), (letter to Francis Adrian Van der Kemp, a Mennonite minister, May 28, 1788, in Paul F. Boller, "George Washington & Religion," 1963, p. 118, quoted from Ed and Michael Buckner, "Quotations that Support the Separation of State and Church")

“Government being, among other purposes, instituted to protect the consciences of men from oppression, it certainly is the duty of Rulers, not only to abstain from it themselves, but according to their stations, to prevent it in others.”
- George Washington (1732-1799) The first President of the United States (1789-1797), (letter to the Religious Society called the Quakers, September 28,1789, quoted from Albert J. Menendez and Edd Doerr, "The Great Quotations on Religious Freedom," also in Gorton Carruth and Eugene Ehrlich, "The Harper Book of American Quotations," 1988)

“The best way to convince a fool that he is wrong is to let him have his own way.”
- Josh Billings

“Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something.”
- Plato

“You can fool some of the people all the time, and those are the ones you want to concentrate on.”
- George W Bush

“Fortune can, for her pleasure, fools advance, And toss them on the wheels of Chance.”
- Juvenal

“The surprising thing about young fools is how many survive to become old fools.”
- Doug Larson

“A mother takes 20 years to make a man of her boy, and another woman makes a fool of him in 20 minutes.”
- Robert Frost

“Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain - and most fools do.”
- Dale Carnegie

“A fellow who is always declaring he's no fool usually has his suspicions.”
- Wilson Mizner

“A wise man can see more from the bottom of a well than a fool can from a mountain top.”
- ?

A Dumb Post By Reverend R Clark <clark@acceleration.net>

Politics of Stupidity

“Mama says, "Stupid is as stupid does." ”

Previous Paradigm Perpa-traitor Performance Evaluation. . .