Quote from Mark Twain

[MrHixxx 0]

I friend sent me this little snippet from the desk of Mark Twain.


"There are two kinds of patriotism -- monarchical patriotism and republican
patriotism. In the one case the government and the king may rightfully
furnish you their notions of patriotism; in the other, neither the
government nor the entire nation is privileged to dictate to any individual
what the form of his patriotism shall be. The gospel of the monarchical
patriotism is: "The King can do no wrong." We have adopted it with all its
servility, with an unimportant change in the wording: "Our country, right
or wrong!" We have thrown away the most valuable asset we had:-- the
individual's right to oppose both flag and country when he (just he, by
himself) believed them to be in the wrong. We have thrown it away; and with
it all that was really respectable about that grotesque and laughable word,
Patriotism."

-Hixxx

death,as men call him, ends what they call men
-but beauty is more now than dying’s when

[SpeedRacer 1]

Mark Twain for president.

A member of his staff explained that the polls used to determine presidential approval ratings are biased because they offer no real choice. Many people just want to approve of the president. When asked why they approve, many respond by saying "he's our president," they "stand by the president," or with similar statements that indicate that they confuse support for the president with patriotism towards their country. "People seem to think they are citizens of the Republican Party and that that is patriotism and sufficiently good patriotism," Twain said. "I prefer to be a citizen of the United States."

Speed Racer
--------------------------------------------------

[billvon 3,088]

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president... is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
-Theodore Roosevelt

"Too many people desire to suppress criticism simply because they think it will give some comfort to the enemy...If that comfort makes the enemy feel better for a few moments, they are welcome to it...because the maintenance of the right to criticism in the long run will do the country maintaining it a great deal more good than it will do the enemy."
-Robert A. Taft, just after Pearl Harbor

[Push 0]

My thoughts exactly, only I wish I could express them as clearly.

-- Toggle Whippin' Yahoo
Skydiving is easy. All you have to do is relax while plummetting at 120 mph from 10,000' with nothing but some nylon and webbing to save you.

[billvon 3,088]

>A member of his staff explained that the polls used to determine
> presidential approval ratings are biased because they offer no real
> choice.

Some other results from recent U of M poll of 1200 people:

33% think the US found WMD's in Iraq
22% thing Iraqis used WMD's against us during the war
65% couldn't describe the basic facts about Watergate
45% characterized Watergate as "just politics"
34% think Rock and Roll has had an overall negative impact on America
33% believe a wife should "submit herself graciously" to a husband
30% say the Bible is the "actual word of God" to be taken literally
26% thought various disasters in 1999 might "foreshadow the wrath of God"
24% describe themselves as interested in what celebrities think
21% say justice was served in the O.J. Simpson case
20% approve of the how the Catholic Church handles pedophilia
20% believe that the killing of civilians in Vietnam was "relatively rare"
12% think the United States should have a British-style royal family
10% would eat a rat or an insect on a "reality" TV show
7% think Elvis is possibly still alive

My conclusion? There are people out there who will say anything.

[FliegendeWolf 0]

Don't look at me...I'm not a U of M student. Recent U of M alumnus, but I'm certainly not a student there!

A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All

[juanesky 0]

And there is also some who want to convert to Islam (nothing wrong with that), yet do think that it is their right to get a driving license with their veil on...???

Right on Billvon...

"According to some of the conservatives here, it sounds like it's fine to beat your wide - as long as she had it coming." -Billvon

[tbrown 26]

33% think the US found WMD's in Iraq
22% thing Iraqis used WMD's against us during the war
reply]

We'll find those WMD's if we have to fly them into Iraq ourselves ! (Which is how they mostly got there in the first place, in the days when Rumsfeld used to shake hands with Saddam.)

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

[EricTheRed 0]

"33% believe a wife should "submit herself graciously" to a husband "

Right...like that's ever going to happen

illegible usually