橋爪

Courtesy of Chris Osborn:

"Music is water. It's in a river and it's free. Anybody can go to that river and drink. But then somebody came up with the idea of bottling the water."
-Ian McKaye

"Lazy people are always wanting to do something."
-Marquis De Vauvenargues

"Nothing is static. Everything is evolving. Everything is falling apart."
-Tyler Durden

On March 1 of this year, there was a hearing regarding the constitutionality of banning same-sex marriage in Maryland. During this hearing, there was an exchange between a state senator and a professor of law, Jamin Raskin, that I found inspiring...

Senator: "Mr. Raskin, my Bible says marriage is only between a man and a woman. What do you have to say about that?"

Raskin: "Senator, when you took your oath of office, you placed your hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution. You did not place your hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible."

I posted this nearly six months ago, yet refuse to heed its wisdom:

We're not really taught how to recreate constructively. We need to do more than find diversions; we need to restore and expand ourselves. Our idea of relaxing is all too often to plop down in front of the television set and let its pandering idiocy liquefy our brains. Shutting off the thought process is not rejuvenating; the mind is like a car battery— it recharges by running.

-Bill Watterson, creator of "Calvin and Hobbes"

(A note - I borrowed a large book of quotations from my dad and have been plowing through it, finding various quotes I like. Yesterday's was probably the first of many I will post from this book.)

He who believes in nothing still needs a girl to believe in him.
-Eugene Rosenstock-Huessey

You try being alone, without any form of distraction, and you will see how quickly you want to get away from yourself and forget what you are. That is why this enormous structure of professional amusement, of automated distraction, is so prominent a part of what we call civilization. If you observe, you will see that people the word over are becoming more and more distracted, increasingly sophisticated and worldly. The multiplication of pleasures, the innumerable books that are being published, the newspaper pages filled with sporting events - surely, all these indicate that we constantly want to be amused. Because we are inwardly empty, dull, mediocre, we use our relationships and our social reforms as a means of escaping from ourselves.

I wonder if you have noticed how lonely most people are?

And to escape from loneliness we run to temples, churches, or mosques, we dress up and attend social functions, we watch television, listen to the radio, read, and so on...If you inquire a little into boredom you will find that the cause of it is loneliness. It is in order to escape from loneliness that we want to be together, we want to be entertained, to have distractions of every kind: gurus, religious ceremonies, prayers, or the latest novel. Being inwardly lonely we become mere spectators in life; and we can be the players only when we understand loneliness and go beyond it.

...because beyond it lies the real treasure.

-J. Krishnamurti
Think On These Things

Once upon a midnight dreary
While pron I surfed, weak and weary
Over many a strange and spurious site of "Hot XXX Galore."
While I clicked my fav'rite bookmark
Suddenly there came a warning
And my heart was filled with mourning
Mourning for my dear amour.
"'Tis not possible!" I muttered, "give me back my free hardcore!"

Quoth the server
404.
-Bash.org

Deny everything. Admit nothing. Make counter-accusations.
-Unknown

It has been said that if you put an infinite number of monkeys at an infinite amount of typewriters, one would eventually create the works of Shakespeare. Thanks to the advent of the internet, we now know this to be untrue.
-Unknown

Well...Al Qaeda bombed London.

I'm sure now the world respects Al Qaeda's ideals much more.

I'm sure now the world is ready to listen to Al Qaeda's demands.

I'm sure God understands that Al Qaeda was doing this only for Him, and will forgive them in kind.

I know this seems like a given, but it's just so asinine. I mean, what are they trying to accomplish here? I wish their agenda were a bit more clear, because every time something like this happens, I just wonder what they could possibly think could justify actions so random and brutal. Furthering a religious agenda? Getting back at what they perceive as an oppressive or evil government? Any way you cut it, it makes no sense to attack civilians; it simply portrays you for what you really are: a sociopath.

"Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary."
-Mohandas Gandhi

It's odd; about an hour ago, I'd just finished going through the whole of my DeadJournal and had a lot on my mind - so much so that I felt compelled to update with something "thoughtful." Then I watched an hour of TV and it all dissapated. Spooky. I did manage to remember most of it, so...here it is:
( Warning: The following is extremely introspective to the point of senseless rambling )

The illiteracy level of our children are appalling.
-President George Bush, Washington, D.C., Jan. 23, 2004

School takes 13 years because that is how long it takes to break a child's spirit.
-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

I found this pretty funny...from "The Autobiography of Malcolm X," on Malcolm proposing to his wife:

I wasn't about to say any of that romance stuff that Hollywood and television had filled women's heads with. If I was going to do something, I was going to do it directly. And anything I was going to do, I was going to do my way. And because I wanted to do it. Not because I saw somebody do it. Or read it in a book. Or saw a moving picture somewhere.

He then asked his future wife to marry him...

...I telephoned Sister Betty X...Somebody got her to the phone finally. She said, "Oh, hello, Brother Minister-" I just said it to her direct: "Look, do you want to get married?"

What a hopeless romantic.