The Destin Log is the twice-weekly newspaper devoted to covering the crown jewel of the Emerald Coast.
One of the recurring arguments against prosecuting American torturers is that it will make them second guess their actions and maybe hold back for fear of punishment.
Today, on Glenn Greenwald’s Salon blog, this quote from Diana Powe, a retired Texas cop: “If government agents must fear answering to those empowered to review their work, then we don’t need such agents in the people’s employ.”
Well said.
Quite randomly selected:
“Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives… you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours… You the mothers who sent their sons from far away countries wipe away your tears. Your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. Having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.—Attaturk memorial.
“Racism, bigotry and xenophobia are immoral, of course, but they are also, just as fundamentally, untrue. They are unreal. They provide a theory and a framework for living in the world that cannot be reconciled with the reality of this world. The person who chooses to accept that unreal framework is thus constantly forced to choose between unreality and reality, between the theory and the facts. To hold onto the unreal framework, they must continuously reject reality. And every time they do that, they get a little bit dumber.”—Fred Clark.
“You will never love art well until you love what she mirrors better.”— John Ruskin
“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
“If you gave the Big Hollywood crew Occam’s Razor, they’d fumble with it for half an hour and finally flee the bathroom leaving bloody smears and chunks of their fingers in the sink.”—John Rogers
Fear is the junk food of the soul, while love languishes in the vegetable aisle..—Kit Whitfield
As a tribute to the movie I watch every Dec. 25, some quotes:
•”I triple dog dare you!”
•”Be sure and drink your ovaltine.”
•”It was—soap poisoning!”
•”You’ll shoot your eye out, kid.”
•”Oh, fudge—only I didn’t say fudge.”
•”Show me how the little piggies eat.”
•”Icicles have been known to kill people.”
•”It’s smiling at me.”
For those who didn’t notice, last week was the 19th anniversary of the initial broadcast of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. I could go on and on about how much I love the show, but I’d sooner let the creative team’s words speak for them:
•”Are you a brain surgeon? My brain — HURTS!”
•”No-one expects the Spanish Inquisition! Surprise is our greatest weapon!”
•”That parrot’s not dead — it’s pining for the fjiords.”
•”Did he say blessed are the cheesemakers?”
•”Your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of elderberries!”
•”I don’t want to see anyone mistreating the Abos … while anyone is watching.”
•”We take you know to the set of GEORGE II, the exciting life of the king who hasn’t been done yet.”
•”Bicycle Repairman — but how?”
•”Come back! I’ll bite you in the kneecap!”
•”What is the flying speed of an African swallow?”
•”I’ve just been putting down the cat.”
From Adam Serwer, on Tapped on the right-wingers who think Obama is a Communist: “To be fair, these conclusions make a bit of sense: could there be a more perfect vessel for a secret communist takeover of the United States than a biracial one-term senator from Chicago with an Arabic-sounding name? At a Starbucks somewhere, Chairman Mao is leeching WiFi for a quick instant message to William Ayers: ‘It’s happening exactly how we planned it.’”
Black on the current economic slump: “A big reason that there is a liquidity problem is that… people lost a lot of money. All gone!”
“A great country acts great when it matters. This is a time when it matters — for politicians in the points they raise, for journalists in the subjects they write about and the questions they ask of candidates. And, yes, for voters.”
“A man’s laugh should not sound like a weasel dying at the gates of Hell.”—Pearls Before Swine.
Yep, a post devoted to some quotes from the man who said “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it” and was also the most suppressed author of the 18th century. In his lifetime, he was arrested for his writing, many of his books were banned and some were burned.
Voltaire’s death hasn’t made him less controversial: In 1929, Boston authorities seized copies of Candide on their way to Harvard and the Post Office, in 1944, would not allow a mail-order catalog to list a copy. A few years ago, a play about Mohammed was banned in Geneva in response to Muslim protests.
Without further ado, the quotes:
“God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.”
“All sects are different, because they come from men; morality is everywhere the same, because it comes from God.”
“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”
“Use, do not abuse; neither abstinence nor excess ever renders man happy.”
“The safest course is to do nothing against one’s conscience. With this secret, we can enjoy life and have no fear from death.”
“Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.”
“Every man is guilty of all the good he didn’t do.”
And for pure snark: “All I have asked of God is that he make my enemies ridiculous—and behold, he has granted my wish.”
“sometimes it all seems like squealing car tires with no crash at the end” — From ”Let’s move all things (September),” by Denver Butson
(Today is actually going fine, but I know the feeling he’s talking about).
