Roberts On Trust

There are nights when all my aching bones won't let me sleep
And demons come to plague me as I lie in bed
But I know if you were sleeping there beside me then
That you could fend them off and they would let me rest

- Brad Roberts (Crash Test Dummies), The Ghosts that Haunt Me

Thiele On The Unspoken

The colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of the people passing by
I see friends shaking hands, saying, “how do you do?”
But they’re really saying, “I love you”

- Bob Thiele, What A Wonderful World

Philip K. Dick On Philosophy

"Empty talk," Joe said. "It doesn't matter. [...]You know the old brownshirt term for people who spin philosphy? Eierkopf. Egghead. Because the big double-domed empty heads break so easily . . . in the street brawls."

- Philip K. Dick, The Man in the High Castle

[Note: Etymology sources differ, generally claiming "egghead" is an early 20th c. term for baldness.]

Vogt On Cowardice

"If I were you, Crang, I wouldn't trust Blayney after he gets to be forty."

"Eh?" That was Blayney, an astounded look on his face. Crang's yellow eyes questioned Gosseyn.

"There are psychiatrical explanations for Blayney hitting me as he did," Gosseyn explained. "His nervous system is beginning to react as strongly to things that might have happened as it would if they had actually occurred. It's a purely functional disorder, but its outward form is distressing to the individual. A gradual loss of courage. Sadistic outbursts to cover up the developing cowardice. By the time he's forty he'll be having nightmares about the damage he might have suffered in some of the danger spots he was in as a youth." He shrugged. "Another case of a person lacking null-A integration."

Blayney had gray eyes. They glard at Gosseyn, then twisted over to Crang. He said in a hushed voice, "May I hit him again, Mr. Crang?"

- A.E. van Vogt, The World of Null-A

McDonald On The Prodigal Son

The most touching moment was when I registered a man in his late 50's, a long-ago native of Arkansas named Robert. Robert had obviously been drinking before arriving at LoveFest; he was probably just in the neighborhood, saw the excitement and decided to wander over. Robert came to our voter registration booth with a sad look on his face, to announce that he wished he could vote [...], but he couldn't. When asked why not, he responded that he could not vote because he "had a felony."

I asked him if he had finished serving his time ("Oh, a long time ago!") and if he was currently on probation or parole ("No, I finished with all that years ago"). So I informed him that yes, he was indeed eligible to vote and that I would register him right then and there, even help him to understand the procedure. As he painstakingly started to fill out the form, placing every letter in the correct box, and squinting his eyes to read the small print, he abruptly stopped, put the pen down, and looked at me with watery, fearful red eyes. "I won't get in trouble for doing this, will I?" I had to catch my breath and call the other volunteer in the booth for support. I called Registration headquarters on my cell phone just to make sure, just to reassure Robert, and to confirm what was written on the handout and the form: If a person, even a convicted felon, wishes to vote, it is his American right to vote, so long as he is no longer in prison or on parole.

Robert completed his form and handed it to me with all seriousness. He seemed to sober up as we went over the form to search for errors or omissions. I signed the form and handed him his receipt, which he slowly and carefully folded and placed in his wallet. He looked into my eyes with gratitude, thanked me, shook my hand, and accepted the big hug I gave him. My last words to him as he walked away toward the street were, "Robert, look--you tell everyone you know that they all have the right to vote! They can vote! Once they've served their time, they can be a citizen again! Tell everybody! Tell them all!"



[Note: Mildly edited to be non-partisan. Follow link for more context.]

Invitation To Excel

It's up to us now. We may never again have our hands on history quite like this again for as long as we live. That makes each hour so so precious. We can slack off, sleep in, and make excuses for the rest of our lives. But today - and for the next 3 weeks... whether we knew what we were getting into or not... we have ended up with people's lives, livelihoods, and dreams for their children - all dependent on our performance day in and day out. This is our one chance at history... our one chance at perfection. Our one chance to live forever. So today - breathe this in... realize that your grandkids will be reading about you... realize that you will miss this feeling very very soon... and win every single hour.

[Excerpt from a North Carolina campaign regional field director note to organizers]

Ostroy On Negative Campaigning

The latest barrage of attacks on Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama accuses him of being a "socialist." So, let's get this straight: he's a socialist... and, um.... an elitist... and, er... a terrorist...and...um...a celebrity. . What's next, a hermaphrodite?

And anyway, is it possible for one person to be a socialist, an elitist, a terrorist and a celebrity? How would that even look? Do you attend Harvard to get high-paying jobs so you can live in a wealthy neighborhood just so you can steal from your rich neighbors to give to the poor, all before you blow up their houses and then go for drinks with Alec Baldwin? I'm lost....

Shantideva On Perspective

To cover all the earth with sheets of hide
Where could such amounts of skin be found?
But simply wrap some leather round your feet
And it's as if the whole earth has been covered

- Shantideva (circa 8th century A.D.)

Armstrong's Epiphany On Men

I had used all my discoveries about men wanting to be my hero and wanting to make me happy against them. I had become an even more effective emasculator.

I still wasn't sorry. It seemed necessary to emasculate men--to keep me safe. That was when I saw the sixteen year-old running my life. The saucy teen who had concluded that men "are bigger and stronger and they'll hurt you." In the instant that I saw that inexperienced, unknowledgeable, scared little girl, I knew that I would never experience the true power of a woman until I allowed men their own power.

I told Ellen, "Okay, I'll stop." Her response surprised me. She said, "I'm not asking this for you. I'm asking you to stop castrating men because I believe when women stop castrating men, men will give us everything we ever wanted. Including peace and the end of hunger."

McLintock's Gift Of Love

Becky! Come here. Somethin' I ought to tell you. Guess now's as good a time as any. You're going to have every young buck west of the Missouri around here tryin' to marry you - mostly because you're a handsome filly, but partly because I own everything in this country from here to there. They'll think you're going to inherit it.

Well, you're not. I'm going to leave most of it to, well, to the nation really, for a park where no lumbermen'll cut down all the trees for houses with leaky roofs. Nobody'll kill all the beaver for hats for dudes nor murder the buffalo for robes.

What I'm going to give you is a 500 cow spread on the Upper Green River. Now that may not seem like much, but it's more than we had, your mother and I. Some folks are gonna say I'm doin' all this so I can sit up in the hereafter and look down on a park named after me, or that I was disappointed in you - didn't want you to get all that money.

But the real reason, Becky, is because I love you, and I want you and some young man to have what I had, because all the gold in the United States Treasury and all the harp music in heaven can't equal what happens between a man and a woman with all that growin' together. I can't explain it any better than that.

George Washington McLintock In Love

Half the people in the world are women. Why does it have to be you that stirs me?

dagan68 On Canvassing

I have been going out every day for the past two weeks. Early on, my canvassing partner and I ran into two young black men - bling, tattooes, etc. I try not to be racist - but it was all I could do not to be scared to death. They came up to us - and we introduced ourselves. The one gentleman's name is Kai. I asked Kai if he was registered to vote - he said No and we discussed how he could register. He looked up at me - and I swear he was tearing up in his eyes - he said - "You are the first white man who has ever spoken to me with respect in my life. I appreciate all the work you are doing for Obama." He then asked for more registration forms - he took about 100.

I understand from a friend at a local official registration location that Kai did indeed show up - with about 50 of his friends in tow. I actually started crying.

Kakistocracy

Government by the least qualified or most unprincipled citizens.

Rick Finkelstein observes it was first used by Thomas Love Peacock in The Misfortunes of Elphin (1829), basing it on the Greek "kakistos", meaning "worst."

The Demands Of Conscience

To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go
To right the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star

This is my quest
To follow that star
No matter how hopeless
No matter how far

To fight for the right
Without question or pause
To be willing to march into Hell
For a heavenly cause

And I know if I'll only be true
To this glorious quest
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm
When I'm laid to my rest

And the world will be better for this
That one man, scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable star

-The Impossible Dream, lyrics by Joe Darion

"God help us - we are both men of La Mancha."

- Miguel de Cervantes, Man Of La Mancha