QotD for 15 Feb., 2010

Upon hearing the news that Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Indiana) won't be running for re-election due to the strident partisanship in the current Congress, I'm reminded of the following:

"The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity." ---from the poem "The Second Coming" by William Butler Yeats

I really wish the best would stay and fight instead of throwing their hands up in disgust...

Forgotten, not banished

When asked in a Washington Post interview whether an intelligent and discerning leader of the caliber of Dwight Eisenhower would be considered acceptable in today's conservative movement, Gerard Alexander, Assoc. Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia, and himself a conservative, responded:

Maybe the saddest thing about Eisenhower is that he's not so much banished as forgotten.

QotD for 4 Feb., 2010

"You can talk about Jesus all day, but if you are not doing what Jesus would have you do, then it matters not. God save us from admirers of Jesus.” ---the Rt. Rev'd. Gene Robinson, Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire

QotD for 3 Feb., 2010

One of the chief reasons I have little respect for the so-called "traditional Anglican" movement in TEC is the hypocrisy illuminated by this quote:

Reactionaries continually accuse liberals of individualism yet they are the first to cite individual liberties when the community decide to go in a direction the reactionary, personally, doesn't like. ---the Rev'd. Jonathan Hagger

QotD for 29 Jan., 2010

"I was regretting the past and fearing the future. Suddenly my Lord was speaking. 'My name is I AM.' He paused. I waited. He continued. 'When you live in the past with its mistakes and regrets it is hard. I am not there. My name is not I WAS. "'When you live in the future with its problems and fears, it is hard. My name is not I WILL BE. When you live in this moment it is not hard. I am here. My name is I AM.'" ---Helen Mallicoat

[shamelessly stolen from Lisa Edwards]

QotD for 25 Jan., 2010

Considering both the recent senatorial election in Massachusetts and the Supreme Court campaign finance decision, the following seems apropos...

No matter how cynical you become, it's never enough to keep up. ---Lily Tomlin

QotD for 22 Jan., 2010

“I hope we shall... crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and to bid defiance to the laws of our country.” ---Thomas Jefferson, letter to George Logan. November 12, 1816

No hands but ours

If you're wondering where God is during catastrophes like the earthquake in Haiti, remember this:

Lord Christ, You have no body on earth but ours, no hands but ours, no feet but ours. Ours are the eyes through which Your compassion must look out on the world. Ours are the feet by which You may still go about doing good. Ours are the hands with which You bless people now. Bless our minds and bodies, that we may be a blessing to others. ---Saint Teresa of Ávila

[hat tip to the Rev. Ann Fontaine]

Why We Are Here

A great, Lovecraftian parody of the infamous "Chick tract," a kind of booklet which way-out-there sorts of Christians used to hand off to unsuspecting normals, can be found in the Cthulhu Tract.

Bwahaha! Come on, monkey-boy! Admit you're a semi-evolved ape thing that is mercifully ignorant of the soul-blasting truths of the Cosmos! Iä! Iä! Cthulhu Fhtagn!

QotD for 7 Jan., 2010

There is no technology that would be harmful in the hands of an individual that can’t be made more so – on an epic scale – in the hands of an entrenched bureaucracy. ---Sarah A. Hoyt, author

Bono's got it all wrong

Jesus Diaz over at Gizmodo posts a righteous rant on the U2 lead singer's boneheaded opinions RE: file sharing and the music biz.

This is about two groups of fat cats fighting for money. First, you're rich and your pals at the music industry are rich. Second, those are rich service providers. In the middle, getting sandwiched between your throbbing shameless practices and thick hypocrisy, is the people. I can't speak for the rest of us, but I'm sick of you both.

Preach it.

QotD for 4 Jan., 2010

Despite fearful rhetoric to the contrary, terrorism is not a transcendent threat. A terrorist attack cannot possibly destroy a country’s way of life; it’s only our reaction to that attack that can do that kind of damage. The more we undermine our own laws, the more we convert our buildings into fortresses, the more we reduce the freedoms and liberties at the foundation of our societies, the more we’re doing the terrorists’ job for them. ---Bruce Schneier, American cryptographer, computer security specialist, and writer