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Post by RobertGraves on Dec 4, 2004 20:05:51 GMT -5
Democrats (I think to myself) are liberals who believe the people are basically good, but that they need government help to organize their lives. They believe in freedom so fervently that they think it should be compulsory. They believe that the poor and ignorant are victims of an unfair system and that their circumstances can be improved if we give them help. Republicans (I think to myself) are conservatives who think it would be best if we faced the fact that people are no damned good. They think that if we admit that we have selfish, acquisitive natures and then set out to get all we can for ourselves by working hard for it, that things will be better for everyone. They are not insensitive to the poor, but tend to think the poor are impoverished because they won't work. They think there would be fewer of them to feel sorry for if the government did not encourage the proliferation of the least fit among us with welfare programs.
Andy Rooney
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camillofan
New Member
apolitical creature
Posts: 7
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Post by camillofan on Dec 5, 2004 0:21:39 GMT -5
Can we comment on the quotes in this topic? I think a lot of people would say that Andy Rooney has it backwards-- that Democrats (liberals, whatever) have less faith in basic human goodness, hence their feeling that we need more government to make us be/do good.
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Post by Aravis on Dec 5, 2004 0:28:53 GMT -5
Yes cam, comments are always welcome.  |
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Post by RobertGraves on Dec 5, 2004 0:44:36 GMT -5
Maybe that's true. I just found this - and for fun will post it  Ann Richards on How to Be a Good Republican: 1. You have to believe that the nation's current 8-year prosperity was due to the work of Ronald Reagan and George Bush, but yesterday's gasoline prices are all Clinton's fault. 2. You have to believe that those privileged from birth achieve success all on their own. 3. You have to be against all government programs, but expect Social Security checks on time. 4. You have to believe that AIDS victims deserve their disease, but smokers with lung cancer and overweight individuals with heart disease don't deserve theirs. 5. You have to appreciate the power rush that comes with sporting a gun. 6. You have to believe...everything Rush Limbaugh says. 7. You have to believe that the agricultural, restaurant, housing and hotel industries can survive without immigrant labor. 8. You have to believe God hates homosexuality, but loves the death penalty. 9. You have to believe society is color-blind and growing up black in America doesn't diminish your opportunities, but you still won't vote for Alan Keyes. 10. You have to believe that pollution is OK as long as it makes a profit. 11. You have to believe in prayer in schools, as long as you don't pray to Allah or Buddha. 12. You have to believe Newt Gingrich and Henry Hyde were really faithful husbands. 13. You have to believe speaking a few Spanish phrases makes you instantly popular in the barrio. 14. You have to believe that only your own teenagers are still virgins. 15. You have to be against government interference in business, until your oil company, corporation or Savings and Loan is about to go broke and you beg for a government bail out. 16. You love Jesus and Jesus loves you and, by the way, Jesus shares your hatred for AIDS victims, homosexuals, and President Clinton. 17. You have to believe government has nothing to do with providing police protection, national defense, and building roads. 18. You have to believe a poor, minority student with a disciplinary history and failing grades will be admitted into an elite private school with a $1,000 voucher. |
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Post by RobertGraves on Dec 10, 2004 3:38:54 GMT -5
"To maintain this position of disparity (U.S. economic-military supremacy)... we will have to dispense with all sentimentality and day-dreaming.... We should cease to talk about vague and... unreal objectives such as human rights, the raising of the living standard and democratization. The day is not far off when we are going to have to deal in straight power concepts.... The less we are then hampered by idealistic slogans, the better."
-George Kennan [Director of Policy Planning U.S. State Department 1948]
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Post by RobertGraves on Dec 10, 2004 15:53:56 GMT -5
I am reminded of the professor who, in his declining hours, was asked by his devoted pupils for his final counsel. He replied, 'Verify your quotations.'
Sir Winston Churchill, quoted in Rudolf Flesch, ed., "The New Book of Unusual Quotations" (NY: Harper & Row, 1966), p. 311
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Post by RobertGraves on Dec 10, 2004 19:50:48 GMT -5
Proportion of Americans who live withing 80kms of where they grew up: 50%
John S. Croucher Professor of Statistics Macquarie University
SMH 11/12/04
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Post by RobertGraves on Dec 11, 2004 18:57:11 GMT -5
'We think of the patient hope aof men and women across the centuries who listened to the words of the profits and lived in joyful expecation.'
White House transcript of a speech by Dubya. It was corrected 19 minutes later to read 'prophets'.
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Post by RobertGraves on Dec 15, 2004 0:43:34 GMT -5
"It has sometimes been frustrating for me to represent George Bush here in Australia...
"His critics like to portray him more in caricature than character.
"The George Bush that I have known through the years is often misunderstood by the public, especially in foreign lands. I really don't know why that is, but it is.
"The George Bush that I know is a man of enormous compassion and concern for his fellow man."
The US ambassador to Australia, Tom Schieffer
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Post by RobertGraves on Dec 17, 2004 3:23:28 GMT -5
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.
Albert Einstein
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Post by RobertGraves on Dec 18, 2004 3:39:50 GMT -5
We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.
John F. Kennedy
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Post by RobertGraves on Dec 18, 2004 3:59:27 GMT -5
We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.
John F. Kennedy
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pinkozcat
Full Member
Remember - pillage first, THEN burn.
Posts: 233
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Post by pinkozcat on Dec 19, 2004 4:42:31 GMT -5
This came from my BookCrossing group but I can't attribute ownership. "Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive
and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, martini in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"
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Post by Aravis on Dec 19, 2004 17:59:55 GMT -5
"Right Wing, Conservative, Anti Liberal,Pro Gun"
A description someone provided of their blog. It just says so much to me about who this person is.
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Post by RobertGraves on Dec 21, 2004 2:06:20 GMT -5
'I try to avoid looking forward or backward, and try to keep looking upward.'
Charlotte Bronte
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