"I've never done a crazy thing in my life until that night. Why is it if a man kills another man in battle it's called heroic, yet if he kills a man in a heat of passion it's called murder?"
"I've never done a crazy thing in my life until that night. Why is it if a man kills another man in battle it's called heroic, yet if he kills a man in a heat of passion it's called murder?"
"I've never done a crazy thing in my life until that night. Why is it if a man kills another man in battle it's called heroic, yet if he kills a man in a heat of passion it's called murder?"
The Patrician: "I'm sure you won't dream of trying to escape from your obligations by fleeing the city . . ." Rincewind: "I assure you the thought never even crossed my mind, lord." The Patrician: "Indeed? Then if I were you, I would sue my face for slander."
I love that last line, but had to set it up with the context. It is from The Colour of Magic book in the Discworld series. The way Jeremy Irons delivers the line in the british-made TV show just made it even more awesome.
The Patrician: "I'm sure you won't dream of trying to escape from your obligations by fleeing the city . . ." Rincewind: "I assure you the thought never even crossed my mind, lord." The Patrician: "Indeed? Then if I were you, I would sue my face for slander."
I love that last line, but had to set it up with the context. It is from The Colour of Magic book in the Discworld series. The way Jeremy Irons delivers the line in the british-made TV show just made it even more awesome.
I consider Pterry nearly a god among writers. He has the amazing talent of coming up with a line like that at least once a chapter.
Currently I'm reading Soul Music, and probably not getting half the puns. The part where the main character is Buddy Holly isn't very subtle, and there's going to be a literal day the music dies at the end of the book.
"Money is the worst of all contrabands because it commands everything else" – William Jennings Bryan
“Political economy, considered as a branch of the science of a statesman or legislator, proposes two distinct objects: first, to provide a plentiful revenue or substinence for the people, or more properly to enable them to provide such a revenue or substinence for themselves; and secondly, in supply the state or commonwealth with a revenue sufficient for the public services. It proposes to enrich both the people and the sovereign.” – Adam Smith, Introduction to Book IV of Wealth of Nations
“The issue is Socialism vs Capitalism. I am for Socialism because I am for humanity. We have been cursed with the reign of gold long enough. Money constitutes no proper basis for civilization. The time has come to regenerate society – we are on the eve of a universal change.” – Eugene V Debs
“real life is not above using contrivances straight out of some shitty Lifetime movie.” – J F Sergeant
"I am now the most miserable man living. If what I feel were equally distributed to the whole human family, there would not be one cheerful face on Earth." -- Abrahalm Lincoln, 1841
"As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion,—as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen,—and as the said States never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries."
- Treaty of Tripoli, Article 11, unanimously ratified by the U.S. Senate in 1797.
"The only thing I ever saw that came close to Objective Journalism was a closed-circuit TV setup that watched shoplifters in the General Store at Woody Creek, Colorado. I always admired that machine, but I noticed that nobody paid much attention to it until one of those known heavy out front shoplifters came into place... but when that happened, everybody got so excited that the thief had to do something quick like buy a green popsicle or a can of Coors and get out of the place immediately. So much for Objective Journalism. Don't bother to look for it here--not under any byline of mine; or anyone else I can think of. With the possible exception of things like box scores, race results, and stock market tabulations, there is no such thing as Objective Journalism. The phrase itself is a pompous contradiction in terms.” – Hunter S Thompson
“Our system of government was by its framers deemed an experiment, and they therefore consistently provided a mode of remedying its defects.” – Andrew Jackson, first annual message to Congress
I've got more, but most of them are super long, so I won't post them here.
"Zathras is used to being beast of burden to other people's needs. Very sad life. Probably have... very sad death. But... at least there is Symmetry." - Zathras, from Babylon 5.
"I'd like to live just long enough to be there when they cut off your head and stick it on a pike as a warning to the next ten generations that some favors come with too high a price. I would look up into your lifeless eyes and wave, like this. Can you and your associates arrange that for me, Mr. Morden?" Vir Cotto, B5
“Toward the aborigines of the country no one can indulge a more friendly feeling than myself, or would go further to reclaim them from their wandering habits and make them a happy, prosperous people” – Andrew Jackson, second annual message to Congress
So, maybe I'm parsing that wrong because language/culture changes and all, but is he basically saying that migratory peoples are doing it wrong and what he'd like to do is teach them how to live properly for their own good?
So, maybe I'm parsing that wrong because language/culture changes and all, but is he basically saying that migratory peoples are doing it wrong and what he'd like to do is teach them how to live properly for their own good?
That's the way Jackson saw it, and what the argument in favor of the Indian Removal Act was.
The problem is the assumption that agrarianism is superior to the nomadic life many tribes practiced. I don't know about the Cherokee (who were not in the quote, but were in the subtext, but there were many tribes such as the Hunktpapa and Oglala Sioux who lived nomadic or "migratory" lives and flourished. They lived a largely hunter-gatherer lifestyle, and flourished with it. There was no need for a shift to an agricultural society, but the white man thought it would help them.
Most native American cultures actually did have relatively advanced agriculture, they just (for the most part, iirc some of the natives in the ohio valley did have permanent settlements and didn't move around quite as much) didn't live the sedentary/settled lifestyle of the European immigrants.
So, maybe I'm parsing that wrong because language/culture changes and all, but is he basically saying that migratory peoples are doing it wrong and what he'd like to do is teach them how to live properly for their own good?
That's the way Jackson saw it, and what the argument in favor of the Indian Removal Act was.
The problem is the assumption that agrarianism is superior to the nomadic life many tribes practiced. I don't know about the Cherokee (who were not in the quote, but were in the subtext, but there were many tribes such as the Hunktpapa and Oglala Sioux who lived nomadic or "migratory" lives and flourished. They lived a largely hunter-gatherer lifestyle, and flourished with it. There was no need for a shift to an agricultural society, but the white man thought it would help them.
Depends on how you look at it. As we discussed in my HIS 101 class, agrarianism and the settling that is generally necessary to perform it allowed civilizations, true civilizations, to spring up. Migratory hunting-gathering obviously works, as we were doing it for quite some time even after we developed civilization, but it can only feed so many people in a band for so long in an area.
I like that it demonstrates how complicated Jackson's actions were more complicated than one would think. He is recognized today as the icon of the persecution of the American Indian, but I think that's unfair. Compare him to Sherman. Both were extraordinarily successful in their early military careers in just wars (and if you don't think the Civil War or 1812 were just, then we have a whole new problem), and went on to be responsible for the deaths of thousands of Indians. Sherman was of the mindset that the only good Indian is a dead Indian, and completely eliminated tribes that didn't cooperate. Sherman is forgiven of these sins, on account of his great service in the Civil War. Jackson, on the other hand, is much more ambiguous. I don't mean to downplay the crimes he committed in his acquisition of Florida, among other Indian Wars, nor to diminish the totalitarian approach of ignoring Marshall's ruling, but the Indian Removal Act was not an execution order. Using Jackson as the face of American Indian oppression is simply not fair to him, or the scoundrels who succeeded him.
Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall bethey of his own household.
Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death.
Admittedly, Thomas is one of the Gnostics so most Christians wouldn't recognize it as Gospel, but its such a great quote I couldn't resist.
Next time someone tells you that the Civil War was over economics/states rights/anything that isn't slavery, hit 'em with this: "Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery-- the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun. These products have become necessities of the world, and a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization....There was no choice left us but submission to the mandates of abolition, or a dissolution of the Union, whose principles had been subverted to work out our ruin. That we do not overstate the dangers to our institution, a reference to a few facts will sufficiently prove...It advocates negro equality, socially and politically, and promotes insurrection and incendiarism in our midst. It has enlisted its press, its pulpit and its schools against us, until the whole popular mind of the North is excited and inflamed with prejudice. It has made combinations and formed associations to carry out its schemes of emancipation in the States and wherever else slavery exists...Utter subjugation awaits us in the Union, if we should consent longer to remain in it. It is not a matter of choice, but of necessity. We must either submit to degradation, and to the loss of property worth four billions of money, or we must secede from the Union framed by our fathers, to secure this as well as every other species of property. For far less cause than this, our fathers separated from the Crown of England. Our decision is made. We follow their footsteps. We embrace the alternative of separation; and for the reasons here stated, we resolve to maintain our rights with the full consciousness of the justice of our course, and the undoubting belief of our ability to maintain it." -- Mississippi Declaration of Secession.
And, bonus quotes for all y'all who say it's okay to nullify federal policies as long as they're the bad ones: “The General Government, as the common agent, passed laws to carry into effect these stipulations of the States. For many years these laws were executed. But an increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the institution of slavery, has led to a disregard of their obligations, and the laws of the General Government have ceased to effect the objects of the Constitution. The States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa, have enacted laws which either nullify the Acts of Congress or render useless any attempt to execute them.” South Carolina Declaration of Secession.
Slavery is an economic argument, and economics seem to be exactly what that guy is arguing. States rights, not as much, because the preamble makes it pretty clear that slavery is a violation of the constitution (as long as you don't see blacks as subhuman). It wasn't until after the civil war, with the advent of the cotton gin, that slavery was economically inviable (is that a word?).
Slavery is an economic argument, and economics seem to be exactly what that guy is arguing.
So, statements like "These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun" or "It advocates negro equality, socially and politically, and promotes insurrection and incendiarism in our midst" are purely economic?
the preamble makes it pretty clear that slavery is a violation of the constitution
Have you ever heard of a case called Dred Scott? We had to add a new amendment to the Constitution to get rid of slavery, because SCOTUS ruled against your claim.
Slavery almost prevented America from forming. The Southern colonies nearly walked because of Jefferson's wording in the Declaration and Constitution. It was going to come to a head at some point, they were just looking for the excuse.
Slavery almost prevented America from forming. The Southern colonies nearly walked because of Jefferson's wording in the Declaration and Constitution. It was going to come to a head at some point, they were just looking for the excuse.
Comments
Rincewind: "I assure you the thought never even crossed my mind, lord."
The Patrician: "Indeed? Then if I were you, I would sue my face for slander."
I love that last line, but had to set it up with the context. It is from The Colour of Magic book in the Discworld series. The way Jeremy Irons delivers the line in the british-made TV show just made it even more awesome.
Currently I'm reading Soul Music, and probably not getting half the puns. The part where the main character is Buddy Holly isn't very subtle, and there's going to be a literal day the music dies at the end of the book.
“Political economy, considered as a branch of the science of a statesman or legislator, proposes two distinct objects: first, to provide a plentiful revenue or substinence for the people, or more properly to enable them to provide such a revenue or substinence for themselves; and secondly, in supply the state or commonwealth with a revenue sufficient for the public services. It proposes to enrich both the people and the sovereign.” – Adam Smith, Introduction to Book IV of Wealth of Nations
“The issue is Socialism vs Capitalism. I am for Socialism because I am for humanity. We have been cursed with the reign of gold long enough. Money constitutes no proper basis for civilization. The time has come to regenerate society – we are on the eve of a universal change.” – Eugene V Debs
“real life is not above using contrivances straight out of some shitty Lifetime movie.” – J F Sergeant
"I am now the most miserable man living. If what I feel were equally distributed to the whole human family, there would not be one cheerful face on Earth." -- Abrahalm Lincoln, 1841
"As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion,—as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen,—and as the said States never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries."
- Treaty of Tripoli, Article 11, unanimously ratified by the U.S. Senate in 1797.
"The only thing I ever saw that came close to Objective Journalism was a closed-circuit TV setup that watched shoplifters in the General Store at Woody Creek, Colorado. I always admired that machine, but I noticed that nobody paid much attention to it until one of those known heavy out front shoplifters came into place... but when that happened, everybody got so excited that the thief had to do something quick like buy a green popsicle or a can of Coors and get out of the place immediately. So much for Objective Journalism. Don't bother to look for it here--not under any byline of mine; or anyone else I can think of. With the possible exception of things like box scores, race results, and stock market tabulations, there is no such thing as Objective Journalism. The phrase itself is a pompous contradiction in terms.” – Hunter S Thompson
“Our system of government was by its framers deemed an experiment, and they therefore consistently provided a mode of remedying its defects.” – Andrew Jackson, first annual message to Congress
I've got more, but most of them are super long, so I won't post them here.
Vir Cotto, B5
The problem is the assumption that agrarianism is superior to the nomadic life many tribes practiced. I don't know about the Cherokee (who were not in the quote, but were in the subtext, but there were many tribes such as the Hunktpapa and Oglala Sioux who lived nomadic or "migratory" lives and flourished. They lived a largely hunter-gatherer lifestyle, and flourished with it. There was no need for a shift to an agricultural society, but the white man thought it would help them.
“When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called a Religion.” - Robert M. Pirsig
"Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery-- the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun. These products have become necessities of the world, and a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization....There was no choice left us but submission to the mandates of abolition, or a dissolution of the Union, whose principles had been subverted to work out our ruin.
That we do not overstate the dangers to our institution, a reference to a few facts will sufficiently prove...It advocates negro equality, socially and politically, and promotes insurrection and incendiarism in our midst.
It has enlisted its press, its pulpit and its schools against us, until the whole popular mind of the North is excited and inflamed with prejudice.
It has made combinations and formed associations to carry out its schemes of emancipation in the States and wherever else slavery exists...Utter subjugation awaits us in the Union, if we should consent longer to remain in it. It is not a matter of choice, but of necessity. We must either submit to degradation, and to the loss of property worth four billions of money, or we must secede from the Union framed by our fathers, to secure this as well as every other species of property. For far less cause than this, our fathers separated from the Crown of England.
Our decision is made. We follow their footsteps. We embrace the alternative of separation; and for the reasons here stated, we resolve to maintain our rights with the full consciousness of the justice of our course, and the undoubting belief of our ability to maintain it." -- Mississippi Declaration of Secession.
And, bonus quotes for all y'all who say it's okay to nullify federal policies as long as they're the bad ones:
“The General Government, as the common agent, passed laws to carry into effect these stipulations of the States. For many years these laws were executed. But an increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the institution of slavery, has led to a disregard of their obligations, and the laws of the General Government have ceased to effect the objects of the Constitution. The States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa, have enacted laws which either nullify the Acts of Congress or render useless any attempt to execute them.” South Carolina Declaration of Secession.